Comparison Of Spider-Man And Superheroes

Take a second and look at the most anticipated film releases this year. What would one see? One would mostly see movies such as Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, or the animated feature Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse. Comic Book Superheroes are everywhere in the collective popular culture. Whether they be on printed page or screens big and small, the men and women in tights are almost seen as biblical forces at this point. This could be slightly strange, considering that for a long time, the genre was decried as simply “Kids’ Stuff”. However, the characters and stories in comics have a way of sticking with the reader or viewer, and they can even inspire them to heroism in their own way. Some comic book characters

One such hero is the “amazing”, “spectacular”, “sensational”, “superior”, and “friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man. In 1977, an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was published that featured a plot point involving the villainous Kingpin put an electronic tracking device into Spider-Man’s web-shooters, which are designed to look like bracelets. This miniscule plot point in a throw-away issue of the long-running series got into the hands of New Mexico judge Jack Love, who was inspired by the concept. He went to his friend, a computer salesman and technician, Michael Gross. In 1983, their collaboration resulted in ankle monitor bracelets. These devices are used to track defendants sentenced to house arrest or who are under parole. They work by sending a radio frequency to police if an offender moves out of a preset range. Somehow, the web-head who could never succeed in scientific or personal pursuits ended up helping to create a basic tool used to assist law

However, that did not stop one hero whose mid-forties radio drama helped to combat one of the largest domestic hate groups in American history. That group was the KKK, and that hero was the man of steel, Superman. After Superman’s creation in 1938, he was given a radio show which aired from 1940 until 1951 titled The Adventures of Superman. The show was incredibly popular with children and families, and in 1948, activist and writer Stetson Kennedy approached the team working on the radio show if they would be interested in writing stories that would pit the man of steel against the Klan, with the intent to expose the secrets of the organization that Kennedy had found. The writers agreed, due in part to the Klan being a good villainous force to replace the Nazis, and a sixteen part radio play arc was created called “Clan of the Fiery Cross”. While the KKK is never directly mentioned by name, the implications of a group of men wearing white hoods and crosses being set on fire was about as subtle as a superhero story in the late forties could be. The sweeping arc of the story was essentially to humiliate and expose the Klan’s methods and rituals to the public, and the plan worked. Most people who tuned in found the real life actions of the group