Arachnophobic Musings
by: The Professor 2 years, 5 days, 7 hours, 16 minutes ago 17
Email Article Print ArticleSomething near and not so dear to my heart: our fascination with the spider in comics
Hello fellow Komikazeers and welcome to another installment from the brain of the Professor. I have a few things brewing for y’all that should pop up in the next week or so, but I wanted to take a minute talk about something near and not so dear to my heart: our fascination with the spider and some other nasties in comics. I’m not talking any specific spider here; no, any creepy spider will do (though I will name names in a minute).
Let me explain. I was born and bred in Philadelphia, city of brotherly love and home of the cheesesteak. Growing up in that metropolis, as you can guess, we didn’t have many large arachnids roaming around our neighborhoods. Sure every once in a while there would be one about the size of your thumbnail or the occasional Daddy Longlegs, but nothing too creepy.
Then I moved to Roswell, New Mexico, the home of the stuff which nightmares are born. In my year plus of the desert sun, I have come across a variety of nasties which if you told me even existed outside of comics and movies, I would have laughed. I have seen scorpions in my bathtub, centipedes that looked like they were from King Kong, an apartment swarming with bees and spiders that looked like they would kill ya if you looked at ‘em funny. Yes. This is my world.
Just a few days ago I saw a tarantula the size of my hand sneaking about amongst the gravel which is my front yard (oh yeah…all the family and friends want to visit now). Needless to say, the chills started in my toes, flowed up to the top of my head and continued playing chutes and ladders up and down for the duration of my paralysis (about 3-5 minutes until I could convince my legs that anywhere would be better then where I was standing). But it started to make me think about comics. Ok, I’m always thinking about comics.
I started to wonder, if I am so afraid of big spiders, why have I been reading Spider-Man since I was five without ever once feeling threatened? Now I know what you are going to say: it’s a comic…of course it wouldn’t freak you out. But, not so fast. I know of a few people who have told me that they have had nightmares after reading certain comics. I even met someone who had bad dreams after reading Venom vs. Carnage. So, it can happen. Why has the “friendly neighborhood spider” never invaded my nightmares? And why are we so darn attracted to spiders in our stories?
Many Native American creation stories have the Spider Mother who gave birth to all living things, but I don’t think that is it. Is this just a ridiculous piece of luck that Marvel Comics just happened upon? Is it that the spider is so far removed from what we would expect from a comic book character that we embrace it for its oddity? If so, wouldn’t the novelty have worn off by now? Is Spider-Man as popular in places with giant spiders? I mean, Deerman wouldn’t quite strike up the same excitement in Pennsylvania!
So I started to delve into the history of the spider in comics as a form of self-therapy and interest. The first thing I thought of was Kafka’s Metamorphosis. I remember seeing an old comic retelling of that classic when I was a kid…long before I would actually read it. That was spooky enough. Not a spider (though what Gregor Samsa becomes has been a topic of great debate), but certainly one great influence on our never ending changelings in the comic world.
The first real spider I found of note was Spider Widow, a super hero that debuted in 1942 (Quality Comics, Feature Comics #57), decades before Peter Parker was even a pimple faced teenager! Was the Spider Widow a hideous maltransformed beast? Well, not quite. She was a beautiful woman, but she did herself up like an old hag of a Halloween witch, and even though she was a hero, her intent was to spook. Think of the Green Goblin meets the Wicked Witch. Oh and by the way, her power? How about the ability to control Black Widow spiders! Now if I was a kid in 1942, that would scare the bejangles out of me! I wouldn’t have worn her Underroos!
I won’t bore you with the complete list of spider-like characters throughout the history of comics here. You can look them up yourself. You can find a villain like the Tarantula, or a hero by the same name. Possibly, you could even find a Tarantula who may have indeed raped young Nightwing!!! You can find Marvel’s Spider-Girl, daughter of Mr. Parker, or you can go to D.C and find their very own Spider-Girl with the long flowing, super powered hair. And of course you can find my personal favorite of the multitude of spider corps: Black Widow. Nuff said.
So why the spider? Why not something else? Why are we going to come face to face with some type of arachnid sooner or later if we regularly read comics? Maybe it is just me; maybe the Roswell sun has just gotten to me. I don’t know. You tell me.
Because reading and writing comics is, well, It’s a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired.
We can only read and write so much before we get around to expressing our fears.
Lets face it, spiders evoke a primal fear in most humans. We react with “flight” before we decide to “fight”. If Peter Parker had seen the spider BEFORE it bit him, the spider would have been smashed and we would have been short some great comics, underwear and movies. (don’t even try to tell me you didn’t want those spiderman PJ’s.)
Coming from your sheltered background up North, you didn’t get the full southern experience of battling bugs from birth. Your battles with grasshoppers, beetles, and cabbageworms left you ill prepared for the comic hordes of arachnids.
