50 years ago today (more or less), a poorly-selling anthology comic published it’s final issue, Amazing Fantasy #15. That book featured a story about a teen super hero by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. You might have heard of it.

I’ve been a comics fan for most of my 37.997 years, and one of the first heroes that ever caught my attention was Spider-Man. I’m pretty sure my first exposure was a book and record set about Spider-Man and the Invasion of the Dragon Men, which led to a life-long fascination with comics that has cluttered up my spare room with boxes of books, toys and memorabilia and earned me more than my share of strange looks from non-geek types. But, it’s really all worth it, because of the enjoyment I’ve gotten out of reading so many good stories, making some great friends in fandom and the industry, and having the opportunity to meet and talk to a couple of real legends of the medium.

Out there on the internet today there are going to be plenty of heartfelt tributes to Spider-Man and what the character means to people – I’m sure most of them echo my feelings – Spider-Man, above all, is accessible. Sure, he’s got amazing super powers and stuff, but at his heart, he’s just a nerd who tries to do the right thing, and often doesn’t manage it, because the problems of day-to-day life get in the way. Readers can identify with him in ways they simply can’t with guys like Batman or Thor, who don’t necessarily have to worry about making the rent or missing their date with the girl who’s way out of their league because the Shocker’s robbing a bank downtown.

For a variety of reasons, I’m probably not going to be as eloquent as most of those tributes right now, but because the stories really have meant quite a bit to me, it just seemed right to add my voice to them.

Anyway, today, Marvel comics published Amazing Spider-Man #692, the issue celebrating the character’s 50th anniversary:

It’s a pretty great book, with a main feature from Dan Slott (one of my favorite writers working today) with plenty of nods to Spidey history, and a couple of fun back-up stories that really capture a lot of the elements that make Spider-Man Spider-Man. It makes a great jumping-on point if you’re interested in picking up on where Spidey’s comic book adventures take him for the next fifty years.

Happy Birthday, Webhead!