Sunday, March 9, 2008

The Spectacular Spider-man

On Saturday 3/8/08, The Kids WB debuted a new cartoon The Spectacular Spider-Man. This new show tries yet again to redefine Spider-Man for a new generation. Is it any good? How is the animation? And lastly, does it stay true to the Spider-Man mythos? The answer to these questions is a resounding yes!

The show starts with a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He's 16 years old and has been Spider-Man for about four months. Basically as he states when we first meet him as he is swinging through a nighttime Manhattan:

"How I spent my summer vacation by Peter Benjamin Parker. I can sum it up in one glorious hyphenated word : Spider-Man!!!! I am the Spectacular Spider-Man!!!"

So we don't get the spider-bite or Uncle Ben's death. That's fine. Most of us know the origin of Spider-Man and we don't need a rehashing. Besides we quickly learn in flashbacks how he became Spider-Man so if you've been on another planet for the last 40 years you can catch up.

Oh yeah, you better hold on when you watch this show because in the first two episodes we have been introduced to Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Aunt May ( she has money troubles), Anna Watson, Harry and Norman Osborn, Otto Octavious, Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Betty Brant, Frederick Fosewell, Eddie Brock, Curt Connors, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen (she's Latina, in the comics she's a blond white girl), Sally Avril (those fans of Untold Tales of Spider-Man will remember her), Adrian Toomes ( The Vulture), Flint Marko (Sandman), Max Dillion (Electro), Hammerhead, The Enforcers, and The Big Man.

Phew, that's a lot. The only character conspicuously missing is Mary Jane Watson, but her Aunt Anna is in the show and there's no reason to have her and not have MJ so I expect that at some point she will show up.

The tone of the show closely mirrors the Ultimate Spider-Man book, so if you like that you'll like this. There are multiple plot threads that involve both Spider-Man (He's been Spider-Man for four months and has fought nothing but regular criminals. Now real honest-to-goodness super-villains are showing up, and he's got an unseen enemy plotting against him : The Big Man) and Peter Parker (he wants to date Liz Allen but he's a nerd so she won't give him the time of day at least not in front of her friends, he needs a way to make money because he and his aunt are broke, and he has to respect his Aunt's 10pm curfew which is tough when you're hanging upside down fighting Electro).

One of the cutest moments in the show is when he gets his nightly call on his cell at 9:58 pm from Aunt May wondering where he is. The ring tone is "Itsy Bitsy Spider." It fits with he overall tone of cheekiness and fun that the show has. This is the wisecracking, high-energy Spider-Man that we grew up and liked. The third Spider-Man movie could have taken a lot from this simple cartoon. This show does a lot of things right.

What does it do wrong? Well, if you are not a fan of the Anime style that a lot of cartoons are employing now and that the young kids love you may not like the animation. All the characters have eyes that seem freakishly large. And you may want the show to slow down and pace itself a little. But I'm probably nitpicking. All in all, a great effort and I can't wait for next week.

Percy Johnson
Owner, Comics & Classics