Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Best known for his character-defining run on The Amazing
Spider-Man, Conway had long tenures at both Marvel and DC comics. Characters he’s co-created have appeared in
various adaptations, including: DC: Atomic Skull in Superman (1988) and Young
Justice; Black Spider in Young Justice; Firestorm in Super
Friends and Justice League Action; Hamilton Hill in Batman: The
Animated Series, The Batman and Young Justice; Killer Croc in Batman:
The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, The Batman, Beware the Batman, and Teen
Titans Go!; Killer Frost in Young Justice and Justice League
Action; Jason Todd in Young Justice and the New Teen Titans
shorts; Count Vertigo in Batman: The Animated Series, The Batman, and Young
Justice; Vibe in DC Nation, Teen Titans Go! and Young
Justice; Vixen in Teen Titans Go! and Justice League Action. Marvel: Marvel’s Dracula in Spider-Woman and Spider-Man
and His Amazing Friends; Glory Grant in Spider-Man: The Animated Series;
Hammerhead in Spider-Man (1981), Spider-Man: The Animated Series,
and The Spectacular Spider-Man; The Jackal in Spider-Man: The
Animated Series, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man;
Man-Wolf in Spider-Man Unlimited and The Spectacular-Spider-Man; The
Punisher in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated
Series; Spider-Man clone Ben Reilly in X-Men: The Animated Series
and Spider-Man: The Animated Series; Tarantula in Marvel’s Spider-Man;
Tombstone in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Spectacular
Spider-Man. For the screen, Conway wrote for Dino-Riders, Batman: The
Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
He had co-created numerous characters that would find themselves adapted
to television and film, including Mary Jane Watson, the Shocker, Wilson Fisk, the
Punisher and Wolverine, as well as original character Firestar who began on
screen and ended up in the comics. He served as an art consultant on Spider-Man
(1967), and was art director for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
The
Spectacular Spider-Man was the sixth Saturday morning cartoon (seventh,
overall) based on Marvel
Comics’ Spider-Man, and the second of three after Unlimitedto share a title
with one of Spidey’s many comic series (which, interestingly enough, was also his
second comic series).
Promotional poster featuring Spidey, Electro, Sandman, Doc Ock, Kraven, Mysterio, Venom and Green Goblin's glider.
Developed by Victor Cook
and Greg
Weisman, the series chose to focus on Peter Parker’s (Josh
Keaton) high school years; something that hadn’t been done before (most shows
typically began with or focused on his college years). Upon landing the series,
Weisman purchased seven volumes of The Essential Spider-Manto boil down what
creators Stan Lee
and Steve
Ditko tried to accomplish. From the outset, it was decided that
the series would follow the “5 C’s”: it would be Coherent, Cohesive, Contemporary,
Classic and iConic (cheating with the hard “c” sound of the word). They would utilize
the earliest issues of Amazing Spider-Manas their
springboard while combining elements found in the later comics and even the Sam Raimifilm trilogy
(which was just wrapping up around that time).
Some of the civilian character models.
As a result, the characters featured
in the show were a mix from various periods in Spidey’s life and career.
Amongst the regular characters from the comic’s high school days, there was his
widowed Aunt May (Deborah Strang); her friend and neighbor, Anna
Watson (Kath Soucie); gruff Daily
Buglepublisher
J. Jonah Jameson (Daran Norris, reprising his role from the 2000 video game);
Jonah’s son, astronaut John Jameson (also Norris); star football player and
bully Flash Thompson (Joshua LeBar); Flash’s girlfriend, Liz Allan (reimagined
as a Latina, voiced by Alanna Ubach); Jonah’s secretary, Betty Brant
(Grey DeLisle);
Bugle reporter Ned Leeds (renamed Ned
Lee, voiced by Andrew Kishino); Bugle reporter
Frederick Foswell (James Arnold Taylor), who adopted the alter-ego Patch to get
information about the criminal underworld; and Bugle editor-in-chief Robbie Robertson
(Phil LaMarr).
Introduced from his college years was Peter’s friend and future wife Mary Jane
Watson (Vanessa Marshall); his best friend, Harry Osborn (Taylor); Robbie’s son,
Randy Robertson (LaMarr); police officer Jean DeWolff
(Irene Bedard)
and her partner, Sergeant Stan
Carter (Thomas
F. Wilson); Sha
Shan Nguyen (Kelly Hu),
Flash’s second girlfriend after Liz dumped him; and Glory Grant
(Cree Summer),
reimagined from Peter’s neighbor and Betty’s replacement to high school age.
