Are you an obsessive compulsive Spider-Man fan who's read every Spider-comic ten times — even the gothy MacFarlane issues? Rest assured that Victor Cook, producer of the Spectacular Spider-Man Saturday morning cartoon, has still obsessed about Spider-Man more than you have. In a new interview, he shows off a detail-oriented focus on the art and mythos of the classic Spidey comics that will either make you excited to view his handiwork — or flee in terror.
First of all, Cook drops a few spoilers for the Spectacles to come. For one thing, we'll see two different versions of Spidey's notorious black costume — the version with webs on it, and a smoother version. Does that mean we'll get to see Venom? Cook isn't saying. Meanwhile, the cartoon's makers haven't ruled out doing the Clone Saga, but they haven't talked about it recently.
Cook promises more nods to the old comics and cartoons, with things like the half-Peter, half-Spidey face, and a sky full of webs. Also, you can definitely tell Cook has pored over the early Spider-Man characters for clues to the characters development. He says:
If you look back at the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko years, Peter is just a geek, but then when John Romita Sr. comes onto the book, Peter grows up suddenly and becomes this handsome young guy. We're trying to straddle the two a little bit.In particular, the cartoon takes place after Peter's been Spider-Man for a summer, and is getting a bit more confident and wearing sharper clothes — but he still always has his tag sticking up in back.
Spider-Man is a more fun superhero than Batman, despite the fact that they both have tragedy in their pasts. And you'll see more wise-cracking banter from Spidey than you see in the Sam Raimi movies — but mostly only when he's fighting "the non-threatening guys."
The other moment of extreme art obsession comes when Cook suddenly starts discussing the color green in Spider-Man comics:
In the 1960's it seems like the majority of Spider-man's rogues gallery had green as part of their costumes and I have never gotten a complete answer as to whether that was a conscious decision or whether it was because of the printing process or if they just looked good in contrast to red. On film you have to make these choices and I decided to pick up on that and make green the color of evil or oppression on Spider-man.When you see uber-crimelord The Big Man in the shadows, he has a green lamp. The threatening hallways of Peter Parker's high school are painted green. Even bullying jock Flash Thompson wears a lot of green. I love that Spider-Man has a "color of evil." (Sort of like old-school Green Lantern's trouble with yellow, actually.) [IFMagazine]












Comments
All it needs is Poochie for full win.
I'd say Venom is a fair bet, since they've had Eddie Brock as an older foil to Peter since the first episode.
He's right about the green too, I hadn't realized it, but once you do it's impossible not to see.
Also, Big Man = Fisk. Of course.
See? Look at those pupils. It's like everyone's high on raisins!
Despite my previous comments that I didn't like the look of the show, it's grown on me. Everything, especially the villains, is much more fluid in the show. For instance, the last episode starred Sandman, who was much less brute and impact and more...sandy? Vine-y? Just...fluid.
Doc Oc. was also in it briefly, and his tentacles were very organic.
Peter is just a geek, but then when John Romita Sr. comes onto the book, Peter grows up suddenly and becomes this handsome young guy
Just like a certain sci-fi blog commenter I happen to know COUGH*DeepFriar*COUGH
This show was a nice surprise. Sub-plots, continuing storylines, characterization...I like how it's trying to match the JLU standard.
*shock!* Spiderman is the guitarist from Gorillaz! Who'da thought!
Hm, I think I like the look of this. Wonder when it transcends the Atlantic... Is this on Cartoon Network or one of the other few channels we miraculously have Old Country versions of?
You've gotta love the fact that this show has these things: - a continuing storyline even though each episode is sorta self contained like the earlier X-Men series. - it sticks with the characters and situations set down in the comics like web fluid in the web shooters, etc. - it adds a lot of the "comic book" imagery like the spider spotlight and showing Peter's face in a half-mask when mention of Spiderman comes up around him. Also, I personally like this style of animation like we see in "The Batman" and saw in "Jackie Chan Adventures" a few years back.
Ihe whole Manga-ization is a bit irritating but the kids seem to dig it. I like the little graphic homages to Ditko. You've seen them: the "Spidey-sense" wiggly lines; the half-Peter/half-Mask face -"They wouldn't be laughing if they only knew.."; I haven't seen the shot of Peter walking away all sad'n'stuff with the long Spidey shadow cast behind him yet.
