Nearly two years ago, I mentioned in my first blog post that Spectacular Spider-Man was one of the only Spider-Man shows I'd seen. Things are a bit different now - I think that at time of writing, I've seen the majority of Spider-Man cartoon episodes? - but even after having experienced all of them, I'd still easily put Spectacular Spider-Man as being the best cartoon (and I don't see it being dethroned by Ultimate Spider-Man or Marvel's Spider-Man, though I'm happy to be proved wrong). Much like the pretty good Playstation 4 Spider-Man game, it's smart enough to draw on lots of ideas from across the decades, recognising what changes will work and when to leave things alone.
So, yeah, I'm not going to even try and avoid my obvious bias here. I love this show, I'm so happy to be watching it again, and I can't wait to start writing about it and discussing what makes it work. I'm not blind to its flaws - one thing that I do recall is that Spider-Man regularly gets beaten up and there's little attempt by the show to act as if it's affecting him - but they are few and far between. I'll be interested to see whether knowing the general overall plot will make things better or worse - if nothing else, I know who The Big Man is this time around. If there are any Spidey fans out there who don't enjoy this show, I'd love to hear why, because it absolutely nails pretty much everything, from memory.
Since I know what happens in the show, it does put me in a bit of a unique position here compared to other coverage I've done; in the past I'd usually speculate or hope what might be in the future for certain characters, but here I'll probably find I remember more than I think. I'll try and avoid letting my future knowledge affect how I feel about each episode, and treat each one on its own merits.
The opening's got a real bop to it, so credit due to whoever came up with it. It's not as iconic as the 1967 series' theme, but that doesn't mean it's a dud of a song. (Though some more lyrics would be appreciated). I completely forgot that the opening has a homage to Amazing Fantasy #15 in it! That's a nice little nod to put in there, and a good way to get me excited if I wasn't already.
One thing that I will put down, I guess as a neutral comment more than anything, is that the show's art style takes a little while to get used to. It's nothing egregiously awful or anything, but it's also stylised in a pretty unique way. I do think that it works for the show and that it's overall good, but the weird pointy nostrils are something I'm not a fan of.
Continuing on through the credits, we get the almost obligatory shot of the spider biting Peter, which hilariously has a label saying DNA HACKED while showing Peter's bloodstream. Not the choice of words I'd choose, especially when the spider image superimposed over the bloodstream exposits what's happened far more elegantly. (What, you're too good for a nuclear explosion?)
Vulture, Electro, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and a hint of Venom are shown as the credits continue, and you'd think that something like this would almost be obligatory, but after two shows where we didn't get such classic villains in the credits, I'm embracing this. I haven't mentioned it yet, but a good chunk of the opening is done in the style of newspaper articles, which is pretty neat, and for bonus points they appear to be actual articles written by Jonah! (With repeated text to fill it out, but I'll forgive them for that).
A shot of Spider-Man in the black suit kind of feels like a spoiler, but it's also one hell of a way to draw peoples' attention. If memory serves Peter only wears the suit for an episode or two in the first season, and I can't remember whether they change the opening for the second season. It looks absolutely great on him either way.
After doing some dramatic shots of Peter and the supporting cast (there's something hilarious to me about it showing his fellow students, and then Jonah appears next) we cut to the title, which does give a credit to Stan and Steve. Overall, it's a pretty good opening; I don't think there's anything there that feels missing or which really needs tightening up.
...although it did show Gwen Stacy as one of Peter's classmates, and now I can't remember whether or not Mary Jane appears in the show. Shit. Well, guess there's nothing for it then; I'll have to start rewatching the show and find out!
Join me next time as I start my journey into the subjectively best Spider-Man series, with "Survival of the Fittest". I'll be looking forwards to hearing your thoughts as I go.
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