It works fine in comics, I agree, because we grew used to accept all sorts of absurdities in our four-color mini-epics. In the movies, however, I believe that the less we stretch our willing suspension of disbelief, the better... unless the sole target audience is hardcore comic-book fans

Personally, I didn't see Peter as different from other heroes because he built his web-shooters instead of being born with them; in that regard, he was no different from Hank Pym or Iron Man. Tech-savvy heroes were common in the early Marvel days, which tried to rely on science-fiction more than on pure fantasy.

In fact, as a brilliant inventor, Peter was just another name in the long list of Marvel heroes who were also geniuses: Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, T'Challa, Hank Pym, Tony Stark, Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy et al. Brainy heroes were a big thing in the '60s!

What made Peter different to me is not that he invented his own tech, but that he was definitely "the little guy": a lad without a fortune or a high tech HQ, with lots of real-world problems we could easily relate to. That didn't change in Raimi's films, where the nature of the web-shooters was just a detail, not even requiring a special explanation.

I've said it before: in 99% of published Spider-Man comics, the web shooters are organic. 

That is, a very well-read Spider-Man reader would no more conclude from the stories that the web shooters were mechanical devices than they would conclude that he crawls walls by means of a super-powerful velcro sewn onto his gloves and boots, or that his "spider strength" is due to a hidden exoskeletal mechanism. Unless you read that 1% of stories that show or discuss the web shooters, that's the (super)natural conclusion you'd draw.

The two-finger button press always bothered me, since few if any of us can actually duplicate the hand pose that Ditko drew. Our fingers--especially the pinky--just don't operate independently enough to do that. Still, it's an ingenious artistic touch that Ditko conceived, a truly unique gesture distinguishing both the character and the exercise of the web-shooting power.

I think the web trigger should have been drawn further back, almost at the wrist. I can reach that spot with my middle and ring finger. That would avoid accidental presses from closing a fist or just holding on to something.

This is why it's a bad idea for him to be a tech genius who would have gotten a free ride from the university of his choice. He can be the little guy or one of the world's smartest men, who like Tony Stark and Reed Richards parlayed his genius into riches. Which is it? (This is the same argument as with Kitty Pryde; Byrne wanted her to be an average teen, but Claremont needed a tech guru on the team.)


Apart from the ethics of stealing it... did he steal a lifetime supply of web fluid, or is it easily made in his bedroom from household chemicals?

It's not difficult to flex the ring finger while leaving the pinky extended. But the opposite is indeed very difficult.

Same here. I was able to mimic the various Spider-Man finger positions as a kid, and I can do that now. It boils down to basic differences in human flexibility, I imagine.

Another reason for mechanical web shooters is that back in the 60's if you made Spidey "too spidery" then you risk alienating readers who might go eeeeewwwwww that's weird, disturbing or too strange. Spidey has to be recognizably human and relatable to the general consumer (kids) of comics at that time. Being strangely mutated into producing webs might have set off over-protective parents if they just glanced at what their child was reading. 

And the fingers make for an artistic style of short hand to showing that Spidey is actually "firing" his web shooters. Sheer brilliance on Ditko's part as an artist. What kid growing up didn't develop this skill? Just like Spock's hand greeting or turning a garbage can or Frisbee into Cap's shield, it is visually something we have all copied and done for ourselves. 

Count me in as one who has never had a problem doing the finger Thwip (or the Spock salute) from child to adult.