Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1x01 "Amazing Fantasy", 1x02 "The Parker Luck"

    I am going to die a Spider-Man fan. I wasn't quite born one but when I was an adolescent, I saved every Spider-Man comic I bought, polybagged them, and then put a bit of tape on the back before placing them on the walls of my room. I wish I had pictures from that time. I also had Spider-Man sheets, underoos, and a tremendous love of Peter Parker and his wife Mary Jane. They were married when I became a fan and the only thing to put me off for a decade of his adventures was the insane idea someone would want to break them up. I may like Felicia Hardy slightly more than Mary Jane but that doesn't make me any less likely to watch a cartoon for adolescents when I'm 45.

    My first impressions of the two episodes dropped on January 29th are going to be generalized. They are taking Peter Parker back to high school, which is a shame because I'm really sick of them doing that. I know they're trying to appeal to a younger audience but "my" Spider-Man was the animated one where he was in college. I was kind of hoping they would do what they did with the X-men and continue the classic cartoon. Still, I loved The Spectacular Spider-Man and was willing to give it a shot.

    Overall, the art style is unique and immediately attention-getting. It seems designed to be evocative of the Steve Dikto art style and panels in a comic even as it is clearly CGI. The color usage is also designed to feel like newsprint with Nico Minoru, for example, having very deep blues in her hair. It takes some getting used to but I was okay with it after just a few minutes. We have a homemade Spider-suit for Peter in the first couple of episodes but I have no doubt that will be replaced with the new and improved classic look eventually.

    As indicated by the mention of Runaway's Nico Minoru, this is not your typical classic Spider-Man cast with several unexpected characters, starting with her as Peter's best friend. There's no Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Betty Brant, or Ned Leeds (MCU). Instead, there's Lonnie Lincoln (the future Tombstone), Pearl Pangan (very reminiscent of Liz from Homecoming), and a very uniquely designed Harry Osborn. I'm interested in seeing how this dynamic shakes out. Nico acts very much like MJ from the Holland movies and wouldn't be surprised if Peter is missing out on his best friend liking him "that" way.

    The show is very reminiscent of the Holland movie versions with Midtown High being a school for geniuses, the Avengers already being a thing, and Aunt May being a younger Italian woman versus a dotting grandmother type. We also get some unusual twists like Uncle Ben being dead before Peter is bitten by an extra-dimensional spider, Doctor Strange battling a Venom-like symbiote, and Norman Osborn taking an interest in Peter despite the fact that Oscorp doesn't exist in the MCU. We also get some unexpected characters like Amadeus Cho, who is already a doctor and a few years older than Peter. 

    Some fans may dislike the changes made to the canon. Norman and Harry are now African American, Doctor Connors is now a black woman, and Lonnie Lincoln hasn't yet developed his powers (or suffers albinism). A few things that are canonical may also bother others like the fact that Nico is bisexual (though confirmed only in a couple of quickly missed lines). That doesn't bother me even if I'm currently shipping the hell out of Nico and Pete.

    So, I'm definitely recommending it. 

8/10