Hello, my friends. Despite all of the content that I’ve provided on this site over the years, it’s perplexing how a certain wall-crawling superhero hasn’t had any time to shine here. Well, it’s time to change that. After all, 2022 marks this particular character’s 60th Anniversary and the 20th Anniversary of his various outings upon the big screen. On that latter note, it’s time that I talk about the particular tie-in materials for said venture and see how they hold up. As such, I welcome you to the opening chapter of a special mini-review series called…
Prior to this momentous occasion, the only times that he’s been brought up here was in three separate articles. First, there was the time when Spidey enlisted several heroes to stop Doctor Octopus’ diabolical missile strike in 2012’s “Ends of the Earth” and Big Hero 6 was among the gathered figures who must prevent this terrible act from happening. Next, there was a moment that Bill & Ted travelled into the future and had to evade their ravenous fans, with the Web-Swinger being briefly noticeable in a one-panel background cameo. Finally, our featured superhero was out in L.A. and had to prevent the assassination of a pro football player within the pages of NFL SuperPro, despite never teaming up with the titular character. On that note, it’s time that he finally gets the C-Cubed spotlight as I highlight his various comic book tie-ins and adaptations to his Sony-driven movie outings. As such, let’s briefly talk about the movie that started it all.
Released in the U.S. on May 3, 2002, this Sam Raimi-helmed & David Koepp-penned flick was made on a $139 million budget and went on to make over $825 million worldwide with a mainly positive reception from both critics and audiences. As with any major blockbuster released in theaters, lots of tie-in materials that ranged from toys to video games were made, including out first subject in the form of a comic adaptation.
Published in April 2002, “Spider-Man: The Official Movie Adaptation” was the 22nd best-selling comic for the month, selling 48,582 copies. As for how this handles the translation from movie to print, let’s web-swing right on in and find out for ourselves.
We begin on some opening narration that’s altered from how the film handled it. Both do mention how he’s not a guy who didn’t have “a care in the world” and that this story isn’t “for the feint of heart”. However, the comic actually shows a few exclusive moments from Peter Parker’s past. Specifically, the day that he was brought in to Uncle Ben & Aunt May’s home as a child. Also, both introduce his childhood sweetheart Mary Jane Watson whom he’s admired before he “even liked girls” and that this tale starts off with her in a high school relationship with Flash Thompson. However, the movie introduces Peter chasing after the school bus before he’s finally let on. Unfortunately for him, the majority of his classmates refuse to let him sit with them as one of Flash’s goons even manages to trip him up. Later, Parker and his fellow senior classmates are on a field trip to Columbia University’s Science Department (or as the adaptation calls it, the Columbia Genetic Research Institute). One minor detail left exclusive to the movie is when Norman Osborn is dropping off his son Harry. He doesn’t want to be seen meeting up with his fellow classmates from their Rolls-Royce before Norman reminds him that he’s currently attending Midtown High after flunking out of every private school that he’s previously attended. From there, Harry meets up with Peter as the comic mentions that the young Osborn is his only friend. Afterwards, Norman gets introduced to Parker before they have a brief conversation. While the film just sees Peter & Harry heading up to the science department, the comic reworks Parker’s awkward moment with Mary Jane here from her noticing two of her friends instead of him to her simply saying ‘Hi’ to our two young men as Peter stutters with his response, to which Harry sarcastically comments about his response before he mentions how she’s “some kind of girl”. We then shift to the main science center as a scientist tells the students about the thousands of spider species and the various abilities that each one has, ranging from abnormal strength to its strong webbings and even being able to “sense danger”. While the comic does see Parker noticing MJ alongside Flash, it does omit two small moments. One is where Peter tries to take a picture of the Delanis spider and its unique jumping ability for the school paper, among other arachnids. However, Flash has to continue being a jerk to him as he and his fellow goons intentionally bump into Parker just as he’s about to take the pictures. The second is where Peter mentions a few scientific details to Harry who initially finds it boring, but instead mentions them to MJ in order to impress her. Afterwards, both mediums have the scientist showing off 15 genetically-enhanced spiders before Watson points out that one is missing, to which the researcher assumes that it’s being worked on by the staff mates. Once he finally has her all by himself, Peter asks her for her picture in order for it to be used in their school paper. As he carries this out, the escaped spider discreetly makes its way onto Parker’s hand before it ultimately bites him. We then shift over to Oscorp Industries as some military officials, led by Gen. Slocum, are visiting and are eager to know the status of their human performance enhancers. While the adaptation version of Norman is the one who mentions that this is “a complex experiment”, his movie counterpart mentions that aside from one test rat succumbing to psychological madness, the serum should be ready for human testing. However, it’s in that part that the head scientist Mendall Stromm mentions that the failed trial rat ended up suffering from “violence, aggression & insanity” and that the only way to fix this is if that they take the serum “back to formula”. Either way, both versions have Gen. Slocum telling Norman that he has two weeks to perfect the serum, or else the funding will be pulled and instead be taken “elsewhere”, to which the movie mentions that it would be Quest Aerospace.
