Spider-Man Back in the Day

With a new issue of Amazing Spider-Man hitting the shelves tomorrow that will take the status quo of the series backwards by roughly 30 years, I figured I’d do the same.

In 1977, Marvel Comics was terribly hip and cool. They were publishing the best X-Men, Daredevil and possibly Avengers comics that the company would ever produce while simultaneously putting great magazines on the market. Stan Lee was operating as a kind of media relations guy in Hollywood spearheading numerous projects, only some of which saw the light of day.One of those projects is the Spider-Man live action TV series. While nowhere near as successful as the Incredible Hulk series, it was nevertheless entertaining and still holds onto the 1970’s with white knuckled fury. The TV series featured Peter Parker working at the Daily Bugled under gnarled boss J Jonah Jameson and while no real super villains reared their heads, it did portray Spider-Man as real-to-life as possible (much like the Hulk series)

And you cannot beat that bass.

Stan wasn’t satisfied with the results, preferring the absolutely bonkers Japanese program to the hyper-realistic American TV series. While the program ran from 1977-79 with many devoted fans who still hold a candle for star Nicholas Hammond, many viewers seeing it today will wonder if I’m for real.

Just for a reality check, here’s a clip of the Japanese Spider-Man series.