To the Editor (01-Jan-2003)

 In: Letters > Editor > 2003
 Posted: 2003
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)
From Keegan

Dear Spiderman:

My name is Keegan, i'm am six years old and I live in Dallas Texas. I was wondering if I could become your sidekick and also become Spiderman, because you help so many people. I know that you are busy, but when you get a chance please send me an e-mail and let me know if I can help.

Of course! But there's just one teensy tiny thing you need first. You'll need to be bitten by a radioactive spider.

Why don't you go ask if mom or dad has a particle accelerator you can borrow. Now, remember that this is secret stuff, so don't tell them why you need it. Then, you're going to need a spider. Big or small, doesn't really matter. I recommend not too venomous, remember, it's going to need to bite you!

OK, zap the spider, do the bite thing, and drop me another email once you're conscious again.

Looking forward to working with ya, it's gonna be great!

From Mrs. Patterson

To the site editor. Our family was recently struck by an unfortunate accident. It appears that my son was playing some sort of game which involved putting a large funnelweb spider in the microwave. He came out of his coma three days ago, but is still not capable of saying anything other than "Spiderfan... Spiderfan..."

In desperation, I searched the internet for any reference to this term, and came across your website. It seems quite unlikely, but is there any chance you can shed some light on this tragic event?

Please refer to our FAQ (list of frequently asked questions).

From Clinton

I'm a big Spider-Man fan, which I'm sure you are (rock on!). Well, I was wondering if you had a scan or something of the final page in Amazing #300 you could email me. Its the page with Peter taking pics of MJ, but still feeling down, so she takes her top off to cheer him up. I have a friend who's a red head and I think she would get a kick out of it. If you can help me, thanks a lot.

Heh, the final page actually features a topless Peter, but not MJ. I think you're referring to page 17. This has the gratuitous sexual reference to which you refer. However there is no actual picture of MJ topless, sorry - just a shot of her blouse hitting the floor.

Perhaps you could try The Amazing Playboy Magazine #300?

From Rick

If someone wants to make a home-made Spidey-costume, then here are some tips:

You need a red sweater, blue or darkblue tights, a black and blue textile marker, a scizzor, some sewing stuff and a other red sweater to make a mask. The first thing to do is to draw a spider with the black textile-marker on the frontcenter off the red sweater and some spider-webs around it. Then draw a bigger spider behind the sweater and draw some spider-webs above it. Then draw some spider-webs on the arms of the sweater. Then get your scizzor and cut a head out of the other red sweater and sew it together. Then you need your black textile-marker again to draw eyes on the mask and spider-webs around it. Then cut out some eyes of the mask. Then you will have your very own HOME-MADE SPIDEY COSTUME!!!!

Awesome! You didn't happen to do any costuming work on that seventies live action Spidey TV show did you?

From Ben

How can I authenticate a "Stan Lee" signature?

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Look kid, I sent you that check to pay for that copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 you're gonna send me... so just tell me, did the bank cash it or not?

From Gaston

I am Dr. Gaston von Glutz from Switzerland. It's a relatively rare surname (< 10 males in Switzerland), so I was very pleased to see that Dr. Kurt Von Glutz plays a role in the story. I would be much interested to learn how this happened? Thanks a lot for your interest.

Regards Gaston von Glutz, Ph D.

Well, the details are rather tricky, so I won't confuse you with them, but when comic writers need a name for a story - they either take a name from somebody they know, or from somewhere they've seen, or else they make one up.

The odds of us actually knowing the details of how any particular name was chosen for a comic book story are infintesimal. The only way we could ever know is if somebody wrote us a letter and said "Hey, I know where that comic book name comes from". Like that would ever happen!

From Greg and Annie Herd

I enjoyed reading about Aura and Override on your website.

You see, my name is Greg Herd and my wifes is Annie. We have a house on Alda Dr in St. Remy. We are the people that the characters are based on. Todd DeZago has been a friend of mine for years. One day I asked him to write us in. Six months later I received 4 issues and a script for the next.

Appearance:

Greg:
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 170
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: brown
Features: Scar on forehead over right eye from car accident.

Former occupation: Computer systems specialist
Citizenship: born in the USA
Relatives: 1 sister
Education: University educated

Annie:
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 132 but she thinks 120 (ha)
Eyes: blue
Hair: Blonde (out of costume) Black (in costume)
Features: Some freckles when not in costume.

Former occupation: Secretary
Citizenship: born in the USA
Relatives: 2 brothers and 2 sisters
Education: some college.

We now have two daughters under 7 years old. Once Todd stopped writing the comic, I lost track of what happened once Override became Shadrac. It would be great if you could tell me which issues Shadrac was in. I would love to see what happened to our characters.

