The Other Spider-Clones

I've never been much of a Spider-Man fan. When I was a kid, I remember excitedly playing the Game Boy game and pouring through the random issue here and there, hungrily learning about his world, but I was just a kid then. At that age, if it involved superheroes, I automatically loved it, and Spider-Man was conveniently available, ubiquitous as he was and is.

Since then, however, my interest in the character has been outstripped by my interest in others. In a sense, it's waned. These days, I have no particular interest in the guy. Whatever interest I do have comes stems solely my love for superheroes in general.

And I think I've figured out why. And it's sorta ironic. In the comics, Spider-Man's plagued by unpopularity, but I think in the real world he's a victim of his popularity.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's idea of an everyman superhero who struggles with relateable problems was such a good one that it's been copied. And copied and copied and copied. These days, relateable superheroes who are like you and me are the norm, not the exception.

The problem is, that was Spider-Man's defining trait, his schtick. But it can't he his schtick if everyone else is doing it, too. And while all those characters who follow in his footsteps having something else going for them as well ("S/he's an everyman AND s/he has this or that gimmick..."), Spider-Man wasn't designed that way. He didn't need to be because at the time the relateability thing was unique. But now it's commonplace, making him just some generic superhero. Forget the Clone Saga, these imitators are the clones that really hurt the character.

Or at least that's my perspective, as someone who admittedly hasn't read too many Spider-Man comics.

Then again, I've heard people use the same argument for why Superman is uninteresting. Supposedly, having been the first superhero, he's just a superhero, while everyone else takes the superhero concept and adds something on top of it. Yet, I like Superman just fine. So who knows?