Re: Was Spider-Man an Angry Young Man?

Tom Russell wrote:
> Some thoughts to provoke discussion.
>
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=LR2inTAuswM
>
> ==Tom Russell

I think you take this way too seriously.

A lot of what you point to in your video are more plot devices than
character development devices. Back in those days it has become pretty
obvious that Stan "the man who brought you Robert Bruce Banner" Lee was
having a terrible time keeping things straight as to who was what and
what direction the characters were going in. I'm pretty sure Stan
intended Spider-man to be a troubled teenager and that came out
confused sometimes because troubled teenagers tend to be far more
confused than they know. I know because I used to be one and have been
a parent to three of them. Teenagers tend to be loaded with anger as an
added feature.

Another problem that Lee had was that he couldn't write female
characters to save his life. Betty Brant was a horribly written
character (as was Susan Storm) and anybody that would have had to deal
with a romantic interest in her would have been driven mad. The best
thing that ever happened to Peter was breaking up with Betty Brant.
Having said that, Gwen Stacy was poorly written too and that was why
they had to kill her off. They tried to make Mary Jane into what Gwen
should have been from the start, but even that didn't work too well. A
guy who has to deal with women like that in his life is going to have
issues.