God this itches. *points to bandaid* Got bite by a gigantic spider. OH WAIT! *tries to TWIP* Damn. Well it was worth a shot. Too bad. I just watched Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and wanted to give swinging a try. But at least I have this great show until then! Let’s talk about it.
I want to start with something like a disclosure about this show. My friend, Jeff Trammell, was the head writer! I can’t describe how weird and cool it is to see your friends name in the opening credits of a Spider-Man cartoon. Every time I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh shit. I used to be in bad sketch videos with him.’. Jeff a few years ago won a place in the Nickelodeon internship program and, long story short, worked his ass off to end up writing another amazing show on Cartoon Network (RIP) called Craig of the Creek where he also got to hang out with the shows music composer (and one of my favorite musicians) Jeff Rosenstock. They played D&D together! So here’s a guy from my neck of the woods, around the same age, writing TWO amazing shows and hanging out with one of my musical favorites. He’s living my dream! A younger me might be filled with some kind of jealousy over this but I’m too old and have too many dead friends not to just be filled with (a probably unearned) since of pride in a hometown pal who done good. Congrats and here’s too many more years of success for Jeff!
All my personal connections aside, I loved this show! Trust me, ask any of my friends that have dared to ask my opinion on something they’ve made, I’m not just saying that! The show as a whole was light and fun. Full of small but interesting twist on a well known character. The show is full of references and nods to Spider-Man and MCU lore and moments we all know so well but with just one simple change that makes it feel completely new. It just goes to show that, much like the Absolute Universe over at DC that I’ve been reading and loving or The Caped Crusader show, if you understand a character well enough, you can change it in ways that only make it better. You can change small but foundational things about a character you understand enough and not only will it not ruin what makes that character that character, it will highlight just how special they are. It’s truly a hard magic trick to pull off.
My biggest worry going into this show was the choice of animation style. This cell shaded, computer generated style was something I had seen before, specifically in the DC animated film Super Sons, and absolutely hated it. I just looked cheap and really took me out of the story. Well I’m relived to see that in the intervening years, they seemed to have worked out the kinks because it worked so well for this very comic book inspired show. The cell shading in conjunction with the smooth computer animation and the ingenious use of comic book paneling, especially in action scenes, just gelled in a very satisfying way. It all did a great job of making this show feel like a comic come to life. Just goes to show, any choice you make can work if it’s motivated by what’s best for the show.
As for the story, I loved the way the typical side characters we would expect have been remixed and shuffled with a cast of characters that gave an interesting fresh dynamic to Spider-Man. Some of these characters are deep pulls too. I had no idea who Nico was until a friend gave me the lowdown on her and now I’m even more excited to see what comes of her story. Aside from Nico, every character really felt deep and fully realized. The arc that Tombstone goes through especially captured me. A story about how, no matter how good the individual is, if they are trapped in a corrupt system, it will corrupt them by any means, surprise surprise, really got to my little anticapitalist heart. On top of all that, the final fight with the Venom Symbiote that looks suspiciously like Kraven is an excellent use of the Bootstrap Paradox, something I learned about as a massive Doctor Who fan. I love when a story perfectly loops back around and buttons up cleanly.
I’ve also been reading and enjoying the tie-in comic book which fills in the gap between the opening fight and the first day at school with a small stakes, fun story of Spider-Man learning the ropes. It’s in the middle of its run, which is good because, if I have any criticisms at all about the show, it would be that’s it’s too short. But that is how it goes in these streaming times. Gone are the days of twenty episode long shows that last. It’s amazing any show can fit so much story and get people so invested in such a short time. These are all circumstances outside the shows control but I can’t think of any other things I didn’t like about the show. Maybe if I’m really nitpicking, Scorpion was a bit one note. But that’s me really trying to find something I don’t like.
But what about you? Did you have a big a blast as I did swinging around New York and saving the day? Are you friends with people who have done some cool stuff and want o bag about them? Leave it in the comments and then do all the liking and subscribing YouTube stuff. Until next time, death to the algorithm.
