NEW YORK -- Spider-Man needs support. Sure, he's better off than most: Spinning webs and climbing walls does have its perks. But a strong superhero is nothing without a strong base of supporters championing his every move -- something that isn't exactly easy for Spidey to accomplish with the Daily Bugle painting him as a menace on every other front page.

Perhaps MTV News can show the hero in a different light. Last Friday, we were invited to join a small group of passionate supporters to spread the mark of Spider-Man all across New York City. Our mission: to travel to predetermined locations throughout Manhattan to tag specific walls with the Amazing Spider-Man's famous insignia. "That's kind of odd," you might be saying to yourself. But there was nothing odd about it to Abigail Flynn, one of the carefully selected Spidey supporters out in full force on behalf of the amazing web-slinger.

"We're supporting Spider-Man," Flynn told MTV News of the campaign. "We're putting up the mark of the Spider-Man around the city to spread awareness and spread his message."

Fellow web-head Walter Sojda added, "He's fighting for the little guy. We have to show that in New York, we care about Spider-Man. We're supporting him here."

New York isn't the only place Spider-Man has recently found support. All last week, the superhero's message was spread throughout five other American cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Atlanta. Clearly, the hero's national awareness is on the rise -- good timing, no doubt, considering he has a movie on the way!

Spreading the mark of Spider-Man isn't the only thing that has our spider senses tingling here at MTV News. Early last week, MTV Splash Page received a mysterious backpack in the mail, with no explanation as to its origin other than a haphazardly attached piece of duct tape reading "Property of Peter Parker." Spidey's supporters were tight-lipped when asked about Parker's identity, so the connection between the two remains unclear for now.

Here's something that is clear: Despite what the Bugle says, there's a whole lot of love out there for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man -- and Manhattan has the mark to prove it.

Are you following the mark of Spider-Man? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @roundhoward!

Check out everything we've got on "The Amazing Spider-Man."

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