Why Spider-Man: The Animated Series Swapped Sandman for a C-Lister

 

This week, I'm looking at the brief ascension of an obscure Spider-Man villain, granted some sunlight in the 1990s, chiefly because another character wasn't available.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series - How Stan Lee Adapted Stan Lee

This week at CBR, I'm revisiting Stan Lee's revisit of Dr. Octopus' origin, for Spider-Man: The Animated Series. 

Spider-Man: The (Forgotten) Animated Series

Did the most obscure Spider-Man cartoon ever take inspiration from a Stan Lee/John Romita comic few have ever seen? Find out in this week's Adventure(s) Time!

Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Just OK Villain

This week at CBR, I'm revisiting Scorpion's debut on the '90s Spider-Man animated series and its origins in the Lee/Ditko run.

How Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Unfortunately) Tackled Venom

This week at CBR, I finish up the Spider-Man animated series' "Alien Costume Saga," along with Venom's comics debut from all the way back in Amazing #300.

When Spider-Man: The Animated Series Went… Dark

This week at CBR, I'm looking back on the original adaptation of the Alien Costume Saga. Roided-out Spidey wants you to know the check's in the mail, baby!

SPIDER-MAN Episode Eighteen - October 7, 1995

Mutants' Revenge

Story by John Semper & Michael Edens.  Teleplay by Francis Moss & Ted Pedersen.

Summary:  Wolverine and Spider-Man realize Herbert Landon is the true enemy and team up to stop him.  As they invade Landon’s headquarters, Hobgoblin uses Landon’s computer terminal to steal his mutant research.  When Landon pursues Hobgoblin, Landon falls into a vat of chemicals he intended to use on Beast.  The chemicals turn Landon into an irrational monster.  The X-Men arrive to help, but it’s ultimately Landon’s assistant Genevieve who calms Landon down with her psychic powers.  Landon returns to human form, and Spider-Man and the X-Men part as friends.

Continuity Notes:  

• Genevieve is revealed as the person who saved Spider-Man’s life by telekinetically holding the ceiling together in the previous episode.
• Half of Landon’s body is now green and scaly after he reverts to human form.  Visually, he’s now a doppelganger for Two-Face, a fact the producers had to be aware of.  He sticks around the show for quite a while, confusing little kids all across the country, I’m sure.

I Love the '90s:  Landon’s computer interface is represented by a hilariously bad CGI recreation of a woman.  After Hobgoblin copies the info on to a CD-ROM, he then programs his own CGI face into the computer to taunt Landon.

Review:  I had forgotten that the second chapter of this crossover is…not very good.  At all.  Spider-Man and Wolverine aren’t allowed to have much of a fight, due to censorship restrictions of the time (which were even tougher on Spider-Man than on X-Men).  And after they do inevitably decide to stop fighting and team up, they spend the next ten minutes fighting the same security guards over and over again.  By “fighting” I mean flipping them around like acrobats, since no punches can connect, and by “the same” I mean that literally, as the show recycles the same footage of two guards running towards the camera approximately five thousand times.  The guards look like a group of middle-aged dads who were kidnapped outside of a bowling alley and forced to wear goofy hats, pointless straps, ill-fitting pants, and emasculating ‘80s shoulder pads.  I can’t imagine why anyone thought the audience wanted to see an extended fight scene with these losers in the first place, but at the very least they could’ve had cool designs.  Couldn’t Landon have robot guards anyway, so Wolverine can cut something up with no censor notes?  

What’s after the fight?  Landon turns into a giant reptilian monster of all things, the X-Men show up, looking slightly more anime this episode, and the day is saved by…a peripheral character I barely noticed in the previous episode.  And Landon is now Two-Face, and somehow everyone was just okay with that.  I actually do like the twist that Landon has a mutant working for him, one who believes that a “cure” should be made available, I just think the revelation of Genevieve’s secret feels like a copout.  Genevieve, who I think is referred to by name only once during the storyline, hasn’t been fleshed out at all, so allowing her to suddenly save the day makes the ending feel even more noticeably abrupt.  That’s the ending we’re stuck with, however, as Spider-Man learns a lesson about friendship that inspires him to visit Dr. Mariah Crawford, setting up the next storyline on his show.  The X-Men return to their fully-rendered, hand-painted world and never think of this Spider-Man fella again.  Except for Storm, who turns up with her original voice during the show’s laughable Secret Wars adaptation, because Marvel wouldn’t pay to fly the entire X-Men cast from Canada.  That’s the commitment to quality I remember from the ‘90s Spider-Man series.

Credit to http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideytas/ for the screencaps.

SPIDER-MAN Episode Seventeen - September 30, 1995

The Mutant Agenda

Story by John Semper, J. M. DeMatteis, & Steven Grant.  Teleplay by Michael Edens.

Summary:  Concerned with his growing mutation, Spider-Man seeks the aid of Professor Xavier.  At Xavier’s mansion, Spider-Man encounters the X-Men.  After an initial misunderstanding, he explains to Xavier his condition, but is dismayed to learn Xavier can’t help.  Beast takes pity on Spider-Man and suggests he meet with Herbert Landon.  After saying goodbye to Spider-Man, armed men kidnap Beast.  Later, Beast awakens to discover Landon is his kidnapper.  Wolverine tracks Spider-Man’s scent from the abduction site, as Peter Parker attends Landon's demonstration.  The Hobgoblin interrupts, seeking revenge for Landon’s earlier double-cross.  In the alley outside of the exhibit, Spider-Man confronts Hobgoblin.  Their fight is interrupted by Wolverine, who attacks Spider-Man.