By the way, why does Eddie Brock have one trouser leg tucked in and the other not...? I do believe that's some sort of secret code that probably doesn't fit on a kiddie show!
This is by far my favorite Spiderman cartoon ever made. Dare I say my favorite Spiderman project in general (including the comics) The writing is pitch perfect for Spiderman and they aren't throwing at us all at once, the writers are actually pacing themselves. I hope this lasts for a while, instead of blink and its gone like the constant rotation of DC cartoons. And Gwen Stacy is finally getting some respect from a Spiderman project to boot.
@Miranda Kali: When did that style take over anyway? And isn't it time to declare our independence from it?
The green villain thing was definitely a printing issue.
The colors that show up best were red, green and blue. Spiderman's primarily red & blue, so villains are... green.
Fantastic Four, blue. Superman, red & blue. Hulk, green & purple. Ironman, red & yellow. Captain America, duh.
PS Phoenix's costume was originally going to be mostly white, but test printings showed the colors bleeding through the opposite page.
@ideaman2020: Does this relate to Purple Monster Pants?
@Grey_Area:
tho' now that I think about it--purple complements green nicely and thus Hulk, Fin Fang Foom etc.
Green is an easy color to print consistently, generally stays bright (especially on cheap paper) because yellow and cyan pigments are brighter than the other two process colors (magenta, black). Back then, Cyan varied wildly depending on the quality of the ink you bought. The ultra-bright process inks in use today didn't really show up until the 1990's. paper quality has improved as well. But the old rules still apply: Mix two process colors, and they will get darker than you would expect. Mix three and they get muddy and ugly real fast. It's just pigment theory, not light theory. There are definitely technical reasons to stay with light yellowish greens (which showed off the blank ink work very dramatically, too).
The other reason I would guess is that the majority of 50's and 60's comic book heroes were deliberately designed to incorporate Red, White and Blue. Gold trim (like on flags) also came with the territory. Green, gray and purple were contrasts to most heroes, not just Spidey.
@92BuickLeSabre:
I think it's a devolution of the Batman cartoon form the nineties. (you know...the good one..)
Yes, I would like to see a fresh, new style. Preferably something less simplistic.
@92BuickLeSabre:
Eh, everybody's different. It's my style of choice, but I can understand that people don't like it.
@Belabras: I don't inherently dislike the style. I just feel like it's stalking me. As Miranda Kali said. Something fresh and clean would be cool too.
@92BuickLeSabre:
Fair enough. It is getting a little homogeneous in the major toons these days. I'd love to see someone do something new and interesting that is a major stylistic break - much like Batman: The Animated Series was back in the day. However, beyond going more detailed (which, as I understand it, is a major pain in the buttocks for animation) I'm not sure what that style would be.
J. Jonah Jameson is Hitler?
@Sharpless:
Quite possibly yes.
Actually, he's always had that look. It's the mustache that does it.
Is it just me or have the designers of these cartoons just given up on actually giving a flying F@#k about making the characters look good.
Those designs for the cast are totally crappy. I don't care how good the story telling will be, I'm not going to watch another badly drawn Spiderman cartoon.
I like how Cook says "I never got a good answer about IF the green for villains was a printing issue or not"
And then look at all the post here...
I mean just LOOK at an old comic... of course it was.
(back in the day)
New villian for spiderman.. we will call him The Vulture.. he flys and stuff.
-Great what color is he?
uhh green.
-What? Why vultures aren't green.
It is the best color to use other than red-blue...
-oh I guess..
[www.coverbrowser.com]
Spiderman villain colors by cover (excluding back to back repeats or no villain present)
Green
Green-purple
Green (blue)
Green (grey)
Green-purple
Green
Green-Yellow
Green, yellow, green, purple
Green-purple
Green-purple
Green-purple
Green-brown
Green
Green-purple
Green-brown
Green
Green-purple
Green-purple
Green
Green-purple
Yellow
Green
Brown
Yellow
Purple-Grey
Green-Purple (with bonus Spidey wearing green pants)
Grey
Yellow-green
Grey
Green-purple
Yellow
Brown
Green
And that #1-49
Look mom! I'm like McSweeney's only not funny.
Scott Pilgrim is Spider-man?! OH SHIT AWESOME!
