20 Absolutely Masterful First Pages Of Comics

7. Amazing Fantasy #15

Amazing Fantasy 151
Marvel

The first pages to feature each of Marvel's 1960s creations were often a bit pedestrian by modern standards. The first story to feature Spider-Man is a welcome exception, practically a declaration of purpose by Lee and Ditko.

Ditko uses the shadow effect to hint at the grand adventure to come, and Lee's caption, while awkward (there's a typo in the first few words!), is still bold and brassy, actually dissing the whole damn superhero genre just to build up what he's doing. The real brilliance, though, is the decision to start by showing Peter as a victim of casual teenage cruelty. In those days, even Archie Comics wasn't too honest about such teasing, and at DC Comics, all the heroes were idealized adults, secure and removed from such high school politics.

Lee might not have articulated what made Spider-Man "just a bit different," but he didn't have to. Marvel's audience could already see it.

Contributor
Contributor

T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.