Photo, Print, Drawing Spider-man!

Title

• Spider-man!

Summary

• Eleven drawings for Amazing Fantasy #15 comic book pages 1 through 6 and 8 through 12 show the origin story of the Marvel comic book character Spider-Man. Peter Parker, an outcast teenager living with his doting Aunt May and Uncle Ben, is rejected by his peers. While visiting a science exhibit he is bitten by a radioactive spider. He acquires super powers and challenges a wrestler, Crusher Hogan with a disguised identity. Lifting the heavyweight off the ground, he wins. Realizing that his powers are those of a spider, Peter designs a spider costume, invents a spider web device and names himself Spider-Man. In part 2, pages 8-12, Spider-Man entertains audiences on the Ed Sullivan television show. He lets a criminal get away, selfishly enjoying the fame that has come with his exploits. When his Uncle Ben is murdered by a burglar, however, Peter, dressed as Spider-Man, tracks the criminal down in an abandoned warehouse. He unmasks the burglar, only to realize that he is the same man who fled past him after his appearance on television. The story ends as Peter realizes that his super powers have come with the responsibility to make the world a better place.

Names

• Ditko, Steve, artist
• Lee, Stan, 1922-2018, author
• Simek, Artie, 1916-1975.

Created / Published

• [1962]

Headings

• -  Spider-Man (Fictitious character)
• -  Criminals--1960-1970
• -  Science--1960-1970
• -  Spiders--1960-1970
• -  Superheroes--1960-1970
• -  Teenagers--1960-1970

Headings

• Comic book illustrations--American--1960-1970.
• Drawings--American--1960-1970.

Genre

• Comic book illustrations--American--1960-1970
• Drawings--American--1960-1970

Notes

• -  Caption label from exhibit of digital copy in "Swann Gallery": First Spider-Man Cartoon. In the opening page of the Spider-Man origin story, Steve Ditko depicts the hero Peter Parker as a social outcast, physically distant from his classmates. The panel on the right signals Parker's future transformation into the Marvel comic superhero. With writer Stan Lee, Ditko created this classic of the comic book's "Silver Age" (1956-1969), an era of superheroes' resurgence in the mainstream comic book industry, following the genre's decline after World War II. Ditko's clean, eye-catching design pulls the viewer into the scene and sets the suspenseful tone for the eleven-page story.
• -  Caption label from exhibit "Collecting Memories": In 2008, the Library received the twenty-four original drawings by Steve Ditko for Amazing Fantasy no. 15, including the Spider-Man origin story featuring Peter Parker, a teenager living with his doting Aunt May and Uncle Ben but rejected by his peers. In the drawing shown here, Parker dresses in the costume he has made and, for the first time, readers can see the intricate webbing and fussy cape-like filigree under Spider-Man's arms. Readers learn that the bookish Peter, with his knowledge of science, invented web shooters and experimented with their use. It is not until a major change occurs at the end of the story that Parker becomes a super hero and learns that "with great power there must also come great responsibility!"
• -  Exhibit caption from "Timely and Timeless," section for Modern Life in Comic Strips: Spider-Man, A Silver Age Classic. Part Two of the Spider-man origin story opens dramatically as Peter Parker, fully transformed from teenage social outcast into superhero, displays his special powers before a television show audience. Combined with writer Stan Lee's text, Ditko's accomplished, realistic drawing and deft pacing of action scenes make the comic book story a classic of the Silver Age (1956-1969). During this period, newly emerging superheroes reinvigorated the mainstream comic book industry, following the genre's post-World War II decline.
• -  Artie Simek was the letterer.
• -  Signed lower right single panel of first page: Stan Lee and S. Ditko.
• -  The lettering for the "Spider-Man!" title is on a photomechanical overlay piece of paper that replaced an earlier concept in which the name Spider-Man was spelled without a hyphen and the letters are filled with a spider web design. For an image of the earlier concept, see LC-DIG-ppmsca-64993.
• -  Inscribed in upper margin of first page: 11. Amazing April '62, v-789, Amazing 15 - p. 1, 6 1/4 x 91/4 - 1 SP.
• -  Stamped on verso of each drawing: Comics Magazine Code Authority approved Mar 6 1962.
• -  Penciled notes to Steve Ditko, partially erased, are in the margins of some of the drawings.
• -  Gift; 2008, (DLC/PP-2008:043).
• -  Published in: Amazing Fantasy, 15 (1962 Aug.), pp. 1-6, 8-12.
• -  no. 1g Exhibited: "Timely and Timeless" at the Graphic Arts Galleries, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2011-2012.
• -  no. 1d and 1j Exhibited: "Superheroes in Gotham" at the New York Historical Society, New York, N.Y., Oct. 2015 - Feb. 2016.
• -  no. 1a Exhibited: "Marvel : The Cinematic Universe" at the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, South Brisbane, Australia, May - September 2017.
• -  no. 1f Exhibited: "Marvel Universe : The Fantastic World of Superheroes" at The Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, WA, April - October 2018.
• -  no. 1a, 1f, and 1k Exhibited: "Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress at the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, NW Curtain, Treasures Gallery, Washington, D.C., 2023.
• -  no. 1f and 1k Exhibited: "Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress" at the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, NW Curtain, Treasure Gallery, Washington, D.C., June 2024 - December 2025.

Medium

• 11 drawings on layered paper board : ink, opaque white, and overlay over graphite underdrawing ; 48 x 38.2 cm. (board)

Call Number/Physical Location

• CD 1 - Ditko, no. 1a-k (B size) [P&P]

Source Collection

• Cartoon Drawings (Library of Congress)

Repository

• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Digital Id

• ppmsca 18747 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18747
• ppmsca 64993 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.64993
• ppmsca 18748 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18748
• ppmsca 18749 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18749
• ppmsca 18750 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18750
• ppmsca 18751 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18751
• ppmsca 18752 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18752
• ppmsca 18753 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18753
• ppmsca 18754 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18754
• ppmsca 18755 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18755
• ppmsca 18756 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18756
• ppmsca 18757 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.18757

Library of Congress Control Number

• 2016687393

Reproduction Number

• LC-DIG-ppmsca-18747 (digital file from original, page 1 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-64993 ((digital file from original, detail of title on page 1) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18748 (digital file from original, page 2 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18749 (digital file from original, page 3 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18750 (digital file from original, page 4 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18751 (digital file from original, page 5 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18752 (digital file from original, page 6 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18753 (digital file from original, page 7 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18754 (digital file from original, page 8 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18755 (digital file from original, page 9 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18756 (digital file from original, page 10 of 11) LC-DIG-ppmsca-18757 (digital file from original, page 11 of 11)

Rights Advisory

• Publication may be restricted. For information see "Steve Ditko Rights and Restrictions," https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/602_ditk.html

Access Advisory

• Restricted access: Materials are served to researchers by appointment only; use digital surrogate to preserve fragile drawings.

Online Format

• image

LCCN Permalink

• https://lccn.loc.gov/2016687393

Additional Metadata Formats

• MARCXML Record
• MODS Record
• Dublin Core Record