When I was a child, I didn't really understand the difference between Spidey Super Stories and the other Spider-Man titles. I knew that it had the Electric Company logo and that it was ad-free, but I was young enough when I was reading them (6 or 7), that I never fully clued into the fact that they were out-of-continuity books designed for younger readers. I would have been nearly 7 when I got my hands on this book, and I'm 99% sure that it was my first exposure to Daredevil. I was hooked. From the one-page, black and white origin story to the rather fun story involving the Ringmaster, something about Matt Murdock just clicked with me and I've been a fan ever since. There's also a fun Iron Man team-up against the Metal Master. Win Mortimer's artwork is incredibly appealing, and he remains one of the most underappreciated artists of all-time. I've been scooping up back-issues of this series for my own kids to read. I still haven't tracked down a copy of this one. I'm sure I tossed mine at some point in the 80s, when I thought it was a 'kiddie' comic.Monday, January 17, 2011
Memoirs of a Bronze Age Baby: Spidey Super Stories #43
When I was a child, I didn't really understand the difference between Spidey Super Stories and the other Spider-Man titles. I knew that it had the Electric Company logo and that it was ad-free, but I was young enough when I was reading them (6 or 7), that I never fully clued into the fact that they were out-of-continuity books designed for younger readers. I would have been nearly 7 when I got my hands on this book, and I'm 99% sure that it was my first exposure to Daredevil. I was hooked. From the one-page, black and white origin story to the rather fun story involving the Ringmaster, something about Matt Murdock just clicked with me and I've been a fan ever since. There's also a fun Iron Man team-up against the Metal Master. Win Mortimer's artwork is incredibly appealing, and he remains one of the most underappreciated artists of all-time. I've been scooping up back-issues of this series for my own kids to read. I still haven't tracked down a copy of this one. I'm sure I tossed mine at some point in the 80s, when I thought it was a 'kiddie' comic.
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5 comments:
Is this a "re-telling" of Amazing Spider-Man #16, where SM and DD fight the Ringmaster? If so, why didn't they just reprint the original, which was perfectly appropriate for kids?
--Thelonious Nick
Because the intention behind Spidey Super Stories was that, beside being suitable for children, they were easy to read. While Lee and Ditko's Spider-Man isn't as complex and headache-inducing, say, War and Peace, there is a notable difference between them (kids can read them) and Spidey Super Stories (aimed at kids).
I love these Spidey Super Stories. The Mortimer art is a big reason why!
They did a lot of remakes of old stories, just boiling down the vocabulary-- but not just Spider-Man stories either. There's an issue of Spidey Stories that remakes a Captain America and Bucky story from the sixties (the one with the fake fortune teller) only with Spider-Man instead of Cap!
The simplified language does help. As much as I like the Lee/Ditko stuff, the dialogue is a bit 'out there' for a 5 year old circa 2011.
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