Glory Grant berating her boyfriend, Kenny.
Among
the newer creations was Flash’s best friend, Kenny Kong (Kishino), who was
introduced in 2000’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1
(an updated reimagining of Spidey’s early years) and was Glory’s boyfriend for
a time; Sally
Avril (DeLisle), who had a sole appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15
(Spidey’s first appearance) but was later expanded upon in the pages of Untold Tales of Spider-Man; and Officer Vin Gonzales
and his partner, Alan
O’Neil, who both first appeared in Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day(2007) as part of
the rebooted continuity stemming from the controversial “One More Day”
storyline. They even introduced the Osborns’ butler, Bernard Houseman
(Jeff Bennett),
who was only seen in the Raimi films.
George and Gwen Stacy attend Thanksgiving at the Parkers'.
One
unique aspect of Spidey’s supporting cast was the inclusion of his college
girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Chabert). Until this point, Gwen was only seen once in
the final episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Gwen was
introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #31
(1965) and dated both Flash and Harry before ending up with Peter. However,
none of the creators particularly cared for her character and found Mary Jane
more interesting; so when Gerry
Conway and Roy Thomas
succeeded Lee as the series’ writer and editor, respectively, they decided to
kill Gwen off at the suggestion of John Romita, Sr. She
died in a conflict with Spidey’s arch-nemesis, the Green
Goblin, in Amazing Spider-Man #121
(1973). Because of this, producers were hesitant to bring her into other media;
particularly cartoons. Gwen, however, had her fans. Weisman had grown up
reading the comics during the Gwen years and wanted the chance to have
audiences fall in love with the character like he had. So, Gwen became Peter’s
primary love interest in Spectacular. With
her came the second appearance of her father, police captain George Stacy
(Clancy Brown), beaten to the punch the previous year by Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man
3(played
by James
Cromwell). Like in the comics, it was hinted that George had
deduced that Peter was Spidey and often subtlety helped him by providing cover
and alibis to allow Spidey to keep his identity a secret. As with his daughter,
he was also
killed in the comics by another Spidey arch-foe: Doctor Octopus.
The Sinister Six version 1.0: Rhino, Electro, Sandman, Doc Ock, Shocker and Vulture.
The main antagonist of the series
began as the mysterious “Big Man”, an identity that was assumed by Frederick
Foswell and later his children in the comics. This time, however, it belonged
to the super strong albino Tombstone
(Keith David the
first time, Kevin
Michael Richardson after). Much like the Kingpin
in the comics (who wasn’t used as he’d become more of a Daredevil
foe, despite beginning as Spidey’s, and wasn’t included in the rights), Big Man
had a benevolent public persona while secret running the criminal underworld of
the city. To accomplish his crimes, Big Man would often hire a cavalcade of
super villains. Previously televised villains included the aforementioned Green
Goblin (Alan
Rachins as Norman Osborn, Steven Blum
as the Goblin), a ruthless businessman who became involved with Big Man before
setting sights on taking his place; the hard-headed Hammerhead
(John Dimaggio),
who served as Big Man’s public face and muscle; Vulture
(Robert Englund),
whose theft of his proprietary flight technology by Osborn turned him to crime;
Silvermane
(Miguel Ferrer),
a rival crime lord who sets his own sights on running the underworld; Electro
(Crispin Freeman),
an electrician who was turned into an electrical being in a freak accident; Sandman
(DiMaggio), a petty criminal turned that could control sand through an
experiment by Osborn; Rhino (Brown), Sandman’s one-time partner who was given
super strength and invulnerability by Osborn; Dr. Octopus (Peter MacNicol,
a fan of the comics and character), one of Oscorp’s
most intelligent scientists that became fused to his mechanical arms in a lab
accident (and went by his other alias of Master Planner in the second season); Chameleon
(Blum), an international spy and master of disguise; Mysterio
(Xander Berkeley),
a special effects expert; Lizard
(Dee Bradley Baker,
reprising his role from the 2000 video game), a brilliant biologist whose
desire to restore his missing arm transformed him into a humanoid lizard; Kraven the Hunter
(Eric Vesbit),
a skilled hunter later transformed into a beast by a variation of Lizard’s serum;
Dr.
Miles Warren (reimagined as East Indian, voiced by Brian George),
a biochemistry professor who became fascinated by Lizard’s experiments; and Venom
(Benjamin Diskin), whose parents had died along with Peter’s and became jealous
of Peter’s stable home life before joining with the alien symbiote Peter would
come to reject. Appearing sans their alter-egos were Morris Bench (aka Hydro-Man,
voiced by Bill
Fagerbakke) and Hobie Brown, aka Prowler,
who was interrupted every time he tried to speak in a running gag.
