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128-430: CEI was founded by inventor Aaron Fechter , who oversaw production of the animatronics and provided several of the characters' voices. The band was replaced by Chuck E. Cheese characters and renamed Munch's Make Believe Band following ShowBiz Pizza's decision to rebrand in the early 1990s. As relations with ShowBiz deteriorated, CEI began selling The Rock-afire Explosion to other restaurants and entertainment centers around

256-650: A freelance photographer by Mr. Jameson to take pictures of Spider-Man, with him being unaware that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Spider-Man fights his enemies , including superpowered and non-superpowered supervillains —his archenemy and nemesis Green Goblin and then Doctor Octopus , Sandman , Chameleon , Lizard , Vulture , Kraven the Hunter , Electro , and Mysterio , defeating them one by one —but Peter finds juggling his personal and superhero life difficult. In time, Peter graduates from high school and enrolls at Empire State University (a fictional institution evoking

384-489: A fuel-efficient , small car prototype in hopes of eventually manufacturing the vehicle under a new car company. He founded Creative Engineering Incorporated (CEI) in 1975 for that purpose, but in order to raise money for the project, he resorted to selling smaller inventions door-to-door , such as his "Leaf Eater" contraption that collected leaves from swimming pools. Fechter knocked on the door of an individual who solicited his help in designing an electronic control system for

512-545: A story arc depicting the negative effects of drug use. In the story, Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn becomes addicted to pills. When Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, Harry's father), Spider-Man defeats him by revealing Harry's drug addiction. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published

640-482: A "Superior" Spider-Man. A portion of Peter survived in his original body in the form of a subconsciousness. Later, realizing that he failed in his role as the "Superior" Spider-Man, Otto willingly allows Peter to reclaim his body in order to defeat Osborn and save Anna Maria Marconi, Otto's love. In the aftermath of these events, Peter began to amend the relationships damaged by Otto's arrogance and negligence, both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He additionally took up

768-399: A "sixth sense", which warns him of danger, the inspiration for Spider-Man's "spider-sense". Although at the time teenage superheroes were usually given names ending with "boy", Lee says he chose "Spider-Man" because he wanted the character to age as the series progressed, and felt the name "Spider-Boy" would have made the character sound inferior to other superheroes. He also decided to insert

896-650: A Creative Engineering warehouse in Orlando. A company operating as AquaLux experienced a similar explosion in 2001 at their plant in Largo, Florida, which at the time was blamed on a leaking fuel storage tank. Renewed interest in The Rock-Afire Explosion began with the release of several YouTube videos in the mid-2000s, such as "Ms. New Booty" by Chris Thrash, in which fans recreated several new RAE animations depicting modern musical themes. This led to

1024-466: A Rock-afire installed in his barn, dubbed "Goofy Gas Fillin' Station". John Zerwas purchased a Rock-afire Explosion from Chimpy's Pizza Safari, a restaurant, in 2005. His show is installed in his home in Minnesota . A private collector from Missouri named Mike has every Rock-afire animatronic, but no stage, running in his basement. Jack Turner, a close associate of Aaron Fechter and collector, has

1152-414: A Spider-Man tryout in what Lee, in numerous interviews, recalled as what would be the final issue of the science-fiction and supernatural anthology series Amazing Adult Fantasy , which was renamed Amazing Fantasy for issue #15 ( cover-dated August 1962, on sale June 5, 1962). In particular, Lee stated that the fact that it had already been decided that Amazing Fantasy would be canceled after issue #15

1280-555: A birthday spider called Antioch who spoke in gibberish, and a bear cub known as Choo-Choo, who hid in a small tree stump in front of Dook's drums and danced to the band's music. One of the more notable prop characters was Birthday Bird, who was perched on the neck of Billy Bob's guitar. Additionally, thirty stores were outfitted with "Uncle Klunk" (voice: Jeff Howell), a human character who replaced Rolfe and hosted talk-show segments with his bird sidekick, Click. The Klunk animatronics also served to be retrofitted into Santa Claus shows during

1408-647: A black costume with a white spider design on his chest. The new costume originated in the Secret Wars miniseries on an alien planet where Spider-Man participates in a battle between Earth's major superheroes and supervillains. He continues wearing the costume when he returns, starting in The Amazing Spider-Man #252. The change to a longstanding character's design met with controversy, "with many hardcore comics fans decrying it as tantamount to sacrilege. Spider-Man's traditional red and blue costume

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1536-436: A coma. Peter, desperate to save her, exhausts all possibilities and makes a pact with the demon-lord Mephisto , who saves May's life in exchange for Peter and Mary Jane agreeing to have their marriage and all memory of it disappear. In this changed reality, Spider-Man's identity is secret once again, and in #545 (Jan. 2008), Mary Jane returns and is cold toward him. The controversial storyline "One More Day" rolled back much of

1664-408: A costume and, as "Spider-Man", becomes a novelty television star. However, "[h]e blithely ignores the chance to stop a fleeing thief , [and] his indifference ironically catches up with him when the same criminal later robs and kills his Uncle Ben." Spider-Man tracks and subdues the killer and learns, in the story's next-to-last caption, "With great power there must also come—great responsibility!" In

1792-423: A distance-dependent interaction between his body and surfaces, known as the van der Waals force , though in the 2002 Spider-Man film , his hands and feet are lined with tiny clinging cilia in the manner of a real spider's feet. Spider-Man's other powers include superhuman strength, agility, and balance and a precognitive sixth sense referred to as his "spider-sense", which alerts him to danger. Spider-Man has

1920-497: A fortune-telling machine called Lazlo The Great. By 1978, Fechter had finished work on the "Wolf Pack 5", his first animatronic series featuring multiple characters including The Wolfman, Fats, Dingo Starr, Beach Bear, and Queenie the Fox (later changed to a mouse and renamed Mini Mozzarella). It was showcased and deemed a success at the 1978 IAAPA show. He completed work on another animatronic show called "The Hard Luck Bears", featuring

