In August of 1962, comic book history was made with the release of the 15th issue of ‘Amazing Fantasy’, which featured a brand new Super Hero. His name… Spider-Man. Ever since rearing his web-slinging head, Spider-Man has been one of the most recognizable comic book heroes of all time. Everything about this new character was exactly what comic fans were looking for. As Peter Parker, he was a teenager with problems. He was flawed, inexperienced and put down by all his classmates. In other words, he was a character we could identify with. To this day, he is still my favorite super hero. Since that time, 47 years ago, Spider-Man has become an unstoppable icon and hands-down favorite of the comic book world. Throughout all these years in print he has been the focus of more comic titles than I can count, spawned an ill-fated live action TV series in the 1970’s, and has had several different animated series.

In 2001, Spidey finally hit the big screen as a mega-successful motion picture directed by Sam Raimi (which eventually became a trilogy and on its way to adding a fourth). And who can forget Spidey’s appearances on the old “Electric Company” TV Series? (Normally played by Danny Sergen, rumor has it that cast member Morgan Freeman donned the costume once or twice!). In addition to this, a fan-turned-moviemaker by the name of Dan Poole created a great independent film called “The Green Goblin’s Last Stand” that has caused quite the Internet buzz since its release in 1992. So much so, that a follow-up documentary on the ‘Making of…” was filmed. If you get a chance to see either, I highly recommend it.

The most recent of the 10 different animated versions of Spider-Man aired originally on the Kids WB! (…and is now moving to Disney XD) last year and featured a 16 year old Peter Parker (Josh Keaton) as he begins his crime fighting career. “The Spectacular Spider-Man” offered yet another new approach and had a similar look to the recent “Batman” series. The characters are drawn with a very angular look, and thought it takes a little getting used to, is actually quite well done.

The first season was made up of 13 episodes, all of which I missed somehow when they originally aired. A few days ago I sat down to watch the new Sony DVD release of that entire first season and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Unlike the previous CGI animated series that aired on MTV, all of the villains we know and hate are actually styled to look like the villains we all love and hate. They didn’t do any re-imagining here.

The series is primarily aimed at a younger audience and is rather light, but I have to admit that some of the writing is definitely geared so as to appeal to older kids and adults who might be watching. My 5-year old daughter loves it, and I’m enjoying it right along with her. I’m glad to see that there will be a second season, so I look forward to an eventual DVD release.

There aren’t a whole lot of extra features. The two standouts are Stylizing Spidey and Spider-man Reanimated, both of which look at this new incarnation and how it came to be. They includes little interview snippets with the creators and offer a nice bit of information. Beyond that you mostly just get advertisements for other releases… including the separate episode DVDs that were previously released for this series.

That’s right, Sony decided to pull the old “let’s release individual DVDs… THEN release a full season set” trick. So anyone who bought the individual DVDs still have all of the episodes… but they don’t have the extra features. THEN they go so far as to advertise their existence right on the full season set. Ummmm…. Yeah….

Anyhow, my only nitpick is this little marketing ploy, but the show itself is actually quite entertaining.

Episodes:
Survival of the Fittest
Interactions
Natural Selection
Market Forces
Competition
The Invisible Hand
Catalysts
Reaction
The Uncertainty Principle
Persona
Group Therapy
Intervention
Nature Vs Nurture

Starring (the voices of): Josh Keaton, Daran Norris
Extras: Stylizing Spidey, Spider-man Reanimated
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1)
Studio: Sony
Release Date: 7/28/2009
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
http://www.sonywonder.com

We'll give The Spectacular Spider-Man: Season 1 a B.