Molten Man's on fire!
Newly introduced was Molten Man
(Eric Lopez),
changed from Liz’s half-brother to full brother who had a crush on Mary Jane.
He was transformed by the Goblin by being given nanite armor that made his skin
impenetrable and hot, and could only be turned off by the Goblin. There was
also the Tinkerer
(Thom
Adcox-Hernandez), who developed and provided many of the
villains’ technology. Roderick Kingsley (Courtney B. Vance),
a businessman obsessed with committing crimes and would eventually become the Hobgoblin,
also appeared.
Cats and spiders always mix.
In keeping with the 5 Cs, Weisman
took some liberties with the source material by examining characters’ core
essences and making changes and combinations when necessary. For instance,
cat-burglar Walter
Hardy (James
Remar) was combined with the
burglar who would kill Uncle Ben
(Ed Asner,
who voiced Jonah in The Animated Series)
and provide Spidey with his motivation. That would also cause Spidey to cross
paths with his equally larcenous daughter, Black Cat
(Tricia Helfer).
Deciding Shocker
was just a “costume without an identity”, the character was combined with Montana
(Bennett), a member of the Enforcers.
Fellow Enforcer Fancy
Dan
(LaMarr) was reimagined as a diminutive African-American acrobat who also went
by the name “Ricochet”, rather than a typical gangster. Silver Sable
(Nikki Cox)
was changed from a mercenary to the daughter of Silvermane who helped run his
organization and once had a relationship with Hammerhead. Although John Jameson
would end up with a cosmic gem that transformed him into Man-Wolf,
the series decided to have him exposed to alien spores that temporarily gave
him powers (and mental instability), letting him become Captain Jupiter.
The series proved a hit with
audiences and critics, and was renewed for a second season. Weisman and Cook
had to pull double duty working on the second season while finishing up the
first due to the timing of the announcement. A third season was contingent upon
the ratings of the second season and DVD sales. Unfortunately, the show was
moved to Disney
XD
where it didn’t perform as well and the DVD sales didn’t meet expectations.
Also, during that time, Disney
was in the process of acquiring Marvel (which would be completed by December,
2009) and was looking to bring all of Marvel’s properties under one roof. In
exchange for maintaining the film rights, Sony relinquished the TV rights back
to Disney. The series was cancelled after just two seasons, failing to reach
the 65 Weisman hoped for. Disney opted to introduce their own show in the form
of Ultimate Spider-Man(which also aired
on Disney XD beginning in 2012).
The Lizard strikes!
Had
the series continued, Weisman planned to introduce Ghost
Rider, Hobgoblin, Hydro-Man, Scorpion,
Mr.
Negative and Carnage
(whose alter-ego had appeared in an episode), and introduce Harry’s mother Emily
with the hopes of having her voiced by Marina Sirtis
(who worked on Weisman’s Gargoyles).
There was also a plan to release direct-to-video movies set between the seasons
and following the show’s conclusion, which would have followed Peter to college
and his eventual marriage to Mary Jane.
Hasbro produced a line
of action figures based on the show between 2008 and 2009;
featuring various versions of Spidey and his core foes, playsets and vehicles.
In 2010, Burger King included four toys based on the
show
in their Kids’
Meals. Because each episode story arc was initially
designed to be combined together to form a single stand-alone story, the first
DVD release by Sony
Home Entertainment was Attack of the Lizardin 2008.It combined the first three episodes
together with some additional footage. However, that plan was abandoned for
each additional release and Volumes 2-8 contained the episodes as they were
broadcast. Attack of the Lizard was
re-released as Volume 1
in 2009. In the United Kingdom, only the first four volumes were made
available. In 2009,The Complete First Seasonwas released and
the full show was eventually made available on various streaming services. In
2013, Saban Brands
acquired the broadcast rights to the show and returned it to The CW as part of
their Vortexx
programming block until it was discontinued the following year. To coincide
with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2in 2014,the entire series was released to Blu-ray
for the first time and then to DVD
in 2016. The series was made available to stream on Netflix, Prime
Video and Google
Play.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Survival
of the Fittest” (3/8/08) – School is around the corning and the Enforcers
decide to make Spidey’s life difficult.
“Interactions”
(3/8/08) – Spidey has to deal with Electro’s constant search for a cure for his
condition while Peter Parker has to tutor Liz Allan.
“Natural
Selection” (3/15/08) – Peter learns a lot about difficult choices when Dr.
