Matthew Wayne Selznick's Blog, page 19

Worldbuilding For Writers Number Five: Size, Gravity, Mass and Density

Every week in Worldbuilding For Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we take another step toward building an Earth-like planet as a setting for your storyworld and story franchise. Throughout, we use my own storyworld setting, The Shaper's World, as an example.

So far, we've worked out the length of the year and the length of the day for Gundifai, which is what the natives call the Shaper's World. Now it's time to figure out the more tangible physical properties of the planet, including its size, gravity, mass and density.

How Big?

Our goal is to create a realistic representation of an Earth-like planet — that is, a world that will support creatures with biological demands similar to those of Earth life. Given that a planet's size, mass, density and gravity are all interdependent qualities, we have to consider them all in concert. We have to start somewhere, though, so let's look at the planet's size and mass.

If your planet is too small, its weaker gravity will make it less likely to maintain an atmosphere rich in the molecular gasses necessary to support Earth-like life. A relatively thick atmosphere also serves to bring a measure of long-term equilibrium to the world's climate as well. Too thin an atmosphere could result in wide variation from too hot to too cold.

Larger planets are friendlier to the development and sustaining of Earth-like life. A large planet, especially if it has a fairly swift rotation period, is more likely to have a magnetic field, which serves as a shield against radiation from the primary star. Larger planets tend to maintain their internal heat, which sparks the engine of convection that drives volcanic and tectonic activity. A constantly changing planetary crust perpetually stirs up the essential minerals and elements necessary to fuel life. The constantly changing land masses are thought to be essential to driving diversity and evolution. Of course, a large planet usually possesses a stronger gravity, and this helps maintain a rich and complex atmosphere. Too much atmosphere, though, and a runaway greenhouse could result, driving surface temperatures past the point of support for Earth-like life.

Given all the variables, a range of about 0.75 to 1.25 times to radius of the Earth has been suggested as suitable for Earth-like life. The Shaper's World is 0.9788 Earth radi, or 6,243.2 kilometers (3,879.3446 miles) in radius.

Calculating Horizon Distance

One nifty result of knowing the radius of your storyworld planet setting is the ability to calculate the distance to the horizon on a uniform surface, like a vast plain or desert or the surface of the ocean. For something at approximately human eye level height, the horizon is the square root of (height * radius of the planet.) So on the Shaper's World, the distance to the horizon is:

0.0016764 * 6,243.2 = 10.4661

Square root of 10.4661 = 3.2351 kilometers (2.0101 miles)

Similarly, we can determine the maximum distance at which an object of a certain elevation can be seen by taking the square root of (radius * elevation). This is handy for knowing just how close you have to be before those mountains show up. So a mountain 0.9144 kilometers (3,000 feet) high would be seen at a distance of 75.5564 kilometers (46.9486 miles).

How Massive?

Regardless of the size of the world, its chemical composition will have a strong bearing on its gravity. The ratio of heavy elements like iron and uranium to lighter elements like calcium and carbon has a direct relationship to your world's tectonic activity and, by extension, ecological diversity. Even technology is affected: a planet where metals are very rare will likely never support an industrial society, and that, in turn, has implications for scientific understanding and social sophistication.

Mass and density are inter-related. A massive (large) planet might be poor in heavy metals and therefore be less dense (and have a weaker relative gravity) than a similar planet rich in heavy metals. An extreme example is the planet Jupiter, which is eleven times larger than Earth and 300 times more massive, but because it's composed entirely of light elements, Jupiter's density is just 25% that of the Earth's.

It's suggested that a range of mass between 0.4 and 2.35 Earth masses is acceptable for an Earth-like planet. The Shaper's World has a mass 0.92 that of the Earth.

Finding Density

Your planet's density can be calculated once you know the radius and mass. The formula, expressed with Earth values equaling "one", is mass divided by (radius to the third power.) For the Shaper's World, we find:

0.92 / (0.9788 ^3 = 0.9377) = 0.981 Earth density

Gravity

Gravity is an expression of the planet's size and mass or density. If you know the radius of the world and either the mass or the density, you can calculate the gravity. Here's how it works:

Gravity = density * radius or Gravity = mass / (radius ^2)

The gravity of the Shaper's World of Gundifai is therefore:

0.981 * 0.9788 = 0.96 Earth's gravity or 0.92 / (0.9788 ^2 = 0.958) = 0.96 Earth's gravity

Gravity is an interesting story element if your storyworld's planet is visited by folks from other worlds. If your storyworld is, perhaps, a fantasy setting with no "offworld" visitors to offer a different perspective, then for your characters it's irrelevant if their local gravity is greater or less than that of the Earth. However, knowing the gravity of your world helps you calculate a variety of other things, most notably the likely composition of your world's atmosphere, the density of that atmosphere (and how rapidly that density thins with elevation) and the escape velocity of your world.

We'll talk about your planet's atmosphere… next!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Issue Number Five

Every week, I invite you to join me in reading The Amazing Spider-Man comicbook an issue at a time. As we examine each story with a critical eye, we learn a little something about building an enduring storyworld and story franchise. This week, it's issue number five: "Marked for Destruction by Doctor Doom!"

As always, we begin with the splash page… and it's a doozy. The cast of characters run down the left and right side — there's Peter Parker, Doctor Doom, J. Jonah Jameson Betty Brant, Flash Thomson and Liz Allen, "the other Spider-Man," and, represented by an image of their skyscraper headquarters, "the world's most fabulous super-team!"

In the middle are profile shots of Spider-Man and the armored, green-robed Dr. Doom. They're supposed to be facing off, ready to do battle… but really, it looks like a freeze frame from a groovy sixties go-go movie, and guess who the star dancers are? Let's get past this as quickly as possible.

Synopsis

Our tale begins with the Midtown High gang — Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Peter Parker and assorted un-named teens — at the local bowling alley, where the game has been interrupted by interest in a television show vilifying the amazing Spider-Man and sponsored by J. Jonah Jameson. The kids are all fans of Spider-Man, especially Flash Thompson, and Liz Allen reveals an all-out crush on the hero. Because Peter Parker thinks he needs to avoid raising suspicion, he speaks out as a devil's advocate and gives Jameson the benefit of the doubt.

This offends Flash Thomson, who tells Peter to get lost, since "this is a bowling alley, not a knitting parlor!"

In another part of town, a far more sinister viewer takes in Jameson's propaganda piece. It's the wicked and brilliant Dr. Doom, who until now has concerned himself primarily with antagonizing the Fantastic Four. Lamenting that he has never been able to defeat the Fantastic Four on his own, Dr. Doom decides he will recruit the amazing Spider-Man to fight at his side.

