Every week we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic book lore. Not major stuff like "the first appearance of Superman," but rather, "the first time someone said, 'Avengers Assemble!'" or "the first appearance of Batman's giant penny" or "the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth" or "the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter." Stuff like that. Here is an archive of all the When We First Met features so far! Check 'em out!

Today we take a look at three notable Spider-Man firsts, including the first time Spidey "thwip"ped, the first time he referred to himself as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the debut of the Spider-Tracer!

Spider-Man's webshooters didn't even make a sound in the early days but eventually they made differing sounds before finalizing in Amazing Spider-Man #36 on "thwip"....



It reappeared in #37...



then Spidey does not use his web-shooters at all in Ditko's finale issue and then Romita took over with #39 and "thwip" showed up right away...



And that's been the sound effect ever since.

In Amazing Spider-Man #4, Spider-Man is trying to trick Sandman into turning into loose sand form so he can suck him into a vacuum...



That's the first time Spider-Man referred to himself as the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man."

In Amazing Spider-Man #11, Doctor Octopus is released from prison. Spider-Man wants a way to keep track of him, so he invents the Spider-Tracer...







Initially, it could only be used with a tracking device Spidey would have to carry with him.



That was the status quo all the way until Steve Ditko's penultimate issue (#37)...



What's interesting here is that I don't believe Ditko MEANT to have Spidey tracking the device in this panel, but rather it was added by Stan Lee's thought bubble...



With Ditko off the book, though, when the Spider Tracer was next used in Amazing Spider-man #51, it was now tracked by Spider-Man just using his Spider-Sense...







And that's been how it has been used ever since (except for occasional usages of the device to boost the tracking signal).

Feel free to send in ideas for other debuts that you're curious about! Send your ideas to bcronin@comicbookresources.com!