Before going any further let me just say this and get over my bittnerness. I hated The Amazing Spider-Man reboot. I hated the fact that he gave up looking for Uncle Ben's killer the second Gwen Stacy showed interest. I felt the movie was more of an homage to the Ultimate Spider-Man line, which I thought was a total MTV obnoxious knock off that let me know I was officially getting old because I couldn't contemplate that it took 7 issues to retell what was once a 15 page origin. That being said, I was once in the running to write Spider-Man 4, which was still in the hands of Tobey Maguire till the Disney buyout. Well now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's move on with the lesson shall we,
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| The great Fred Hembeck |
Well Electro's origin is that of a power line worker named Max Dillon, the quiet, reserved type who minded his own business, did his job and looked out for himself. One unlucky night on the poles and he is struck by lightning while clutching a wire during a repair job. In a freakish misplay of nature, Max Dillon is still alive, and his entire body is charged with electricity, he is actually able to manipulate the power, which gives us a great science segue into the study of electricity and Benjamin Franklin's experiments with kites. Weather permitting, a kite flying demonstration can be an interesting respite for the class, even a decorating or extra credit concept can be employed.
Besides the Beatles, Cassius Clay, before he will be known for eternity as Muhammad Ali, wins the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston right down the road in Miami Beach. Advancing the world of military science, the kind of stuff superheroes are made of, President Johnson announces the creation of a new jet plane which can go 2,000mph and achieve an altitude of 70,000 feet. The Space Age is in full swing.
So while Electro charges up across town to prepare for a crime spree, Spider-Man ignores all heists, shoot outs and assorted calls for help in order to get some medicine back to his Aunt May. We see Peter is concerned about the doctor's recent diagnosis. With all the good Peter does for the city and the community as Spider-Man, he is powerless to save his Aunt May. He thinks about his Uncle Ben's death as we discuss the effects of losing a loved one with the class, a topic many of my students unfortunately relate to too early in their lives. We discuss the two directions you have when you experience loss when you're young, either the path of self pity and apathy, or becoming stronger and building a better life as tribute.
Peter is oblivious to his classmates and daily routines as he trudges through his day and rushes out of school to see his Aunt May in the hospital. He learns his aunt will need an operation, a very expensive one to boot. Peter is of course stressed out and hopes he can earn the money with his aerial photography skills. He receives both confidence and comfort from Betty Brant, who was visiting Aunt May in the hospital when Peter arrives, solidifying her spot as our chief love interest.
This situation sets across an interesting question for the class. Spider-Man has all these gifts and powers, why doesn't he just use his powers to rip off some gangsters, or take a few bags of money or gold when no one's looking? The question of morals and ethics come into play in the superhero world. What would you do? Especially when its a family member on the line,
This essay question is their homework assignment.
So its a torrential downpour and Spider-Man is forced to abandon his money making mission. He heads home and mentally wanders into oblivion while he ponders what to do about his Aunt May. Meanwhile, J Jonah Jameson is making a deposit at his bank when Electro attacks, shooting flash bolts at everyone around him like a disco warrior.
Electro taunts the crowd while he continues using his knowledge of electricity to master his powers, controlling the mechanism on the bank vault and even scaling up the side of a building by using electric bolts against the steel pipes like magnets. Jameson gets one look at Electro evading the cops Spidey style and he's convinced that both men are one in the same, and Spidey has taken to extreme lengths for publicity, even inventing his own villain. With a price on his head, catching Electro will help Peter pay off the cool grand for Aunt May's medical expenses.
Spider-Man swings off into battle and spots Electro picking off a safe in an apartment building. After a few wisecracks, Spider-Man goes to tackle Electro and is severly electrocuted in the process. A smoldering mess, Electro leaves Spider-Man for dead and takes off with his new found treasure.
Desperate and defeated, Peter leaves his morals at the door when he manipulates the crime scene to make it look like he was changing to Electro and sells the exclusive photos to Jameson for top dollar, which leads to our repeat discussion of morals and ethics in the case of an emergency. Peter is ashamed of his lie but vows to return the favor to Jameson unknowingly.
Peter is across town, ignoring the story on the radio as he sits with Betty Brant and waits for Aunt May to come through surgery. Once she wakes up, Peter is there to comfort her and heads back off into the fray stress free as Spider-Man in order to finish off Electro once and for all.
Before heading into battle, Peter stops off at a hardware store and picks up rubber gloves and boots. One quick sweep around the class to ask why and get into the discussion of things that conduct electricity. Spider-Man throws a series of metal objects at Electro in order to draw away the fierce attack of his lightning arrows. Everything from ball bearings to steel chairs are hurled as Spidey and Electro brawl WWF style. Peter has to rely on his knowledge of science rather then his Spider-Man powers in this situation, creating the parallels between brains and brawn.
When Spider-Man runs out of metal objects, he hurls a bucket of sand at Electro, which the villain immediately charges up and turns into glass bullets. Swinging live wires at Spider-Man, our hero caroms around the room until he locates his final equalizer, a good old fashioned fire hose. Knowing water and electricity don't mix, Spidey hits the premium blast and Electro is wiped out for the evening. With the cops arriving on the scene, Spidey leaps off and grabs his automatic camera to serve up the pics to Jameson.
Peter reinvigorates his karma by giving his exclusive pic to Jameson free of charge to make up for the trick shots he peddled off earlier. With Aunt May coming out of the hospital, Peter is about to retreat off into the sunset alone yet again, until he is joined for a moonlight walk by..........................Betty Brant :)
With Betty on our mind there is an interesting storyline that expands on her character in the next few issues of the Amazing Spider-Man. This provides a great opportunity to expand on the smaller midpoint elements of our script, where we connect Peter Parker with his hometown. We discuss whether to base most of our story in Manhattan, the main borough of New York and the home of all the skyscrapers, or Brooklyn, which is now the hip city breakaway enclave since the inception of the Brooklyn Nets and the rise of rap mogul Jay-Z
I give the students a choice and tell them their vote must be written in the form of a fictional football team that supporting character Flash Thompson, who will be dating future Bond girl Mary Jane Watson in our class script.
Thanks for enjoying another installment of Comics in the Classroom
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| The latest sketch from Kashiuk, one of the artists on our Kickstarter campaign |
Vocab Word Web
1- Frailties
2- Boosters
3- Vigil
4- Crackpot
5- Smoldering
6- Confident
7- Sheer
8- Influence
9- Prediction
10- Accusation
11- Vigorous
12- Strain
13- Impending
14- Conquer
15- Massage
16- Revitalizes
17- Consolation
18- Collapse
19- Fraud
20- Sensational
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