First, though, he has to contact Spider-Man. It's "a simple matter for one my genius to create" a transmitter that targets the same wavelength as Spider-Man's spider senses. Peter Parker, back in his bedroom practicing with his web-shooters, picks up the "calling Spider-Man" message loud and clear and marvels,

Who can it be? How could anyone have figured out a way to reach me through my spider's sense?

Well… maybe if you're the amazing Spider-Man, you'd immediately think it could be the Chameleon, who already created such a transmitter and used it to double-cross you in the first issue of your comicbook!

Another interesting conclusion we have to make: either the Chameleon, a disguise artist and spy, is as smart as Doctor Doom… or Doctor Doom, who has invented devices to travel through time and levitate entire skyscrapers, is as smart as the Chamelon.

Or… Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were counting on very few people actually having read the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man by the time the fifth issue came out.

But I digress.

Spider-Man tracks the signal to Doctor Doom's hideout in short order. Despite Spider-Man's immediate antagonism, as he knows Doctor Doom is a world-class criminal, Doom makes his pitch:

Friendship is for weaklings! What I offer you is power! Together, we could rule the world!

You're an outcast, the same as I! You dare not reveal your true identity! And yet, right under your nose, the Fantastic Four basks in the limelight, while you are shunned and hunted!

Of course, Doctor Doom's real plan is to use Spider-Man and then "destroy him without a second thought," as is revealed in a thought bubble. Not that there was much of a chance for their partnership. Spider-Man firmly declines.

Doom warns him that this will make them enemies. Spider-Man responds to that threat by webbing him up from head to toe… but wait! It was only a robot! The real Doctor Doom emerges from behind a panel and attacks.

Twisting and turning to avoid trap doors and shots from Doom's miniature finger guns, the amazing Spider-Man escapes. Dr. Doom lets him go. He has bigger plans… to use Spider-Man as bait to lure the Fanastic Four!

First, he blows up the building he'd been using as a hideout… I guess it had the stink of rejection all over it, and that never washes out. Spider-Man takes some pictures of the fire, which he sells to J. Jonah Jameson the next day.

While he's at the offices of Jameson Publications, Peter discovers two things: J. Jonah Jameson's only real motive in attacking the amazing Spider-Man is money — the attention sells newspapers — or so he says. Also, Peter realizes for the first time that Betty Brant, Jameson's young secretary, is kinda hot.

Meanwhile, two very different people are about to have the a meet-cute of the worst kind. Flash Thomson, still steamed that Peter Parker could have anything bad to say about his hero, dresses up as the amazing Spider-Man with the intention of jumping Peter and scaring a lesson into him.

Doctor Doom, in another disposable hide-out, creates "an instrument which will react to a spider's impulses" in order to track down Spider-Man. Seems like he's going to get a lot of false positives unless he creates an instrument to react to Spider-Man's impulses. not every freakin' spider in the city, but, hey, whatever. Doom wants to learn Spider-Man's true identity so he can use him in a blackmail plot.

Naturally, when Doom, flying around in his helicopter, zeroes in on Peter Parker's "spider's impulses," he sees Flash Thompson in his Spider-Man costume about the intercept the oblivious Peter. Doom knocks out Flash with some sleeping gas and zips away with him.

"Minutes later," Peter and his Aunt May are watching television when the Ed Sullivan Show is interrupted by a pirate broadcast from Doctor Doom, who reveals he has captured Spider-Man. He demands the Fantastic Four disband and surrender to him one at a time, or "Spider-Man will forfeit his life!" He set a one hour deadline.

Despite a brief, naughty temptation to let the the clock run out on his high school rival, Peter nonetheless changes to the amazing Spider-Man and sets off to discover Doctor Doom's new secret hideout. He scours the city, hoping to pick up Doom's use of "tremendous" amounts of electrical power, and finally senses "hostile emanations" from an abandoned factory.

Gotta say, that spider-sense is pretty good if it can discern one Latvarian madman's "hostile emanations" from a whole city's worth. This is New York, after all.

Anyway, Spider-Man hopes to surprise Doom by sliding in through the chimney, for all intents and purposes. Doom is thrown for a loop, since he thinks he has Spider-Man in a prison cell, but he recovers swiftly, blasting at Spider-Man with a finger-gun.

So begins their fight across six pages — Spider-Man's agility and spider-sense versus Doctor Doom's technological trickery and various booby traps. Despite Spider-Man's wisecracking, he's largely on the ropes throughout and indeed, is just about to fall when Doom catches sight of the Fantastic Four's "fantasti-car" on the approach.

Dr. Doom reckons he can't fight Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four at the same time — a rare instance of discretion winning over ego for this character — and makes good his escape. Spider-Man, recovering from temporary blindness caused by one of Doom's gizmos, is at first happy to show the Fantastic Four that he reached Doom before they could, but he remembers he'd told Aunt May he'd only be gone a little while.

I left her alone at home! She's probably beside herself with worry about me by now!

Poor Aunt May! Can't waste a second! Got to rush back home!

This feels like a forced exit, and it is — it's a setup to leave Flash Thompson — who has learned his lesson when it comes to dressing up like Spider-Man — free to be discovered by the Fantastic Four. The Human Torch quickly recognizes that they're dealing with an imposter, and (we presume) see him safely home.

The next day, at the office of J. Jonah Jameson, Peter gets chewed out by Jonah for not getting any pictures of Flash Thompson's kidnapping. Peter takes it in stride, though, for during Jonah's tirade, Betty Brant whispers boldly:

Don't feel too badly, Peter! I may only be J.J.'s secretary, but I think you're wonderful!!

Ho-ho! This gets Peter thinking interesting thoughts, but his excitement of potential new love is dampened when he gets to school and discovers that Flash Thompson has painted himself as the hero of the whole Doctor Doom affair. Peter's the only one who knows the truth, but if he speaks up, bye-bye secret identity. Flash wins again! Waah!

Thoughts On Issue Five Of The Amazing Spider-Man

The Fantastic Four, together or separately, appear in nearly every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man to date. On the one hand, it's a useful device to show that every Marvel comicbook is part of a larger story, a mosaic of characters with different adventures who all nevertheless co-exist in the same world. The Marvel Universe, even in this early, embryonic state, is a storyworld in the truest sense.

On the other hand, unless I mis-remember, the amazing Spider-Man rarely if ever appeared in the pages of The Fantastic Four during this same time. There's more going on here than establishing a milieu. Stan Lee, or his bosses, are wisely using their most popular title's characters to boost the appeal of their newest hit.

