8Bit/Digi

Oh No, We’re Not Supposed to be Here

Spider-Man has had several cartoons at this point, and fans will heavily scrutinize any new take on the wall-crawler. It can get a little ridiculous, feeling like people intentionally want to beat everyone’s expectations into the ground before it’s even released, either because we’ve all become too cynical and jaded or they’re providing a personal service to ensure we aren’t letting the hype grow unchecked. As much as I appreciate others helping me stay grounded, I think it’s okay to be excited about something, or just be willing to give it a chance. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is worth that time, it deserves that opportunity. This isn’t a typical tale of young Peter Parker, but it’s a solid one.

Sure, this is set in an alternate universe that takes most of its background from the movies, but it’s a Spider-Man cartoon that is rich with character and does a decent job of making us care, reigniting that spark for the franchise. We see Peter Parker get his powers, in a different way than usual, and instead of being mentored by Tony Stark, his new benefactor is Norman Osborn, a lifelong enemy in most other realities. Due to a particular inciting incident destroying Midtown High School, Peter is at a different learning institution with a new set of friends – even if he already had a little history with a couple of them before – and missing some key players that helped shape his youth. This iteration of the character will have a slew of new influences, experiences, slightly different enemies, and it’s kind of nice to do the early years without retreading too much of the same ground.

For this cartoon, Peter Parker is voiced by Hudson Thames, who already helped bring the character to life in the show What If…?, but didn’t do any favors for his new endeavor when the show was being promoted. Thankfully, he does a decent job voicing the character and this version comes across as incredibly relatable and compassionate, especially when it comes to his relationships with other people. Pete isn’t quite as geeky as some versions of Parker are, he doesn’t have any bullies here, but this freshman is still awkward, constantly rambling, being loud, yet is somehow still easily ignored, unless he’s getting caught trying to talk in class. This is the beginning of Peter being bad with obligations, attempting to juggle too many things, and we see how unskilled he is at living both lives. He tries so hard to please everyone. He messes up as Spider-Man too, unsure of his strength and what exactly his webbing will do, swinging around in that makeshift costume and unintentionally destroying public property. One encounter makes it clear that even if Parker has powers, he isn’t a trained fighter, putting him at a disadvantage. Peter knows he’s not doing a great job, but he’s trying and at most times feels like our friendly neighborhood superhero, one who works for free pizza and a handshake. 

Man, he really does need a mentor.

Go Get ‘em, Tiger

The entire cast has wonderful chemistry, gelling with each other and playing well off their relationships as they change over time. Their personalities shine through even when certain lines of dialogue don’t hit exactly. Aunt May (Kari Wahlgren) is sweet, caring, and full of charisma, but she feels like her own person and not there to just be a plot point for Peter. They are two people thrown together by life’s cruel circumstances, doing the best they can in this makeshift family after extreme loss (and maybe some incarceration).

Peter has two close friends, the first of which comes from one of those bonds that can only be formed by saving someone’s life from a dangerous extraterrestrial creature, even though he didn’t have powers yet. Nico Minoru (Grace Song) is one of my favorite Runaways characters and I adore how she fits into this franchise. She’s an interesting character, a smart and conscious activist (while also following celebrities ‘ironically’), there to help keep Peter humble and pick on him when needed. Nico also encourages her friend when she feels it’s a good move for him. She is upset that Parker kept secrets from her, but Nico has her own, hidden in the necklace, and I get the hint she might also be okay hooking up with Peter’s love interest. 

She’s not happy about Peter’s new bestie, Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson), who he also saved, but just from a beating. Harry insults Spidey’s costume as thanks, but this is one of those hard truths our hero needs to hear. Nico thinks Harry is a vapid, rich, pretty boy influencer, destined to try his hand at politics and eventually ruin the economy. And well, she may be right about most of that, but he also seems kind of self-aware. Harry and Peter is a friendship that shouldn’t work on paper, but when a dumb slip-up lets the younger Osborn in on the Spider-Man secret, he’s definitely a part of the team. I love that they connect over clone conspiracies about Captain America, Pete’s favorite. He gives Parker some good advice and is the first person to call him ‘Tiger’ in this universe. Nico and Harry eventually grow to like each other after a little street racing and I wouldn’t mind if they hooked up either. I think I just want Nico to be happy, and this is one of the more likable versions of Harry I’ve seen in a while.

There are other wonderful people in Peter’s life, like his crush, Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), a kind friend, devoted girlfriend, an expert swimmer, and not a bad babysitter either. There are the other geniuses at his new Oscorp internship, who are all varied and entertaining in different ways – I am a huge fan of an Amadeus Cho production – but I was drawn to one friend in particular, Lonnie Lincoln (Eugene Byrd). Tombstone is one of my favorite villains in the Spider-Man comics, so seeing this side of him, through such a loveable depiction, stuck out to me. Even Peter likes him, and Lonnie is dating Pearl, so we know he must be charming to get Parker’s approval so quickly. I especially love it when he practices his ‘sick voice’ after the others help cover for him in class. Toward the end, he shows more of his good nature, a willingness to fight and defend when he has to, as well as natural leadership skills. I believe in the Lincoln-Parker dream team, and that’s why it is going to be so painfully amazing to see what happens to their friendship down the line.

