Big Ideas Presentation
- Dr. Gian Pagnucci
- May 28, 2024
(Cover by J. Scott Campbell, for The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2, Issue #50 — “Doomed Affairs”)
Spider-Man: The Transformative Power of Superheroes
- Michael Buble: Spider-Man Theme Song
- Updated from the 1967 animated series theme song
- IUP Big Ideas
The Transformative Text: Amazing Fantasy #15
![AMAZING FANTASY #15 [Marvel, 1962] Origin & 1st Appearance of Spider-Man MEGAKEY](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7pgAAOSwJzVipoTX/s-l1600.jpg)
- Spider-Man’s first appearance in comic books
- After World War II, the market for superhero comics supposedly dried up
- Publishers turned to romance and horror comics
- But Stan Lee wanted to write superhero stories
- When he learned that Amazing Fantasy was going to be canceled, he pitched a story idea for the last issue and so Spider-Man was born
- Spider-Man debuted in Amazing Fantasy #15
- Publication Date: Aug. 1, 1962
- Publisher: Marvel Comics
- Written by Stan Lee
- Penciled by Steve Ditko
- Ditko is from Johnstown, PA, where they are working to raise funds to put up a statue in his honor
- Value: In 2011, a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 sold for $1.1 million
- My friend Dr. Romagnoli has a copy which sadly has the top third of the cover torn off, so it’s worth just a little less, but then again, it’s basically priceless!
- Dr. Romagnoli is Co-Author with Gian of Enter the Superheroes: American Values, Culture, and the Canon of Superhero Literature
- Why is the text transformative?
- Restarted interest in superheroes
- Launched Marvel Comics
- Brought realism to comic book stories
- Peter Parker, Spider-Man’s real identity, had lots of money problems and romantic troubles
- Connected superheroes to real people
- Contains a significant moral lesson
- Became part of a contemporary American mythology
Lesson Objectives
- To study the nature of heroism
- To reflect on how culture can change values
- To encourage the value of doing good
The Lessons of Spider-Man
How Peter Parker Became Spider-Man
The Origin Story
- In comics, the story of how a hero gains their powers is called an “origin story”
- Origin stories a distinct feature of superhero literature
- Dr. Pagnucci’s one great claim to fame: Being featured in Wikipedia on the “Origin Story” page
- You can change a superhero’s costume and powers, but if you change his origin, then he ceases to be that hero
- The origin story is a critical point for each superhero because it is the foundation of the character
- Origin stories have been around for centuries and exist across cultures
- Hercules got his power by being the son of Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods, and Alcmene, a beautiful woman from Thebes, the ancient capital of the Egyptian empire (Zeus tricked Alcmene into sleeping with him by impersonating her absent husband Amphitryon)
- Jesus’s origin story was that the Christian God blessed Mary with His child which is why Jesus was both man and God (human and divine) and had supernatural powers
Spider-Man’s Origin Story
- The Spider-Man story begins with readers learning about Peter Parker, mild mannered high school student and science geek
- Peter is always getting picked on by Flash Thompson at school
- Peter is ignored by all the girls
- On a school field trip, Peter gets bitten by a radioactive spider
- He wakes up the next day feeling stronger and not needing his glasses anymore
- Peter wants to impress a girl, not with his powers, but by winning enough money to buy a car!
- He enters a wrestling match and wears a mask to hide his identity
- Peter wins, but he wins too quickly and easily, so the show’s promoter won’t pay him the prize money
- As Peter is leaving, he hears a guard yell, “Stop thief!”
- Peter watches a man run past with a bag of money
- The guard then rushes past and says, “Why didn’t you do something? All you had to do was stick out your foot to trip him!”
- Peter says, it’s not my business
- Later a policeman comes to tell Peter that his Uncle Ben has been shot by a burglar
- Using his powers, Peter catches the burglar, then removes the burglar’s mask and finds that it is the same thief he let go free
- And so Peter learns, “With great power comes great responsibility”
- Originally the line was “With great power there must also come–great responsibility!”
- It was only a caption, but later the line was attributed to Uncle Ben
- The saying is sometimes mocked for being repeated so often in the comics, it’s still such an important message because all people who have power of any kind have a responsibility to use that power as ethically as they can
Spider-Man Discussion Questions: The Nature of Good
- When is a time you helped someone even though you didn’t have to?
- What prompted you to help?
- When is a time you could have helped someone but chose not to?
- Why didn’t you help in that instance?
- What makes someone a hero?
- Who is one person you know that you consider to be a hero?
- How can we do good in the world?
- What responsibility do we have to do good in the world?
Spider-Man Activities
Heroism Paper
- Identify someone you know that you would view as a hero or, if not a hero, a good person
- Interview the person about some of the things they have done that are heroic or, if they don’t think of themselves as a hero (which they might not), then about things they have done that achieved good
- Ask them why they do those good deeds
- Ask them about challenges they have faced trying to do good
- Ask them what keeps them going
- Ask them what you could focus on to become the kind of person who does good like them
Origin Paper
- One of the most famous origin stories in all of comics is Superman’s origin story
- As a baby, Superman (who’s real name was Kal-El) was sent in a rocket to earth by his parents to save him from the explosion that destroyed his homeworld of Krypton
- When he got to earth, Kal-El gained superpowers from earth’s yellow sun which was different from Krypton’s red sun
- Kal-El was found and raised by Ma and Pa Kent, two kindly farmers who lived in Smallville, Kansas, and taught Kal-El, whom they named Clark, to use his powers for good
- In an alternate origin story, called Red Son, Kal-El lands in Russia
- His parents teach him to use his powers to control the world
- Superman brings peace to the world by becoming a world dictator
- Batman and Wonder Woman have to fight Superman to free the world
- If your origin is different, it can change who you become
- Write a new origin story for yourself
- Imagine if you were born to different parents or in a different place
- Describe how your life might go in this alternate story
- What does that story teach you about how your own life has gone?
- Thanks to IUP alum Brandon Glam who helped developed this idea
The Heroic Takeaway
- “You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.”
- Gian Pagnucci’s Superhero Smash Radio Show
- Thursdays from 11 am-Noon all summer long in 2024
- On WIUP FM 90.1
- Video: What is it to be a hero? by Slyfer2812
- Featuring Karen Page (played by Deborah Ann Woll) from Daredevil (the television series)