That's an understandable business decision, but the integration of Doctor Doom into Spider-Man's adventures feels both inevitable and forced. Doctor Doom, who is supposed to be one of the most brilliant characters in the Marvel universe, behaves more like a puppet of the writer than a megalomaniacal mastermind. The only saving grace is that Doctor Doom nearly cleans Spider-Man's clock, which is about the only way a fight between the older, more experienced and more heavily armed Doom and the teenaged Spider-Man could have gone.

So I give low marks to the "A" plot of this issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. That said, several interesting things happen in the "B" plot that lay the groundwork for future stories: we see just how dedicated a fan Spider-Man has in Flash Thompson, and Peter Parker inspires a surprising declaration of approval from Betty Brant. Therein lies our lesson and take-away for this issue: make your subplots count.

This issue, and the one previous, do a lot to flesh out the supporting cast of The Amazing Spider-Man to the point where they're more than just extras. Flash Thompson was the catalyst for most of this issue's action. Betty Brant is going to matter more and more in coming issues. Both characters will do much to shape Peter Parker's development and growth across the coming years. So, too, will Liz Allen, though so far she's really just been something for Peter and Flash to fight over.

More and more, we're seeing that no matter what super-hero action is happening, there's a lot happening when Peter Parker isn't wearing the tights, too. The Amazing Spider-Man is becoming as much about the boy as it is about the spider.

In your storyworld's installments, episodes, chapters, what-have-you, don't neglect your supporting cast. Make sure they truly support the story — they are among your most valuable assets!

The Amazing Spider-Man number five

"Marked For Destruction By Doctor Doom!"

Cover Date: October, 1963

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Steve Ditko

Inks: S. Rosen

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Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Worldbuilding For Writers Number Four: The Rotation Period

Welcome back to the weekly blog series Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, where we look at how to build an Earth-like planet for use as a setting in your storyworld. We're taking a more-or-less top-down approach. So far we've covered selecting a star suitable for an Earth-like planet, finding the habitable zone around that star where a planet has the best chance of supporting life as we know it, and calculating the orbital period of our planet. Now that we know the length of the planet's year, it's time to figure out the length of the planet's day.

Different Periods of Rotation

Put simply, the period of rotation is the time it takes for a planet to revolve around its axis. In fact, we commonly refer to two different kinds of rotation: Sidereal and solar.

Sidereal rotation is the time it takes any point on the planet to revolve around its axis relative to a distant point of reference, like the planet's star. When we speak about the rotation period of planets, we usually mean sidereal rotation. However, the rotation period that usually matters more to inhabitants of the planet is the solar rotation, which is simply the time between sunrises.

Why the difference? As a planet orbits its star, it has to rotate slightly farther to directly face the star. In other words, the solar day has to take both solar and sidereal rotation into effect. For planets with a fairly fast rotation period, the difference isn't all that much — on Earth, the sidereal rotation is about four minutes less than the solar rotation.

Figuring out the difference is fairly simple, and depends on the following formula:

solar day = sidereal day / (1 – (sidereal day / orbit period))

Let's plug some real numbers into that formula. The Shaper's World, my storyworld that stands as a running example in this series, has a sidereal day of 25.6382 Earth hours and an orbital period of 8608.4808 Earth hours. So:

1 – (25.6382 / 8608.4808) = 0.9970

25.6382 / 0.9970 = 25.7153

The solar day of the Shaper's World is 25.7153 Earth hours.

How Fast Should It Be?

The rotational speed of a planet is affected by many different factors over time. Collisions with other bodies could change the speed of rotation in much the same way a billiard ball's spin is changed by the strike of the cue ball. The close orbit of a large satellite could mutually affect both bodies. Even the gravitational interaction with other planets could make a difference.

So… there's no clean and easy way to calculate what your planet's rotation period should be. You have some creative leeway here, but there are things to keep in mind:

The Coriolis Effect

The atmosphere of your world moves along with the planet as it rotates. At the equator, the rotational velocity of the atmosphere is roughly the same as the planet. As you move farther north or south from toward the poles, the ground below the atmosphere moves slower while the atmosphere itself retains most of its original velocity. That excess speed pulls the atmosphere to the side, which results in whirling patterns (gyres) that we know as hurricanes.

All things being equal, a world roughly the same size of the Earth with a rotation period twice as fast will have twice the Coriolis effect. Storms will spin twice as tightly and contain more energy. This rapid distribution of warm energy from the equator to the poles (and cold energy back down from the poles to the equator) will have a profound impact on a planet's weather systems.

On the other side of the spectrum, a very slowly rotating world will also have violent weather as warm air from the day side clashes in convection with cooler air from the night side.

The Coriolis effect also influences the surface currents close to the surface of the oceans. A swiftly spinning planet will have faster, churning currents compared to a world with a slower rotation period. This could have an impact on climate and on the capabilities of sea-going vessels.

The Rotation Period's Impact On Life

Consider the influence the length of the day / night cycle might have on your planet's ecosystem, life forms and cultures. The circadian rhythms — the body clocks, if you will — of your life forms will reflect the relative speed of the day. Perhaps metabolisms are faster on swiftly spinning planets..? It's something to think about when designing your storyworld.

Next

In the next installment of Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we'll examine the relationship between your planet's density, mass and gravity.

Attention Astronomers

As I prepared this installment of Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, in my research I failed to find an easily digestible formula to determine the upper limit of a planet's rotation before it tears itself apart. Is such a formula readily available? For that matter, would the rapid spinning of a world actually tear the world apart, or is that a false assumption? Thanks, in advance, for your input… I look forward to catching your attention and hearing from you in the comments!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Issue Number Four

Welcome to the latest weekly installment of Reading The Amazing Spider-Man, where we learn about storyworld and story franchise development and creation by examining the first five hundred issues of a landmark comic book series. As we read issue number four, the establishment of the amazing Spider-Man's rogues gallery continues with the introduction of the Sandman!

The splash page for this issue neatly summarizes the action to come: the triumphant Sandman, one hand clutching a bag of money and the other dripping sand all over the amazing Spider-Man, straddles a split screen: on the left, police gathered behind their squad cars fire bullets that go right through the villain's sandy form, while on the right, the students of Midtown High gaze on in concern and excitement as Spider-Man's fist passes harmlessly through the Sandman's chest. The caption, a yellow rectangle in the lower left, is nothing more than a brag box exclaiming the popularity of the comic book with phrases like "greatest," "most phenomenal," and "record-breaking." Stan Lee, master of hyperbole. Let's get on with the story, already…

Synopsis

It's early evening and the amazing Spider-Man is patrolling the city. He's irritated by a billboard advertising "The Spider-Man Menace," a new series in The Daily Bugle by J. Jonah Jameson, but he doesn't have much time to grouse — there are three suspicious characters slinking toward a jewelry store just moments after the proprietor has locked up and left. Spider-Man drops some hoops of webbing down on the toughs and swings down to confront them, but it doesn't quite go as planned.