I know some people were upset about gender and race-swapping in this show, but I barely noticed the differences after a couple of episodes. However, I would be remiss not to point out that in the comics Lonnie is an albino (like me), and they did take that away from us. Still, he and Nico are my favorites. Some people seem quite concerned that characters like Gwen, MJ, and Flash aren’t in the show, like they’re being neglected or not used properly, worried that new fans won’t understand their importance, but I’m not sure I see a problem with holding off on them. Hopefully, this show will have plenty of time to introduce many more players from the lore, but this seems like a series meant for fans who wanted something different, and I think I’ve made it clear that I adore this setup and cast of characters. 

With Great Power Comes Great… Respect

Spider-Man has always had a spectacular array of villains and as per usual, Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) is front and center. He’s not quite there yet, not ready to don the goblin mask per se, but we get some blatant hints that things are going in that direction. Norman is friendly enough, quite suave, extremely commanding, rich, and his power is alluring, especially to someone like Peter. The laugh he does is low-key intimidating and I kind of love it. We see how he treats Peter versus his own son, who he talks down to, saying he still hasn’t learned to ‘read a room,’ while not remembering Harry’s correct age. This is a parental powder keg that should be good. Osborn wants his own personal hero, to show up the Avengers, and he gives Spidey some great upgrades (some that feel like a video game) but although his ideas are in the right place, we know there’s something behind them.

The primary villain for this season is arguably Scorpion, but this slightly tweaked version of Mac Gargan (Jonathan Medina) has a different backstory – though I love the nod to the original about how he used to ‘find people for a living’ – and is seemingly more murderous and bloody-thirsty than the original. His fights with Spider-Man are vicious and there was something amazing about the show allowing Peter to get beat so soundly and bleed. I also had to appreciate their depiction of Carmilla Black here, having both as a part of the same gang. 

There are a ton more villains here, some of them only hinted at, especially if viewers aren’t incredibly familiar with the comics. This show is packed with character references, most of them being awesome to see, but I also realize those of us who are in pretty deep will get more out of this aspect, as some of the dialogue even hides clever little hints about their futures. A few of the minor baddies aren’t even (typically) from Spider-Man’s usual set of crooks – like, who was expecting Unicorn – and I have a love for Maria Vasquez a.k.a. Tarantula that not many share. I do need to give a special shout-out to one of the most lively and charismatic depictions of Otto Octavius (Hugh Dancy), whose humor, gaming skills, and dance moves did not go unnoticed. He’s not quite the villain we know yet, but he’s well on his way.

I enjoyed the story, minus a few minor things. The episodes felt like they took their time and let these characters breathe while establishing them and setting up numerous parallels between the events happening to them, accompanied by a couple of clever transitions. The events weren’t always similar, sometimes it’s to show how opposite their lives are at that moment, but it helps set up their relations, future events, and show how different their paths could have been. I may have a few small gripes with plot elements, but I’m also highly invested.

Get Me Pictures of Spider-Man!

The cast is stacked also, having some recognizable voices and notable names in here that all do a great job. I was way too excited when I realized WWE wrestler Big E (Ettore Ewen) voiced Bulldozer in this, and I know some people will flip knowing that a potential former Spider-Man voice had a brief cameo, as well as another hero actor popping up. The sound design is good all around, with some excellent special effects noises and a variety of music that fits the multi-cultural nature of New York City and the show itself, without ever overpowering the scenes. Everything fits.

The animation is kind of doing it for me here too, or at least the aesthetic, bringing out this Steve Ditko look and giving it a slightly modern tweak that almost makes the show look like an upgraded motion comic. Everything pops here and there is so much color, with all the characters feeling unique. We have vibrant backgrounds and even when it looks like certain hues may wash each other out, they don’t. It all feels calculated to imitate those comic book pages and look a certain way to the eye, capturing a style that we don’t often see anymore. The panel divides, these bold lines and deep shadows, it all makes me want to go read a comic. The action is slick as well, with most of the fight scenes looking fluid, but there are some small hitches, and a few detail issues, sometimes with the mouths or limb movements, but that isn’t too often. This aspect will be debated quite a bit, but I find the art here welcoming and so many shots look like they would make excellent wall art. I also enjoyed the costume design, having Peter build up to his classic costume, and several of the others he tried were deep cuts from a time I was reading the series heavily.

I think they did a great job on this intro, but I’m someone who loves the original cartoon, so this is meant to pull on those nostalgia strings with their sample and visual presentation. The opening gives us some parts of his origin we didn’t see like him building the web-shooters and experimenting with his powers. Some images on the intro and outro also change each episode. I have yet to skip this and the song is firmly stuck in my head (knew it was going to happen). I’m not here to say that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is the best version of the character by any means, but everyone here feels so good to hang out with, I need more time with them.

Those last two episodes went pretty hard, setting up so much with a couple of new neat twists that will have more people than just me dying to know what happens, but hopefully, we won’t be waiting too long for the next season. Whose backpack did that spider crawl into afterward anyway? With The Watcher showing up in the background, there’s so much potential for everything to hit the fan, and I’ll definitely be revisiting these episodes before then to see what else I missed and visit with the gang. This is a show that seems like it wants to give hardcore fans something new, especially with all the references to the different movies and even one of the rides, I think it’ll be great for them, but I’m hoping it helps create new fans as well, or just convinces viewers to look up some of these characters and maybe pick up a comic book.

Disclaimer: I watched the entire season on Disney+, which I pay for myself.

8Bit/Digi is an independent news outlet that provides insight into the video game and fandom community of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Season 1)

9

Excellent

9.0/10

Pros

• Wonderful, rich, easy-to-love characters.
• Engaging art that evokes the comics.
• Incredible voice cast.
• Energetic, catchy intro.

Cons

• Some slight hitches with the animation.
• Minor plot contrivances.