Connors transforms himself into the Lizard.
“Market
Forces” (3/22/08) – As Peter concentrates on helping Aunt May pay the bills,
Montana becomes the Shocker in order to take out Spidey.
“Competition”
(3/29/08) – Football tryouts have to wait as convict Flint Marko becomes the
Sandman in order to kill Spidey.
“The
Invisible Hand” (4/12/08) – Rhino’s attack leads Spidey to confront Big Man
once and for all, and is offered an opportunity he can’t possibly pass up—can
he?
“Catalysts”
(4/26/08) – Mary Jane threatens to invert Midtown’s social structure while
Green Goblin sets his sights on taking over as Big Man from Tombstone.
“Reaction”
(5/3/08) – Spidey has to keep Dr. Octopus from stealing an experimental battery
pack that will power his arms indefinitely.
“The
Uncertainty Principle” (5/10/08) – John Jameson struggles to land his damaged
shuttle while Spidey deals with Goblin’s hostile takeover of the New York underworld.
“Persona”
(5/17/08) – Spidey gains a new costume and a new partner when he teams-up with
Black Cat to prove himself innocent of crimes Chameleon has framed him for.
“Group
Therapy” (5/31/08) – Electro and Doc Ock break Vulture, Sandman, Rhino and
Shocker out of prison in order to team-up against Spidey.
“Intervention”
(6/7/08) – Peter realizes that his alien symbiote is affecting his mind and
struggles to remain in control.
“Nature
vs. Nurture” (6/14/08) – Aunt May is released from the hospital just in time
for a newly-transformed Venom to come looking for trouble.
Season 2:
“Blueprints”
(6/22/09) – Peter wants to discuss his kiss with Gwen, but Mysterio has other
plans courtesy of the Master Planner.
“Destructive
Testing” (6/22/09) – Kraven comes to New York to hunt Spidey while Peter deals
with the fact that two girls like him.
“Reinforcement”
(6/29/09) – The Sinister Six reforms with Mysterio and Kraven to renew their
attempts to destroy Spidey.
“Shear
Strength” (7/6/09) – Spidey plans to take the fight to Master Planner’s door
and prevent his plans for world conquest.
“First
Steps” (7/13/09) – Peter actually ends up invited to Flash’s birthday party
while Sandman, Harry and Venom make return appearances.
“Growing
Pains” (7/20/09) – While Venom frames Spidey for crimes, Jonah convinces his
newly-empowered son to become a hero and capture Spidey.
“Accomplices”
(10/7/09) – Silver Sable, Hammerhead and Doc Ock battle for control of the New
York underworld, leaving Spidey caught in the middle with unlikely allies.
“Probable
Cause” (10/14/09) – Peter is stuck in a police ride-along with Sally Avril as
the new Enforcers make their move.
“Gangland”
(10/21/09) – Valentine’s day has to wait as Spidey fights to stop a gang war
when Silvermane attempts to take control.
“Subtext”
(11/4/09) – Goblin turns Liz’s brother Mark into the Molten Man and blackmails
him into doing his bidding.
“Opening
Night” (11/18/09) – Volunteering to test the prison security system ends up putting
A third season Spidey in the middle of a lethal Goblin deathtrap.
“Final
Curtain” (11/18/09) – Peter finally chooses Gwen over Liz and Spidey discovers
the Goblin’s identity.
Venom is one of Spider-Man’s
greatest and scariest enemies. He possesses all of Spidey’s powers, and none of
the responsibility. With Sony’s Venomhitting
theaters this weekend (and it being Halloween month), we’re going to take a
look at one of Spidey’s scarier rogues.
Note to self: avoid self-making costumes.
Venom has a
very intricate backstory. The look that Venom traditionally sports was actually
intended as a new costume for Spidey, making its debut in The
Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #252
(1984). However, chronologically, it first appeared in the pages of Marvel
Super Heroes Secret Wars #8
(1984). Secret Wars was the first large-scale crossover in comics that saw a
group of various heroes and villains whisked away to an alien planet to do
battle. There, Spidey, using what he thought was a costume-repairing machine, actually
housed a living entity known as a Symbiote. It bonded
with Spidey and created his new black costume designed by artist Mike Zeck.
Out! Out, damn spot!
The idea
for Spidey’s new look came from reader Randy
Scheuller, who had submitted it as part of a competition for aspiring
writers and artists. Then-editor-in-chief Jim
Shooter liked the idea and bought it from Randy for $220. The idea for the
suit to be a biological material that could self-heal was one abandoned by John Byrne during his run on Iron Fist, but
used by Roger Stern when
he plotted Amazing #252. After Stern
left the book, writer Tom
DeFalco and artist Ron
Frenz were the ones who established it as a sentient being vulnerable to fire
and high sonic energy. Learning the nature of his costume, Spidey used a church
bell to remove it from his body in Web of
Spider-Man vol. 1 #1 (1985).