The leader, after admonishing his nervous cohorts to "shaddup," pulls off the web loops and, after Spider-Man warns him not to put up a fight, tears our hero a new one:

There's no law against three honest citizens walkin' in the street at night! Then you come swoopin' down on us, scarin' us outta our wits! You're a menace… just like J. Jonah Jameson says!

Spider-Man kicks himself for not waiting until the bad guys actually committed a crime… but what can he do now? The hoods actually call over a cop. With those incriminating web hoops littering the ground, Spider-Man decides on a hasty retreat to a nearby rooftop. Down below, the cop tells the hoods to get a move on, since they've "got larceny written all over you!"

Spider-Man blames the whole sorry scene on the bad public image he has courtesy of J. Jonah Jameson. He decides to pay him a visit, but finds the publisher's office empty. Spider-Man leaves him "a little souvenir" and swings away. Before long, though, he spots police cars speeding through the streets and notices a man climbing up the side of a building nearby. When the suspicious character reaches the roof, Spider-Man flashes his belt-mounted "spider-signal" and drops down to confront him.

A craggy, blocky man with a head of tight wavy hair (we'll eventually see variations of this odd hairstyle on two other characters, and, as we'll see quite a bit down the line, they're all related!) wearing a striped green shirt and brown work slacks and boots brashly introduces himself as the Sandman. Spider-Man's heard of this guy; he's "wanted by the police from Maine to Mexico!" But when the amazing Spider-Man tries to grapple him, the Sandman slips through his fingers like, well, sand.

The next four panels serve as a demonstration of the Sandman's powers. He can transform into an ambulatory stream of sand, quickly moving from place to place. He can make his body soft and porous so Spider-Man's fists fly right through him. He can harden the sandy particles that make up his body so he's solid as iron. He can stretch and manipulate his body very much like the elastic Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four… which is how he propels the amazing Spider-Man over a skylight.

Momentarily out of the Sandman's sight, Spider-Man is mortified to discover that his fall tore his face mask. Terrified at the Sandman seeing his face and revealing his true identity, Spider-Man feels he has no choice but to run:

I've got to get away! I can't take a chance on him recognizing me! The risks are too great!

The Sandman scoffs at the retreating Spider-Man, then goes about his business robbing a nearby bank. Spider-Man heads back home, where, still in his costume, he holes up in his bedroom and attempts to repair his mask. Unfortunately, Peter Parker's sewing talents are apparently awful. He's "all thumbs." Don't forget, dear reader, that this didn't seem to be a problem when Peter Parker first created his costume!

Peter Parker's suddenly lapsed sewing ability gives us an excuse for him to be in his room long enough to catch a news report on the Sandman, who . The report presents a convenient re-enactment of the Sandman's origin, much like a sixties version of "America's Most Wanted" with a bigger special effects budget. The Sandman was a career criminal named Flint Marko who escaped from Island Prison and hid out on the grounds of an atomic devices testing center. (Y'know, like you do…) His visit coincided with the explosion of a nuclear test, which, "by some incredible accident," merged his body with the sand beneath his feet.

Before he can watch any more, Peter hears his Aunt May coming. Frantically, he throws a robe over his tights and clutches it tight. Aunt May, who was on a mission of mercy involving milk and cookies because "you've been studying so hard," notices how agitated her nephew is and concludes he must be ill.

Peter has no choice but to go along with it. She brings him some aspirin and a thermometer and insists he goes right to bed. Trapped by his doting aunt, Peter loses his chance to finish repairing his mask before The Sandman robs a bank and gets away clean.

The next morning, Aunt May declares that Peter's temperature is normal and he can go to school. He's been up half the night finishing his mask, "but at last it's finished! So I'll just wear my Spider-Man costume under my clothes today…" From the looks of things, he's slept in it, too. Yuck.

Aunt May makes him a nice breakfast, warns Peter not to exert himself, and makes sure he has an umbrella when she sees him off to school. Amused, Peter wonders what the world would think if they knew the amazing Spider-Man had to carry an umbrella and promise not to exert himself.

Meanwhile, at the offices of The Daily Bugle and Now Magazine, J. Jonah Jameson sits in his desk chair and discovers there's adhesive webbing all over the seat and arm rests. Similar to Peter Parker's sewing skill waxing and waning at the whim of the plot, here's another inconsistency: it's been established (in a special feature in the back pages of The Amazing Spider-Man number one) that his webbing "disappears into nothingness after one hour has elapsed." Not today it doesn't, not when there's a joke to be made!

Jonah asks his secretary — seen before, but now named or the first time as "Miss Brant" — for a fresh pair of trousers. J. Jonah Jameson apparently keeps several pair around the office, but not in the office. Why?

She goes to get them, sees Peter coming in, and asks him to take them to J.J.J. since "he's in such a bad mood, I hate to face him!"

Peter brings Jameson his trousers. Jonah wants to know when Peter's going to have new pictures of Spider-Man for him — he wants to run a feature on whether or not Spider-Man and Sandman are the same person — but Peter's been too busy with his studies. Peter actually came by looking for an advance on his next pictures. That gets him barked out of the office:

You teen-agers are all alike — you think the world owes you a living! Now go out there and get me some shots of Spider-Man, and don't come back till you do!

Ah well. Peter needed the dough to finance some experiments on his webbing, but it will have to wait. He heads over to Midtown High just before the first bell. There, Liz, a blonde we've seen before but who, like Miss Brant, has been unnamed until now, is telling the incredulous Flash Thompson she's finally agreed to go on a date with Peter Parker. But when she asks Peter what time he'll pick her up tonight, he's got to ask for a rain check — after all, he's got to get after the Sandman! Of course, that's not what he tells her. He uses the old "I've got to study for tomorrow's exam" line, but she's wise to him. He's "the top student in the class. If you can't spare one evening for a date, then I'm sorry for you! Goodbye!"

Flash Thompson swoops in, insults Peter's umbrella-carrying, and offers to take Liz out instead. In class, Peter zones out, wondering why things can't turn out right for him, and gets yelled at by the teacher for daydreaming. Good grief!

