I was a little surprised when this series popped up on Netflix, as opposed to Disney+, but seeing that it was far shorter (at two seasons) than some other things I was watching, I gave it a go one slow weekend. And, it turns out The Spectacular Spider-Man is actually really damn good, probably one of the best animated versions of Spider-Man I've seen. Drawing on both the 616 and Ultimate continuities, The Spectacular Spider-Man hits a really good balance of keeping classic stories and characters whilst bringing them into the modern day. Or, at least, the early 2000s. Kids without smartphones just looks weird to me now. What this programme does which I haven't really seen in a lot of other Spider-Man cartoons is centre the relationships of Peter Parker and his peers, with several episodes that revolve more around teenage romance than fighting animal-themed villains.
Whilst the romantic elements are probably a turn-off for some, I found them really interesting, helping to build the supporting cast to be more than just a bunch of interchangeable kids. And it's written pretty well too, which is quite astounding. An ongoing thread has Peter dating Liz Allen whilst being pursued by Gwen Stacey, and it's handled with shocking maturity and accuracy to teenage development and relationships. Another really cool element of The Spectacular Spider-Man is that Peter's Rogues Gallery is actually factionalised, like in the comics, with Tombstone, Doctor Octopus and Silvermane fighting for control of the New York underworld as Spider-Man tries to stop them and the enigmatic Green Goblin running around in the background as an extra threat. Unlike most animated programmes of this nature, The Spectacular Spider-Man has threads that run through multiple episodes, rather than everything being a one-off with incremental growth; it's a nice change and still something not seen all that often.
My major criticism of The Spectacular Spider-Man is the animation, which is just slightly odd, with visible nostrils and eyes of different shapes on most characters. It's not a deal-breaker, and after one or two episodes, I stopped noticing, but the programme not looking like any Spider-Man comic is an odd choice. For the voice actor fans out there, The Spectacular Spider-Man features the likes of James Arnold Taylor, Clancy Brown, Phil LaMarr, John DiMaggio and more, so the talent is present and lifts up what is already a solid script. If you like your Spider-Man with references to Carl Sagan and James Joyce, which I really do, then the two short seasons of The Spectacular Spider-Man are well worth the watch, even if the broad strokes will be familiar to most fans already. I'm not sure that this is strictly the "best" animated Spider-Man series, but it is really good and mostly a joy to watch, I may even return to it one day, after I get through the dozens of other versions.
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