By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — Spider-Man swooped in on lower Manhattan Wednesday afternoon to battle New York's scariest foe: unemployment.
With trusty sidekick Mayor Michael Bloomberg at his side, the web-slinging superhero unveiled a new comic called "Spider-Man, You’re Hired," which highlights the services the city provides to help people find jobs.
In the eight-page book by Marvel Entertainment, an out-of-work and despairing Peter Parker runs into Mayor Bloomberg on the subway. Bloomberg overhears Parker’s worries and advises him to visit one of the city’s Workforce1 Career Centers, which last year helped 25,000 New Yorkers find jobs.
"Landing a new job can be a daunting and overwhelming task, but there is help out there and we want people to know about it," Bloomberg said Wednesday from the recently opened Midtown Comics shop on Fulton Street. "The Spider-Man comic will help us reach a demographic that otherwise might not have been aware of the services."
The city’s nine Workforce1 centers offer free assistance in everything from resumes and interview skills to job placement. The comic ends with Parker promising Bloomberg that he’ll head to a center to start his job hunt.
In between chats with the mayor, Parker also dashes off to don his Spider-Man suit and battle bad guys The Vulture and Electrosaurus.
Both in the comic and in real life on Wednesday, Bloomberg intoned the Spider-Man line, “With great power comes great responsibility,” as a reminder that the city should use its resources to help people.
The Daily News printed more than 600,000 copies of the comic and circulated it in today’s paper. It is also available at Workforce1 centers and on iTunes through the Marvel Comics app.
Spider-Man did not speak during Wednesday’s press conference, for fear of revealing his true identity, Bloomberg said.
Afterward, the pair posed together, both extending their hands as if about to sling a web (Bloomberg at first made more of a "gnarly" hand gesture but soon added a second finger to correct it).
Bloomberg said Spider-Man is his favorite superhero, and he isn’t worried about arachnophobic New Yorkers getting the wrong message.
"I feel very comfortable with him on my side," Bloomberg said with a smile.
