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Amazing Spider-Man number 50
marks an iconic development for the web head.
The sacrifices Peter Parker made,
the relationships and opportunities he gave up on
to clean up the streets
as Spider-Man become too much for him to bear.
They eat away at him
until Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man no more.
It's a powerful story about perseverance
in the face of personal struggle about great power
and great responsibility, go figure.
But Amazing Spider-Man number 50
also has a deeper hidden meaning.
Peter's internal conflict to quit being Spider-Man
echoes his co-creator Stan Lee's similar struggle
to leave the comics industry forever
and never creates another superhero again,
a move that would have left us without characters
like Iron Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four,
and even Spidey himself.
The story of Spider-Man no more
is secretly the story of a critical deciding moment
in pop culture.
We're gonna talk about it.
(tense music)
(light music)
How are you doing, wonderful nerds?
Scott here and we have finally reached part three
of this saga exploring early Spider-Man comics
and their battle against censorship
and the struggling comic book industry.
It's been a wild ride.
If you missed the first two videos, don't worry.
You don't need to watch 'em to understand this video,
but they will be linked in the description down below
and at the end of this video
if you want to catch up afterwards.
But again, not necessary.
Now if you've never read Amazing Spider-Man number 50
written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita Senior,
here is a quick recap of the story.
Spidey is doing his thing,
taking down a few armed thieves
but a bystander fears that Spider-Man,
out of all of them, is the real threat to their lives
thanks to J Jonah Jameson's smear campaign
and the Daily Bugle against the hero.
Peter reflects on how unfair it is
that he is the only hero who ever gets a bum rap.
- [Spider-Man] Everyone flips over the FF.
They think Daredevil's the coolest.
Captain American turns 'em on.
But just mention Spider-Man and it's Freezeville.
It's all Jameson's fault.
- [Scott] But Peter has other problems to focus on.
As he arrives home,
he learns that his Aunt May has fallen ill.
She called for Peter but he wasn't there to help her.
- [Spider-Man] If I had been home like any other normal guy,
they would have reached me fast.
But no, I was out flexing my muscles,
trying to help the very people who fear me.
So long as I hang onto my Spider-Man identity,
I haven't got time for anything except new problems.
- The stress keeps building.
He fails a test the next day at school,
and he's reminded by his professor
that his grades are slipping,
and he's in danger of flunking out.
With his mind on his sick aunt's and his failing grade,
he has no choice but to decline an invitation to a party
Gwen Stacy is throwing.
The balance between family life, school life,
and social life just can't be met
when his superhero life is also in the equation.
- [Spider-Man] Spider-Man.
I'm beginning to hate the very sound of that name.
- [Scott] On top of all that, Norman Osborn offered Peter
a prestigious job working in his chemistry lab
but it too would take up time
he could be spending as Spider-Man.
Then the final straw, Jameson appears on TV
to rant even more about how Spider-Man is a public menace.
The man won't stop.
He shouts at anyone who will listen,
determined to take the wall crawler down.
- [Spider-Man] The terrible thing is, he means it.
He actually believes what he says.
He sincerely thinks that I am a thread to society.
But...
What if he's right?
- Peter realizes that being Spider-Man
has made him depressed.
He jeopardized every relationship he had
just to chase adventure and excitement.
He starts to question his own motivations
for being a superhero in the first place.
Does he really fight crime
because it's the right thing to do,
or does he do it for the thrill of battle,
his addiction to power and triumph?
Peter gives in to his doubts.
- [Spider-Man] For the sake of my own sanity,
there's only one thing left to do.
I was just a young unthinking teenager
when I first became Spider-Man.
But the years have a way of slipping by,
of changing the world about us.
And every boy, sooner or later,
must put away his toys and become a man.
(thunder rumbling)
- [Scott] From that points,
everything you would expect to happen happens.
Jameson feels his crusade has been vindicated.
Crime rates in New York skyrocket.
Peter Parker's life stabilizes
as he's finally able to focus his attention
on friends, family, school, and the work.
But when he witnesses an old man in trouble,
Peter can't help but spring into action
and save the guy's life.
I mean, the man looked just like Peter's Uncle Ben
who died at the hands of a burglar
that Spider-Man let slip by.
He remembers why he became a superhero,
why he can never stop being Spider-Man.
- [Spider-Man] No matter how unbearable the burden may be,
no matter how great my personal sacrifice,
I can never permit one innocent being to come to harm
because Spider-Man failed to act,
and I swear that I never will.
- It's a really simple straightforward story
that was beautifully drawn and well-written.
Stan Lee's dialogue feels real and personal.
You can tell that he was written from experience,
not because he's secretly a costumed vigilante,
although I don't know that for sure.
No, it feels real
because Stan also struggled with his own doubts
as a comics writer.
In the last Spider-Man video,
we talked about how psychiatrist Doctor Fredric
were the one on a rampage against comic books.
Comics went from a cultural phenomenon
to a medium that was looked down upon
in the eyes of the public.
An entire medium was seen as being harmful
for society in general and children in particular.
Amazing Spider-Man number 50 even features a psychiatrist
analyzing Spider-Man the same way
Wertham analyzed superhero of his day
like Batman and Robin.
Because of Wertham's crusade against comics,
publishers took a massive financial hit
and were collapsing left and right.