2048-582: A fully operational Rock-afire show in his St. Joseph, Missouri warehouse. Although the Volo Auto Museum received a Rock-afire Explosion show slated for installation in 2020, there were licensing issues with Aaron Fechter preventing operation. However, as of 2024, Volo Museum and Fechter came to an agreement and the show is now fully operational. The Rock-afire Explosion performed at Rock-afire, an arcade bar in Kansas City, Missouri . However,

2176-513: A high school student from the Queens borough of New York City, as Spider-Man's secret identity, whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" were issues to which young readers could relate. While Spider-Man was a quintessential sidekick, unlike previous teen heroes Bucky Barnes and Robin , Spider-Man had no superhero mentor like Captain America and Batman ; he had learned

2304-514: A high school student to attending college to currently being somewhere in his late 20s. Peter has been a member of numerous superhero teams, most notably the Avengers and Fantastic Four . Doctor Octopus also took on the identity for a story arc spanning 2012–2014, following a body swap plot in which Peter appears to die. Marvel has also published comic books featuring alternate versions of Spider-Man , including Spider-Man 2099 , which features

2432-458: A hillbilly band of bears and a mimicking bird, which debuted at the IAAPA in 1979. Fechter combined elements from both shows to form " The Rock-afire Explosion ", which debuted at the IAAPA in 1980 with improved animation and other changes. The Rock-afire Explosion concept was ultimately selected by Showbiz for inclusion in its family entertainment pizza chain. In 1980, Robert L. Brock opened

2560-487: A hoax. Shortly afterward, in The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13 (#454, Jan. 2000), Mary Jane is killed in an airplane explosion. She is revealed to be alive in volume 2, issue #28 (#469, April 2001), but she and Peter are completely separated in the following issue. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski began writing The Amazing Spider-Man , illustrated by John Romita Jr. , beginning with volume 2, #30 (#471, June 2001). Two issues later, Peter, now employed as

2688-543: A hyphen in the name, as he felt it looked too similar to Superman, another superhero with a red and blue costume that starts with an "S" and ends with "man" (although artist Steve Ditko intended the character to have an orange and purple costume). At that time, Lee had to get only the consent of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman for the character's approval. In a 1986 interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodman's objections. Goodman eventually agreed to

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2816-461: A multitude of print and video interviews, Lee stated he was inspired by seeing a spider climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true. Besides the name, the Spider was wanted by both the law and the criminal underworld (a defining theme of Spider-Man's early years) and had through years of ceaseless struggle developed

2944-502: A note on the letters page of issue #125 states: "It saddens us to say that the whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her." The following issue, Spider-Man vengefully attacks and overpowers the Green Goblin, who kills himself accidentally in the ensuing battle with Spider-Man. Working through his grief, Peter eventually develops tentative feelings toward Mary Jane, and

3072-475: A possessed Silk, agrees to help Spider-Man. However, Peter dies when fighting Kindred. While dead, Peter's consciousness remembers the fateful day of the start of One More Day ; Kindred is willing to resurrect Peter. "People often say glibly that Marvel succeeded by blending super hero adventure stories with soap opera. What Lee and Ditko actually did in The Amazing Spider-Man was to make

3200-498: A real-life mock wedding using actors at Shea Stadium , with Stan Lee officiating, on June 5, 1987. David Michelinie , who scripted based on a plot by editor-in-chief Jim Shooter , said in 2007, "I didn't think they actually should [have gotten] married. ... I had actually planned another version, one that wasn't used." Peter publishes a book of Spider-Man photographs called Webs , and returns to his Empire State University graduate studies in biochemistry in #310 (Dec. 1988). In

3328-497: A restaurant in the park, playing four songs custom-made for the park by Aaron Fechter. The Hard Luck Bears Jamboree is a retrofitted Rock-afire Explosion show located in the Gulliver's World , Gulliver's Land , and Gulliver's Kingdom theme parks. All characters with the exception of Looney Bird and Earl are bears, but retain their original names. The show has been criticized for its programming, voice acting, and poor condition as

3456-473: A result of Gulliver's standards. As of 2023, however, the shows are being restored and programmed to original Rock-afire showtapes. The Rock-afire Explosion , a documentary about Chris Thrash, Aaron Fechter and the remaining Rock-afire Explosion fan base, was released at film festivals and special screenings around the United States in the fall of 2008. It was released on DVD in 2009. In 2011, it

3584-531: A separate creation to the one he saw in the five pencilled pages that Kirby had completed. To support this, Ditko used the analogy of the Kirby/Marvel Thor, which was based on a name or idea of a character in Norse mythology: "If Marvel's Thor is a valid created work by Jack, his creation, then why isn't Spider-Man by Stan and me valid created work, our creation?" Kirby noted in a 1971 interview that it

3712-468: A shooting gallery, designed for sale to amusement parks. The gallery featured an animatronic horse, and its success led to other offers in the animatronic industry, which became the central focus for Creative Engineering. Fechter's father was an early investor in CEI, helping it enter the animatronic industry. Early projects included The Scab, a single talking head, Willie Wabbit, an anthropomorphic rabbit, and

3840-575: A teacher at his old high school, meets the enigmatic Ezekiel Sims , who possesses similar spider powers and suggests that Peter, having gained such abilities, might not have been a fluke—that Parker has a connection to a totemic spider spirit. In vol. 2, #37 (#478, Jan. 2002), Aunt May discovers her nephew is Spider-Man. Peter and Mary Jane reconcile in (vol. 2) #50 (#491, April 2003), and in #512 (Nov. 2004)—the original issue numbering having returned with #500—Parker learns his late girlfriend Gwen Stacy had had two children with Norman Osborn . He joins

3968-539: Is Harry, who leaves town to raise him. One of Doctor Octopus' Octobots swaps his and Spider-Man's personality, causing Peter to become trapped in the Doctor's dying body, while he in turn claimed Peter's life for himself. Though Peter failed to reverse the change, he manages to establish a weak link with the Doctor's mind, forcing him to relive all of his memories; Otto understands Peter's ideals of power and responsibility and swears to carry on with Peter's life with dignity as