"Meanwhile, not far away," the Sandman has so many police chasing him he's beginning to tire. He decides Midtown High would be the perfect place to hole up for a while. He slips in while everyone's in class, except for one kid carrying a box of used bottles down to the boiler room. It's Peter, of course. He gives the bottles to the janitor, who delivers some foreshadowing when he tells Peter he'll throw them out "as soon as I adjust this new king-sized vacuum cleaner!"

A few floors above, the Sandman fears someone is coming and ducks into a classromm… which just happens to be Peter's class! The principle is there, too. The Sandman semi-seriously demands the principle write him a high school diploma, since "a guy like me deserves the best of everything!" Principle Davis is brave man of, um, principles, though: he refuses the Sandman and even tells the kids to run while tries to hold the Sandman off.

Lucky for Principle Davis, Peter heard the ruckus and bounces in as the amazing Spider-Man. While the Sandman and Spider-Man square off, Liz Allen wonders where Peter is, but Flash Thompson assumes his bookish rival is "hidin' with his head under a desk somewhere!"

What follows is four full pages of comicbook action fighting as the amazing Spider-Man and the Sandman brawl up and down the halls of Midtown High. It's a lot of fun. Stan and Steve take full advantage of their metamorphic villain and show him with rock-hard blocky fists, flowing and twisting through the halls, and finally trapping Spider-Man in a sort of sandball. Our hero takes advantage of the situation to maneuver the Sandman down the stairs into the boiler room. That's where the aforementioned king-sized vacuum cleaner gets put to use when the amazing Spider-Man tricks the Sandman into assuming his most granular form… which Spider-Man promptly vacuums up.

Never mind that the Sandman has shown enough strength and power to surely tear out of the heavy canvas vacuum bag… this was a fun and, in context, at least, ingenious solution on the amazing Spider-Man's part. The entire fight balances Spider-Man's agility and speed with the fact that he's also very, very smart, and the vacuum cleaner trick drives that point home. If only the next bit didn't nearly cancel that out.

Spider-Man realizes he was so busy fighting the Sandman, he forgot to take pictures to sell to J. Jonah Jameson. The kid needs that money, so, naturally, he fakes it. After setting up his camera's auto-timer, Spider-Man grabs some ordinary sand from a bucket marked "For Fire Only." He tosses the sand into the air… and jumps through it. He does it again… and throws some punches into it. Spider-Man's rationalization?

Since this really happened a few minutes ago, it can't be unethical! It's like shooting a re-take of a movie!

Sure. I bet that's just how Edward R. Murrow did it.

Spider-Man delivers the bag of Sandman to the police outside the school. J. Jonah Jameson, who apparently followed the story to the school, demands that the cops hold Spider-Man until they find the Sandman, since "it could be a trick!" Spider-Man declines, and swings back into the building, where he switches back to Peter Parker. On his way back to his classroom, he's intercepted by Jameson, who is pleased to learn that Peter got pictures of the fight. Jameson's glee is short lived, as the police have decided they have no reason to pursue Spider-Man. Besides, they appreciated Spider-Man's help. The police chief scolds Jonah a little:

You can print what you want in your papers, but sooner or later people will realize you're just airing a private grudge of your own!

Peter slips back into class feeling pretty pleased with himself. He even tells Liz Allen that he can go out with her tonight after all… but of course she frostily declares she's made other plans. Flash Thompson gloats that she's talking about him, and Peter loses his temper. He grabs Flash by the sweater and says he's going to "wipe that stupid leer off your face right now!"

Flash is all for it; he's all "right now, behind the bleachers, after school" and stuff… but Peter, realizing he can't cut loose without exposing his secret identity, quickly backs down. The kids all laugh, Liz Allen thinks he's a coward, and Peter slinks home. On the way, he hears people on the street talking about Spider-Man in less than complimentary terms. Alone in his room, he bemoans his fate, but at least he seems to have accepted his self-imposed responsibility and vows to remain the amazing Spider-Man "no matter how difficult it is."

Thoughts On Issue Four Of The Amazing Spider-Man

Even though this issue introduces a fun, brash villain who's interesting to watch and gives Spider-Man a good challenge, this story is actually noteworthy for how much it strengthens and enhances the character of Peter Parker and his world. In particular, we see more of his interactions with the women in his life than we have to date… indeed, we see that there are women in his life other than his doting aunt (who out-dotes herself in this story, come to think of it.) This is the first time, too, that we're shown how Peter Parker is a bit more confident than we assumed — his life and success as the amazing Spider-Man has a positive effect on his life as Peter Parker. He asks out the pretty blonde. He has friendly conversation with his boss's (slightly) older secretary. He even stands up to the guy who's bullied him relentlessly for the last three issues… even if he has to back peddle on that a little.

Peter's confidence doesn't always serve him well, though. He's a little cocky, and setbacks really piss him off — we see that when he jumps the gun with the would-be jewelry thieves, when he has to retreat from the Sandman when his mask tears, and most dangerously when he nearly clocks Flash Thompson.

In other words, Peter Parker is a complex character — he has conflicting motivations; he sometimes gets in his own way; he ultimately just wants to do what's right. In this issue in particular, he's sympathetic without being irritating (the fake fight photos excepted.) In other words, he's everything a thoughtful creator wants his protagonist to be.

This issue demonstrates how to present a likable character the reader can relate to, all while setting up points of conflict and interaction that can be called upon to enrich stories to come. Despite some inconsistencies committed in the name of the plot, The Amazing Spider-Man number four is a huge step forward.

How do you demonstrate your characters' sympathetic qualities while moving plot forward in your storyworlds? Share in the comments!

The Amazing Spider-Man number three

"Nothing Can Stop… The Sandman!"

Cover Date: September, 1963

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Steve Ditko

Join Me In Reading The Amazing Spider-Man

Click the cover to buy the first twenty issues of The Amazing Spider-Man in an inexpensive trade paperback from Barnes & Noble Booksellers:





Your purchase helps support this series and all my creative endeavors — thanks!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

When A CEO Gets It Right…

…He gets it right. Thanks to Sean Percival (and many others, but I saw his link first), I just read Reed Hastings blog post announcing the separation of the Netflix streaming and DVD subscription services into two different companies. I understand and appreciate the decision, but that's not why I'm prompted to write this late night post. For me, the most important part of Hastings' post was his mea culpa:

I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation.

…

In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success. We have done very well for a long time by steadily improving our service, without doing much CEO communication. Inside Netflix I say, "Actions speak louder than words," and we should just keep improving our service.

But now I see that given the huge changes we have been recently making, I should have personally given a full justification to our members of why we are separating DVD and streaming, and charging for both. It wouldn't have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

Go, read the rest of Reed Hastings' blog post. Then slip back over here; I'll be waiting.

