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Spider-Man? Spiderman?

Like costumed heroes? Confidentially, we in the comic mag business refer to them as “long underwear characters”! And, as you know, they’rea dime a dozen! But, we think you may find our Spiderman just a bit… different!

I hate it when people mispell “Spider-Man.” A lot of people, even superhero comics readers, consistently spell it “Spiderman.” Can’t they remember a simple hyphen?

Apparently Stan Lee had trouble with the name as well. I just read Spider-Man’s debut from Amazing Fantasy #15 (reprinted in the Marvel Age Classic Origins collection), and I note that Lee spells the name “Spider-Man” twice during the story and “Spiderman” ten times.

I also learned that Spider-Man had a show-business career before he devoted his life to Great Responsibility. I knew about his brief pre-superheroic wrestling career, but I had no idea he made television appearances and became “the sensation of the nation.”

Comments

  1. Steve Pheley says:

    Ahh, that’s nothing. There was also a note at the end of Thor’s first appearance telling the reader to keep reading Journey Into Mystery every month for the adventures of THORR the mighty!

    I don’t know why “Spiderman” bugs me too. It’s odd.

    — 6 August 2004 at 4:04 am (Permalink)

  2. Steven says:

    Ah, that crazy Stan Lee.

    I know why “Spiderman” bugs me—because it’s wrong! Fanboys who’ve read a million issues of Spider-Man comics ought to know better, but they’re often the worst offenders w/r/t this and other spelling errors.

    — 7 August 2004 at 12:29 am (Permalink)