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4096-612: Is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko , he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books . He has been featured in comic books , television shows , films , video games , novels, and plays . Spider-Man has the secret identity of Peter Benjamin Parker . Initially, Peter

4224-490: Is a helpful vigilante or a clever criminal. Cultural historian Bradford W. Wright notes: Spider-Man's plight was to be misunderstood and persecuted by the very public that he swore to protect. In the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man , J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle , launches an editorial campaign against the "Spider-Man menace". The resulting negative publicity exacerbates popular suspicions about

4352-540: Is accidentally killed during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus (issue #90, November 1970). In issue #121 (June 1973), the Green Goblin throws Gwen Stacy from a tower of either the Brooklyn Bridge (as depicted in the art) or the George Washington Bridge (as given in the text). She dies during Spider-Man's rescue attempt, and Spider-Man swears revenge against his nemesis;

4480-579: Is approached by Norman with the offer of a job within the Dark Avengers. It is later revealed that it is a ruse to coerce Harry into taking the American Son armor, whom Norman had planned to kill, in order to increase public sympathy. When Harry has the option of killing Norman, Spider-Man says to decapitate him, since Norman's healing factor may repair a blow to the head. Spider-Man also cautions Harry that killing Norman will cause Harry to "become

4608-429: Is best known as the creator of The Rock-afire Explosion , an animatronic show featuring a variety of characters created primarily for Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants throughout the 1980s. A fallout between Showbiz and CEI, along with the chain's dwindling revenue, led to the show's decline and eventual removal by the early 1990s. In CEI's early beginnings, Fechter intended to manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles, but

4736-490: Is bitten by a radioactive spider (erroneously classified as an insect in the panel) at a science exhibit and "acquires the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid ". Along with heightened athletic abilities, Parker gains the ability to adhere to walls and ceilings. Through his knack for science, he develops a gadget that lets him fire adhesive webbing of his own design through small, wrist-mounted barrels. Initially seeking to capitalize on his new abilities, Parker dons

4864-480: Is the original and Peter is the clone. Complicating matters, Mary Jane announces in The Spectacular Spider-Man #220 (Jan. 1995) that she is pregnant with Peter's baby. Later, however, a resurrected Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) has Mary Jane poisoned, causing premature labor and the death of her and Peter's unborn daughter. It is later revealed that The Green Goblin switched the results of

4992-475: The Village Voice opined in 1965 that "Spider-Man has a terrible identity problem, a marked inferiority complex , and a fear of women. He is antisocial , castration-ridden , racked with Oedipal guilt , and accident-prone ... [a] functioning neurotic ". Agonizing over his choices, always attempting to do right, he is nonetheless viewed with suspicion by the authorities, who seem unsure as to whether he

5120-676: The Black Cat ; and enemies such as Doctor Octopus , the Green Goblin , and Venom . In his origin story , Peter gets his superhuman spider powers and abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider. These powers include superhuman strength , agility, reflexes, stamina, durability, coordination, and balance; clinging to surfaces and ceilings like a spider; and detecting danger with his precognition ability called " spider-sense ". He builds wrist-mounted " web-shooter " devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design, which he uses both for fighting and travel, or "web swinging" across

5248-615: The Daily Bugle . Subsequently, Peter became romantically involved with Mary Jane. Briefly, Peter Parker and Spider-Man split into separate beings due to an accident involving the reverse-engineered Isotope Genome Accelerator. Peter eventually manages to reverse the process, and merges his two halves back together before the side-effects worsen and result in their death. Kindred uses the resurrected Sin-Eater 's sins to possess Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, Anya Corazon, and Julia Carpenter. Doctor Strange, who manages to restrain

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5376-552: The Marvel Universe , Parker returns to work at the Daily Bugle , which has been renamed The DB under a new publisher. He soon switches to the alternative press paper The Front Line . J. Jonah Jameson becomes the Mayor of New York City in issue #591 (June 2008). Jonah's estranged father, J. Jonah Jameson Sr., marries May in issue #600 (Sept. 2009). During the " Secret Invasion " by shape-shifting extraterrestrials,

5504-584: The Multiverse that banded together to fight the Inheritors, a group of psychic vampires who had begun to hunt down the spider-totems of other realities. During a mission to gather more recruits in 2099, the Spider-Army stumbled upon another party of spider-people led by an alternate version of Otto Octavius. Together, they neutralize the Inheritors. Peter then stops a nefarious plan put forward by

5632-779: The New Rock-afire Explosion was used in a karaoke game shown at the IAAPA . In 1997, Looney Bird's was a new restaurant that housed the classic RAE, but one Looney Bird's Markets used "The New Rock-Afire Explosion" show. As with The New Rock-Afire, "Marvelously Electronic Animation" debuted as a karaoke, trivia and video recording area that features a NRAE Looney Bird Robot that is controlled with The Anti-Gravity Freedom Machine. In 2000, CEI developed The Mezmerizer , an arcade game licensed for manufacture to ICE that evolved into their Wheel of Fortune game. The Starlauncher , developed in 2003 as "an American Idol kiosk",

5760-535: The Secret Wars event, where he sometimes works alongside the mainline version of Peter. Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes. He has appeared in countless forms of media , including several animated TV series : the first original animated series Spider-Man , with Paul Soles voicing the titular character, a live-action television series , syndicated newspaper comic strips , and multiple series of films . Spider-Man

5888-640: The Skrulls , Norman Osborn shoots and kills the Skrull queen Veranke . He leverages this widely publicized success, positioning himself as the new director of the S.H.I.E.L.D.-like paramilitary force H.A.M.M.E.R. to advance his agenda, while using his public image to start his own Dark Avengers . Norman, by himself, leads the Dark Avengers as the Iron Patriot, a suit of armor fashioned by himself after Iron Man's armor with Captain America's colors. Harry

