Think of 1966.
The young creators of the comic book superheroes were by then middle-aged, paunchy, with their dreams of glory replaced by worries about the mortgage and dental bills. And one of them was the 52-year-old Jerry Siegel, the Cleveland-born co-creator of Superman.
He and Joe Shuster had sold away the rights to that feature for $130, By 1966, wearied by financial worries and failed lawsuits to regain the rights to his creation, Siegel was taking writing jobs where he could find them. One of those places was Archie Comics.
Artist John Cassone had created the Web in 1942 as a bespectacled criminology professor who prowled the darkened streets in a green and yellow costume, a jingoistic bruiser who tackled brutal, fanged, hatchet-hurling Axis menaces.
In his first recorded adventure in Zip Comics 27 (July 1942), the Web rescued his student Rose Wayne from the Black Dragon, a Japanese torturer. In defiance of comic book convention, Rose immediately recognized her masked professor John Raymond.
Two decades passed. MLJ Comics renamed itself in honor of its most popular character, and then developed an offshoot, Mighty Comics — an awkward attempt to surf the wave of superhero revivals popularized by DC and Marvel.
So in Fly Man 36 (March 1966), in a story written by the pseudonymous Siegel (“Jerry Ess”), Rose and John are revealed to be placidly married and the Web is long retired. The series turns on the fact that he wants to return to a life of adventure while his wife is determined that he stay put.
In his teens, Siegel had co-created the world’s most influential superhero, a multi-media superstar who proved to be a money machine for his publishers. In his 50s, eking out a living as a freelancer, buffeted by a string of defeats, the embittered Siegel was writing about a superhero long past his prime who daydreamed about recapturing past glories.
Somewhere beneath all that heavy-handed humor sits a sad irony.
Michael Uslan replied, "I developed The Web as a live action feature film in the early to mid/80’s. We had just completed the second draft screenplay and had a greenlight to go into production when the company financing it went belly up."
ReplyDeleteJohnny Williams said: Dan, I remember the MLJ comics superhero line with a mixture of thoughts and emotions.
ReplyDeleteI was very much disappointed in This incarnation of Fly-Man having whetted my teeth on the Vastly Superior, earlier version of the same character, The Fly, brilliantly presented by the legendary team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby a few years prior. Almost 'Anything' following 5hat was going to fall short.
Like you said, the line was schlocky and trying to ride on the coattails of the resurgence of interest in the superhero genre.
They mostly did it badly.
The Web Was one exception, for the reasons that you outlined. The idea of a retired, Maybe over-the-hill superhero trying to make a comeback had been sort of explored by DC with Jay Garrick a little bit earlier, but, we never saw Jay on the floor, doing pushups so as to try and get back into fighting form. That Web panel has stuck with me for Years. It was so Real, so.... human. I can't explain it but it made an impact on the boy me sufficient for me to still be thinking about it, and writing about it in 2020.
John David Hall said: Jerry Ess could not stay away from webs. He also pseudonymously moonlighted on British comics’ creation The Spider, who started out as a black-clad crook who could spin webs but turned into a hero with more than an echo of the glory days of Mighty Comics.
ReplyDeleteEdward Lee Love said: Didn't care much for the middle-aged henpeck situational comedy aspect. However, I love his odd costume and going back to his roots as a professor of criminology/psychology. There's potential there for him as a criminal profiler style detective who anticipates and manipulates the criminals ala Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
ReplyDeleteThe Web has always been my favourite MLJ/Archie superhero, of the lot. I love that odd costume, which looks dated. But changing it, I think, would be a dire mistake. It's great! And yes, the henpecked storylines of the 1960's Re: The Web, were so overdone that they became somewhat schlocky, but they were still effective, and fun! I also love the 1940's The Web storylines, and look, wherein his same costume had shades of black shadows running through his costume. The Web, to my mind, is a brilliant creation! -- Phil Latter
DeleteMark Davis said: Brilliant commentary. And it reminds me of how much I want to own and read the issues that feature this storyline. Anyone know exactly which issues contain the aforementioned run?
ReplyDeletePaul Zuckerman said: I never thought of Siegel's work on the Web in that way, reflecting his own disappointing life, but I think you hit it on the nail. Still, I didn't care for the campiness of the stories throughout the entire line. I have a handful of Mighty Comics that somehow eluded the thief that stole over a 1000 of my comics in the early 70s from the basement, leaving only about 70 including the aforementioned handful. The thief didn't want them!!! :) I will have to check to see if any of them had a Web story and give it another read if they do...
ReplyDeleteDavid Brosky wrote:
ReplyDeleteTerrific super hero and a superb post Dan Hagen!