There are emotional moments in every film you
see it’s not hard know when the film-maker wants to illicit an emotional response
from the watching audience, the tone changes the music softens a lively character
onscreen will now become solemn/romantic depending on the situation.
For comic
book writers and artists however, they have to work harder to convey the weight
of emotion the character is experiencing and to illicit that emotion in the
reader in order to get us to empathise with what we are reading on the page.
After all they can’t rely on soft music or a subtext of “ok feel sad here”.
One of the best books if not the best at managing
to put the readers through the mire along with the titular character are the
Spider-Man titles. For years readers of all ages have maintained a relationship
with Peter Parker and the trials and tribulations of his life sharing with him
the triumphs and success's and yet additionally being able to empathize with
him when things don’t quite go too plan.
All Comic books have had emotional story lines that
resonate with readers, it just seems the Spider-Man titles get the emotion
across better than most. The following list is just a snippet of the most
emotional moments within the long history of the character some iconic some
just pure raw emotion.
The Kid who collects Spider-Man. (Amazing
Spider-Man #248)
Written by Roger Stern and Pencilled by John Romita
Jr in January 1984. This story quite rightly makes the top ten. An extra bonus
story in this issue after the main story “The Kid who collects Spider-Man”
tells the tale of Tim Harrison. A young kid who appears to be Spider-Man’s
biggest fan. Alerted to Tim by a column in the Bugle by Jake Conover, Spidey
decides to pay Tim a visit and spends a few hours with him explaining how he
got his powers why he became a super-hero the lessons he learned about power and
responsibility. He even reveals his secret identity to Tim at one stage after
the boy asks him who he really is. It’s a bittersweet tale as it gives the
reader the opportunity to place themselves in the role of Tim before the sting
in the tale is revealed at the very end where we discover that Tim is dying
from a Terminal illness and his last wish was to meet Spider-Man and have a
conversation with his hero. The emotional aspect of this story has made it an
iconic tale with many people naming it among their favourites.
This story was also the inspiration for an episode
of the 90’s animated series Spider-Man Cartoon.
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