6016-522: The " All-New, All-Different Marvel " event. Among them, The Amazing Spider-Man was relaunched and primarily focuses on Peter Parker continuing to run Parker Industries and becomes a successful businessman who is operating worldwide. In Forest Hills , Queens , New York City, Midtown High School student Peter Benjamin Parker is a science-whiz orphan living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May . As depicted in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Aug. 1962), he

6144-441: The 1950s, in which an orphaned boy living with an old couple finds a magic ring that granted him superhuman powers. Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference," Theakston writes, and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. Steve Ditko would be the inker. When Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it! Not that he did it badly—it just wasn't

6272-438: The 1980s. In the game, a single player tries to evade possessed animatronics that were partly inspired by Fechter's RAE. In the 2016 film Keanu , by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele , a cat named Keanu jumps through the window of a fictional, abandoned building that used to manufacture animatronics. CEI characters such as Beach Bear, Billy Bob, and Fatz appear in the background. Spider-Man Spider-Man

6400-434: The 2008 documentary, The Rock-afire Explosion , which explores the rise and fall of RAE and the impact of the childhood memories it created, with interviews of Fechter, Thrash, and others. In 2014, indie game developer Scott Cawthon released Five Nights at Freddy's , a horror video game that takes place in a family entertainment restaurant setting similar to those found in a Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza Place in

6528-598: The 2010 Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark . Spider-Man was also voiced by Jake Johnson and Chris Pine in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , with the former reprising his role in the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four , Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was casting for a new superhero idea. He said

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6656-544: The Fly. Author and Ditko scholar Blake Bell writes that it was Ditko who noted the similarities to the Fly. Ditko recalled that "Stan called Jack about the Fly", adding that "[d]ays later, Stan told me I would be penciling the story panel breakdowns from Stan's synopsis." It was at this point that the entire concept of the strip went through a major overhaul. "Out went the magic ring, adult Spider-Man and whatever legend ideas that Spider-Man story would have contained." Lee gave Ditko

6784-510: The Jackal. After the events of " Go Down Swinging ", Peter's life was plagued with problems on both sides. As Spider-Man, Mayor Fisk publicly supports him, condemning all other vigilantes in order to isolate him from his superhero peers. As Peter Parker, his academic credentials were revoked after accusations of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation from Octavius, resulting in Peter being fired from

6912-459: The RAE with CEC characters, forming a new show called "Munch's Make Believe Band". All Showbiz locations, which were renamed Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza, were eventually converted by the mid-1990s. During CEI's involvement with Showbiz, the company pursued other interests outside of the restaurant industry. They explored the production of toys, including Billy Bob, Fatz, and Mitzi animatronic dolls that had

7040-514: The Rock-afire stage as the company introduced their new Cyberstar TV screen system. During showtime, the characters were finally shown performing in video, as reel-to-reel formatted tapes began to be used less often. A reel-to-reel version of Cyberstar called "Cybervision" was tested at two restaurants in Austin, TX; Cybervision can be distinguished from Cyberstar by the fact that they only feature

7168-476: The Spectacular Spider-Man , began running parallel to the main series. A third series featuring Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man , launched in 1985 to replace Marvel Team-Up . The launch of a fourth monthly title in 1990, the "adjectiveless" Spider-Man (with the storyline " Torment "), written and drawn by popular artist Todd McFarlane , debuted with several different covers , all with

7296-512: The ability to play pre-recorded showtapes, narrate fairytales, and connect to an Apple II for custom programmability. CEI invested $ 1.5 million in research and development of a secure messaging device called the Anti-Gravity Freedom Machine, capable of sending electronic messages over a phone line . By 1998, however, web-based email had gained traction, and the project went unreleased. In 1996, animation from

7424-501: The adventures of Miguel O'Hara , the Spider-Man of the future; Ultimate Spider-Man , which features the adventures of a teenage Peter Parker in the alternate universe ; and Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man , which depicts a teenager named Miles Morales who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after Ultimate Peter Parker's apparent death. Miles later became a superhero in his own right and was brought into mainstream continuity during

7552-443: The animatronics, and no graphics or walkaround characters. Cyberstar was also implemented at Pizza Time Theatre, and remains in use at all Chuck E. Cheese's locations, albeit using DVDs rather than VHS tapes. The changes to the Rock-afire stage were very minor, as the company later decided to enact a process called "Concept Unification," in which all ShowBiz Pizza locations would be remodeled into Chuck E. Cheese's. The remodel included

7680-510: The arc, Quesada said, was ...that we didn't receive the story and methodology to the resolution that we were all expecting. What made that very problematic is that we had four writers and artists well underway on [the sequel arc] "Brand New Day" that were expecting and needed "One More Day" to end in the way that we had all agreed it would. ... The fact that we had to ask for the story to move back to its original intent understandably made Joe upset and caused some major delays and page increases in

7808-579: The bar closed in February 2019. The Dreamfactory & World of Wonders in Degersheim, Switzerland has had a show since 1987, however it only became operational in 2021. This fully functional, newly restored show features a turntable that swaps between Rolfe's stage and Uncle Klunk. It can be visited during the museum's opening hours. Wolmi Theme Park in Incheon, South Korea has a Rock-afire show in

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7936-454: The character I wanted; it was too heroic". Lee turned to Ditko, who developed an art style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled: One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like

8064-564: The character swiftly becoming a cultural icon ; a 1965 Esquire poll of college campuses found that college students ranked Spider-Man and fellow Marvel hero the Hulk alongside Bob Dylan and Che Guevara as their favorite revolutionary icons. One interviewee selected Spider-Man because he was "beset by woes, money problems, and the question of existence. In short, he is one of us." Following Ditko's departure after issue #38 (July 1966), John Romita Sr. replaced him as penciller and would draw

8192-502: The character's creation, Ditko described his and Lee's contributions in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in Comic Fan #2 (Summer 1965): "Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal." At the time, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio with noted fetish artist Eric Stanton , an art-school classmate who, in a 1988 interview with Theakston, recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man

