YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN Review: Your 1960’s Comic Brought to Life

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Want to travel back in time to the 1960’s and the Silver Age of Comics? YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN is just the ticket. This new animated Disney+ series from Marvel Television plucks Spider-Man’s unique comic look from that period, adding it to a refreshingly updated script geared toward Spider-Man fans and 2020’s kids. While the design pulled me in, the characters kept me there. Just like Stan Lee always said, Marvel focuses more on the alter egos of their superheroes, rather than the heroes. So we get lots of Peter Parker in this series, navigating his way through high school friendships, relationships, crushes. It’s these interpersonal relationships that are at the heart of this story.

The series follows Peter Parker (voiced by Hudson Thames) as a fledgling Spidey on his way to becoming a hero. He has to navigate life as a high school student, an internship at OsCorp, and friendships; while also trying to fight crime in New York as Spider-Man. We learned that you will be able to watch this series over the course of one month thanks to the “Class Schedule” @marvel instagram released. 

The cheeky nature of this instagram post reflects the series’ playful tone. Each episode (out of 10) is 28-30 minutes – the perfect amount of time to create a complete story arc. Jeff Trammell and his creative team are successful in serializing these 10 episodes into a cohesive whole, creating a somewhat new backstory for Peter Parker.

There is confusion, however, when this series mentions events from the MCU. This is not Tom Holland’s Spider-Man who was mentored by Tony Stark. Yet we hear references to events in the MCU, like the Sokovia Acords, the Battle of New York, and the big superhero fight at the Berlin Airport. But YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN is more in line with the original comic books. Harry Osborne (voiced by Zeno Robinson), Norman Osborne (voiced by Coleman Domingo) and Oscorp play a big role, as well as Otto Octavius (voiced by Hugh Dancy). The series name-drops a few other characters with musical stingers, so I assume these are references to popular characters from the original comic book run. I surmise that if this series is “canon”, then it is just one of many multiverses we have to explore. Some characters and events stay the same, while others are vastly different. Overall, the story is so well-done that I don’t care. I’d rather watch a good story, and this is what we have here.

The character design is delightful, as if the characters from your 1960’s comic crawled off the page and onto your television set. Peter’s best friend Nico (voiced by Grace Song) has beautiful black hair with blue locks and she always has blue lipstick. She also wears a purple locket – there may be a mystery there. Both Norman and Harry Osborne are black, and have interesting patterns to the cornrows in their hair. Each character is dynamic and, when paired with the bright, exciting animation, a joy to watch.

(Second from Left-R) Pearl Pangan (Cathy Ang), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and Nico Minoru (Grace Song) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.
(Fourth from Left-R) Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Hudson Thames) and Harry Osborn (Zeno Robinson) in Marvel Animation’s YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN airs Wednesdays on Disney+ beginning January 29th. Watch and let us know what you think!

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