Hey, welcome back.

How about that. A CEO who listens to his customers, owns his mistakes when makes them, and pledges to do better. A CEO who speaks clearly and plainly about his plans for his company, explaining his intentions without defending them.

That's customer service, baby. And it's just done more for my loyalty to Netflix than depth of catalog, quality of streaming, or any other enhancement of service they might come up with… because that blog post helped me want to stick around to see what they'll do next. That post made me want to support Netflix with more than my monthly dollars.

Reed Hastings' post is a textbook example of how to turn customers into evangelists. I wish more CEOs would publicly acknowledge their missteps. Customers are far more likely to forgive when they have a clear understanding of what lead to the thing that upset them. Hastings' post is an example of the ethical / philosophical approach I've somewhat unimaginatively called being human.

All too often, I've seen hubris, fear and insecurity demonstrated by the "leaders" of a company lead directly to declines in internal and external morale, in vision, in growth and in revenue. It's so very nice to see a CEO buck that trend, because that kind of strength of character is often directly tied to the long-term strength of their company.

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Worldbuilding For Writers: Skip Week

Due largely to the fact that my girlfriend's going out of town and I want to spend as much time as possible with her, I'm declaring this a skip week for Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives. I'll be back next week, when we'll address the rotational period (day) of your planet.

Meanwhile… I'm assuming (optimistically) that if you've been reading this series, you're building a world of your own. Share it with everyone… in the comments!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Skip Week

For assorted reasons I'm taking a page from Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield's Freak Angels and declaring this a skip week for Reading The Amazing Spider-Man. I'll be back next Tuesday to cover issue number four, which features the first appearance of the Sandman, Betty Brant and Liz Allen. See you then!

Meanwhile, to tide you over, here's Stan Lee himself waxing apocryphal on how he came up with Spider-Man in the first place:

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Worldbuilding For Writers Number Three: The Orbital Period

Welcome to Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, the weekly blog series dedicated to building an Earth-like planet for use as a setting in your storyworld. Now that we've determined how to find the habitable zone of our planet's star, we'll examine orbital properties for our planet. In this installment we'll specifically learn how to work out how to determine your planet's orbital period, or year.

Defining The Orbital Period

There are several ways to measure a planet's orbital period. For now, we're going to consider the sidereal orbit, which is the time the planet takes complete a circuit around its star as seen from outside of the planetary system. Later in this series, we'll explore ways to calculate the synodic period, which is a measure of how long it takes for a specific object in the planet's sky — say, a moon — to return to the same spot in the sky. Depending on the sophistication of a culture, either measure, or both, might be significant.

Determining The Orbital Period

Last time around, we worked out the habitable zone surrounding our star: the distance (closest to, through farthest from, the star) a planet can orbit and still have a chance to have Earth-like qualities. For the Shaper's World, my storyworld and our example setting, that equals between 0.6911 and 1.1820 AU, with the "Earth twin" distance being 0.9532 AU.

We also know that our central star, Tah, has a mass of about 0.973 solar masses. With distance from the star and the mass of the star expressed in terms relative to Sol, we have everything we need to calculate the orbital period of our Earth-like planet. To do so, divide the distance from the star cubed by the mass of the star and find the square root of the result. For the Shaper's World, we get following:

At the inner limit of the habitable zone:

(0.6911^3 = 0.3300) / 0.973 = 0.3392

The square root of 0.3392 = 0.5824 Earth years. Since one Earth year is equal to 365.2563 Earth days, the orbital period at the inner limit of the Tah's habitable zone is 212.7417 Earth days.

At the "Earth twin" distance of 0.9532 AU:

(0.9532^3 = 0.8660) / 0.973 = 0.8901

The square root of 0.8901 = 0.9434 Earth years, or 344.6016 Earth days.

At the outer limit of the habitable zone:

(1.1820^3 = 1.651400568) / 0.973 = 1.6972

The square root of 1.6972 = 1.3027 Earth years, or 475.8471 Earth days.

Note that the length of your planet's year in Earth days is useful as a comparative figure, but your planet will have it's own day length — the time it takes to revolve once around its axis — and that will be a more important metric to your planet's natives. We'll work that out in a later installment.

The orbital distance of the Shaper's World is 0.979 AU, giving the planet an orbital period of 358.6867 Earth days.

Why The Orbital Period Is Important

Beyond simply knowing the length of the year, the orbital period — and the attendant distance of the planet from the star — is essential in determining the base surface temperature of your world. Depending on your creative preferences, you might not want an especially warm or cold world… or that might be exactly what you want. While factors like orbital eccentricity, axial tilt, volcanism and atmospheric conditions will play a role, it all starts with how much energy the planet receives from the star, and that's directly related to the the distance between the two.

What About Eccentricity?

Not every orbit is a perfect circle. Most are slightly flattened — very subtle ovals. The amount of flattening is the eccentricity. The orbit of the Earth, for example, has an eccentricity of 0.0167. Orbital eccentricity less than one percent will have negligible impact on the climate of a world, but a large degree of eccentricity would have essentially the same effect as the planet's degree of axial tilt, except the whole planet will experience "winter" or "summer" at the same time. To belabor the obvious, the world will be colder when the planet is farthest from the star and, at the opposite end of the year, much warmer when the planet is closest. It's recommended that you keep the eccentricity of your orbit to a minimum if you want to make it realistically conducive to Earth-like life. We'll explore the specifics of the variations when we talk about climate in future installments.

By the way, while it might seem counter-intuitive, the degree of eccentricity does not have an meaningful effect on the total length of the year. The planet travels faster when it's closer to the star and slower when it's far, and the differences cancel each other out.

The Shaper's World has an orbital eccentricity of 0.0192 — very nearly a circular orbit.

Next

In the next installment of Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we'll discuss the rotation period of the planet — the length of the local day — and learn why your planet shouldn't spin too fast or two slow.

Your Comments

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this series so far. Have you been following along and building a world of your own? Has the level of detail been too much? Not enough? What about the math? Share your feedback in the comments, with my thanks.

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Issue Number Three

It's Tuesday, the day we get together for reading The Amazing Spider-Man with an eye on storyworld building and story franchise creation as seen via one of the finest examples of modern mythology — a comic book hero. And this issue, the third, is a big one, gang. It's the introduction of, arguably, one of Spider-Man's most enduring and influential nemesis. It's time for "Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus!"

