My first memory of Spider-Man was the Sunday funny pages strip. Or maybe I don’t directly remember it, but I’ve seen a picture of me “reading” it upside down.
[Not pictured: toddler me reading Spider-Man upside down]
The strip ran from 1977-2019 but I don’t think it was very high profile. I don’t remember seeing it our local paper in the ’90s. I don’t get the impression that it was very good. I’ve never heard anyone mention it as essential reading. But, in a way, it was the sweetest thing in comics. From 1986 until the writer’s death in 2018, the strip was a collaboration between Stan Lee and his artist brother Larry Lieber. (Lee’s real last name was Lieber).
Lee famously left the Marvel bullpen to pursue film and TV projects in LA but he never stopped writing Spider-Man. Even though the readership was small, he wrote a little bit of Spider-Man every day. And for the final 3 decades, he shared this job with his brother. Timely/Atlas/Marvel was their family business and I like that they could remain involved on this long-running project
