The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Spectacular Spider-Man over?

This is not a fun post. I am a big fan of The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. I thought it was going to be a horrible show, but then it turned out to easily be Marvel's best cartoon to date. I praised it for it's great writing and sticking to classic story lines. All I was waiting for the green light on season 3. Well it looks like that isn't going to happen.

Today Marvel announced a new Spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate Spider-Man. This one will be based off of the comic set in the "Ultimate" universe. It follows Spidey in high school, which is exactly where Spectacular Spider-Man is set. So I was hoping if the voices and writers would come back it would be good. Like a continuation ala Justice League Unlimited. But then I read this;

"Ultimate Spider-Man will be a unique journey exploring our favorite web-slinger as he teams up with other fan favorite Marvel Super Heroes in never before seen stories with a new life filled with great challenges, new friends, intense action and character growth," said Eric S. Rollman, President of Marvel Animation.

Sounds like it could end up like Batman: Brave and the Bold. Ugh! This sucks. While no official word has ever come out, this seems like it for Marvel's best animated show ever.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Spectacular Spider-Man Season 2

So it's been awhile since I talked about The Spectacular Spider-Man, and it's also been a very long time since the show has had any new episodes...like over a year. Can anyone say Battlestar Galactica?

Anyway, the 1st season wrapped up with a Venom storyline. Now when the symbiote first appeared the suit was like Spider-Man 3's suit...ugly and just changed the colors or the red & blue look. I was pissed, but over the course of 3 episodes it changed gradually into the classic black suit. Talk about geeking out over something so small!


So season 2 starts off with Kraven, another classic Spidey villain. Now they did screw him up a bit by making him into some sort of lion/human hybrid, but whatever. The writing was just as good and the actor who plays Spider-Man does an excellent job of bring his sarcastic one liners that we all love from the comics alive to the TV screen. As much as I liked Chris Barnes from the Spider-Man animated series of the 90's, this guy does it better.

Next week, we get more of the Sinister 6. I love the classic villain feel. All the kids talk about is Venom and Carnage. It's irrating to say the least because they have no respect for the classic villain in Spidey's rogue gallery. It's fun to have a show back on that I love.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Face it Tiger...

So I have already talked about how great the new Spider-man cartoon is, and it just got better. During this weeks episode, Peter tries to get Betty Brant to go to the fall formal, but Aunt May ends up kind of putting a stop to it...evil Aunt May :-). Anyway...she does it so that Peter would go with M.J. Now in the comics, her introduction is legendary...the classic "Face it tiger...you just hit the jackpot."
Classic. So fast forward to 2008 and we see Peter answer the door when she knocks. Now I am sure every Spidey fan was hoping for it and we got it.The classic hand on the hip pose, Peter's mouth wide open, and the line was delivered perfectly. I can't wait to see where this series goes. Plus the addition of Tombstone, who is NOT the Big Man, Green Goblin next episode and do the writers have the guts to kill off Gwen like in the comcis? I doubt it, but still looks like fun.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: The Spectacular Spider-Man

ok so I really thought this was going to be a Venting the Anger post after I saw the artwork for new Spider-Man cartoon, but surprisingly it's not that bad. In fact, it could be the beginning of a classic comic/cartoon like the DC Animated Universe.
The artwork reminded me of some kind of Fisher Price Pre-school toy...especially when I saw the goatee thing of JJ's chin. But then I saw the next set.
Two things popped out at me 1) Gwen Stacy who was all but forgotten about on the previous Spider-Man cartoon and 2) webs under the arms on Spidey's suit. Those two things told me that we were looking at a show that knew what they were doing. The other plus is seeing a super skinny Spider-Man...it just works for me.

So I am watching the first episode which introduced the Vulture and it was pretty good. More classic comic elements were added...like The Enforcers and Betty Brant. See back in the day before M.J. was Peter's lady, he was looking at Gwen Stacy and Betty Brant. In fact he didn't want to meet M.J. because he thought she would be ugly and no fun...something that is carried into the cartoon.

The writing is pretty solid. The smart-ass, wise cracking Spidey is present in this show and the delivery works better than the last Spider-Man cartoon again. I also like the inclusion of Flash Thompson as a bully at school. Oh yeah they made Peter Parker a junior in high school...which is about right. Old comic fans should love this show The Enforcers, Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Rhino, and the Lizard are the villains which are shown in the first few episodes. Nice to see a show build a little instead of jumping into Venom and Carnage right away.

I know that Venom will be introduce because Eddie Brock is a re-occuring character (different from the comic) and they show Spidey in the black suit in the opening credits.

Let's wrap it up:
Pros: good writing, starting from the beginning without losing important characters (I'm looking at you Gwen Stacy & Betty Brant), smart ass Spidey, webbed arms, classic villains.

Cons: JJ has a goatee thing, Eddie Brock is a nice guy and Peter's friend totally different from the comics, and it looks like the Black Suit isn't going to be the classic suit, but more in line with the movie version.
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