Spider-Man (comics)
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| Format | Guest character | |
| First TFUK appearance | Issue 5 | |
| Final TFUK appearance | Issue 132 | |
Like costume heroes? Confidentially, we in the comic mag business refer to them as "long underwear characters"! And, as you know, they're a dime a dozen! But, we think you may find our Spider-Man just a bit... different!
History
First appearing in the pages of Amazing Fantasy issue 15 
in 1962, Peter Parker was just an ordinary high school student, until he was bitten by a radioactive spider and gained the proportionate strength, speed, and agility of an arachnid! After facing a great personal tragedy, he learns that with great power must come great responsibility, and protects New York City as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spider-Man was an incredibly influential character, blending the traditional feats of super heroics with melodramatic soapy elements to create a flawed and fallible hero with everyday problems, changing the face of comic books forever. Over a sixty year history, Spidey would go on to have an amazing web of spectacular titles to his name.
You've heard of Spider-Man. None of this is new ground. So what is he doing here?
Spider-Man appeared in the robot universe in The Transformers (U.S.) issue 3, which was written by Jim Salicrup (who also wrote issue 4, and scripted issue 2 from a plot by Bill Mantlo). Salicrup was then editor of Marvel's Spider-Man lines, and suggested the guest appearance of Spidey in The Transformers as a sales booster. Hasbro were reluctant to use Spider-Man in their toy-selling comic, seeing it as free publicity for Mattel and their toy-selling comic, so a compromise was reached: rather than feature Spider-Man in his classic red-and-blue outfit, which was readily available as an action figure, The Transformers would feature him in his black symbiote outfit, which he had already ditched in The Amazing Spider-Man issue 258 two months prior. (Although the suit kept coming back to haunt him in the comics, and Mattel eventually made a black redeco of their figure... que sera, sera.)
Spider-Man stories in TFUK
Spider-Man is an unusual part of TFUK; unlike his fellow American comic heroes, he didn't have any stories reprinted under his own banner, and was more of a guest star in other franchises. His first appearance was in a Transformers story, his second was a Spider-Man story rebranded to focus on Iron Man 2020, and his third was produced in-house as a public service announcement in collaboration with the Home Office.
- The Transformers: "Prisoner of War!"
- Iron Man: "Man of the Year"
- "Marvel Comics Present: Children in Danger! Starring the Amazing Spider-Man!"
Spidey also intermittently popped up in cameo roles in Combat Colin.
