The Amazing Spider-Man

The first time I met Spider-Man was at a ShopRite.  I don't remember if he ever said anything, but he was signing comic books in front of the grocery store.  Of course I was way too young back then, and that comic book was lost to history - I would give a lot to get that one back.  

Still, over the years I collected Spider-Man comics, saw him on Saturday morning cartoons (remember those?) and hoped for a better live-action vision of the movie some day.  Until the turn of the century, the closest we got to live action Spider-Man sequences was the Electric Company.  I have NO idea why he didn't talk during the Electric Company episodes, while everyone else could.  He wasn't a mime - it's just that his words appeared above his head in a  word bubble, and you had to read them.  That was the best we had, aside from other odd appearances.  These were okay, but we were holding out for the big one - the great movie we knew Spider-Man could be.


In 2002, that certainly happened - it was a movie we all needed, in more ways than one:  September 11th was just a few months previous, and we needed a hero to step up and take our minds away from things for a few hours.  The first "Spider-Man" movie was fantastic - fans were thrilled to see their hero done correctly on the big screen.  Yes, some parts of the mythology were adjusted.  But the spirit of the comics was there, and we absolutely loved that movie!

What was even better for us was the location we saw the movie - Mommy and Daddy were nearby Islands of Adventure in Florida, where we had just ridden one of the greatest amusement park rides ever made:  The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.  If you haven't been on this experience yet, you simply must.  One day Madison will, and I can't wait to be next to her when we join the webslinger on a thrilling adventure.

Later on in the day after leaving the park, we got to the theater to see the movie.  It was packed!  We sat towards the back, as we always do, and a big crowd was there quite early to see the movie.  There was a bit of waiting, but it was an excited waiting.  All that anticipation to see a blockbuster!

Unfortunately, about two rows in front of us were about four or five teenagers who thought it would be fun to be noisy and mock people.  We were thinking to ourselves, "Oh boy, it's going to be one of those nights when that movie starts."

There were several of us nearby that were planning in our minds just how to get these guys to quiet down if it continued.  Do we just shout something out?  Do we get an usher?  In the area around these guys, a lot of us were contemplating just how to handle the situation.  Don't you just hate that?

That's when Spider-Man came in the theater.  Literally!  He walked in towards the front of the theater to the delight of the crowd.  There were a lot of kids there that night, and he had come to sign autographs and meet his fans.  What a thrill for the kids, and Daddy too!  Kids lined up and Spidey took his time.

The guys started making fun of the situation pretty quickly.  It wasn't heard by anyone up front yet, but we could certainly hear it.  Again, we were thinking about how to deal with this.  And then the big moment happened.  I remember it clearly:

One of these guys called out, "Hey, Spider-Man!  Nice tights!"

The others laughed at his exclamation, but the rest of the theater seemed to quiet down a bit, as they turned to see these jokers nearby us, and this unexpected confrontation.  Were they seriously taunting Spider-Man?

Spider-Man slowly turned his head to face the guys - he had been sitting there talking with a young child, and had to stop for just a moment to deal with some real villains.

As he turned to face them - looking our way - these guys didn't know who they were dealing with yet.  They called out in a mocking tone, "Ooooooooh!"  As if to say, "Oh, we're so scared!"  

The pressure was on Spider-Man now - what would he do?  The answer was quick and decisive.  He turned his head away from these guys, and gestured with his hands to the entire audience, asking us all this simple question:

"How many of you in this theater would like to see these guys kicked out?"

The audience immediately erupted in loud cheers.  It was huge!  An entire theater filled with applause, Spider-Man turned to the guys and waved his index finger as if to say "naughty naughty."  Humiliated at the crowd's response, those guys never made another sound, even after Spider-Man was gone, and all through the movie.  

Spider-Man was a real hero that day!  And of course, the movie proved it further.

One more important reference to Spider-Man, as it relates to Madison:  the last movie Daddy watched in China - before meeting Madison for the first time - was "Spider-Man 3."  It was deep in China and there was only one channel that had anything English playing, so to fill the time I sat on the bed in the hotel and watched Spidey vs. pretty much everybody, as Mommy took a nice, long bath.

So what's up with all the Spider-Man references today?  Yes, another Spider-Man movie came out this week.  We went to see it this afternoon, where he goes to battle against the Lizard.  The movie was good, although not as good as "Spider-Man" or "Spider-Man 2."  

Madison's knowledge of Spider-man is extensive, thanks to Daddy's comics and a few made-up stories.  She's even watched a few key scenes from the first three movies lately - don't worry, Daddy has made sure she hasn't seen anything too scary. 

As you can see here, she met him once a few years ago at church, but was pretty young back then.  Hopefully she'll meet up with him again soon!

She's worn her Spider-Man ring this week - she got it from pre-school.  It was a prize she could pick out of a treasure chest, and she's worn it quite a bit, just like it was a diamond ring or something.

For most of the day, she and her ring were at Ye-Ye and Nana's house with Hannah.  Daddy and Mommy took her cousins David and Jonathan to the movies, while everyone else stayed at home and played.  At night, we had another huge meal together:  Ye-Ye made burgers and we all sat around and talked about Spider-Man and a few other things as well - such as a big hike coming up.  Mommy and Daddy are not going on this hike, but everyone else (except Uncle Dave) is going to hike the Appalachian Trail throughout Georgia.  It's a long distance to walk - in fact, they're expecting it to take a week.  They'll be starting this Saturday at Dick's Creek, and the goal is to make it to Springer Mountain, near Amicalola Falls.  Daddy is dropping them off - and picking them all up:  David, Jonathan, Hannah, Ye-Ye, Nana and Aunt Shain.  It'll be a completely epic journey - hopefully we'll be able to record some of it here!