The splash page for The Amazing Spider-Man issue three is interesting for that fact that, other than a stylized web-head design, Spider-Man doesn't actually appear. Nearly the whole page is given over to Doctor Octopus and his four mechanical arms menacingly reaching for the reader. An arrow-shaped caption points to the not-so-good doctor and declares him to be "the only enemy to ever defeat Spider-Man!" Never mind that the terrible Tinkerer got the drop on the amazing Spider-Man, knocked him out and imprisoned him just last issue — does that not count as a defeat?

The splash page has another arrow caption pointing to the only bona-fide super-hero represented: "See the Human Torch!" One more directs the reader, "And now, begin!" and it's time to turn the page.

Synopsis

The first page of our tale begins with the amazing Spider-Man breaking up a robbery and webbing up the three crooks in short order. These thugs might not have made it very far even without Spider-Man's interference, as they were wheeling an entire safe down the sidewalk, presumably to crack it or blow it open or some such in a location more convenient to them. Granted, it was "in the dead of night," but… I dunno. It's no wonder that Spider-Man thinks,

It's almost too easy! I've run out of enemies who can give me any real opposition! I'm too powerful for any foe! I almost wish for an opponent who'd give me a run for my money!

Not only is this a ham-fisted bit of foreshadowing on the part of wordsmith Stan Lee, an elephant gun on the mantlepiece, if you will… Spider-Man seems to forget that, again, just last issue, he was shot in the back and captured… by an old man in a sweater. And before that, he faced an old man in a bird suit who knocked him out and left him for dead. What's going to happen if the amazing Spider-Man has to face a villain who hasn't seen seventy years on the planet?

Well, turn the page, dear reader, for "at that moment, on the outskirts of town…" at the US Atomic Research Center, we meet Doctor Octopus, who doesn't seem a day over fifty.

As the good doctor puts on his mechanical arm harness and uses the four dials on the chest plate to manipulate the clawed, flexible metal appendages to pick up a book and mix some test tubes behind a thick glass shield, two bystanding technicians chat some exposition at us. Thanks to these two chatty slackers, we learn that Otto Octavious created the arms himself in order to work with dangerous radioactive materials. He's the "most brilliant atomic researcher in our country today!"

Since this is a comic book and there's radiation at hand, something must go wrong. Before the alarm can be sounded, there's a horrible explosion. After "the flames and smoke have partially cleared," two dudes in radiation hazard suits carry Octavious — his mechanical arms hanging limply at his sides — from the wreckage. Exhaustive tests reveal that "his mind has been permanently damaged" and that the radiation has caused his arms to "adhere to his body in some strange way!"

Uh oh.

Days later, Doctor Octopus regains consciousness. His first thought is that he needs to get back to work, but the doctors insist he stay in bed. Octavious takes this the wrong way because, see, he's crazy now. He thinks they're jealous of him and want to keep him away from his work, keep him prisoner.

Octavious quickly discovers his mechanical arms have become part of him, and that he can move them with his thoughts. He uses the arms to tear the bars off the window, thinking,

With such power and my brilliant mind, I'm the supreme human being on earth!

Rather than escape, he summons someone to "come in and shut the door behind you!" We don't see what goes on, but we must presume from the following that Doctor Octopus reveals his new prosthetics:

What is it? You — oh, no! No!

Ha-Ha! You don't believe what you see? But it's true! I'm all-powerful! From now on, I give the commands here!

You can almost hear the dramatic music swell and stab… and it's a perfect time to switch scenes. J. Jonah Jameson — whose publishing empire now includes the Daily Bugle — assigns Peter Parker the task of getting pictures of "the injured scientist, Dr. Octopus" at Bliss Hospital. Oddly, no one is allowed to enter the hospital any more, but teen phenom Peter Parker has a reputation of getting impossible pix… so in he goes.

Of course, he goes as the amazing Spider-Man, that night. Clinging to the wall outside Octavious' room, he sees that the good doctor has forced the hospital staff to bring his work to him. Doctor Octopus is busy with test tubes and beakers with five of his limbs and threatens his hostages with one mechanical tentacle.

One hostage protests, and Octopus lifts him into the air with his tentacles, raving:

I have the right to do anything — as long as I have the power! And if you doubt my power, here is a small sample…

Before anything nasty can happen, the amazing Spider-Man swings through the window. Doctor Octopus declares with surprise "Spider-Man!" and our hero lets fly with a joke only a nerdy, bookish teen would think of out of the blue ("Well, I sure ain't Albert Schweitzer!") that pisses off Octavious:

You dare speak flippantly to me! You fool! When I'm finished with you, you'll sing a different tune!

Spider-Man's confident Octavious won't be able to lay a hand on him, but Doctor Octopus has four hands at the end of long mechanical arms! Octopus lands the first clawed punch, shocks Spider-Man when he tears his webbing, and handily (see what I did there..?) holds our hero fast by wrists and ankles.

Octavious is literally insanely arrogant. With Spider-Man hanging at his mercy before him, he doesn't kill him, or even punch him… he slaps Spider-Man with the back of his hand and tosses him out the window, because "you're no threat to me!"

Spider-Man falls through a tree and drops to the ground, humiliated and battered. He's badly shaken up and his confidence is shattered:

What do I do now? I've never been beaten before! But this time, my spider-powers were not enough! Is this the end of Spider-Man?

With the threat of Spider-Man eliminated and his prisoners having escaped during the fight, Doctor Octopus abandons his temporary hospital lab and, using subterfuge, brute force and his intellect, returns to commandeer the entire Atomic Research Center. His goal is to control "the greatest source of atomic power in the nation."

The military isn't sure how to handle "a brilliant scientist, with super-human powers, on a mad rampage" so they order that no one is allowed in or out of the plant. Doctor Octopus has won.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker is bummed. He tells Jameson he won't be able to get pictures of Doctor Octopus — or anything — any more. He won't share what's wrong with his concerned Aunt May, telling here bruskly that "it's my own personal problem! I'll get over it!"

At school, despite the first two issues making a big point that Peter Parker is universally despised by his classmates, a girl says hello to him. Peter's too depressed to respond to her or another girl, even when they tell him that the Human Torch is going to be speaking at their school that day.

This news — and the news that the Torch has been called in by the Governor to try and capture Doctor Octopus — probably makes Peter feel even worse. After all, the Fantastic Four dismissed his attempt to join their team not long ago. Now, just one of their member is presumed enough to put away the foe that so handily defeated Spider-Man. Bummer.

At the school assembly, the Human Torch reveals that he's used his flame "so much recently, I have to wait a few days to let it get strong again!" This explains why he doesn't just rush right in and attack Octopus… and why he has time to deliver a talk at Midtown High.

