Spider-Man

One of the best versions of Spiderman in cartoons, with good action scenes, good plot, good characters and very good villains. Highly recommend.

I grew up with this show, it's counterpart in Amazing Friends, The Incredible Hulk and all of the dc counterparts floating around. I loved them all when I was three. I know there's a debate over what's the better show and to me that's unimportant. I love both these shows because of how they embraced the marvel universe and exposes you to characters you'd never think of running into. This show is also guilty of making me a Dr. Doom fan and until I really started reading comics did I find out that they rarely cross paths. This show has six episodes costarring doom and it's great. This show is fun and a blast from the past. Watch this with the little ones and grab some popcorn it's a gem.

There were certainly great animated TV series based on Marvel Comics properties coming out in the 80s and this one, featuring Spider-Man, one of Marvel's most prominent superheroes, is no exception. While the series definitely has a few weaker episodes, there's definitely more good ones.

While the premise is lifted straight from the comics, all of the plots are original to the series and the series balances a supporting cast of Spider-Man enemies, guest villains and original characters. A lot of the cast from the comics is present, like Peter's elderly aunt May, his choleric boss J. Jonah Jameson or Peter's love interest Betty Brant. Other characters are mentioned and lots of other Marvel characters have either guest appearances or cleverly hidden cameos.

The series is a big step up from the 1967 TV series and not only features thrilling superhero action but also very human moments like Peter's struggle with money and him trying to balance his private life with his superhero life.

In one very outstanding example, Spider-Man actually tries to help the supervillain get out of his miserable situation instead of just defeating him. Unfortunately, it is a one-time example but it definitely sets the stage for other Spider-Man series to come.

One minor issue I had when watching it was that I noticed that the series could have benefitted from a different episode order in my opinion. There's an epic six-parter with Doctor Doom scattered througout the series and a two-parter with a Kingpin and then the series just ends with a one-shot that not even contains a Spider-Man villain. The Doom episodes certainly have the feeling of a series finale and the viewer experience could enhance if the episode "Countdown to Doom" is watched last.

This series has been somewhat overshadowed by the better-known, but in my opinion inferior, "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends," which aired simultaneously during the early 80s. "Amazing Friends" was produced for network television, and this show was produced for syndication. That's why this show was free of a lot of the clichés and cuteness of most other early 80s cartoons, including "Amazing Friends." There was something genuinely weird and dark about this show, and it captured the flavor of the classic 1960s/early 1970s comic books which inspired it. Instead of teaming him up with countless other Marvel superheroes, Spidey worked mostly alone here, and the show was all the better for it; the only team-up was with Captain America, and even then it was consistent with the tone of the show, as they fought a truly scary villain, Captain America's main enemy, the Red Skull. It is also a historic show, as this was the first series to emerge from Marvel Productions, which went to make some of the greatest cartoons ever, including "Transformers" and "GI Joe." Even though the writing varied in quality from episode to episode, and even though the animation looks somewhat stiff compared to the Marvel shows that followed, this show still deserves more respect.

A great show, but actually not my favorite Spider-Man one! I don't know if it was the animation, the plot, or I don't know, the whole feel of it, I just didn't enjoy it that much!