From there, a cinematic scene gets omitted from the comic. Specifically, it’s where Ben & May Parker get properly introduced. During their conversation, Ben mentions that he was recently laid off from his job as a senior electrician and that he needs to find a new job in order to properly finance his family. From there, Peter returns home feeling ill from his spider bite and immediately heads upstairs before he wearily lies down. Then in some scene rearrangement, we immediately cut to the next day as he wakes up and notices that not only can he see without his glasses, but his physique has greatly improved. Several details are then excluded from this adaptation, such as Ben reminding Peter that they’re painting the kitchen once he gets home, Mary Jane getting yelled at by her deadbeat father, Peter practicing his eventual talk with her and his attempt to catch up to the school bus before his hand sticks to the school poster hanging off the side. We then shift over to Midtown High (which originally came after Norman’s scene back at his penthouse in the film) where Peter is having lunch. After the comic omits the moment where Mary Jane slips on some orange juice and his Spider Sense allows him to notice in time in order to catch both her and all of the contents on her tray, Parker’s spider powers start to kick in as his fork gets attached to his hand. As he tries to pull it off, he soon notices that it’s attached to some webs that’re being emitted from his wrist. He then accidentally shoots some web onto a nearby tray before he tugs on it with enough strength to yank it onto Flash, covering him with its food. Despite Thompson discovering that he somehow caused this, Peter tries to discreetly make his way out into the hallway. After reaching the lockers, his Spider Sense warns him of Flash’s incoming punch as he ducks in time. Thompson then tries to assault him, but Parker is able to easily dodge his attacks before he ends the fight with a single punch. Startled by what he did, Peter runs out of school and heads into an alley. After realizing that the radioactive spider’s bite gave him these abilities, he then tests even more of them out by wall-crawling, hopping across rooftops and even getting a handle on his web-shooting as well as some web-swinging. The comic then skips over several moments where he arrives home at night and discovers that the kitchen was painted without him, Parker taking out the trash while noticing an argument between Mary Jane’s deadbeat dad & his family and Peter sharing a conversation with her about what they would like to do following their graduation (him as a photographer & her as a stage actress) before Flash picks her up in his new car, which motivates Parker into trying out for the amateur wrestling prize of $3,000 in order to get a vehicle of his own to impress her with and even design his own outfit to wear for the match. This ultimately leads him to this moment where he tests his web-shooting within his room and accidentally breaks a lamp in the process, causing some concern from Aunt May.
The comic then backtracks to Oscorp Industries at night (which originally came after Peter’s rest following the spider bite in the film) as Norman wants to test their newest batch of performance enhancers. It leaves out the part where Mendall tries to warn him that it’s still not ready for a human trial and that he wants some time to prep the medical staff & to get a volunteer, but Osborn says that they’ll have lost their funding by the time that all of that gets put into place. Fortunately, the comic does include Norman’s mentioning of his company going under if they lose this military contract. From there, he gets strapped in and is placed into the chamber before the enhancer gets sent in via vapor form. Osborn ultimately ends up in violent convulsions before Stromm shuts the experiment down and goes to check up on him. Suddenly, Norman comes back to life and violently throws Mendall across the lab before he takes his leave. The comic then shows him back at his penthouse (which originally came after Peter’s hand sticking to the poster on the school bus in the movie) as Harry finds his dad lying groggy. After Norman is unable to recall what happened the prior night, the adaptation has some exclusive dialogue where Harry tells him not to overexert himself at his job, to which Norman wants his son to only worry about himself. Just then, a female employee enters and informs them that Stromm has been found dead. While the comic only has her adding onto the fact that the lab was destroyed, the movie had her also saying that Stromm was murdered and that both the flight suit & the glider were stolen.
Following the massive series of scene rearrangements, the adaptation then omits a quick scene where Osborn reads a Daily Bugle article about his company’s decline before he mentally hears some devious laughter. Back at the Parker household, we have another moment where Ben expresses to May about his own concern towards their nephew. From there, Peter is about to head out to the New York Public Library, but Ben is able to drive him there. Once they arrive, he talks to Peter about the changes that he’s going through before he ultimately imparts him with his signature piece of wisdom where his “great power” must come with “great responsibility”. However, Peter says that he can figure it all out on his own and that he wants his uncle to “stop pretending” to be his dad. On that sour note, he exits the car and waits for his uncle to drive out of sight before heading out towards the wrestling arena. Following a match where Bonesaw McGraw defeats another opponent, a fully-registered Peter gets introduced by the ring announcer as Spider-Man before he enters the ring. While the comic omits a cinematic detail where this turns out to be a cage match, Parker manages to use his enhanced speed, agility & strength to defeat Bonesaw and wins the match. When it comes time for him to get his cash reward however, the promoter ends up skin flinting him as he only gets $50 in the comic, compared to $100 in the film. Peter says that he needs the money, but the promoter tells him that he “missed the part” where it’s his problem. Just as Parker heads out, a thief comes in and robs the promoter. As Peter summons the elevator, the burglar heads right for him in order to get on. Even though he’s told to stop the guy, Parker simply steps aside and allows the robber to reach the elevator & escape. The promoter then tries to shame him for letting the thief flee, but Peter simply throws the man’s previous remark right back at him.
Later, he makes his way back to the New York Public Library before he notices some cops and a medic team on the scene. To his horror, he discovers that Uncle Ben has been murdered before he learns that it was a carjacker who did this. After overhearing a cop on the killer’s current escape route, Parker proceeds to suit up and go after him. He ultimately catches up to the thief within his uncle’s car as the chase ends up at an abandoned building. Once inside, he confronts the murderer and promptly beats him up, even discarding his own mask. To his surprising horror, he discovers the thief to be the same man that he allowed to escape. While the killer does take out his gun and aims it at Peter, the adaptation omits the part where he’s able to disarm the punk. Either way, the robber ends up tripping out of a window and falls to his death. While the police do spot him, Parker manages to escape before they arrive. However, he ends up returning home as he and May end up grieving in each other’s arms.
