From Uncle Ben to Tahrir Square

Years ago, I used to send off for American University in Cairo course catalogs.

What year was this? I'm not sure. It must have been 1983 or so, the year before I went to college. Or maybe it was after college, as I sought an escape from the drudgery of the first "normal" day job. Though there was nothing normal about working at Marvel Comics, even then, before the cycle of bankruptcy-retrench-repeat began.

I liked the idea of a huge, chaotic city in an opaque culture, of being surrounded by Egyptian students. It sounded... so different.

I never went to AUC. To learn, that is. But last week I went to teach.

Yasir invited me in to discuss comic books with his first-year Mass Communications class. It went well, and I showed Before and After images of how we alter Betty and Veronia—and especially Sue Storm—for more conservative markets. I explained our original comic and the students asked insightful questions.

But best was when Yasir opened the class, asking "Who knows the primary lesson of Spider-Man?"

They all perked up. Some raised their hands. They all nodded as one spoke—with great seriousness—for the group.

"With great power comes great responsibility."