The Birth: On the Marvel side, Spider-Man is one of the most popular super heroes in the history of comics. But when he first hit the circuit, he didn't have a very promising beginning; his debut was in the last issue of Amazing Fantasy (August 1962) - a comic mag which died out after only fifteen issues. While any other hero would have faded off with the magazine, Spider-Man proved to be different and as his enemies put it; "a persistent arachnid". The guy soon appeared in his own magazine "The Amazing Spider-Man #1".
Credit goes to Stan Lee for creating this hero and to the great Steve Ditko for putting Lee's idea onto paper.

....... Peter Parker was orphaned at an early age, and went to live in Forest Hills, Queens, New York with his elderly Aunt and Uncle. He grew up as a shy, be-spectacled studious boy, with a real talent for the Sciences.
When the science genius and bookworm to his colleagues, was bitten by a dying radioactive spider during an atomic experiment, he somehow inherited the powers of a spider. He discovered his new ability accidently when a car zoomed through the street and nearly clipped him. In a move of despiration Parker leapt high above,to safety and found himself clinging to a building wall.
Peter Parker decided to test his mew found power in a fighting match against a wrestler, Crusher Hogan. Covering his face with a mask, he marched against Crusher and defeated him with ease and earned a hundred smackers for winning. A T.V. producer in the audience thought that it was a good gimmick and invited Parker to star in his own show.
Back home Parker invented himself some web fluid with which he could spin webs as easily as any other spider. He also designed himself a spider suit and adopted the name; Spider-Man.
The following day, Spider-Man made his debut in the world on his new television show. But his debut into the world of crime fighting only took place by chance when he went after the muderer who had shot his uncle Ben. It was only when he caught the crook that he realized the guy was the same crook who he had allowed to escape a few days ago by refusing to help a patrolman nab him when he ran past him. That's when he realized that with great power came great responsibility.

The Alter Ego: Peter Parker was the resident science genius in Midtown High as well as the school's nerd and bookworm. While the faculty praised Peter, his colleagues made him the butt of all their jokes. But his uncle Ben and Aunt May thought the world of him.
Becoming Spider-Man proved to be a big release for the shy, lonely high school student. He could hide his face behind the mask and swing over the rooftops free from all worries. However, at the same time he blamed himself for his uncle Ben's death. Gradually, being Spider-Man, brought him out of his shell. As his power increased, his eyesight got better and he did away with the glasses. He became more confident and even started to toss back clever wisecracks at his classmates who ridiculed him. Even to Flash Thompson, who was Peter's biggest pain in the neck; Flash was always the one to crack jokes about Peter and get the gang to laugh at him. But while Flash insulted Peter more than the others, he adored Spider-Man.
..... With uncle Ben gone, Peter needed to get a job to support himself and his Aunt. But later on, he found out that none of the cheques he received for his T.V. show could be cashed by Spider-Man. So he got a part time job on the Daily Bugle as a photographer. But the irony of the situation was that the Bugle's owner J. Jonah Jameson detested Spider-Man with all his heart and often published articles trying to implicate Spidey in some crime or another. When Parker gets pics of the web slinger Jameson always tends to run them in his paper even though, they may prove Spidey is innocent. This is because to Jameson, a wall crawler that spins webs and has the proportionate strength of a spider, seems to double his paper's sale.
..... In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #10 it was learned why J.J.J hated the web slinger. While Spider-Man risked his life daily for others, J.J.J was only interested in making more money. Because Jonah recognized this truth, he would never be able to respect himself while Spider-Man was alive. Spidey represented everything Jonah was not, and he knew he would never be able to climb to Spidey's level.
As Jonah continued to write more and more articles against Spidey, Spidey started playing pranks on the publisher annoying him further.