We then shift ahead by a week to a testing ground at Quest Aerospace as Gen. Slocum arrives for the demonstration of their new exoskeleton prototype. Suddenly, an incoming bogey flies in on a glider and not only decimates the pilot within the war machine, but he also takes out Slocum and the Quest Aerospace scientists as well in a fiery explosion. From there, the comic adds an exclusive scene where Norman holds a press conference expressing his company’s condolences towards the recent tragedy while promising “to hold onto the high standards” set by this “friendly competition”. We then transition to Peter and his fellow Midtown High seniors completing their graduation ceremony. After Parker learns from Harry that they’ll be moving into their own apartment, he’s then met upon by Norman. During their conversation (no matter the version, it seems that Osborn is favoring Peter a bit more than his own son), Harry notices that Mary Jane is breaking up with Flash before he goes in for the offscreen rebound. Later on after returning home (and omitting the scene where a teary-eyed Peter talks with Aunt May about his last moment with Uncle Ben before she mentions that he would still be proud over what his nephew would become), he then thinks about his uncle’s signature quote while looking over his makeshift costume as he finally decides what to do. Within his newfound and signature outfit, he begins to stop various street crimes while the civilians begin to spread the word on his numerous acts.
After the comic omits a few scenes, which included the introduction of the key Daily Bugle staff and its curmudgeonly editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson who’s demanding a decent Spider-Man picture for their paper (thus the creation of the ad), Peter talking with Mary Jane shortly after she finishes her shift at the Moondance Diner and Parker meeting up with Harry back at their apartment and politely declining Norman’s help in looking for a job, he soon comes across the Daily Bugle ad. From there, he uses his next outing as Spider-Man to take pictures of himself while stopping some criminals. Peter then presents his Spidey photos to Jameson, who hilariously calls them all “crap” and only offers a paltry sum for them. Although the dialogue is different between the movie and the comic, he essentially decides to use Parker’s pictures for another scathing article on Spider-Man before allowing him to work as a freelance photographer. Over at Oscorp’s main office building, Norman tells his fellow board of directors that their business is doing extremely well financially. However, they inform him that they’re selling the company and that they’ll announce the sale following the upcoming World Unity Festival. During this scene, the adaptation does omit certain details in that Oscorp is going to be sold to Quest Aerospace as a result of the recent attack on their property. Not only that, but Osborn is being forced to resign as part of the deal. No matter what the version of this story is, it ultimately doesn’t sit well with him.
We then shift over to the World Unity Festival over in Times Square as Peter is on a freelance assignment for the Daily Bugle. As he takes some pictures, he soon notices Harry with Mary Jane over on the expansive balcony of an adjacent building. The comic then leaves out their conversation where he’s concerned for his father liking her as his girlfriend, despite her wearing a Chinese dress. Either way, both versions do see him attempting to kiss her on the lips, but she averts her head in time. As Parker’s Spider Sense begins to warn him of impending danger, there’s another quick moment omitted from the adaptation as Harry talks to a board member on the whereabouts of his father for this festival. Suddenly, a green-suited being flies in as the crowd initially think that this is a festival spectacle. Just as the board members realize that the figure is riding in on their company’s glider, the mystery person proceeds to fly towards the balcony and throws a circular device at the patrons. It turns out to be a bomb as the structure gets weakened by the explosion, while the crowd below scrambles in a panic. During the commotion, Mary Jane falls onto a crumbling piece of the balcony. With the board of directors trapped on the damaged balcony, the Green Goblin proceeds to execute them with another Pumpkin Bomb. With Harry unable to save Mary Jane (in the case of the movie, he gets knocked out by a piece of debris) and the Green Goblin hovering over her, Peter web-swings onto the scene as Spider-Man and kicks him off of his glider. While the Green Goblin safely falls onto the ground, the glider crashes into a globe-shaped structure and begins to fall towards a young boy. Fortunately, Spidey manages to save the kid in time. Afterwards, the Green Goblin gets approached by some cops, but he easily beats them up.
Spider-Man tries to intervene, but he ends up struggling as the Green Goblin gets on his glider and flies after him with some built-in weaponry. After he evades the opposing shots, Spidey tries to make his way over to Mary Jane and save her. However, the Green Goblin flies in and slams him into a window before a brief scuffle ensues. After landing on the balcony, Spider-Man is able to blind his foe by shooting some webs onto the fiend’s facemask before he disables the glider. Shortly after the Green Goblin retreats, the balcony finally gives way as Mary Jane begins to fall. Spidey is able to dive after her, grab her and use some webbing to catch themselves. From there, they web-swing onto a rooftop garden. She then asks him who he is, to which he replies with “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” before he takes his web-swinging leave.
After the comic omits the scene in their apartment where Harry admits to his current relationship with Mary Jane before they talk about the festival-attacking fiend, to which Peter mentions that “somebody has to stop it”, we then shift to the next day over at the Osborn Penthouse where Norman is mentally met upon by his Green Goblin side and reminds him that they rubbed out his company’s board members via the newspaper in his hand. While the film exclusively has the Green Goblin persona informing Osborn that he came to be via the unstable performance enhancer, he then tells Norman that only Spider-Man can stop them, but they should attempt to have him join them. Over at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson decides to officially christen Spidey’s opposing adversary as the Green Goblin and that he wants to copyright that name for his financial benefit. Shortly after he dismisses Peter, the titular fiend bursts in on his glider and grabs Jameson by his neck before he demands to know who takes Spider-Man’s pictures for his paper. After Parker slips away, he returns as Spidey to confront him. However, the Green Goblin is able to incapacitate him with some sleeping gas before he flies off with the slumbering web-head in his arms. Later, a groggy Spider-Man wakes up just enough before the Green Goblin offers him the chance for them to join forces. He then tells Spidey to think about his offer before he flies away.
