YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD SPIDER-MAN

So, was it Spider-Man who was friendly or was it the neighbourhood? Because you can look at it two ways.

If it's Spider-Man who's the friendly one, then we're talking a pretty unique sales point for a superhero. Invincible, incredible, a man of steel - these are all tried and tested epithets for your heroic types. "Friendly" doesn't get used nearly so much. Describing a superhero as "friendly" is a little like saying a supervillain is very nice to their mother. That may well be, but it doesn’t seem too relevant to what they're doing regards the job at hand. You don't get many job interviews where they ask the question "So, would you describe yourself as friendly?" Motivated, they like. A team player is popular. Friendly - not so much.

Or maybe it's the neighbourhood that Spider-Man occupied that is friendly, that's another possibility. Spidey spins his web primarily in New York, a city not known for its friendly nature. Six locks on the door to your apartment and cab drivers who can't speak English are the most popular facets of New York that we are all familiar with. Friendly neighbourhoods don't seem to feature nearly enough. Kidnapping, shootings and drug peddling appear a lot more on NYPD Blue than disputes about whose turn it is to bake cakes for everyone in the street.

Sesame Street. That's a friendly neighbourhood. And it is in New York. Watch the opening credits of Sesame Street and there's Big Bird walking through Central Park on his way home. Maybe this is where Spider-Man is operating.

I don't know that there's that much crime on Sesame Street, of course. I guess someone's running the numbers there. But, that's about it.

And if the neighbourhood is so friendly, would you even need a local superhero to handle the crime epidemic? How much crime is likely to happen in a friendly neighbourhood, really? Everyone knows everyone, people are always leaving their doors open, kids are playing in the street. You're going to spot the Green Goblin pretty much the second he parks his bat glider on the double yellow line, right?