SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS (1981-83)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

To repeat my basic sentiments from this review, almost everything that didn't work about the 1981 SPIDER-MAN does work in SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS. Well, with one exception: '81 SPIDER-MAN doesn't needlessly inject any animals into the stories for comedy relief. Still, the yip-yapping of the Lhasa Apso known as "Ms. Lion" is still not as bad as either of the insufferable funny-animals from Hanna-Barbera's SUPER FRIENDS, on which "SPIDER-FRIENDS" was conspicuously patterned.

Indeed, one might argue that SUPER FRIENDS dumbed down much of the appeal of the DC Universe, while SPIDER-FRIENDS was pretty close to the feel of the Marvel Universe, but with all the continuing soap opera elements left out. Since the web-spinner had no team affiliations at the time AMAZING was produced, the creators apparently played off the way Spidey had often teamed up with The Human Torch of FANTASTIC FOUR, and then decided to give Cartoon Spidey a complementary ice-ally, Iceman of X-MEN. But because Marvel Comics had already leased Torch-adaptation rights to another company, the AMAZING show-runners simply made up a new fire-hero, name of Firestar. Not only did her status as a mutant jibe well with Iceman's heritage, it played up the X-MEN connection, though it would take years for animation to tap the appeal of Marvel's merry mutations. 

The injection of a female hero also had other pleasant effects. Not only did Firestar's presence keep the Spider-Friends from being a sausage-fest, her femininity added spice to the banter between the trio-- which was nearly the only characterization they got, since the stand-alone stories mitigated against ongoing plotlines. Aunt May hovered around, sometimes almost stumbling across the secret shared by Peter Parker and his two fellow collegians, but frankly, Aunt May wasn't much more of a significant presence than Ms. Lion.

I remember being very bullish, to anyone who would listen, as to how good SPIDER-FRIENDS was at getting across the appeal of the hyper-complicated Marvel Universe. One such appeal was that of having other Marvel heroes appear only in their civilian identities, as happened with both Tony Stark and Matt Murdock, thus lending a touch of verisimilitude at times. Of course, there were also standard teamups between the Spider-Friends and such big names as Captain America, the X-Men, and Thor. (In the latter episode, the Friends even visit Asgard, and Iceman almost gets "adopted" by a female Frost Giant.) Consequently the Spider-Friends also go up against the familiar enemies of the guest-heroes, such as the Red Skull, the Juggernaut, and Loki. 

Yet it's interesting that the writers also slotted in a number of, shall we say, unusual selections. In the episode "Seven Little Superheroes," the villainous Chameleon chimerically chooses to play "And Then There Were None" with the three Spider-Friends, and with four other Marvel characters who had no strong connections with one another: Captain America, Doctor Strange, the Sub-Mariner, and-- Shanna the She-Devil? Maybe someone at Marvel Productions wanted to remind people that they'd had their own jungle queen over five years before Hanna-Barbera came out with their 1978 creation, Jana of the Jungle? Almost as odd was having the Spider-Friends go Gothic, when Dracula vampirized Firestar. This forced the other two heroes to journey to Transylvania, where they contended against the vampire-lord, a werewolf, and a Frankenstein Monster.

There were of course some flop episodes, and just as had been the case with '81 SPIDER-MAN, the worst featured Doctor Doom, a character the writers just couldn't get right. Still, on the whole, the action looked good for the limited budget, and the patter between the trio was well done. In fact, some episodes also featured narration by Stan Lee himself, with all his customary gift for hyperbole. The theme song was only slightly better than that of '81 SPIDER-MAN, albeit with better visuals. I won't pretend that SPIDER-FRIENDS was anything but pleasant lightweight entertainment. But it certainly excelled a lot of other Marvel shows in that respect.