We then cut to the next night as the adaptation omits Peter’s conversation with Mary Jane on her recent audition. From there, Watson is walking along as the rain begins to pour. Suddenly, she’s approached by a small group of hooligans who wish to do some devious harm to her. Fortunately, Peter arrives as Spider-Man and deals with them (albeit off panel here while the movie has him fighting in costume, but sans mask). Afterwards, he puts his mask back on and meets up with her while he’s hanging upside-down. She expresses her admiration towards him before he lets her remove just enough of his mask in order for them to share an iconic kiss. From there, he takes off while she smiles in appreciation.
From there, we cut over to another incident as a building is on fire (at night in the adaptation while the film has this during the day). While the comic omits the moment where Spidey rescues a mother’s baby, he does notice that someone is still inside. As he heads in, he tries to save what looks like a scared woman. However, it turns out to be the Green Goblin who admits to causing this blaze in order to lure our hero out (while the movie somewhat implies it). He then asks Spidey if he’ll join him, to which he declines. As such, Green Goblin deploys some spinning blades as a fight breaks out between them. During the scuffle, one of the sharp projectiles manages to cut Spider-Man’s forearm. Eventually, the surrounding gets too unstable as Spidey is forced to flee. We then shift ahead to a short time later at Harry’s apartment as he, Mary Jane, May and Norman are present for Thanksgiving dinner. After the comic omits Norman meeting MJ for the first time and Peter’s initial evasive return, Parker soon arrives to join the festivities (with some cranberry sauce in the film). Eventually, May notices the cut on Peter’s arm before she checks it out. For Norman, this allows him to realize his secret identity as he abruptly dismisses himself. Harry goes after him and says that he’s been looking forward to him meeting his girlfriend for a while, but Norman just sees her as someone who’s only interested in his son for his money before he takes his leave. Shortly after Harry returns, a disheartened Mary Jane decides to head out as well, especially since they easily heard his talk with his father. In a comic-exclusive moment, Peter heads out to provide her with some rebounding comfort.
Later that night back in the penthouse, the Green Goblin persona tells Norman that they can get to Spider-Man by going after Peter’s loved ones. As such, they catch May off her guard as she’s praying right before her sleep. From there, the Green Goblin bursts in and terrorizes her. Later, Peter arrives at the hospital and makes it to his aunt’s room where she mentions “those horrible yellow eyes” as he realizes that the Green Goblin knows his identity. We then skip over a few more scenes, including Mary Jane visiting May and admitting to Peter that she’s potentially in love with Spider-Man. During this, Parker admits to being the web-head’s “unofficial photographer” and uses a mock conversation with the hero as his way of admitting the various emotions that he gets being near her. Unbeknownst to them, May was discreetly overhearing all of this. After Harry walks in on them holding hands, he returns to his father’s penthouse and tells Norman that Peter & MJ are in love with each other. From there, he promises his son that he’ll “rectify certain inequities”. We then return to the comic as it truncates May’s talk with Peter as she wants him to admit his true feelings towards Mary Jane. The adaption does leave out a small detail where May tells her nephew how “everybody else knows” of his budding feelings to MJ, which gives him a chilling realization that she’s in danger. Either way, he tries to use the hospital’s pay phone to call her up. However, he’s too late as the Green Goblin answers, indicating that she’s been kidnapped.
From there, Parker suits up and web-swings his way over to the Queensboro Bridge where the Green Goblin is ready to make him make a sadistic choice: either save his true love or a cable car filled with innocent people. Ultimately, Spider-Man is able save them both before he tells Mary Jane to climb down towards the cable car. However, Green Goblin is able to repeatedly hit him in an effort to lose his grip. Fortunately, the civilians on the bridge are able to distract the fiend with various objects while Spidey is able to safely place the cable car onto stable ground. Shortly afterwards however, the Green Goblin is able to wrap Spider-Man in some cables and drag him towards an abandoned building. Green Goblin then goes on the offensive and manages to rough our hero up. However, the adaption omits the fiend mentioning that he’ll kill MJ “nice and slow”, which is what motivates Peter to rise up and furiously fight back. After being on the receiving end of several hits, Norman removes his mask and tries to convince him that his Green Goblin side is to blame here, especially since he’s never wanted to hurt Peter. As Osborn discreetly summons his glider in preparation for a swift finish, the adaptation then omits his movie lines where he could count on Parker for help and that he’s like a father to him. However, Peter says that his true father figure is his Uncle Ben. From there, Green Goblin unleashes his surprise attack. Fortunately, Parker’s Spider Sense warned him of it as he leaps out of the way. Unfortunately for Norman, he ends up impaled by the glider and dies. With the promise of not telling Harry now upon him, Spider-Man returns Norman’s corpse to his penthouse. Suddenly, Harry walks in and mistakenly thinks that Spidey has murdered his father. By the time that he takes out a handgun, our web head has fled.
We then cut to his father’s funeral as Harry tells Peter that he’ll make Spider-Man pay while he praises his friend for being there for him. Shortly after Harry heads out, Peter heads over to his Uncle Ben’s grave. Mary Jane then meets up with him and says that during her recent harrowing ordeal, there was a single person whom she kept thinking about in the hopes of seeing again: Peter. Although the comic essentially doesn’t have any more dialogue for this scene, it seems to imply that she’s confessing her feelings to him. From there, they share a kiss. The adaptation then leaves out his admission in that he can only be there for her as a friend, in an attempt to keep her safe from his eventual adversaries, before he ultimately takes his leave. And so, the comic ends on a different scene. Over at the Daily Bugle, Robbie Robertson argues with Jameson that Spider-Man is truly a hero after saving the cable car civilians. As Ted Hoffman notices Parker’s clothes lying around the office, Spider-Man web-swings off as he admits that this is both his “blessing” and “curse”. In the movie, Peter narrates about how he’ll remind himself of his uncle’s famous saying as he moves forward with his life, especially since being Spider-Man is his “gift” and “curse”. From there, Spidey web-swings his way to the top of a building with an American flag on it to close things out.
