When I was acquiring my reading addiction, I was a hardcore devotee of the DC pantheon of superheroes. Superman was the first to get tiresome, and after Adam West's interpretation Batman wasn't the same. I stopped paying attention to the comic books for a few years in my adolescence.

When I returned to the faith, the Marvel lineup and the underground comix were what interested me. Of the latter, they made a Fritz the Cat movie a while back, but so far Trashman, Fat Freddie's Cat, Wonder Wart-Hog, Smiling Sergeant Death and his Merciless Mayhem Patrol and the underground heroes haven't made it to TV or the silver screen. But Marvel, which was the corporate mainstream generational challenger to DC, made the transition years ago, following a path DC had trod before.

The transition hasn't always gone well. In the comic books, the Hulk was this wonderfully anti-social brute, something that didn't come through at all in either the children's cartoons or the prime time TV drama. Batman has been hit and miss, as has Superman (though every male reporter has the hots for Terri Hatcher). The TV version of the Flash was pretty good. On the other hand, almost all of the Saturday morning animated superhero shows have been reduced to lowest-common-denominator appeal --- that is, they were written for stupid kids.

But the latest venture onto the silver screen, by Marvel's Spider-Man, is great.

Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker, the shy and studious working class orphan, and Kirsten Dunst plays Mary Jane Watson, the foxy girl next door. Sam Raimi, the strange directorial brain that brought us "The Evil Dead" and in recent years, as producer, "Xena: Warrior Princess," directs, and Willem Dafoe portrays the heavy.

Certain establishment types will hate this movie. All characters who hold any power in the world of business are insufferable, ranging from grasping cads to a superfiend.

But this, after all, is Spider-Man. As in the comic that once had Peter Parker complaining of boredom during a sweltering city summer when the Mad Scientists Union was on strike.

Spider-Man rose to comic book prominence in the 60s for a reason, and it does seem that the popular culture is again disenchanted with The Establishment. Maybe it will be an issue in this fall's election campaign. Certainly those who think that the Enron, Arthur Anderson and WorldCom execs are misunderstood good guys and the politicians they funded the heroes of our times will be annoyed by the social themes in this flick.

But the special effects and stunt work in this action-packed adventure spoof might still win such people over. Spider-Man is a fun movie, on several different levels.

And actually, that multi-level spoof is what has always separated the good children's programming from the bad. Adults can appreciate Bugs Bunny when he calls a squaredance or Boris and Natasha as they conspire against that stupid moose and his squirrely sidekick, but no adult who isn't severely addled between the ears can relate to the Transformers or Barney. Good writing for kids also includes things that attract adult audiences.

And so it is with Spider-Man. Here on the silver screen we have an adventure fantasy for little boys that entertains grown men as well.

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