Mary Jane gets an unwelcome guest.
That wasn’t
the end of the story. Over the next year, Spidey would find himself the target
of a stalker that wouldn’t set off his spider-sense. The creature that would
become known as Venom would make a cameo in The Amazing
Spider-Man vol. 1 #299 (1988)
terrorizing Spidey’s wife, Mary Jane Watson,
before making his first full appearance in #300 by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane. It turned out that reporter
Eddie Brock had misreported the identity of serial-killer Sin-Eater
on the word of a chronic confessor, resulting in his disgrace in the industry
and being banished to the pages of the tabloids after Spidey captured the real
one. His depression took him to the very church where Spidey freed himself of
the Symbiote, causing it to be drawn by their mutual hatred of Spidey and
bonding together. Because of the Symbiote’s earlier bond to Spidey, Brock had
gained access to all of Spidey’s memories, all of his powers, and the ability
to evade detection by his spider-sense.
The
character proved immensely popular, appearing several more times as a villain
in Spidey comics before turning into an anti-hero and getting a number of books
of his own. Over the years, the Venom symbiote has changed hands. For a time,
former Scorpion Mac Gargan
became the new Venom. Later, the Symbiote was bonded with Spidey friend Flash Thompson,
turning him into Agent Venom. The Symbiote was also briefly joined with gang member
Lee Price
before ultimately returning to Brock and resuming his career as an anti-hero
with villainous tendencies.
Dance, puppet, dance!
While Venom
had appeared in toys and video games since his creation, his first time being
adapted to other media was in Spider-Man:
The Animated Series. After Spidey (Christopher Daniel Barnes)
rescued John
Jameson (Michael Horton) and his crew from a downed space shuttle, he found
himself covered in a black goo that turned out to be the Symbiote. In this
version, Eddie Brock’s (Hank
Azaria) fall from grace came when he teamed-up with Norman
Osborn (Neil Ross) and Spencer Smythe
(Edward Mulhare) to capture
and unmask Spidey, but ended up with Flash Thompson who was pulling a prank in
a Spidey costume instead. Brock’s second fall from grace came when he attempted
to accuse Spidey of robbing the space shuttle, leaving out the involvement of Rhino
(Don Stark). After Spidey rejected the Symbiote, it found Brock and they became
Venom in order to achieve mutual vengeance against him.
Ain't no wall high enough...
His next
appearance was in Spider-Man
Unlimited. Venom (Brian
Drummond) and his adversarial offspring, Carnage (Michael Donovan), hitched a ride
on John Jameson’s (John Payne)
space shuttle to follow a compulsion to journey to Counter-Earth: an exact
duplicate of Earth on the other side of the son. Fully bonded to their
respective Symbiotes, the pair attempt to help conquer that world for the
Synoptic, a hive-minded legion of Symbiotes.
One can never have too many mouths.
The Spectacular Spider-Man had Eddie
Brock (Benjamin Diskin) be
deeply connected to Peter Parker (Josh
Keaton). Both orphaned, the boys grew up together but Brock was secretly
jealous that Peter had his relatives to look after him. A series of
misunderstandings causes a rift to grow between the boys, but the final straw
came when Spidey bonded with the Symbiote being studied by Dr. Curt Connors
(Dee Bradley Baker). Without the
Symbiote, the lab lost its funding and Brock his job. When Spidey tried to get
free of and destroy the Symbiote, it unleashed Brock’s animosity towards both
Spidey and Peter and drew the Symbiote to bond with him and become Venom.
Grabby grabby.
Venom
continued to appear in various forms throughout subsequent animated Marvel
shows, but returned to Saturdays with Marvel’s
Spider-Man. The show found the Symbiote being an unknown substance labeled
V-252 from the space program that was donated to Horizon High for study. Using
it in a project sees Spidey (Robbie
Daymond) become bonded to the substance, making him more powerful. However,
upon realizing it also made him more aggressive, he separated himself from it
and the V-252 eventually wound up in the “safe” hands of the Avengers’ lab. The
V-252 escaped and bonded with Flash Thompson (Diskin), before eventually
finding its way to Eddie Brock (Ben
Pronsky), who was jealous of Peter outdoing him in obtaining footage of
Spidey’s latest battle.