Peter Parker's first serious romance was with Betty Brant; Jonah Jameson's lovely young secretary. Peter was impressed with Betty's patience. Somehow she was able to cope with Jameson's fire and bluster. But their love was not meant to last. When Spider-Man stepped in to help Betty and her brother Bennett, Bennett was killed and Betty blamed Spidey for his death. From that day on, Peter and Betty's romance was doomed.
As time went by, Peter graduated from Midtown High and enrolled in New York's Empire State University. For a while Flash showed up in Pete's classes but then joined the army. In college, Peter met Harry Osborn and also Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson. Gwen was killed in an encounter with the Green Goblin. Later on, Peter and Mary Jane became serious and eventually married her.
Peter soon got his degree and went on to do post-grad studies. Along with his part-time job at the Bugle, he also took up job at N.Y.U as a teaching assistant.

The Legend: When Peter Parker became the Spider-Man he made himself a costume and also designed a couple of web-shooters. The web-shooter contains web fluid capsules which can be ejected in the form of a stron line, a fine quick spray or even as a sticky adhesive liquid. It is worn on his wrist and is activated by the slightest touch of his finger on the super-sensitive electrode located on the palm of his hand. Spider-Man always keeps a few extra capsules of web fluid in his utility belt for emergencies. With the proportionate strength of a spider, he can easily lift upto forty times his own body weight. And of course, it is but natural for him to possess the uncanny balancing ability of the arachnids as well. Another one of his amazing powers is his Spider Sense. It's like having a built-in radar unit which is able to sense approaching danger. With such fantastic powers he doesn't need to carry any weapons with him.
Spider-Man's costume completely covers his body, is made of red and blue spandex, and has a silk-screened web pattern on it. The material is thin, allowing him to easily grip surfaces. While Spidey,s webbed red and blue costume has become his trademark outfit there was a time when he had changed it. During his stint in the Secret Wars, he found a symbiote which adapted around him like a black costume. This was more convinient for him since he could transform into Spider-Man by thought and he needn't lug around his spider suit wih him. And as for Spidey's mask, the white areas in his eye cut-outs of his mask are infact two-way mirror type plastic lenses. He can see clearly through them, but no-one can see in.
..... In Amazing #400, Aunt May finally left Peter and Mary Jane in a moving story which also provided the impetus for Ben Reilly, the Spider-Clone to finally introduce himself to Mary-Jane and Peter. Ben Reilly a.k.a the Scarlet Spider, has also masqueraded as Spider-Man for a time, when Parker had other problems.
Peter Parker had always believed that Ben Reilly was the clone created by the Jackal. But when Ben's friend Seward Trainer analized the two spiders he proclaimed that Peter was in fact the clone. Peter, blinded by rage ran off and met the Jackal who persuaded him to join himself and Spidercide- another clone. It was the Scarlet Spider who rescued Peter from the hundreds of rapidly degenerating clones and drummed some sense into the former web-slinger. The talk made Peter focus on his wife; MJ and the baby that was coming.
Later on Peter Parker and Ben Reilly found out some interesting revelations while snooping around. It seems that the mysterious Judas Traveller was a mutant with the ability to control people's perceptions of reality. Seward Trainer had been hired by another mystery man called Gaunt for some unknown deeds. Guant worked hand in hand with a group of people called the Scriers who were financed and controlled by Gaunt's employer. The biggest surprise turned out to be the mastermind of the entire plot - none other than the original Green Goblin - Norman Osborn! Norman found out about Miles Warren's cloning experiments. Once Ben Reilly was created, Gobby hired Seward Trainer and Mendel Stromm a.k.a Gaunt to tear Peter Parker's life apart.
When his hoax was out, Norman Osborn tried to kill Peter Parker. In an effort to save Peter, Ben jumped in front of the goblin glider, impaling himself.
Since then Peter's life has been constantly under threat from Norman Osborn. He bought off the Daily Bugle just so that he could have a closer view on Peter and manipulate his life entirely. He also arranged a setup where a crook was found dead in a cucoon of webbing, apparently he had choked on the webbing. He was quick to blame Spidey for the murder and announced a heafty bounty on his head. Soon every crook crawled out of the woodwork to take a pot shot at Spidey. The idea was to make his life so miserable that he would have no other option but to give up the mask. Naturally Spidey survived and got through the entire "Spider Hunt" episode unscathed. But with no real dirt on Norman, the crooked industrialist continues to taunt him.

Amazing Fantasy #15