"The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" is a
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
story written by
Roger Stern, originally published in ''
The Amazing Spider-Man'' #248 in
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
. In the story, a young fan of Spider-Man meets his hero.
This comic was selected as one of the "Top 10 Spider-Man stories of all time" by ''
Wizard'' and is regarded as among the most-loved Spider-Man stories.
Plot
Young Timothy "Tim" Harrison lies in his bed. Portions from a column by ''
Daily Bugle'' writer Jacob Conover say Tim is the greatest Spider-Man fan in the world and has collected every article available on him, including a whole album of ''The Daily Bugle'' retractions. Tim has also collected mementos such as
kinescopes of Spider-Man's early television appearances and bullets from a crime foiled by Spider-Man. Suddenly, Spider-Man comes into Tim's room. In the following hours, the two trade anecdotes about Spider-Man's long career. The hero is surprised and touched by how much the boy adores him.
When Spider-Man is about to leave, Tim asks him who he really is. After some hesitation, Spider-Man takes off his mask, identifies himself as Peter Parker, and retells the fateful night when his negligence let
Uncle Ben
Benjamin Franklin Parker, usually referred to as Uncle Ben, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually in association with the superhero Spider-Man. He is the husband of May Parker and the pa ...
die, causing him to fight crime. The story does not change Tim's admiration of his hero. A tearful Peter Parker embraces Tim (who refers to him as "Pete") and departs. An exterior view reveals Tim is staying in a cancer clinic. The last of the newspaper captions states that the boy's only wish is to meet his hero in person. Conover ends his report by stating his hope that "Spider-Man takes the time to visit a very brave young man named Tim Harrison, and I hope he does it soon. You see, Tim Harrison has
leukemia, and the doctors only give him a few more weeks to live".
Background
Most of ''Amazing'' #248 is Spider-Man's fight against
Thunderball, but Stern's backup story is remembered much better than the main tale. According to Stern:
Tim Harrison's death is mentioned in
Danny Fingeroth and
Ron Garney's "A Spider-Man Carol", in which Spider-Man meets Tim's brother Joey. The story was published in the 1991 ''Marvel Holiday Special''.
Collected editions
The story has been reprinted several times and collected in various
trade paperbacks including ''The Very Best of Spider-Man'' (December 1994, ).
References
External links
*
{{Spider-Man publications
Comics by Roger Stern
Single issue storylines of comic book series