Not too long after the financial success of its predecessor, Sony, Raimi and the principle players would go on to create its follow-up before it ultimately got its general American release on June 30, 2004. For the film’s writing duties, Alvin Sargent would handle the screenplay, while Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon came up with the story. Made on a $200 million budget, it went on to make over $788 million worldwide and was met with universal acclaim from critics and audiences.
As for its comic adaptation known as “Spider-Man 2: The Movie”, it was published in the same month and sold 25,438 single issues, along with 4,285 trade paperback copies. On that note, let’s wall-crawl into how this sophomore cinematic outing handles its translation onto the page.
We open on a billboard showing Mary Jane that Peter is observing while on his motorbike. Just as he arrives at his job at Joe’s Pizza, he’s immediately met upon by his boss Mr. Aziz who tells him to deliver several pizzas to the Woolworth Building on time. In the movie, Parker learns that the order was placed 21 minutes ago and that if he doesn’t reach his destination on time within eight minutes, then the recipient will get them for free. Ultimately, Peter becomes Spider-Man and web-swings towards the customer, cutting out the movie moment where he has to save a pair of children from getting hit by a vehicle, due to them running onto the street for the ball. Either way, Peter doesn’t make it in time as the building’s receptionist gets some free pizzas, while the adaptation omits him getting fired from his pizza boy position. Later at the Daily Bugle, he presents his new batch of photos to Jameson, who’s only interested in Spider-Man shots in order to continually present him as a menace. Like the film, it does bring up the fact that Parker has been struggling financially. Later on at Empire State University, Peter shows up too late to a class held by Dr. Curt Connors. Not only are Parker’s grades for the course less-than-acceptable, but he still hasn’t turned in his paper on nuclear fusion. Peter says that he’ll hand it in soon and that’ll feature Curt’s colleague named Dr. Otto Octavius, whom he’ll be introduced to soon.
We then shift over to May’s house at night as Parker arrives and discovers that she, Mary Jane and Harry had a surprise birthday party planned for him. Later (and in a minor piece of this trading places with the next one), Peter is taking out the trash before he’s met by Watson. After they briefly talk about the Off-Broadway play that she’s in, she then mentions that she’s got a boyfriend. He then says that he’s going to see her performance tomorrow night before he mentally tries to work up the courage to express his feelings for her. Unfortunately, he’s unable to before they both head back inside their respective folks’ homes. From there, Peter notices his aunt sleeping before spotting an urgent notice next to her. May then wakes up and mentions how it’s been two years since Ben was murdered and that she thinks about what she would do if she met the person responsible for claiming her husband’s life. Peter then tells her that he’s nervous about leaving her alone, especially since they’re both down-on-their luck financially, but she assures him that she’s only “a little behind”.
After the comics omits the scene where he returns to his apartment and we’re introduced to the landlord named Mr. Ditkovich & his daughter Ursula, we then cut to the next day as Parker and Osborn are about to meet up with the featured scientist. After Harry makes a rude remark to Peter about him finally spending some time with anyone other than Spider-Man, they ultimately enter Otto’s apartment as Octavius meets Parker and describes him as “brilliant, but lazy”. Osborn ultimately leaves them together in order to prepare for Otto’s reveal of his newest invention tomorrow. Peter describes the device as a means “to initiate and sustain fusion”, to which Octavius expounds by explaining that it’ll create a miniature star and share its grand power with the world. From there, Otto’s wife named Rosie calls them over for lunch. They talk for a while about Spider-Man before she asks him if he has a girlfriend. Otto then tells him how “love should never be kept secret”, especially since he and Rosie fell for each other, despite her favoring English Literature and him studying over Quantum Physics.
After the comic skips over his scene at the laundromat where he brushes up on some poetry while washing his costume and clothes, we then have Peter getting ready to attend Mary Jane’s show. Shortly after he gets some flowers for her with what little money he has, he soon notices a pair of criminals attempting to flee from the police. As such, he suits up as Spider-Man and stops the thugs. However, this causes him to miss the show. Despite that, he waits outside the stage door and from afar for her. Following the show, she leaves the theater before she’s met upon by a guy who saw her performance as they head out together. Later (and after the initial scene of his powers flaking out followed by his awkward elevator ride down gets moved from here), Parker calls her apartment from a pay phone in his apartment’s laundry room (as opposed to the one on campus like in the film) and attempts to explain why he failed to see her show. However, he ended up getting her answering machine. Despite that, she still arrived back in time to hear him grovel. He then says that his life has gotten complicated and that we wants to tell her the truth. Suddenly, he runs out of automated time and doesn’t have any more change to continue his call, causing it to disconnect. From there, he narrates how he wants to tell her that he’s Spider-Man, but can’t since he wants her to be safe.
