After his first appearance with Amazing Fantasy #15, Spiderman finally landed himself a series of his own as a struggling teenage hero who was on his first steps to an EPIC career within Marvel Comics. In Amazing Spiderman #1, we got to see Spiderman’s first “super” villain known as the Chameleon, a spy who was bent on stealing secret government plans. So with Spidey encountering Fantastic Four, capturing the elusive Chameleon, and saving the son of the arrogant Jonah James Jameson, you know that Spiderman was already off to a great start.

Then came the second issue that not only shows us two extra opposing villains, but raises a question about what Stan Lee was trying to get at with this issue. You’ll notice how this issue introduced two extra villains known as the Vulture and Tinkerer for Spiderman to face against. Now comparing these two villains and obviously finding how these two are elderly men who should be in a retirement home, raises the question as to why they are fighting against a teenager. Now I know that the remaining issues that carried on didn’t have a unique coincidence like this one, but it’s believable that some kids began wondering why Spiderman is beating up evil grandfathers. Was this issue trying to explain something else besides the typical hero and villain routine? Was it about the elderly attacking the youth?

Anyways, after Dr Octopus came in within the next issue and b**ched-slapped Spiderman silly (which is exactly what he did), the raising concern of Stan Lee’s first choice of Spiderman villains seemed to be a forgotten memory until reading the series once more.

But, what was he trying to get at and what inspired him to make the second issue?

 I do know that there are some (or many) elderly who are relentless against the younger children and adults, which raises the question if Stan Lee had a creepy old ranting man living on his street that he was afraid of. Or a grandfather/father who gave Stan Lee a hard time because of his childish and immature ideas that obviously made him famous later on. I do know that Stan Lee shared the fear of spies and communism within Amazing Spiderman #1, but do you think he shared a fear for the elderly in the second issue as well?