Comics for Kids: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

by Betsy

As part of my ongoing effort to entertain my superhero-crazed three-year-old son, I've started investigating some cartoons. After all, anything involving superheroes can't possibly be as annoying as Dora the Explorer... can it?

Jack and I checked out Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and I quickly learned that they are bad choices for him. I suspect they'd be fine for an older kid, maybe 7 or so, but they made Jack into a crazy, rammy nutbar who is incapable of not hurling himself off of the couch, getting boo-boos, crying, and repeat into infinity.

Then, I came up with a genious idea: a bootleg of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I loved the show as a kid - would Jack agree? And would I like it for any reasons other than nostalgia?

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends now airs on the Disney Channel's Jetix, but if you're crazy internet saavy like me, and have access to little-known sites like "Google," then you too can obtain a bootleg of questionable quality.

If you are not a child of the '80s and aren't familiar with the show, the premise is pretty simple. Spider-Man is a student at Empire State, along with his friends Iceman and Firestar - a character who was created solely for the show. Firestar not only provides powers that contrast with Iceman's, but also serves as a token female. The three of them live with Aunt May and her puppy, Ms. Lion, and fight crime when they're not in class. Plus, as a bonus, the whole thing is narrated by Stan Lee.

Jack absolutely loves this show. He geeks out at the frequent guest appearances - from Captain America to the X-Men, and all kinds of characters in between. He finds the action scenes exciting, but not scary. The bad guys in this cartoon are really not that bad - they are pretty much as evil as the gang that tried to steal gas from Steve Martin's character in The Jerk. Everything resolves neatly in half-hour installments, and there are jokes that only a kid could love.

As an adult, I find that there is considerably less to love about this show. I do enjoy watching it with Jack and explaining who Namor is, and I like that I can leave him alone to watch the show without worrying about his seeing anything age-inappropriate. But the plots are thin, the storylines are often lame, and the humor is cringe-worthy. And be warned: the music (all two instrumental pieces repeated on a constant loop) will get stuck in your head. I wouldn't watch it myself, but with a little kid, it's a lot of fun.

Jack's rating: A
My rating: C+
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Hulk's Video Hat-Trick

by Patrick

The original plan for this week's Hat Trick was an in depth look at the three battles that old green-jeans had with the flagship character of the "other big comic company," Superman. But now it's Friday and I've barely started the article. Maybe someday I'll finish it, but for this week, I share with you three fun Hulk videos that maybe you haven't seen before. If you are ready to see Jack Kirby, Guillermo, and some old school cartoons, make with the clicky on the link and I'll show them to you.

VIDEO #1: JACK KIRBY ON THE INCREDIBLE HULK: Stan Lee may get all the love from Marvel with his many movie cameoes, but The King did an appearance as a sketch artist on the old Hulk TV show. See if you can guess who he is drawing!



VIDEO #2: GUILLERMO AS THE HULK VS. ED NORTON: The other night on Jimmy Kimmel's NBA pregame show, they did a pretty funny bit based around today's big movie release. It's really pretty funny (and I think it may be the only bit of promotion that Norton has done for the film):



"Did you see Fight Club? American History X? Do you want you face on the curb?"

VIDEO #3: HULK CLASSIC CARTOON: I was going to post the cartoon recapping the origin of the Hulk, but our esteemed guest editor, The Leader, demanded I include a cartoon featuring him. So watch The Leader send Hulk to another planet, where he meets The Watcher. And dig that groovy theme song! Come on, sing it with me! "Dr. Bruce Banner, Belted by Gamma Rays....."



That closes out the Hat Trick for tonight. Next week things will be back to normal, reviewing books. Until then, don't make me angry. You won't like me when I am angry.

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The Spectacular Spider-Man - A Review

by Chris

I grew up watching Spider-Man cartoons. I have vivid memories of watching reruns of the 1967 cartoon and of eagerly awaiting new installments of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any of the series that aired on MTV a few years ago, but now have a Tivo set to record The Spectacular Spider-Man, which airs on WB Kids on Saturday mornings. My four year old daughter and I have been watching it for a couple of months now. Does it live up to the excitement of Spidey's other animated series?


My daughter Cassie and I have watched the first ten episodes so far, and the creators are not wasting any time introducing characters. As far as villains go, we've seen The Enforcers, Hammerhead, Lizard, Vulture, Dr. Octopus, Electro, Shocker, Sandman, Rhino, Tombstone, Green Goblin, Quentin Beck (who is not yet Mysterio), and Chameleon. Plus we've heard from John Jameson, who is on his way to becoming Man-Wolf, and Eddie Brock, a friend of Peter's. He's not anywhere close to becoming Venom yet, but we have seen the symbiote/black costume. Black Cat has made an appearance and was excellently played by Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame.

Luckily for Spider-Man, the other characters aren't all villains. They nailed Mary Jane's first appearance, and I was grinning like an idiot fanboy when we were treated to that famous phrase when Peter opened the door. The expected supporting cast is there as well: Aunt May, Gwen and George Stacy, Harry and Norman Osborn, Flash Thompson, Glory Grant, Liz Allan, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, and Betty Brant. Jean DeWolff has even made an appearance.

There's also an investigative reporter named Ned Lee, who may just be an Asian version of Ned Leeds, but we'll see where they take him. Could he become the Hobgoblin?

The voice acting is very good all around, with each actor adding personality to the characters. The dialogue is well written, so the character interactions all ring true. The stories are interesting and the action scenes are, with a very few exceptions, well done and exciting. There's also an excellent sub-plot with Peter struggling to use his photography gig to pay the bills, balancing that with the need to be responsible to those who depend on him in other ways (he was let go from an internship at Dr. Connors' lab because he disappeared and took pictures of a fight with the Lizard, for example).

I do have a few complaints, though. Spidey's origin has not been told. In fact, when I was watching the first episode, it felt like the second. When we first see Peter Parker, he's been Spider-Man for an entire summer. I suppose the writers chose to skip over this since the show is kind of geared towards younger children and it might be too dark for them, but as an avid Spider-Man fan, I was disappointed. My other complaint is the changing of the villains' origins. Some of them have been a pretty drastic and the people involved were never there in the comics, but that's just me being nitpicky.

My daughter loves the show. "Daddy, who's that?" "Why is he fighting Spider-Man?" "Is Black Cat a good guy or a bad guy?" It's awesome! I think I'm enjoying the show more just because she likes it so much.

My two minor complaints above aside, I think the show is really well done. The animation style doesn't really do much for me, but it's starting to grow on me. As a long-time reader of the comic (though no longer due to the travesty that was Brand New Day), I look forward each week to see what new characters and storylines they introduce. I'm also curious to see if they add any significant stories to the mythos that haven't been covered in the comics. And I love spending the time with my daughter, indoctrinating her in the mythos of my favorite superhero.

Grade: A
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