My Spider-Man Is Still Out There Somewhere
I’ve been thinking a lot about where I stand with Spider-Man these days, and the answer is actually pretty simple.
I love Spider-Man. I always will.
I can go back to 1962 and follow the character all the way through to around 2007 and feel completely at home. That stretch of comics is my Spider-Man. It’s where the character grows, struggles, fails, gets back up, and keeps going. It’s messy, human, and grounded in a way that stuck with me. I didn’t just read those stories, I absorbed them. They’re part of how I understand the character.
And it’s not just the comics.
The Spectacular Spider-Man is, to me, one of the greatest adaptations of the character ever made. It understood Peter Parker on a fundamental level. The balancing act, the consequences, the sense that being Spider-Man costs something. I didn’t just watch it, I lived in that show for a while. I even co-hosted Spectacular Radio, a podcast dedicated to it. That wasn’t casual fandom. That was deep investment.
The same goes for the movies. Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 still hold up because they understood the core of the character. Responsibility. Sacrifice. The idea that doing the right thing isn’t easy, and it doesn’t always reward you.
And then, years later, Spider-Man: No Way Home came along and, against all odds, hit those same notes again. It respected the character’s history, and it earned its emotional beats. That movie felt like a reminder of why I cared in the first place.
Now, to address the elephant in the room: yes, I’ve heard the name Paul Rabin. Yes, I’m aware of the anger surrounding the character. Yes, I’ve seen the panel that’s become a meme, just his face staring out at the internet. I am vaguely aware of who he is.
But I’m not angry.
I just don’t care.
And I don’t mean that dismissively. I mean that honestly. The current comics aren’t speaking to me, so I’m not emotionally invested in what they’re doing, for better or worse. I’m not following it closely enough to get worked up, and I’m not interested in forcing myself to.
So when I say I’m only vaguely aware of what’s going on in current comics, that’s not me rejecting Spider-Man.
It’s me recognizing that my relationship with the character is already complete in a lot of ways.
I also understand that I’m not the reader Marvel is really aiming for these days, and I’ve made my peace with that. That’s not bitterness, it’s just clarity. Companies evolve, audiences shift, and not everything is going to be made for me forever.
And that’s okay.
I’ve got plenty of other things I enjoy. Other stories, other worlds, other characters that speak to me in the same way Spider-Man once did and, in many ways, still does.
But here’s the thing.
If Spider-Man ever does something that feels true to the character I fell in love with, something that feels worth my time and attention, I’ll be there.
No hesitation.
Because that connection never really goes away.
