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Who turned Spider-Man into the pop culture icon he is today?

Started by Hepcat,

Who was chiefly responsible for turning Spider-Man into a pop culture icon?  

174 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was chiefly responsible for turning Spider-Man into a pop culture icon?

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23 posts in this topic

Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted

Would Spider-Man have become the pop culture icon of today had John Romita not taken over the artwork from Steve Ditko in mid 1966? John Romita gave Spider-Man a more robust, all-American look in contrast to Steve Ditko's willowy, bookish rendering of the web slinger. And with all due respect to Ditko fans, Steve's subsequent work on Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Creeper, Hawk & Dove, Shade the Changing Man, etc. clearly didn't set any sales records.

 

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Mephisto

Mephisto

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Posted

I went with Stan as he is probably the one who pushed the other projects outside the comic medium. It seems that that general public know the most about characters that had popular TV shows in the past. Before the X-Men movies I'm not sure how many people over 30 would know who Wolverine even is despite being one of the top 5 characters in comics.

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piper

piper

Posted
Posted

Of the three, I would say Stan!

 

However, his popularity seems to have grown exponentially as a result of the 3 Spider-man movies. I was walking around a kid's indoor amusment park yesterday. I saw Spidey t-shirts, running shoes, ice cream etc...

 

So my vote is for Avi Arad!

 

 

 

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Mac Man

Mac Man

Posted
Posted

We did. No hero goes anywhere without us: the fans! Why do you think those guys are always thanking us?

 

:grin:

 

I love John Romita's work, don't get me wrong. I only place him second to Steve b/c Steve started the whole phenomenon. Bear in mind, however, that Spidey was well into the national spotlight while Steve was penciling our favorite webslinger.

 

But as Mephisto pointed out, Stan's the one responsible for Spider-Man and ultimately for breaking the mold altogether. So my vote goes to him.

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jimjum12

jimjum12

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Posted

Who turned Spidey into a cultural icon? I must confess it was ME. I still remembr the day when I first saw Amazing Fantasy 15 back in '62.I was three and I had never seen anything so cool in all my life.I toddled away from home on a cross country mission buying up ALL the copies of AF 15,thereby assuring a sell out .That gave Stan the justification for publishing ASM #1.I STILL HAVE most of those copies,only selling one when I need the money.Well,there you have it,the REST of the story...GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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jimjum12

jimjum12

Posted
Posted

I chose Lee in the survey because he was the marketing force behind THE HOUSE OF IDEAS,but one should not be too quick to underestimate the role that Ditko's quirky everyman style contributed towards making ASM such a crisp unique breath of fresh air.GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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trmoore54

trmoore54

Posted
Posted

Stan Lee probably deserves most of the credit in creating this new type of anti-hero, very much in contrast with Superman and Batman and the other super-heroes that preceded him...let's face it, it was a brilliant understanding of what the comic reader was yearning for...a very real person, in this case a teenager with all their inherent problems, saddled with tragedy with first the loss of his parents and then his beloved Uncle Ben...as I've said before, Peter Parker/Spider-Man felt like a 4th brother to me and most of my other comic-lovin' buddies...

 

Spidey remained in the public consciousness through cartoons and the on-going publications but I think all the people like me, who became fathers with families and maintained their love for the character passed this along to our kids so that when the first movie came out it (and that they did a great job with it) was virtually a guaranteed blockbuster...

 

As they say, the rest is history (with a rich heritage!)

 

I echo the sentiments re. Ditko...it doesn't matter to me that his work paled in comparison after moving along from Spidey and then to DC...to me, his Spidey is the definitive Spidey and seared into my memories for life! (thumbs u

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piper

piper

Posted
Posted
Stan Lee probably deserves most of the credit in creating this new type of anti-hero, very much in contrast with Superman and Batman and the other super-heroes that preceded him...let's face it, it was a brilliant understanding of what the comic reader was yearning for...a very real person, in this case a teenager with all their inherent problems, saddled with tragedy with first the loss of his parents and then his beloved Uncle Ben...as I've said before, Peter Parker/Spider-Man felt like a 4th brother to me and most of my other comic-lovin' buddies...

 

Spidey remained in the public consciousness through cartoons and the on-going publications but I think all the people like me, who became fathers with families and maintained their love for the character passed this along to our kids so that when the first movie came out it (and that they did a great job with it) was virtually a guaranteed blockbuster...

 

As they say, the rest is history (with a rich heritage!)

 

I echo the sentiments re. Ditko...it doesn't matter to me that his work paled in comparison after moving along from Spidey and then to DC...to me, his Spidey is the definitive Spidey and seared into my memories for life! (thumbs u

 

 

Ditko's Dr. Strange was pretty good too!

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Fedoraman

Fedoraman

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Posted

Lee - although his self-doubting Spidey gets old very fast, I preferred Ditko's black and white, right and wrong direction my self.

 

Too bad they screwed Ditko out of $$$ and we never got to see what his version of Spidey would do in the 70's...

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Flash105

Flash105

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Posted

DC's rule.

 

BTW, it was Stan Lee's vision and leadership that made Marvel into the power it is. Of course you have to have Ditko, Romita, Kirby, and a whole host of others but you only have one leader and Stan is the Man.

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rodan57

rodan57

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Posted

I agree with those above who say Lee and Ditko. I also believe that it was the embracement of the character by university students and the U.S. soldiers in Viet Nam, in the first two years of publication, that started Spider-Man on its way to pop culture immortality.

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ft88

ft88

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Posted

I always thought Spiderman is an icon today mostly because of the movies. The movies were based on the increasing popularity due to McFarlane and his follow on copycats. Same with Frank Miller and Batman. I won't try and belittle the creation of a character but a revival is just as important. See Fawcett's Captain Marvel for what was once the most popular character in comics and is now a hasbeen. See Captian America for a character who could have icon status but never quite had a Frank Miller or a McFarlane boost.

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