You would have learned, Gregor Samsa, was a mere thrown shoe away from shedding his mortal coil. In my old neighborhood, the roaches and spiders gathered on the street corners at night, under the street lights, wearing their pork pie hats and zoot suits and they whistled at the girls as the trudged home from their jobs at the local factories.
Comics can’t ignore spiders because they can’t ignore our every day lives. Our lives with real fears and battles fought late at night when the light is turned on in a darkened room and the creatures of the night dare think it is their world.
So relax, kind Professor, the spiders and creatures fear you more then you fear them, right?
This is what makes Komikazee the most unique comic book think tank on the planet! I love the article and the comments are top notch.
Hmm. Next up, Snakes. *brrrrr*
Lufguy,
You are completley correct. I was extremly sheltered growing up in the north east. Guns and thugs I can handle (maybe that’s why I have such sympathy with guys like The Sandman), but big nightmarish bugs I am still getting used to.
I wonder though if Peter Parker, the young scientist that he was, would have squashed that radioactive spider? My guess is that he wouldn’t, but what do I know. Kind of starts making me think of the whole “fate vs. free will” argument. I’ll save that for another column though.
Curves...what I love about writing for Komikazee is the fact that the commenters often have more insight than the columns!!! So, not only do I get to throw my two cents in, I usually get back many many pennies for my thoughts. Now that’s profit!
Darth...I promise, not more nasty New Mexico critter columns for a while...I just had to get it off my chest. Oh crud...there’s something crawling on my chest!! Get me outta here!!!
Hey Professor,
Great column. I think Lufguy is onto something as far as spiders connecting us to darker aspects of the world around us, but I also think they lend themselves very naturally to the imagination of the comic book. They have skills that are readily adaptable to the idea of super-powers (making web traps out of bodily fluids; fangs that inject paralyzing poisons; some are amazingly fast; others are freakish looking things that seem to have fallen out of science fiction, etc...). Tweek any of those features and you are on the road to creating a super-hero (or super-villain: insert audio clip of evil laugh!). And as you know all to well, Professor… they are EVERYWHERE, so maybe writing about them is our way of thinking we are in control.
The Red Menace makes a good point about control. I maintain that real “control” is an illusion. We can “influence” in many ways but when push comes to shove, what do we really control? Not even our own fears or fascinations, a great deal of the time. We are drawn to the creature like a moth to a flame or so many who can’t keep their eyes off a train wreck or poor anna nicole smith.
All good points. I guess it matters what we define “control” as ultimately. I’ve met people who walk on coals and sleep on a bed of nails and swear they can meditate an illness away. That seems like control to me. As far as outside influences go, until I am standing on the top of the mountain pulling the worlds strings, there is only so much control I’m willing to believe in!
"All good points. I guess it matters what we define “control” as ultimately.” ... “The Professor”
I am a simple man who lives a simple life and a few basic rules serve me well.
I don’t play cards with a guy named “Slim”.
I don’t shoot pool with a guy names “Fats”.
I don’t dispute the meaning of words with a guy named “The Professor”.
I think.... every other day. And I limit the time regardless.
...huff...huff...finally made it over to your column… (Pant)...ok…
Nicely done on the column, it made me recall my psych and anthropology class back when. Basically, I remember that we are all hard wired in some why do to evolution. Our Ancestors ran around and dealt with some horrific stuff through the ages. So now somewhere deep within our genes we have a certain primal fear when it comes to creepy crawlies or the sound of a rattle attached to the end of a poisones snake. If Peter, yes we are on first name bases, had actually seen the Spider coming for him he probably would have moved or tried to kill it. Why? Instinct would have told him to. Yet remember within the tale it surprised him and bit him when he was looking, tricky little thing.
On a side note, if we truly lived in a world where a spider bite or gamma radiation could give you super powers I think I would risk it.
Nice job and thanks for the Nightwing reference. I think I will have to write a column on old D.G. now.
-sk-
Nymph,
So I am a big baby! I save my fascination with the discovery channel! Luckily I cover up my cowardness with my lack of speed. I can’t run very fast, so it always appears that I am not affraid. Yes, I am the one you want with you when the bear starts chasing you down.
-sk-,
Would you risk it if you had to be bitten by a radioactive lion?
Come on Prof, do you really have to ask that?
-sk-
What if you are chased by a Teddy Bear?
You know,
I have a friend who wrote and directed a short film about a killer teddy bear. It was pretty scarey. If one was chasing me, I’d certainly still run.
And if it was Snuggles (aka smuggles), that laudry detergent bear that I have a feeling is hiding feel good drugs in it’s stuffing...I’d run like hades till I hit water (which from Roswell is quite a run)!