Spidey's first costume/webshooters
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:22 pm
After (finally) reading Parallel Lives recently I decided to take a detailed look at Spider-Man's early chronology. For his origin I did panel-to-panel comparisons from AAF 15, SPECSM 1/2, ASM 94, PPTSS 60/2, and SM:PL.
Anyway, the biggest problem I have trouble resolving deals with the original costume/webshooters for Spidey. In AAF 15, Peter is shown w/ the costume in his room right before designing his webshooters. This also precedes coming up with the name spider-man and putting on the costume. All of this (appears) to take place during the same few moments on one particular evening at home. However, in PPTSS 60/2 he designs his costume at the high school after also creating his webshooters there. It is possible to resolve these conflicting accounts by coming up with time gaps in-between panels. But, this does make a situation in which either the costume or webshooter design in AAF 15 would NOT be the original.
IMO, AAF 15 is THE canon when it comes to Spidey's origin. Thus, all subsequent re-tellings/retcons need to conform to it rather than vice versa. In order to consider PPTSS 60/2 canon then, while minimizing changes to AAF 15, it seems a decision must be made regarding the costume+webshooters. The chronology can be juggled to make either one or neither items "originals" in AAF 15, but not both. I bring this up because the current chronology suggests "neither". The webshooter creation in PPTSS 60/2 (8:6-9:1) is listed prior to its creation in AAF 15 (6:3). Meanwhile, the costume from AAF 15 (6:2) is apparently retconned to the trash heap as Peter goes back to the high school and creates another costume in the subsequent following entries from PPTSS 60/2 (9:5-9:8).
My suggested chronology would maintain the "originality" of the costume (ie, The costume he is seen stuffing into a drawer when May brings up crackers is the same one he puts on and declares himself Spider-Man in.) It also eliminates Peter's additional trip to Midtown High between panels 6:4 - 6:5 in AAF 15.
Spidey
ASM 94 (3:6)-FB
PPTSS 60/2 (8:6-9:7)
AF 15 (6:2-6:4)
ASM 94 (3:8-3:9)-FB (added extra panel in which Peter pulls out costume in his room)
PPTSS 60/2 (9:8)
AF 15 (6:5-6:8)
Anyway, the biggest problem I have trouble resolving deals with the original costume/webshooters for Spidey. In AAF 15, Peter is shown w/ the costume in his room right before designing his webshooters. This also precedes coming up with the name spider-man and putting on the costume. All of this (appears) to take place during the same few moments on one particular evening at home. However, in PPTSS 60/2 he designs his costume at the high school after also creating his webshooters there. It is possible to resolve these conflicting accounts by coming up with time gaps in-between panels. But, this does make a situation in which either the costume or webshooter design in AAF 15 would NOT be the original.
IMO, AAF 15 is THE canon when it comes to Spidey's origin. Thus, all subsequent re-tellings/retcons need to conform to it rather than vice versa. In order to consider PPTSS 60/2 canon then, while minimizing changes to AAF 15, it seems a decision must be made regarding the costume+webshooters. The chronology can be juggled to make either one or neither items "originals" in AAF 15, but not both. I bring this up because the current chronology suggests "neither". The webshooter creation in PPTSS 60/2 (8:6-9:1) is listed prior to its creation in AAF 15 (6:3). Meanwhile, the costume from AAF 15 (6:2) is apparently retconned to the trash heap as Peter goes back to the high school and creates another costume in the subsequent following entries from PPTSS 60/2 (9:5-9:8).
My suggested chronology would maintain the "originality" of the costume (ie, The costume he is seen stuffing into a drawer when May brings up crackers is the same one he puts on and declares himself Spider-Man in.) It also eliminates Peter's additional trip to Midtown High between panels 6:4 - 6:5 in AAF 15.
Spidey
ASM 94 (3:6)-FB
PPTSS 60/2 (8:6-9:7)
AF 15 (6:2-6:4)
ASM 94 (3:8-3:9)-FB (added extra panel in which Peter pulls out costume in his room)
PPTSS 60/2 (9:8)
AF 15 (6:5-6:8)