Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse is an amazing movie. If you haven’t seen it, go, see it now. Seriously, close your browser and go to the movies. It will be worth it. That said, once I saw it, I just HAD to draw every Spider-person I remembered. Ok, so I just drew 7, but they are amazing. Spectacular. And quite friendly, to be honest. So, without any spoiler (as at least three of these are not the versions that we see in the movie), here are my favorite Spider people.
Of course, the very first one had to be Peter Parker. We all know him. Shy nerd who became a hero after being bitten by a radioactive spider. “With great power comes great responsibility” and all that. I think it’s impossible not to relate a bit to Peter, and the terrible Parker Luck. But more importantly, to the fact that Peter, no matter what, NEVER gives up. He is the embodiment of “Never give up, never surrender”, and we all love him for that.
Sure, he has had his low points (We do not talk about One More Day in this house), but he is still the hero that taught us that no matter how down we are, there’s always time to do the right thing and help others.
It took me a while to warm up to Spider-Gwen, then Spider-woman, now Spider-Ghost. I adore the design, I think the costume is amazing and the concept of a Gwen Stacy who was bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter is quite intriguing. It was just that her comic… never resonated with me. The changes made to her reality didn’t ring true to me and thus, I kept just reading her when she made guest appearances in other comics. I absolutely fell in love with her in the movie. Her movements, her personality, her everything that I can’t write because spoilers. I’m quite glad her name is no longer completely associated with “That one girl that Peter loved and accidentally killed and who had two kids with the Green Goblin”.
Peter Benjamin Parker, or the Spider-man of a reality where instead of selling his marriage to Mephisto, he let Aunt May die, and divorced M.J.
I love him. I mean, it’s not just the fact that he has the same old sense of humor of our Peter, or that he didn’t do a completely stupid thing by selling his marriage to the devil. It’s… everything. His Dad-bod. His general deprecation of the whole thing. The fact that despite everything, he keeps trying to be a hero, and do the right thing.
Also, the animators nicknamed him “Burrito Peter”. How can you not love a Spider-man who is named Burrito-Peter?
I met Miles Morales a bit late. I wasn’t a fan of the Ultimate line, so I never read his original run. And then I was a bit overwhelmed with all the Spider titles after Secret wars. It wasn’t until Champions when I get to meet the amazingness that is Miles, and his whole supporting cast.
And I get why people don’t see how he’s important at first glance. It’s not just that he’s the first african-american Spider-man, nor that he’s the first Puertoricean Spider-man (not the first latino Spider-man, more on that below), but that he’s the one that embodies the fact that ANYONE could be Spider-man. That one of the wonder of Spider-man is that we can’t see any of his skin, so for the Marvel Universe random kids? Spider-man is everyone. And I love him so much for that. (Also, for his amazing friendship with Kamala Kahn. But we will talk about Kamala in a different post one day)
My introduction to Peni Parker was the movie. However, I wasn’t that impressed by her at first because she seemed too anime. And well, when I read her comics… she was still too anime-focused (seriously, Gerard Way basically wrote a Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic with Spider-man characters) but she was also kind of awesome. I loved her serious personality, her reasons to be on the suit, and how her relationship with Sp//dr was portrayed. Then I went to re-watch Into the Spiderverse and I found more things to like about her, even if I wish they had left her original design (I understand why Sp//dr changed, but she shouldn’t have to change too) and thus I drew her as she originally was created.
Miguel O’Hara was my first alternative Spider-man. And he’s still my absolute favorite, no matter how many other amazing Spider-men and women come down the pipeline.
See, he was incredibly arrogant, sarcastic, caustic even. Created by one of my favorite comic writers of all time (Peter David). And he was mexican. Well, half-mexican, half-Irish (thus the first latino spiderperson) which always made me wonder what his tolerance to Tequila was. Even better, his costume was a direct reference to his heritage (Even if back then we didn’t quite celebrated Dia de Muertos like that). How couldn’t I love him. I still miss the 2099 line. Sure, Miguel is still around, not with Lyla unfortunately, not even in the future as last I saw him he was in the present. But I do miss all the wacky adventures he got into back in the future that is closer every day.
I have no idea what I was expecting of Spider-man Noir. But whatever it was, he blew every expectation away. Both in the movie (where he is impossible to miss due to his quite noirish appearance), and in his comic that is to be honest, one of the best re-imaginings of Peter Parker in a different time. Of course, I ended up loving his aunt May even more (Seriously, aunt May organizing speeches against the capitalism and the corruption? I want that comic!), and the whole grittiness of seeing crime in the Prohibition era made the comic even more interesting. I wish there was more of him. Much, much more.