I have to admit, I didn't see the stand in of Tombstone for the traditional Kingpin role coming. Interesting twist.
@Belabras: I came here to point out your incorrectness but you beat me to it.
That was an awesome episode. Tombstone beat the shit out of Spider-Man. Rhino did a number on him too. I especially liked when (spoilers) Rhino went through the wall of the Bugle and Parker panicked. It reminded me of the old series (the 90s one) where Parker (as Venom Spidey) nearly kills Rhino but backs off, last minute.
I also like the fact that he realizes Rhino's destructive power and is attempting to get him out of the city to a safer place before fighting him. That's something that really annoyed me with the Transformers movie; they intentionally lead the Decepticons downtown. Very stupid.
Anyways, I do hope Spider-Man has a lot of trouble with Tombstone in the same way he had trouble with Kingpin in the 90s series. I hope they don't wrap that up too quickly. I actually like him better as the nemesis because not only is he strong, he's fast.
By the way, not being able to sweat would be absolute torture. I cringed at the thought of being so hot you're cooking in your suit with no way to cool down.
I always liked that Spidey was a little guy but still originally the 5th or 6th strongest hero after Hulk, Thor, Thing, Namor and Iron Man. It was cool that while he looked almost like a 12 year old next to those guys, he was still almost as strong.
Later on in the comics he's drawn like a body builder. Being proportionately strong as a spider means you don't have to be big! A slender, lissome but cut body type works so much better for a character that has to move the way Spidey does. Can you picture Conan the Barbarian contorted, doing graceful gymnastics? Of course not. There's a reason why gymnasts look the way they do - except the curvy Corina Ungureanu...mmm...Corina Ungureanu...
I still prefer the black and white costume of the 80s (before Venom) to the red-and-blues. Anybody else?
I just watched the show yesterday. SUrprisingly, it wasn't a bucket full of kiddie goodness that you would expect from a cartoon with such bright colors. It was a pretty well written show.
Well, when Spidy is R&B, G completes the pairing (R G B).
Then when Spidy picks up the black suit, its CMYK, with alot of yellow and red/magenta bad guys (Carnage, Shocker, THe Hob Goblin.) No blue/cyan though :/
@Bluecell: Well, when the bad guys both out number, out gun/power and out maneuver you, of course your going to try to limit their advantages by taking them in to where they are in trouble. Buildings provide cover from both the ground troops fire power (Line o sight protection) and from Star Screams strafing runs. Since you can't outrun them (especially starscream which they had no chance against if he just kept dive bombing them) you need to split them up and attack. They are big, so having them in a middle of an enclosed place limits their movement. They are stronger, being built for military action vs the Autobots rag-tag group. Look at the black bot. He got ripped apart in one shot after being picked. Imagine if they were in a wide open space in the desert? Starscream and Megs would have swooped in and picked them up to rip apart one by one, while barricade, blackout and demolisher provided cover fire with great distance.
Spidy and Rhino on the other hand, spidy had all the advantage. Speed and maneuverability and smarts to Rhino's dumb brute strength. Spidy didn't have to worry about himself. There is no greater evil/consequence that Spidy has to face if he fought him in open grounds (No all spark cube falling into the Decepticon's evil hands... er pincers...)And it was one on one.
Also, Mary Jane isn't booby enough like all other incarnations.
"OMG! Let's make Spider-man like Batman... then he'd be cool!"
Damn Skippy.
@jbq: The creators just think they are cool by copying a "street" style. They are mistaken.
I know this trend started in the early 90s by LLCoolJ on the East Coast and then migrated to the West. I've heard mixed opinions on if it's gang-affiliated or not. I know LA schools have banned the "one leg up" style along with "sagging". But who knows... maybe it's a neutral thing now?
@ceejeemcbeegee: Imagine that. Spidy + Batman =
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DEADPOOL! YAH MERCS WITH A MOUTH!
It be like "I'm the God Damn SPIDERMAN" while beating a two year old in the face for its lollipop.
I happen to love the art style; the character designs are by Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, who designed the animated Hellboy movies.
I really think, or at least I hope, that as people catch on to the quality of the writing on this show, that it will become another high point in action animation, as well-remembered as B:TAS. An outstanding series all around.
I'm just glad I'm not the only one watching :)
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