8320-431: The city. Peter Parker initially used his powers for his personal gain, but after his Uncle Ben was killed by a thief that Peter could not stop, he began to use his powers to fight crime by becoming Spider-Man. Before Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the protagonist's sidekick role. The Spider-Man comic series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker,

8448-545: The clone test in an attempt to destroy Peter's life by making him believe himself to be the clone. Ben is killed while saving Peter, in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 (Dec. 1996), and his body immediately crumbles into dust, confirming Ben was the clone. In issue #97 (Nov. 1998) of the second series titled Peter Parker: Spider-Man , Parker learns his Norman Osborn kidnapped Aunt May and her apparent death in The Amazing Spider-Man #400 (April 1995) had been

8576-509: The comic Civil War #2 (June 2006), part of the company-wide crossover arc of that title, the U.S. government's Superhuman Registration Act leads Spider-Man to reveal his true identity publicly. A growing unease about the Registration Act prompts him to escape with May and Mary Jane and joins the anti-registration underground. In issue #537 (Dec. 2006), Aunt May is critically wounded from Wilson Fisk 's sniper, and enters into

8704-508: The comic book expanded from 22 pages to 30 pages for each issue. Later on, The Amazing Spider-Man was published twice a month, beginning with #648–649 (both November 2010). The following year, Marvel launched Avenging Spider-Man as the first spin-off ongoing series in addition to The Amazing Spider-Man , since the previous ones were canceled at the end of 2007. The Amazing series temporarily ended with issue #700 in December 2012 and

8832-526: The company's focus soon shifted to the animatronic industry. The company later developed other products and concepts, but they failed to gain commercial interest. Fechter also claims to have been instrumental in the early development of Whac-A-Mole , an arcade game from Bandai that became popular in the late 1970s, but his involvement was never officially recognized. His animatronics gained renewed interest decades later, when fan-made Rock-afire Explosion performances set to modern music began appearing online in

8960-445: The company, hoping that new talent and merchandising opportunities could save both companies. By 1985, Richard M. Frank had joined the company as CEO and chairman. The corporation maintained the two restaurant chains simultaneously for several years. Each continued its own stage shows and sold different merchandise. However, in the latter part of the decade, relations between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz began to sour. Aaron Fechter,

9088-463: The controversial 1990s storyline the " Clone Saga ", a clone of Parker, created in 1970s comics by insane scientist Miles Warren , a.k.a. the Jackal, returns to New York City upon hearing of Aunt May 's health worsening. The clone had lived incognito as Ben Reilly , but now assumes the superhero guise the Scarlet Spider and allies with Parker. To the surprise of both, new tests indicate Ben

9216-420: The costume and thus easily identify with the character. A few months after Spider-Man's introduction, publisher Goodman reviewed the sales figures for that issue and was shocked to find it was one of the nascent Marvel's highest-selling comics. A solo ongoing series followed, beginning with The Amazing Spider-Man #1 ( cover-dated March 1963). The title eventually became Marvel's top-selling series with

9344-401: The early 1980s, The Rock-afire Explosion (RAE) was life-sized, with most of the performers about the size of an average adult human. Fechter also implemented latex masks for the characters' faces, as opposed to the rubber and Styrofoam masks common in other animatronics. The latex masks fit over movable parts on the characters' faces, permitting a range of facial expressions, including smiling and

9472-543: The elimination of all Rock-afire characters from merchandise and advertising, and retrofitting/reprogramming the Rock-afire Explosion animatronics into a show called Munch's Make Believe Band, featuring the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre characters. Dook was moved to Billy Bob's place and became Pasqually P. Pieplate, Looney Bird became Pizzacam, Beach Bear became Jasper T. Jowls, Fatz became Mr. Munch, Mitzi

9600-413: The fictional continuity at the behest of editor-in-chief Joe Quesada , who said, "Peter being single is an intrinsic part of the very foundation of the world of Spider-Man". It caused unusual public friction between Quesada and writer Straczynski, who "told Joe that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the [story] arc", but was talked out of doing so. At issue with Straczynski's climax to

9728-466: The first ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri , featuring Creative Engineering's Wolf Pack 5 display. Although ShowBiz wanted the "Rock-afire Explosion" (RAE) concept, RAE was still in the final stages of development when the first store opened. The pizza chain also featured other amenities including an arcade and restaurant tailored to accommodate both children and adults. Brock owned an extensive chain of Holiday Inn hotels, considered

9856-476: The first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (March 1963), despite his superpowers, Peter struggles to help his widowed Aunt May pay the rent, is taunted by Flash, and continues fighting crime and saving the city as Spider-Man, but his heroic deeds engender the editorial wrath of newspaper publisher of the Daily Bugle , J. Jonah Jameson , holds a grudge against Spider-Man, and continues making false statements about Spider-Man despite his heroism. Peter gets hired as

9984-405: The founder of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rock-afire Explosion, claimed that the fallout between his company and ShowBiz arose when ShowBiz asked him to sign away the licensing and copyrights to the Rock-afire Explosion, which would have allowed ShowBiz to cut production costs on the show, such as manufacture of future shows and royalty payments to Creative Engineering. Fechter refused, on

10112-415: The grounds that ShowBiz offered no monetary compensation for the rights. ShowBiz began toying with the idea of adding licensed characters such as Spider-Man or Garfield to the Rock-afire show, and three ShowBiz locations actually replaced Billy Bob and Looney Bird with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo animatronics in 1987. Ideas to retrofit the Rock-afire into completely original characters were also proposed at

10240-473: The holidays. ShowBiz Pizza Place was similar to (and competed with) Chuck E. Cheese 's Pizza Time Theatre, another animatronic restaurant chain that was popular in the United States. In the mid-1980s, both venues began to suffer financial difficulties, partially due to the video game crash of 1983 and also due to both companies having opened more restaurants than they could afford to maintain. When Pizza Time Theatre filed for bankruptcy in 1984, ShowBiz bought