Continuity Notes:  

• This story is based on the '90s miniseries Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda, which was an attempt to crossover the Spider-Man newspaper strip's continuity with the comics, and somehow also involve the X-Men.  And now that I'm reminded that it exists, I guess I'm under some obligation now to review the thing...

• The ongoing storyline this season focused on Spider-Man’s body mutating, for reasons I can’t begin to recall.  This eventually led, of course, to Spider-Man growing six arms.
• Spider-Man’s life is saved during the Hobgoblin’s attack when a mysterious force holds the ceiling in place long enough for him to escape.  
• Herbert Landon is working on a cure for mutation, based on research Beast worked on earlier to slow his own progressive mutation.  This isn’t compatible with the comics’ continuity, but does fit the previous X-Men episode “Beauty and the Beast,” which established that Beast slowly grew into his furry form.
• Spider-Man stumbles into the Danger Room and discovers a squad of Sentinels, who have been redesigned following their appearances on X-Men. 

"Actiiing!":  Spider-Man’s response to meeting Storm is to talk to his own special abilities.  “Power of webshooters -- get real sticky!”  

I Love the '90s:  The Spider-Man series heavily relied on CGI-constructed buildings and background elements.  They didn’t look so great in the mid-90s, and they haven’t aged well at all.

Review:  When Spider-Man debuted in 1994, it was only a matter of time before a crossover was announced with X-Men.  I believe this was the only time that Marvel had two shows on the same network simultaneously, so it would seem to be a natural fit.  One problem, however, is that the two shows had noticeably different animation styles.  X-Men debuted in the final days of the G. I. Joe era of animation, whereas Spider-Man came along in time to benefit from Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski’s visual reinvention of the superhero cartoon with Batman: The Animated Series.  (Yes, I know Batman: The Animated Series aired before X-Men, but it only beat it by a few weeks.  The X-Men producers had no way of knowing that B:TAS would change the way action cartoons are designed for the next two decades.)  That means that the X-Men designs are heavily detailed with “realistic” superhero anatomy, while Spider-Man designs tend to be more angular and with much fewer detail lines.  Not nearly as expressionistic as the Batman designs, but also a far cry from anything inspired by Jim Lee.  Putting the different design styles in the same cartoon would’ve looked, at the very least, somewhat odd.  So, that means the X-Men are getting a slight makeover.  

To be honest, most of the redesigned X-Men don’t look half-bad.  There are some noticeable mistakes (Cyclops’ trunks are mis-colored throughout the episode, Beast’s face is framed by black fur for some reason, and Gambit’s eyes and headpiece are improperly colored as well), but these are perfectly acceptable designs for most of the cast.  Essentially, the models have been simplified a bit and the faces appear slightly cartoonier.  I wouldn’t have minded the regular X-Men series using these designs for the rest of the show’s run.  Maybe it would’ve lead to more consistent animation, but given AKOM’s track record, who knows.  One clear advantage X-Men does have over Spider-Man is actual hand-colored cel animation.  Spider-Man was apparently the first regular cartoon series to use digital coloring, and much like the show’s CGI, it’s an ugly remnant of a bygone era.  Everything’s too bright (except when the colors suddenly appear washed out), the lines around the characters look jagged, and the contrast between background and foreground elements just looks bizarre.  Also, even if legendary studio TMS is credited for animating this series, the actual animation in this two-parter is usually no better than AKOM’s work.  The very brief flashback to Peter’s childhood fishing trip with Uncle Ben looks like a clip from an anime series with a reasonable budget, but the rest of the episode looks clunky and awkward.

Spider-Man did have decent writing in many of its early episodes, however, including scripts from several writers that comics fans will instantly recognize.  The majority of this script works quite well, ignoring the insane coincidence that has Beast recommend Spider-Man seek out Herbert Landon, just as Herbert Landon’s men are spying on Beast and plotting to kidnap him.  Not only did Beast not know that his former colleague is now evil, but he just happens to be stalking you right this moment, Hank!  This one is hard to overlook, and the X-Men’s eagerness to attack Spider-Man might be annoying based on your tolerance for hero vs. hero fights, but the rest of the episode moves along at a steady pace.  Spider-Man is characterized as you would expect him to be, neurotic yet funny, getting in a great jab at Storm’s ridiculous speech pattern while also making his current crisis seem reasonably sympathetic.  The X-Men, every member here even if it’s only to announce his or her presence, are written fairly well.  There’s no room for every character to receive a lot of attention, so it’s understandable that the script has narrowed the cast down to Wolverine and Beast.  Beast and Spider-Man share a natural affinity for science, and recognizing that Beast can relate to Spider-Man’s plight is a nice way to bring the characters together.  Wolverine is the member that every kid wants to see Spider-Man fight and then team up with, so of course he’s here.  Cal Dodd is great as Wolverine as usual, and hearing him paired with Mark Hamill’s Joker Hobgoblin is a lot of fun.  So, overall, it’s not a bad start for the crossover.  It’s far from perfect, but most of the problems are endemic to Spider-Man as a series anyway and not this particular arc.

Credit to http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideytas/ for the screencaps.