We then shift ahead to the next day as Peter & Harry are among a crowd of people who’re present to witness the demonstration of Otto creating a mini-star out of Tritium in order to provide the human race with a renewable energy source. To properly control it, Octavius also shows off some cybernetic arms while he straps himself into them. He explains that they’re artificially intelligent limbs that he can access via a neural link, especially with nanotubes connected to his spine in order to ensure the proper connection. He also shows off an inhibitor chip that’ll allow him to remain in control of said arms. From there, the experiment gets underway as his machine helps the Tritium form into a miniature sun, during which the cybernetic arms help to prevent any flares from projecting outwards. However, its burgeoning powers starts becoming too severe, causing the patrons to flee. While Parker takes this advantage to change, Harry tells Otto to shut the experiment down, but Octavious says that he can control it. Suddenly, Osborn is about to fall into danger until Spider-Man manages to save him. Sadly, Rosie meets a tragic end while trying to help his husband. Unlike the film where she’s impaled by several window shards, a flare ends up going through Otto before it takes her out. Either way, the inhibitor chip gets damaged as Spider-Man then rips the electrical cords out and causes the mini-sun to collapse. Later on, rescue crews have arrived as Harry is furious about the experiment’s embarrassing failure, as well as Spider-Man showing up in some capacity.
Later that night, Otto has been brought to an operating room as a team of surgeons attempt to amputate the cybernetic arms from his body, especially since the incident caused the metal to become fused with his spine. Just as they’re about to begin the procedure, the arms come to life and proceed to slaughter all of them. Afterwards, Octavius wakes up and see what his cybernetic arms have done before he makes his escape.
We then cut to the next day at the Daily Bugle where Jameson tells his staff about the incidents at Otto’s lab and at the hospital. While they ultimately decide to give him the nickname Doctor Octopus, Jonah then tells Peter that he’s needed for a celebration over at the Planetarium, since his astronaut son John is being commemorated. Later (and following the adaption’s omission of Otto being swayed by his cybernetic arms to try the experiment again and to also swipe some money in order to get all that he’ll need to rebuild his machine), Parker is at the bank with Aunt May as they try to deal with the impending foreclosure on her house, albeit unsuccessfully. Suddenly, he notices a trio of robbers over by the vault (as opposed to Octavius who’s all by himself) as his Spider Sense begins to buzz. Realizing that they’re blowing the door open (as opposed to Otto who rips it out with his cybernetic arms), Peter ducks with May and saves her from potential harm before he slips away to go change. Spider-Man then arrives and attempts to stop the crooks, but he’s soon attacked and captured by Doctor Octopus who then blames him for both ruining his experiment and for getting his wife killed. Fortunately, Spidey manages to shoot some web at a desk and flings it at Otto, smashing him through the window and out onto the street. Just as the police are about to swarm him, Octavius uses a cybernetic arm to kidnap May before he scales up a building. A tense confrontation ensues between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus before May uses her umbrella to smack Otto in the face, but this causes her to plummet. Thankfully, Spider-Man is able to save her. Afterwards, Otto escapes back to his rundown hideout at the abandoned pier. Despite the minor setback, he’s still on the path to recreating his experiment.
Later on at the Planetarium, Peter sees Harry drowning his sorrows and anger with alcohol before John Jameson makes his presence known to the crowd. Not only that, but he announces that he’s recently been engaged as his fiancé turns out to be Mary Jane herself, much to Peter’s surprise. Afterwards (and within this minor scene rearrangement from the film), Parker is out on the balcony before he’s met upon by Watson. She says that while she did try to tell him about this, she explains that she ultimately got engaged to John since he’s been far-more reliable to her compared to Peter. Shortly after her fiancé joins her, Parker tries to tell her the truth, but he’s still unable to do so as he simply says that he’s happy for her before he takes his leave. As Spider-Man, he goes out for some web-swinging in order to clear his head. Suddenly, he unable to shoot a strand out and ends up crashing onto a building. He considers another attempt at his webs, but he ultimately decides to take the elevator down to the ground. This is in stark contrast to the film where after he crashlands into an alley, he discovers that not only is he unable to shoot webs, but he can’t even stick to the side of buildings as well.
Later, Peter is back in his apartment contemplating why his powers are on the fritz. Ultimately, he decides to go get a check-up at his school’s Student Health Services center. Following an examination, the doctor says that he’s physically healthy, but that he’s possibly having some psychological worries. From there, Parker talks about a “dream” that a “friend” of his has where he’s trying to climb a wall, but he ends up falling. The doctor then suggests that the “friend” should do some soul-searching in order to find out why he’s climbing. As such, Peter takes the advice and thinks back to the last time he ever saw Uncle Ben alive. In his mind though, this plays out differently as Ben tells him to have the courage and embrace his heroic responsibility. However, Peter says that this is becoming too much for him to deal with. As such, he decides to not be Spider-Man anymore. Back in reality, he decides to make that choice permanent as he places his costume in the trash and walks away from it.
With his superhero life behind him, he’s then able to concentrate on his personal life, consisting of getting to his classes on time and improving his grades to finally seeing Mary Jane perform on stage. From there, we continue to omit a few moments from the comic, such as harrowing scenes that try to tempt him back to his crime-fighting ways (which originally began with the personal life resurgence montage) and even the moment after her show where Watson deflects Peter’s attempt to give him another chance since he’s making changes to his life. We then have a moment of scene rearrangement as Peter and May visit Ben’s grave. At that moment (and instead of doing so back at her house like in the movie), he decides to tell her that he deserves some blame for Ben’s murder. He says that he had an argument with his uncle just as he was dropped off. Not only that, but he intentionally let a robber go by him, resulting in the guy killing Ben and stealing the car. With the shock of this revelation upon her, May takes her leave to process it all. Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, Jonah is having a phone conversation with Robbie as he explains that a homeless guy has discovered Spider-Man’s costume in the trash and handed it over to him for a skin-flint deal.