10368-455: The idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in teenage demand for comic books and the desire to create a character with whom teens could identify. As with Fantastic Four, Lee saw Spider-Man as an opportunity to "get out of his system" what he felt was missing in comic books. In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter the Spider as a great influence, and in

10496-499: The idea of covering the character's face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character.... Although the interior artwork was by Ditko alone, Lee rejected Ditko's cover art and commissioned Kirby to pencil a cover that Ditko inked. As Lee explained in 2010, "I think I had Jack sketch out a cover for it because I always had a lot of confidence in Jack's covers." In an early recollection of

10624-471: The implementation of a new controller, Cyberstar, designed by Bill Synhorst of Triad Productions. It allowed direct communication with existing driver boards, eliminating the need for the Pianocorder playback board. The show also consists of several smaller prop characters, many of which did not have speaking roles. These included an animated Sun and Moon that provided background vocals from time to time,

10752-524: The largest of its kind at the time. Brock originally partnered with Pizza Time Theatre but backed out after discovering Fechter's work. CEI was given a 20-percent ownership stake in the chain and retained all rights to characters, animation, and show development. Queenie the Fox was converted into a mouse and became briefly known as Mini Mozzarella at the first location. Her name was changed a final time to Mitzi Mozzarella as ShowBiz expanded and utilized RAE in future locations. Following financial troubles in

10880-606: The last 3 being terminated in 2003. In the mid 2000s, spurred by the growing online Rock-afire fan community, Fechter reunited some of the Rock-afire performers and began to program shows set to fan-requested songs. Videos of the performances—posted to his YouTube upon completion—are credited with helping to further revive interest in the group and ShowBiz Pizza, and spurred individuals who owned their own Rock-afire bands to begin programming new shows themselves. Aaron Fechter maintains his own Rock-afire show, which has been used to program new shows and perform for private guests. As of 2023,

11008-442: The lesson for himself that " with great power comes great responsibility " —a line included in a text box in the final panel of the first Spider-Man's origin story, but later retroactively attributed to the late Uncle Ben Parker. Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series , the first and longest-lasting of which is The Amazing Spider-Man . Since his introduction, the main-continuity version of Peter has gone from

11136-413: The makers of Pianocorder. In the years following the separation from CEI, there was a need to upgrade the aging Songcode inherited from CEC, which was used following CEI's departure. As technology evolved and ShowBiz became more involved in programming, they switched to a new programming system called APS (Animation Programming System), designed by Dave Philipsen. Video playback capabilities were added with

11264-400: The mid-1980s, Showbiz explored the possibility of reverse-engineering the animatronics and producing their own shows. This led to a feud with CEI, unwilling to relinquish the rights needed. In 1985, Showbiz purchased their competitor Chuck E. Cheese (CEC), who had filed for bankruptcy a year earlier. After failing to make progress with CEI, ties were severed in 1990, and Showbiz began replacing

11392-522: The mid-2000s. They also partially inspired the horror video game franchise, Five Nights at Freddy's . Aaron Fechter graduated from Edgewater High School in Orlando, Florida . In 1973, he graduated from the University of South Florida , where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, at the age of 19. The United States was in the midst of an energy crisis , and Fechter decided to build

11520-554: The mysterious Spider-Man and makes it impossible for him to earn any more money by performing. Eventually, the bad press leads the authorities to brand him an outlaw. Ironically, Peter finally lands a job as a photographer for Jameson's Daily Bugle . The mid-1960s stories reflect the political tensions of the time; early 1960s Marvel stories often deal with the Cold War and communism . Wright writes: From his high-school beginnings to his entry into college life, Spider-Man remained

11648-464: The origin of Spider-Man in the 13-issue limited series Spider-Man: Chapter One (Dec. 1998–Oct. 1999), similar to Byrne's adding details and some revisions to Superman's origin in DC Comics ' The Man of Steel . During that time, the original The Amazing Spider-Man ended with issue #441 (Nov. 1998), and The Amazing Spider-Man started with volume 2, #1 (Jan. 1999). In 2003, Marvel reintroduced

11776-512: The original Spider-Man version to Lee, who liked the idea and assigned Kirby to draw sample pages of the new character, but disliked the results—in Simon's description, " Captain America with cobwebs". Writer Mark Evanier notes that Lee's reasoning that Kirby's character was too heroic seems unlikely—Kirby still drew the covers for Amazing Fantasy #15 and the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man . Evanier also disputes Kirby's given reason that he

11904-442: The original numbering for The Amazing Spider-Man and what would have been volume 2, #59, became issue #500 (Dec. 2003). When the main series The Amazing Spider-Man reached issue #545 (Dec. 2007), Marvel dropped its spin-off ongoing series and instead began publishing The Amazing Spider-Man three times monthly, beginning with #546–548 (all January 2008). The scheduling of The Amazing Spider-Man lasted until November 2010, when

12032-416: The premise of a teenager bitten by a spider and developing powers, where Ditko would expand upon to the point he became what Bell describes as "the first work for hire artist of his generation to create and control the narrative arc of his series". On the issue of the initial creation, Ditko stated, "I still don't know whose idea was Spider-Man". Ditko did, however, view the published version of Spider-Man as

12160-429: The raising of eyebrows. Fechter also implemented computer programming that permitted some of the characters to move in rhythm with music. The Rock-afire Explosion uses four recorded tracks, two for audio and two for data. The data tracks are encoded using Biphase mark code produced during a programming process involving two Apple IIe computers. The circuitry of the RAE was originally purchased by CEI from Superscope,

12288-520: The real-life Columbia University and New York University ), where he meets roommate and best friend Harry Osborn and girlfriend Gwen Stacy , and Aunt May introduces him to Mary Jane Watson . As Peter deals with Harry's drug problems, and Harry's father, Norman Osborn , is revealed to be the Green Goblin, Peter attempts to give up his costumed identity for a while. Gwen Stacy's father, New York City Police detective Captain George Stacy ,

