Anyone who has spent any time around Fleischer knows two things: he loves telling his origin story, and there’s an excellent chance it won’t be the same story he told you last time.
In Media Geek & the Glass Onion, Fleischer proudly explains that he’s the sole survivor of a doomed planet, was exposed to gamma radiation while traveling through a cosmic cloud, became frozen in the ocean, was adopted by a wealthy couple who were subsequently murdered in an alley by a radioactive spider, and eventually gained his powers through the combined effects of spider venom and Earth’s yellow sun.
If some of that sounds familiar, you’re beginning to understand Roddy’s problem.
The original scene is a comedy exchange between Fleischer, the increasingly exasperated Roddy and Timmy Tribble, who thinks every word of it is wonderful. But it occurred to me that the whole thing might be even more ridiculous as a country song.
And thus was born “The Tale of the Fleisch.”
Rather than simply setting the dialogue to music, the song reimagines the scene as a country trio recounting Fleischer’s ever-evolving history, complete with a skeptical singer pointing out exactly where she’s heard these origins before and another who becomes Fleischer’s enthusiastic cheerleader. As for Fleischer? Naturally, he’s delighted by the whole thing.
After all, as he reminds us at the end of his story: “It’s a gift.”