Over at his penthouse, Harry is furious about Spidey’s retirement, since he wanted to enact his vengeance upon him. Suddenly, he hears some growing thumps from the balcony and heads out to investigate. He’s then approached by Doctor Octopus who’s almost ready to retry his dangerous experiment, but is in need of one final element in order to proceed with it: Tritium. As Otto uses his cybernetic arms to grab Osborn and hold him off the side, Harry manages to get back onto solid ground by making a deal with him. He tells Octavius that he’ll hand his piece over if he brings Spider-Man back to him. When Doc Ock asks how they can find him, Harry tells him to go to Peter since he regularly takes his pictures. After the adaptation then skips over the scenes where Peter rescues a young girl from a burning building only to learn that someone else lost their life within the blaze, followed by him eating some chocolate cake with Ursula before she gives him a message from his aunt, we then cut to the next day as May decides to forego the mortgage payment and just downsize to an affordable apartment. Peter then asks her about what he said last time, but she assures him that it’s all “water under the bridge” and that she’s proud that he told her the truth. She then points out that a familiar neighborhood kid named Henry Jackson (who’s black here, but white in the movie) is helping her pack up. When she mentions that the young boy wants to be Spider-Man when he grows up, she tells Peter that people need a hero in order to help them stay honest, hopeful and strong. Inspired by her speech, Peter feels reinvigorated and tries to jump between buildings. However, his powers haven’t returned yet.
After the adaptation skips the scene where Mary Jane and John are in the process of sending out their wedding invitations before she ultimately recreates the famous upside-down kiss with him and begins to have a particular notion, we then cut to the next day as she meets up with Peter at a café. She says that she’s emotionally in an unsure state and asks him to kiss her. Suddenly, his Spider Sense goes off as a car is hurtling towards them. He’s able to duck with her in time before Doctor Octopus shows up and tells Peter to inform Spider-Man that he’ll be waiting for him over at the West Side Clock Tower at 3 pm. After smacking Parker with his cybernetic arm, he then kidnaps Watson and makes off with her. Afterwards, Peter emerges from the rubble and feels his powers returning to him. From there, he manages to swipe his Spider-Man outfit from Jameson’s office and heads out for a crucial confrontation.
Later, he arrives at the clock tower, yet doesn’t see Mary Jane anywhere. Despite that, he proceeds to fight Doc Ock as their scuffle ultimately sees them tumbling onto a subway train. Ultimately, Otto uses a cybernetic arm to make the train go full speed before ripping the accelerator out. While Octavius escapes, Spidey learns from the operator that he can’t stop the train due to the damaged controls. Not only that, but they’re on a collision course with a dead end. How he ultimately saves the passengers is different from the movie. While the film sees him shoot out multiple webs in order to prevent even a single car from falling onto the streets, the comic sees him have all of the passengers get in the rear car, uncouple it from the rest of the train and then shoot out multiple webs in order to slow it down while the rest of the cars plunge off into a train yard. Either way, this causes him to become weary. Thankfully, the passengers catch him and see his face. While the movie saw Peter taking his mask off because he took a spark to the face, the adaptation saw him taking it off during the whole rescue process. Either way, the civilians are amazed that Spider-Man is only a young adult. Just as Peter gets his mask back on, Doctor Octopus returns to claim him before the passengers decide to bravely stand in his way. Unfortunately, he still ends up captured as he finds himself unmasked in front of a shocked Harry. Peter then asks his friend where Otto is hiding out, especially with the potential death & destruction that awaits if he starts up his experiment again. After learning from Osborn that Octavius is at an abandoned pier, Parker gets his mask back and heads out. From there, another scene rearrangement occurs as Harry is mentally met upon by his deceased father Norman in the mirror. After being told that his “time of weakness has come to an end”, Harry refuses to avenge him and throws his dagger at the reflection, shattering it and revealing a hidden room containing his father’s Green Goblin equipment, thus setting him up for the next film.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man finally makes it to Otto’s hideout as he not only sees Mary Jane tied up, but that Octavius has started up his experiment again. Peter tries to sneak his way in, but Doc Ock is able to notice him before he catches him within his cybernetic arms. During this, a flare from the mini-star is able to free Watson from her bonds (in an exclusive moment for this adaptation) before she picks up a plank and tries to help Spidey out. However, the cybernetic arms are able to stop her. Afterwards, Otto then unmasks Spider-Man and learns of Peter’s identity (as opposed to the film where they fought before Octavius was defeated and Parker willingly unmasked himself in order to calmly talk to him), even moving Mary Jane’s moment of seeing Peter unmasked to here. From there, Doctor Octopus attempts to slay Spider-Man, but he’s able to avoid the attack and instead gets him shocked. Thankfully, it snaps Otto out of his rage as Peter convinces him to be the one in control of his cybernetic arms. From there, Octavius sees the potential destruction that he’s caused and decides to sacrifice himself in order to eradicate his failed experiment.
Meanwhile, Peter notices that Mary Jane is about to be crushed by a massive piece of the building. Thankfully, he’s able to hold it back before he finally confesses his love to her. From there, he web-swings her to safety while Otto has spared the city from his devastating mini-star at the cost of his life. Later, Peter hangs out with Mary Jane on a massive web as she tells him that a part of her has always known his identity. He then says that it’s the main reason why they can’t be together, since he doesn’t want her to be put in that kind of danger. Ultimately, the authorities arrive as she gets reunited with John while Parker watches this from afar.