12416-429: The reins of Parker Industries, a small company founded by Otto after leaving Horizon Labs. Peter soon learns a second person had been bitten by the radioactive spider, Cindy Moon . Spider-Man tracks her down and frees her from a bunker owned by the late Ezekiel Simms. Not long after rescuing Cindy, who went on to adopt her own heroine identity as Silk, Spider-Man encounters a contingent of spider-people from all over

12544-581: The revision of the Comics Code Authority . Previously, the Code forbade the depiction of the use of illegal drugs, even negatively. However, in 1970, the Nixon administration's Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked Stan Lee to publish an anti-drug message in one of Marvel's top-selling titles. Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature

12672-436: The same interior content. All four versions combined sold over three million copies, an industry record at the time. Several miniseries , one-shot issues, and loosely related comics have also been published, and Spider-Man makes frequent cameos and guest appearances in other comic book series. In 1996, The Sensational Spider-Man was created to replace Web of Spider-Man . In 1998, writer-artist John Byrne revamped

12800-456: The series an ongoing novelistic chronicle of the lead character's life. Most super heroes had problems no more complex or relevant to their readers' lives than thwarting this month's bad guys... Parker had far more serious concern in his life: coming to terms with the death of a loved one, falling in love for the first time, struggling to make a living, and undergoing crises of conscience." Comics historian Peter Sanderson Sally Kempton for

12928-431: The series for the next several years. In 1968, Romita would also draw the character's extra-length stories in the comics magazine The Spectacular Spider-Man , a proto- graphic novel designed to appeal to older readers. It lasted for two issues and represented the first Spider-Man spin-off publication, aside from the original series' summer Annual s that began in 1964. An early 1970s Spider-Man story ultimately led to

13056-401: The series. Also, the science that Joe was going to apply to the retcon of the marriage would have made over 30 years of Spider-Man books worthless, because they never would have had happened. ...[I]t would have reset way too many things outside of the Spider-Man titles. We just couldn't go there.... In this new continuity, designed to have very limited repercussions throughout the remainder of

13184-533: The show is temporarily defunct as Fechter is in the process of moving his collection to Palatka, Florida . Smitty's Super Service Station has a fully functional show in Sandy Hook, Mississippi . The Rock-afire Explosion show at Billy Bob's Wonderland in Barboursville, West Virginia , remains operational and was restored in 2021 after decades of disrepair. David Ferguson of Pendleton, Indiana , has

13312-417: The show's programming and audio was done in-house by Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) in Orlando, Florida. Nearly all Rock-afire shows were produced completely in-house, with CEI employees writing and performing songs and comedic skits. When ShowBiz began assuming control over programming, they used Songcode, a system inherited from their acquisition of Chuck E. Cheese (CEC). Unlike other animatronic shows of

13440-463: The son Norman always wanted". Harry instead backs down, and turns away from his father forever. At Loki 's suggestion, Norman Osborn creates a rationale to invade Asgard , claiming the world poses a national security threat. He is defeated, and ends up incarcerated in the Raft penitentiary. A conflict between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus over Osborn's son ends when it is revealed the child's father

13568-550: The story and claimed Lee had minimal involvement in the character's creation. According to Kirby, the idea for Spider-Man had originated with Kirby and Joe Simon , who in the 1950s had developed a character called the Silver Spider for the Crestwood Publications comic Black Magic , but the character was left unused. Simon, in his 1990 autobiography, disputed Kirby's account, asserting that Black Magic

13696-443: The students with his assumed obligation to combat lawlessness as Spider-Man. As a law-upholding liberal, he finds himself caught between militant leftism and angry conservatives. Peter Parker has superhuman spider-powers and abilities derived from mutations resulting from the bite of a radioactive spider. Since the original Lee - Ditko stories, Spider-Man has had the ability to cling to walls. This has been speculated to be based on

13824-399: The superhero most relevant to the world of young people. Fittingly, then, his comic book also contained some of the earliest references to the politics of young people. In 1968, in the wake of actual militant student demonstrations at Columbia University, Peter Parker finds himself in the midst of similar unrest at his Empire State University.... Peter has to reconcile his natural sympathy for

13952-501: The superhero team The New Avengers in New Avengers #1–2. After a deranged, superpowered former high-school classmate destroys their respective homes, Peter, Mary Jane, and May move into Stark Tower , and Peter begins working as Tony Stark 's assistant while freelancing for The Daily Bugle and continuing his teacher career. In the 12-part 2005 story arc " The Other ", Peter undergoes a transformation that evolves his powers. In

14080-498: The three issues without the Comics Code Authority's approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry's self-censorship was undercut, and the Code was subsequently revised. In 1972, a second monthly ongoing series starring Spider-Man began: Marvel Team-Up , in which Spider-Man was paired with other superheroes and supervillains. From that point on, there have generally been at least two ongoing Spider-Man series at any time. In 1976, his second solo series, Peter Parker,

14208-502: The time by Creative Presentations Inc, a now-defunct animatronic company based in Schaumburg, Illinois , that already provided ShowBiz with new showtapes and replacement cosmetics for Rock-afire shows. An experiment of Paul Linden and Dave Philipsen using JVC BR-7000 VHS Hi-Fi tape decks which integrated two stereo audio tracks, two longitudinal data tracks, and video led to a system in 1988 where television screens were installed above

14336-462: The two "become confidants rather than lovers". A romantic relationship eventually develops, with Parker proposing to her in issue #182 (July 1978), and being turned down an issue later. Peter went on to graduate from college in issue #185, and becomes involved with the shy Debra Whitman and the extroverted, flirtatious costumed thief Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. the Black Cat , whom he meets in issue #194 (July 1979). From 1984 to 1988, Spider-Man wore

