Hello.

"Spider-Man Reviewed: An Introduction!"

Thirteen. According to some it's an unlucky number. But, for those who grew up as Spider-Fans, it's one of the luckiest numbers of them all; the number of years between issue #1 of The Amazing Spider-Man and issue #1 of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man.

Yes, long ago, before anyone could ever dream that, one day, there'd be such a thing as Spider-Man; The Movie and that it'd break all box office records, there was just one comic of that title. And, of course, before that, there was just one issue of a mag, called Amazing Fantasy, that featured the wall crawler.

In many ways, despite the travails of Peter Parker - Charlie Brown with super-powers - it was the best of times for Spidey. Not having to worry about fitting stories in with the continuity of other mags that starred the web-spinning wonder meant the title could be as spontaneous as it liked. And it often did that in spectacular style; breaking the Comics Code, killing off major characters, giving its star six arms. Clearly, in this frame of mind, there was nothing that could stop it.

In those thirteen years, Web-Head found himself up against a whole plethora of bizarre and mostly deadly foes - not to mention his own tendency to shoot himself in the foot, and Aunt May's endless turns. And it's that first thirteen years (plus Amazing Fantasy #15) that I intend to concentrate on with this site.

So, join me as the masked wall-crawler encounters foes with names like, Dr Octopus, the Green Goblin, Sandman, the Lizard, Mysterio, Kingpin, Electro and.. ...the Kangaroo. And, maybe, somewhere in all those words and pictures of a long ago age, we can find the truth as to just what made those thirteen years so magical. And maybe, in that, we can find a truth about human nature itself.