Amazing Fantasy #15 Review

A look back at the origin story of the amazing arachnid.

Hopefully the criminal Spidey’s carrying never escapes jail, because the whole secret identity thing is out of the bag now. (Also, props to the legendary Jack Kirby for this iconic cover.)

By Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Published by Marvel Comics. All images fair use.

First known as Amazing Adventures (a dull if adequate title), then Amazing Adult Fantasy (a title that could definitely give off the wrong idea), and finally Amazing Fantasy (a nice balance), this comic was a haven for the sort of weird sci-fi and fantasy stories that Marvel was so fond of in days of yore. Its final and most famous issue, #15, was no different, but it also introduced us to a bright young man from Forest Hills, Queens, who’d soon become known the world over as Spider-Man.

Unless you live under a pile of rocks heavier than the mountain range that the Hulk braced in Secret Wars, you’re probably familiar with Spidey’s origin story: Bitten by a radioactive spider, high school wallflower Peter Parker is blessed with incredible powers. His first inclination is to make money off of them, so he signs up for a wrestling competition and easily wins. The fame gets to his webbed head, causing him to forgo stopping a crook running into an elevator. Not long after, Peter discovers that his Uncle Ben was shot and killed by some lowlife — a lowlife he goes after as Spidey, only to find it’s the same crook he could’ve stopped earlier. A tragedy indeed, one that teaches Peter…