14464-448: The two ran a highlight reel of old Rock-afire Cyberstar segments and wondered aloud what the band would do now, and hinted at the coming Chuck E. Cheese-themed show. "The Rolfe and Earle Show" was the final Rock-afire show produced for Showbiz. As troubles began between CEI and Showbiz, the RAE was marketed to other restaurants and amusement parks around the world. In the 1990s, an update to the band, known as "The New Rock-afire Explosion",

14592-436: The world, including Circus Pizza, Pistol Pete's Pizza, and Billy Bob's Wonderland . The show was considered pioneering in the animatronic industry, featuring life-sized characters that were capable of advanced movement and facial expression. At the end of the show's tenure, former Chuck E. Cheese marketing director Jul Kamen credited Rock-afire with being largely responsible for ShowBiz’s early financial success. Production of

14720-439: Was "almost nil", he and Ditko had "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own ... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands." Ditko claimed in a rare interview with Jonathan Ross that the costume was initially envisioned with an orange and purple color scheme, rather than the recognizable red and blue. Kirby disputed Lee's version of

14848-413: Was "too busy" to draw Spider-Man in addition to his other duties, since Kirby was, said Evanier, "always busy". Neither Lee's nor Kirby's explanation explains why key story elements like the magic ring were dropped; Evanier states that the most plausible explanation for the sudden change was that Goodman, or one of his assistants, decided that Spider-Man, as drawn and envisioned by Kirby, was too similar to

14976-446: Was Ditko who "got Spider-Man to roll, and the thing caught on because of what he did". Lee, while claiming credit for the initial idea, had acknowledged Ditko's role, stating, "If Steve wants to be called co-creator, I think he deserves [it]". He has further commented that Ditko's costume design was key to the character's success; since the costume completely covers Spider-Man's body, people of all races could visualize themselves inside

15104-535: Was announced in November 1989 and locations were gradually converted throughout the early 1990s. As Concept Unification began at each location, the right and center stages of the Rock-afire show were shut down, leaving only the Rolfe and Earl characters operational. The two performed "The Rolfe and Earle Show" (Earl's name was unintentionally misspelled), featuring the voices of Showbiz employees imitating Fechter's voice;

15232-545: Was created, using new, smaller animatronics known as "mijjins", as well as other features such as revolving stages and dance choreography. However, relatively few customers purchased the show. Odyssey Fun World, an indoor amusement park located in Naperville, Illinois , and Tinley Park, Illinois , operated the New Rock-afire show in its restaurants. Fechter terminated all of his employees over several years, with

15360-524: Was depicted as a teenage high-school student and an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents, Richard and Mary Parker , died in a plane crash. Lee, Ditko, and later creators had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and young adulthood and gave him many supporting characters , such as Flash Thompson , J. Jonah Jameson , and Harry Osborn ; romantic interests Gwen Stacy , Mary Jane Watson , and

15488-638: Was first portrayed in live-action by Danny Seagren in Spidey Super Stories , a recurring skit on The Electric Company from 1974 to 1977. In live-action films, Spider-Man has been portrayed by actors Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man trilogy , by Andrew Garfield in two films directed by Marc Webb , and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tom Holland . Reeve Carney originally starred as Spider-Man in

15616-556: Was iconic, they argued, on par with those of his D.C. rivals Superman and Batman ." The creators then revealed the costume was an alien symbiote , which Spider-Man rejects after a difficult struggle, though the symbiote returns several times as Venom for revenge. Peter proposes to Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man #290 (July 1987), and she accepts two issues later, with the wedding taking place in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987)—promoted with

15744-584: Was moved to Dook's place and became Helen Henny, The Sun became The Building, Choo-Choo became Munch Junior, and Rolfe became Chuck E. Cheese; The Moon was the only character carried over unchanged, and Antioch's computer and air lines were reused for The Wink, an animated Chuck E. Cheese head over the stage that would wink at the end of each segment. Unused animatronics (which included Billy Bob, Earl, and Antioch) and props were either sold off, used for parts or destroyed. After ties between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz were completely severed, "Concept Unification"

15872-531: Was never publicly released. In 2015, CEI showcased an arcade game at the IAAPA convention called Bashy Bug (stylized BASHyBUG ), where the player attempts to stomp on a bug with a flipflop in a timed skill scenario with multiple levels of difficulty. In 2010, research began on an alternative cooking fuel derived from graphite and water called Carbohydrillium, billed as safer and less polluting than propane . On September 26, 2013, catastrophic failure of high-pressure carbon steel canisters led to an explosion at

16000-514: Was not a factor and that Simon devised the name "Spider-Man" (later changed to "The Silver Spider"), while Kirby outlined the character's story and powers. Simon later elaborated that his and Kirby's character conception became the basis for Simon's Archie Comics superhero, the Fly . Artist Steve Ditko stated that Lee liked the name Hawkman from DC Comics , and that "Spider-Man" was an outgrowth of that interest. Simon concurred that Kirby had shown

16128-502: Was released on iTunes . Billy Bob Brockali is referenced in the song "Good Friday" by the American band Why? , with the lyric, "My fear of the bear at ShowBiz Pizza when I was six was overwhelming and not dissimilar to this". Aaron Fechter Aaron Fechter (born December 22, 1953) is an American mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, voice actor, singer, and musician who owns and operates Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI). He

16256-511: Was replaced by The Superior Spider-Man , which had Doctor Octopus serve as the new Spider-Man by taking over Peter Parker's body. Superior was an enormous commercial success for Marvel, and ran for 31 issues before the real Peter Parker returned in a newly relaunched The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in April 2014. Following the 2015 Secret Wars crossover event , a number of Spider-Man-related titles were either relaunched or created as part of

16384-549: Was the only reason Goodman allowed him to use Spider-Man. While this was the final issue, its editorial page anticipated the comic continuing and that "The Spider-Man ... will appear every month in Amazing ." Regardless, Lee received Goodman's approval for the name Spider-Man and the "ordinary teen" concept and approached artist Jack Kirby . As comics historian Greg Theakston recounts, Kirby told Lee about an unpublished character on which he had collaborated with Joe Simon in

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