Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: Before Watching

Not to rehash some of my posts about the 1981 Spider-Man series, but Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is the much better-remembered Spider-Man cartoon of the early 1980s. With the two cartoons airing at the same time, inevitable comparisons are going to be made. Given that Amazing Friends has a fairly positive reception, I'm curious about how much of that reputation it deserves. Does it owe its reputation to nostalgia, or will the show manage to tell competent stories, with the pacing and plot points that have often been lacking from the previous two shows I've seen?

Honestly, it's hard not to feel optimistic at this point. Iceman and Firestar could very well add a good character dynamic to complement Spider-Man, and while the use of them is a little out of the blue, with Firestar having been created for the cartoon, I can think of far, far worse characters to team up Spider-Man with. I like both characters on their own, both thanks to their personalities and powers. At this stage, the main worries I have about this series are that we'll get some formulaic and predictable plots, but I'm hoping that my enjoyment of the three main characters will manage to counteract the worst of it.

Using the opening of the show as a teaser doesn't make me less optimistic about the show. There are some small changes to the characters which I can see - Iceman is now blonde, Firestar's flight appears to work like the Human Torch's - but it's nothing deal-breaking. The biggest standout to me is that the three main characters appear to be living together, and that by pulling on a statue, they can reveal an elaborate computer network hidden in their home. I should be looking forwards to the storytelling opportunities and what this hints about the setup we've got going for the show, but honestly, it's so high-tech and unexpected that I kind of find it hilarious instead. But I love it regardless.

We've also got a shot of the Green Goblin in the opening which is a big plus, but more interestingly, we've got Doctor Doom appearing. After the use of Doctor Doom on the 1981 Spider-Man series (well, the one that isn't this one), I'm eager to see more uses of him, as while the character himself wasn't too bad, he was in a few silly or boring plots throughout the series.

Join me next time as I start my journey into the better-known Spider-Man cartoon of the 1980s, with "Triumph of the Green Goblin". I'll be looking forwards to hearing your thoughts as I go.