In the 80's, I started looking around for a costume, figuring there HAS to be one available. I called up a major costume store in New York City called Abracadabra. They said they had two different versions of the costume. In my idealistic youth, I assumed it HAD to be the red and blues and the black costume! I hopped on the 1 train to the Village and gave the conductor $20 to floor the pedal to the metal (ok, I made that part up). What I saw at the store was another disappointment. There were the two suits that could've passed for red and blue pajamas. One had a ski-mask like Spidey wore in the wrestling ring in the movie, but with eye holes. No weblines. The other was mediocre. No black costume. I went home, costumeless.

You see, Marvel had not, at the time, licensed an official costume to any corporation. Yes, there were Spidey-sightings at conventions, but they were sent out by Marvel with custom-made costumes. These weren't available to the public.

So, in the meantime, I painted the black costume logo onto a black t-shirt, a wore that in college to make sure everyone know how cool I was.

The animated series during the 90's brought with it a renaissance of Spidey merchandising - a tremendous action figure line from ToyBiz with all of Spidey's incarnation and villains, party plates, coloring books, electric toothbrushes, bed sheets, and...could it be?? In 1999, I was startled to see the SUIT - the ACTUAL SUIT! It didn't say "SPIDER-MAN" written across the chest. There wasn't any yellow. This was it!

Well, it isn't bad for the money, but the spandex is thin, and runs easily, there's no back logo, and the mask is foam, and more like a hood with strings to fasten it tight, and holes in the eyes and nostrils. There's no gloves. There are no boots. I cut out the whites of the eyes, and used Velcro to fasten cheescloth instead. I used red Totes socks for the boots. Eventually, gloves were released, but they came just up to the wrist, leaving an awkward space. Now if I had a nice pair of web-shooters, they'd fill that gap nicely!

Now, it's 2003. I surf for various costume shops and stumble upon Hollywood-Costumes.com. There's something amazing for sale - the "Adult Ultra Deluxe" costume! The picture posted isn't supposed to reflect the true quality - but even that looked cool! I broke down and ordered it, knowing I won't be getting anything for Christmas...or my birthday!

The suit arrived mid-October. As cool as it is, it's not without disappointments. The good: it's a thick spandex, less apt to run than it's predecessor. The fabric has a nice sheen to it. I'm happy about the color of the blue being darker and deeper than the sky-blue of the previous one. The weblines are thin, black, and raised slightly. The eyes are fabric, with decent visability. There are thin pads on the bottom of the shoes. There's finally a logo on the back - it's a little bit stylized than the original back logo, but that's ok. It's two pieces - the body and the mask. The body zips nicely, and hides under a flap between the red and blue of the back of the shoulders. Everything sounds good.

Now, the bad. Seams started to give as soon as I put it on. Now, granted, I'm at the end of the spectrum for fitting an "extra large" (6' and 44" chest), but I was surprised to see the fabric pulling apart just by walking around. It would be nice if the soles of the boots were thicker. There's no webbing under the arms - ok, I'm a purist. I didn't expect any, but it would've been a real bonus. My biggest gripe, however, is the mask. First, the weblines don't connect. The mask is made up of 4 pieces, and the lines are discontinuous. There's a fold of fabric that sticks out between the eyes. I don't know how that can be fixed, but it looks goofy. Finally, and worst of all, the mask hung loose around my neck, unconnected to the body, leaving a ring of skin visible. I couldn't believe, for the money I had paid, there was no means to attach the hood. My mother-in-law came to the rescue and stiched Velcro around the bottom of the mask and inside the top of the chest.

As you can see in the pictures, it's a nice suit, overalll, despite my gripes. I have finally found the "ultimate" Spider-Man suit, as close as I'm ever going to get to the 100% authentic, straight from the comic. One of my life's goals has been reached. There's nothing better out there...or is there? I did a websearch and found this custom costumer maker on the web. *sigh* That one sure looks good! Maybe if I sacrifice birthday and Christmas presents for the next 10 years???