Ain't that freaky! Thanks for the info Greg, we'll try and get a Shadrac profile into our pending queue. In the meantime, you don't happen to know anyone named von Glutz, do you?

From Anders

In the Characters Section you have listed Ben Reilly as one Spider-Mans deceased allies. That makes me wonder. According to the Jackal, only the incomplete clones were turned into "flour" when killed. Ben Reilly was, as far as I know, a "complete" clone and therefor it can't be him killed by the Green Goblin. (When he dies, he turns into "flour")

Why not add that to his charactersheet? Just to spice things up?

Spice it up? Is that what you guys do for fun over in Sweden - chip in fifty bucks each and purchase a 200kg can of finest quality worms - then dare each other to open it...?

Sorry my friend. But Ben is the clone, he snuffed it, and now he's a big pile of premium grade clone-mix on the floor of issue #75. End of story, straight to bed!

Spice it up. *Pah*.

From CraziBoo

I CURRENTLY HAVE IN MY POSSESSION A SPIDER-MAN 1994 FIRST EDITION HOLOGRAM CARD. IT IS #2 OF 4 IN THE SET FEATURING SPIDERMAN. I AM NOT A COLLECTOR OF THESE CARDS AND WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU THINK I SHOULD DO. SHOULD I TRY TO OBTAIN THE OTHER THREE TO COMPLETE THE SET? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. LIKE I SAID I AM NOT A COLLECTOR AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE BEST OPTION WOULD BE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Hologram cards... gooooddd... mmmmmmm... must buy more....

From Candice

My sons birthday party is tommorrow... I Know you asked not to get refferal questions, BUT PLEASE! I have been desperate to find someone to make a call to my little spidey guy tomorrow as spiderman... I know it will be a paid phone call... but if you know where I can go...

Sure! Just let me figure out the time-zone difference from New Zealand, and you'll have a sleepy Spider-Man with a Beatles accent (I was born in Liverpool, believe it or not) wishing your son a happy birthday via collect toll-call from the other side of the world.

But don't blame me if he doesn't believe I'm the real Spidey!

From ToonTeen

What's that backpack he's wearing?
Is it an extra supply of web?
There could be web material in it.
And how come you won't put people in touch with the Marvel staff?

Well, it's never polite to pry into the contents of a super-heroes backpack, but as a dedicated member of the investigative press, perhaps we can reveal some facts... purely in the public interest.

Contents: Handkerchief. 2 x Peanut Butter Sandwich (squashed). Victoria's Secrets Catalogue (Summer 1999, well-thumbed). Cellphone. Wallet (low on cash). Deodorant stick (super-hero strength). Oh, and his clothes, of course, so he can change back to Peter Parker.

As for why we won't put people in touch with the Marvel staff? Because we can't... they clearly live on another planet. Didn't you read the clone saga?

From David

I just want to point out that Lord of the Rings is not a trilogy in the sense that each book is a self-contained story but when combined with the other two creates one whole big epic. In fact Tolkien actually wrote LOTR as one big story but his publisher/editor thought that a 1000+ page book was too much and persuaded Tolkien to allow them to publish it as 3 separate books which he reluctantly accepted.

Do you know which previous attempt at addapting LOTR was? I know of the animated, unfinished Ralph Bashki directed one which I've seen and I thought it wasn't bad. I know of another one which definitely wasn't as good called Return of the King, again animated but done by someone else and worst of all it doesn't even continue from the same spot when the Ralpha Bashki one ends.

While we're talking about good sequels...how about Toy Story 1 & 2. I think they're both equally great in their own ways. The first one took a good idea and fleshed it out with great characters. The second one had a different story but one which logically fit within the world which was created by the first movie. I actually find it hard to choose one over the other as my favourite but if I had to choose, I think I'd go with 2 just because of the fantastic intro and 2 Buzz Lightyears.

You're quite right about Lord Of The Rings not being a true trilogy in the classic "hey, that movie was popular, I wonder if we can squeeze another movie or two out of the concept".

In fact, that's pretty much my point. The best follow-on films seem to occur when the entire set of movies is concieved as a whole. The Back To The Future trilogy is another case in point. And that's why my hopes for Spider-Man are relatively high... because the entire focus from the start was to create a sustainable sequence of films of consistent quality.

Clearly, there are examples of the other kind of sequel being of equal or better quality than the first - your Toy Story 2 is a great example. Terminator 2 would clearly be another. But they are, sadly, in the minority. I wonder how many people paid to see Blair Witch Project 2 at the movie theater!

 In: Letters > Editor > 2003
 Posted: 2003
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)