Only a few were able to barely stay afloat,
but that wasn't even the worst of it.
Being a comics creator was now something to be ashamed of.
Much like Spider-Man,
comics publishers were seen as a public menace.
In the case of Stan Lee,
he was just about through with the job.
You can so clearly hear Stan's voice in Peter's speech
when he decides to give up being Spider-Man.
Just as Peter Parker was a young teen
when he became a superhero,
so too was Stan when he got his start writing comic books.
Lee was only 17 years old
when he started working at Timely Comics,
which would later evolve into Marvel.
He was born Stanley Martin Lieber
but chose the pseudonym Stan Lee for his work in comics.
He wanted to save his real name
just in case he ever published novels someday.
In essence, Stan Lee was to Stanley Lieber
what Spider-Man is to Peter Parker,
a name he operated under
for a job that gave him nothing but unhappiness
during that period of time anyway.
Stan Lee always seems to be having a lot of fun nowadays.
- [Scott Voiceover] Hey, just wanted to let you guys know
that I recorded this video a month ago
before all the different articles started popping up
about Stan's troubles with fraud and elder abuse
and being picked apart by vultures.
I just didn't want you to think
that I was blind to any of that.
It's just I was uncharacteristically ahead of schedule
with this video and I am paying the price for it.
I have learned my lesson,
and I will never be productive again.
- Peter's comments about abandoning Spider-Man
by putting away his toys and becoming a man
could be read as Stan contemplating dropping his alias,
getting out of the childish comic book industry
and finally becoming Stanley Lieber, novelist.
It's no doubt that quitting would be the easier thing to do
than persevering in a culture that looked down on comics.
Just get out for his own sanity.
He was close to that edge,
close to putting costumed superheroes behind him for good.
As the legend goes, according to Sean Howe's Marvel Comics:
The Untold Story quote, "In 1961, Stanley Martin Lieber
"was pushing 40, watching the comic book industry,
"in which he'd toiled for over two decades, fade away.
"Recently forced to fire his staff of artists,
"he sat alone," end quote.
Marvel Comics was failing.
Legendary artist Jack Kirby described the company
as quote, "On its ass, literally, and when I came around,
"they were practically hauling out
"the furniture," end quote.
Their biggest competitor, DC Comics,
was enjoying a bit of a superhero revival
with the relaunched versions of the Flash
and Green Lantern and the surprise hit
of their new Justice League comic.
Marvel wanted to copy the success
by launching new superheroes of their own,
but Lee was fed up.
He went home to his wife Joan
and proclaimed that the day had finally come,
the day where Stan Lee would quit writing comics.
But Joan nudged him to try writing one last superhero story.
- When Stan was almost ready to quit doing comics,
he decided that that was enough,
that's when I said to him, "No, do it your way, sweetheart.
"Do it exactly your way."
- And right he did.
In 1961, a million thoughts and ideas later,
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby unveiled 25 pages
of a new superhero team known as the Fantastic Four.
What's interesting about this story,
aside from all the stuff we already said,
is that this wasn't even the first time
that Peter Parker gave up on being Spider-Man.
That happened already only 18 issues into his series.
Very similar circumstances led him to throw away his tights
but only for about two pages.
He doesn't even leave his house
before realizing that he shouldn't quit.
He makes his big declaration, goes downstairs
to get a pep talk from Aunt May
and decides to continue being Spider-Man after all.
This version is much more similar
to the story of Stan Lee marching into his own home
and announcing his resignation
before quickly being turned around by Joan.
Amazing Spider-Man 50, in contrast,
operates as a story that takes this idea further.
It's Stan imagining what it would be like
to actually leave it all behind,
truly experience life outside of comics
instead of just talking about it.
But at the end of each story,
Peter Parker's and Stanley Lieber's,
they both learned to fully embrace their alter egos
and make an impact in the world.
Spider-Man was back for good
and so Stan Lee.
- [Interviewer] Who's the best-looking man
you've ever seen? (laughs)
- Stan Lee.
- [Interviewer] I just want to warm up with that.
(Joan laughs)
- Of course, Stan Lee,
the nicest man I've ever known.
- Once again, I want to give a huge shout-out to Sal
from ComicPOP for voicing Peter Parker, Spider-Man
in this video and the last video we did about Spider-Man.
He really crushed it, really knocked it out of the park.
Please go check out ComicPOP.
They make incredible videos over there.
Really fun, really entertaining stuff.
If you haven't seen 'em,
it's definitely worth a look.
Let me know if you guys like analyses like this,
and we can do some more of them in the future.
But in the meantime, if you want more about web things,
here is Squarespace. (laughs)
I've undermined the entire series tone I've had
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In fact, just to make it even easier,
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When you're ready to check out,
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I want to give a huge thanks
to everyone who supports our videos
over on Patreon especially Cristoffer Lange,
Sonali Manka, Everett Parrott, Elizabeth Moncel,
and the rest of the wonderful nerds
who, for some reason,
want to see me continue to make videos.
It's very nice of you, and I appreciate it,
and you're lovely.
Click or tap right here to watch our first video
in this three-part saga about how Spider-Man
may have secretly been Marvel's perfect horror monster.
It's kind of a weird concept that's a lot of fun.
I'll see you wonderful nerds next week.
Until then, my name is Scott
reminding you to read between the panels
and grow smarter through comics.
See ya.