Lauer, Jonathon, et al. “Why Is Spider-Man So Relatable?” The Nerdd, 3 June 2020, thenerdd.com/2018/12/03/why-spider-man-is-so-relatable/.

In this article by Jonathon Lauer, he talks about how Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created a character that is so relatable than other super heroes who are seen in each panel as tall and muscular adults, while Peter Parker is visualized as a nerdy teenager who as a hero wears gloves, boots, web shooters, and a mask that hides his child like features. He went into detail onto how Stan lee used Peter’s age as an opportunity to add growth in his creation. Most heroes who are teenagers have been used as sidekicks, because most heroes were adults making Spiderman relatable to audiences where you got to see how living a double life impacted him and how the author used this to infuse even more emotion to the story. From the very first comic we see Peter as a struggling student who is trying to help his Aunt pay her bills, do his school work, maintain a job, save people as Spiderman, and try to have a normal life. We as readers, although we don’t have powers, we have been through these problems before, struggling in work, school and family issues. Johnathon showed how Spiderman has become the very best parts of us and even our flaws in comics and fiction.
The reason why I chose this article was because a lot of people don’t know the origins of this character, what motivated him to become the person he is, what were his struggles and why did he decide to become a hero. I agree with how this article goes into detail about how a comic book hero brought so much emotion and what Stan Lee intended to do with this character with only a few pages. Just in the first page of the first Spiderman comic you see Peter’s love for his aunt and his uncle, the pride he takes in his studies, the rejection and humiliation he goes through and his vengeful ego. When he gains powers he uses it for his own personal gain, not caring for anyone except his family; being completely selfish because of the way people treated him, so why is he supposed to care about others. When his uncle was taken away from him he went into a fit of rage and went on a hunt for his uncle’s killer. You as reader can feel his pain, the rage he is feeling, the only few people who were kind to him was ripped away from him. But by the end when he confronts the burglar, he realizes that the killer was the thief he let get away. He no longer felt big and powerful, all he felt was guilt and shame. The article makes you look into the character and what he through day to day, trying to make you understand why it has become so popular. What the article didn’t look into was how he was was before he gained his powers and in opinion I think that’s one of the most important aspects of Peter. You see how his image on the world changes and i wish the article went more into depth on that. But I did like that it explained the other personalities of Peter to people who are fans or who still don’t know why he’s so popular.
A quote that I found interesting was, “There is always a moment where he remembers those he fights for, he remembers why he became Spider-Man, and digs deep to find the power within him to finish the task given him.” I felt that this quote was something we feel everyday, we look back onto why we are doing something and take every strength we have to complete it. Although its just a comic, it tells a story, a lesson, another motivation and the article seems really understand Spiderman.