And what a talk! To Peter Parker's ears, the Human Torch's encouragement to not be discouraged, to never give up, that ability alone is not enough and other motivational gems are just the kick in the ol' pants he needs. Peter Parker is getting back on the Spider-Man horse, "by golly."

Peter rushes home "like a man possessed," changes into his costume and rushes across town to the Atomic Research Center. Using his web-slingshot trick, he flies over the heads of the sentries and infiltrates the facility.

Unfortunately, Doctor Octopus has the whole place wired with surveillance cameras and knows the amazing Spider-Man is on his way. Octopus remotely controls the many automated machines of the Center to try and squash him, but Spider-Man is too agile and too fast. Finally, Spider-Man takes to crawling on the ceiling, where the hidden cameras can't spot him.

Doctor Octopus leaves his lair to hunt down Spider-Man, who has discovered the chemical laboratory and hastily creates a smoking test-tube-and-wire-loops contraption he hopes will help him defeat his foe.

Doctor Octopus tries to ambush the amazing Spider-Man, but his "spider instinct" warns the hero in the nick of time. Staying just out of the way of those crazy arms, Spider-Man loops one of his gizmos around "two of Doctor Octopus' arms before another arm, striking out, forces him to drop the second device…"

Doctor Octopus scoffs at first, but must concede it's a clever idea — the chemical has fused two of his arms together at the ends. No matter, though — Octopus presses the attack and uses his fused arms like a club!

Cornered, the amazing Spider-Man decides to go on the offensive. He manages to cover Doctor Octopus' glasses with a glob of webbing, blinding the man with a move he'll fall for again and again and again over the years. When Doctor Octopus tries to draw Spider-Man close, he's treated to a lighting fast sock on the jaw.

Turns out Otto Octavious' jaw is as weak as his mechanical arms are super-powerful. Down he goes.

Spider-Man webs him up securely, drops him off for the authorities to discover, and makes a discreet exit. He just has "one more thing to take care of — as Spider-Man!"

Once again, Stan Lee lets Spider-Man's spider sense serve as an all-purpose tracker. Our hero finds the Human Torch getting a clean bill of health and the all-clear to go after Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man tells the Human Torch:

Thanks to you, Torch, Octopus is safely under wraps! And I owe you additional thanks because, if not for you, Spider-Man might've been finished, too!

Before the utterly confused Torch can get an explanation, Spider-Man swings away.

The next day, the Human Torch gives another, full-power demonstration at Midtown High. Flash Thompson and Peter Parker get some rival banter in, and the caption tells us (incorrectly) that "for the first time, a case ends without Peter Parker delivering any photos to Mr. Jameson!"

The end!

Thoughts On Issue Three of The Amazing Spider-Man

This issue introduces Doctor Octopus! Hurrah!

Note that this is the third animal-based villain (after the Chameleon and the Vulture) for Spider-Man to face. He's also a villain with as many limbs as a spider, making him a slyly ironic adversary in more ways than one. He's also a heck of a lot of fun.

Otto Octavious was a brilliant scientist, but even before his accident, he had a nasty arrogant streak. This is is guy who believes he can make radiation his servant, and who created arms that only he can use. One has to wonder if he insists no one else use them, or if other, less brilliant but more cautious scientists opted out.

After the accident mentally and physically fuses him to his mechanical arms, he becomes a creature of pure ego. Nothing is more important than his experiments. He believes everyone else is jealous of him. He believes he is the most powerful person on Earth thanks to his brains and the arms his brain conceived.

He's nuts… and he takes himself way too seriously. That's one of the reasons he's such a great Spider-Man villain, because Spider-Man's style is to quip and wisecrack through intense fear and danger. Right off the bat, Spider-Man makes a joke and Doctor Octopus is offended. It's clear that Octopus hates Spider-Man because the kid just doesn't grant Octopus the respect he so clearly deserves.

There's something else about the Spider-Man / Doctor Octopus relationship: they are very similar. Both are brilliant. Both become arrogant and self-important when they first receive their powers in a traumatic, life-altering event… but Peter Parker eventualy grows beyond that childish attitude. Spider-Man is just a few degrees away from being Doctor Octopus… Otto Octavious is a mirror, a real antagonist and opposite number. He won't be the only (or, arguably, worst) brilliant villain Spider-Man is plagued by, but he might just be the best example Peter Parker has of "there, but for the grace of god, go I."

This is a formula for a wonderful adversarial relationship that continues well past the five hundred issues we'll cover here in Reading The Amazing Spider-Man. It's also another great lesson to take to heart when craft a storyworld and story franchise: make sure your villains are as entertaining and enduring as you heroes.

Creators, what are you doing to make your antagonists enduring and worthy of your heroes? How does your bad guy reflect the qualities of your good guy? Share in the comments!

The Amazing Spider-Man number three

"Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus!"

Cover Date: July, 1963

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Steve Ditko

Lettering:John Duffy

Join Me In Reading The Amazing Spider-Man

Click the cover to buy the first twenty issues of The Amazing Spider-Man in an inexpensive trade paperback from Barnes & Noble Booksellers:





Your purchase helps support this series and all my creative endeavors — thanks!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.

Hello To Dead Robots Society Podcast Listeners!

Hi! If you've come over to my site thanks to my recent appearance as a guest on The Dead Robots Society podcast, welcome and thanks for stopping by! My name is Matthew Wayne Selznick. I'm a creator working with words, music, pictures and people to build storyworlds, audience and community across a variety of media.

On episode 190 of The Dead Robots Society, I talked with the gang about the benefits behind the rising practice of creating storyworlds and creating story franchises with your fiction. This was a kind of follow-up to my June guest blog post over there, "What Every Modern Writer Needs To Know".

I was a storyworld pioneer in the late nineties with my online shared world episodic fiction magazine, Sovereign Serials. These days, I'm dipping back into storyworlds, story franchises and transmedia storytelling both in my work as a producer at Jetset Studios, a creative agency, and as I prepare to open two of my original storyworlds to submissions: The Shaper's World and The Sovereign Era. If you're interested in adding your creativity to these storyworlds and potentially share revenue on the content we create together, sign up for my newsletter and I'll let you know when The Shaper's World and The Sovereign Era will be open for business.

Finally, Dead Robots Society listeners and folks interested in creating storyworlds and establishing story franchises might enjoy my two weekly blog series:

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man, where I review every issue of the comic book from issue number one through issue number five hundred with an eye toward learning lessons on how to built a storyworld that can support an enduring franchise.
Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, where together we examine building an Earth-like planet suitable as a setting for your storyworlds

Welcome, and thanks for taking a look around!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.