Sometime later, Peter is hanging out in his apartment on the day of John Jameson’s big wedding. Just then, he hears a knock on his door before he surprisingly finds out that it’s Mary Jane herself. It turns out that she’s blown off her wedding as she says that while she’s aware of the risks that come with Peter’s crime-fighting life, she still chooses to be with him. As such, Parker acknowledges her choice as they embrace in a passionate kiss. Just then, they hear some emergency sirens in the distance before she tells him to “go” to his duty. And so, the comic ends with Spidey web-swinging towards the peril while he narrates how there’s finally room in his life “for both love and Spider-Man”.
We’ve now reached our last subject for this inaugural part and it’s an infamous one. Made on a $258 million budget and pulling in over $894 million overall following its North American release on May 4, 2007, this outing saw Sam Raimi directing & co-writing both the story and screenplay with his brother Ivan, while Alvin Sargent returned to also work on the screenplay. Unlike the first two entries however, it had a mixed reception from critics and audiences with a common criticism being that it was overly stuffed with far too many things for its narrative to handle. Interestingly, this would be the first entry within the overall series to not have a comic book adaptation. Instead, it has two tie-in issues.
Our first comic is “Spider-Man 3: Movie Prequel”, published in April 2007. According to Bleeding Cool, it was exclusively distributed at Target Department Stores. Todd Dezago wrote this piece, Stuart Immonen took care of the pencils, Wade Von Grawbadger held the inking duties and Stephane Peru was in charge of the colors. As such, let’s see what mini-adventure went down prior to the actual film.
We begin with Spider-Man web-swinging through the city as he narrates about the biggest thing that has him worried. In particular, he’s trying to properly handle his proposal to Mary Jane. He mentions how he’s afraid that he may get severely hurt during his crime-fighting venture and that he doesn’t want her to go through it. From there, he asks for a sign to tell him that he’s “doing the right thing”. At that moment, a pair of welders on a high-rise window washer’s scaffolding notice Spidey web-swinging past them. Unfortunately, the main welder named Lou gets distracted by our hero’s appearance and accidentally torches a safety cable. Thankfully, Spider-Man was able to quickly react as he uses his web to stick their platform onto the building long enough for a rescue crew to help them. From there, he takes his leave.
He then narrates how his aunt and uncle have taught him to not overly worry since “everything works out in the end” if he’s in love. From there, we flashback to his childhood as he comes home from school one day and notices that Uncle Ben is home much earlier from his job. He tells Peter that he got off earlier and is only helping May with some house business, before he tells his nephew to go change before they head out to the garage and work on their model rocket. As Peter heads up, May wonders how they’re going to get by financially. Ben assures her that they’ll make a few cutbacks while she helps them preserve their food stock for as long as possible. He then reminds her that things were rough during the earlier stages of their marriage, with her even initially turning down his proposal until she could be convinced that things would turn out alright. He then says that they’ve gone through these hard times before, but it’s brought them “closer” and “stronger” as a couple. As he reminds her that everything will work out as long as they have their love, they’re unaware that Peter over heard their conversation. Just as we shift back to the present where he wishes how that could be true for him, he soon notices a delivery van going out of control. As he gets in position and uses his super-strength to slow it down, he notices that the vehicle works for a business that focuses on “floral arrangements for weddings”. Just as he brings the van to a halt, he notices that he prevented it from crashing into a bakery that has a wedding cake in its display window, thus having back-to-back signs of him being told to just propose already. At that moment, he realizes that he doesn’t have an engagement ring for Mary Jane.
We then shift over to Flint Marko who’s out for a walk as he narrates about how he’s in his own financial bind. He then mentions how things started off good for him while he worked for Johnny O, thus making him financially stable and help him date Emma to the point where they were able to marry each other. However, Johnny O ultimately dropped him due to his recklessness. As a result, Emma began to pester him about finding a real job in order to support the family, including their daughter Penny. He then narrates that he’s been trying to find an honest job, but his criminal past has made it tough for him to get one. As such, he’s seriously considering robbing a jewelry store in order to make end’s meet. Meanwhile, Spider-Man lands on the roof and changes into his civilian clothes. From there, Peter heads into the jewelry store in order to buy an engagement ring. However, they’re well beyond his price range. Suddenly, a pair of masked thieves named Jimmy & Billy make themselves known before they attempt to rob the place. This makes an employee pass out as Peter goes behind the counter to check up on him. Billy then notices this and tells him to stop before he heads behind the counter himself. However, Parker has vanished. Thankfully, this allows him to suit up as Spider-Man returns to easily defeat the goons.
As Spidey takes his leave and lets the police deal with the criminals, Flint uses the backdoor to sneak his way in order to rob the place himself. Unfortunately for him, there were already cops there as he ends up falling right into their laps. And so, the comic ends with Parker narrating how he has Mary Jane’s love and that he wants to be with her for the rest of their lives.
For our final piece of tie-in material from this era of Spider-Man films, we have this comic called “Spider-Man 3: The Black”. Back when the movie got its initial DVD release on October 30, 2007, this comic was bundled with the film and it was exclusively sold at Wal-Mart. It does contain a Marvel Handbook section that delves into the comic details of the characters that were used for the trilogy, as well as a one-page interview with the legendary Stan Lee. For this article however, I’ll be focusing on its featured story. On that note, let’s close out this initial chapter with this interesting piece that’s written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn by Mark Bagley, inked by Scott Hanna and colored by Andrew Crossley.
We open at a particular point in the movie. Specifically, it’s the part where Eddie Brock has just been fired from the Daily Bugle after falsifying a Spider-Man picture and has gone to church in order to ask God to have Peter Parker smited. Suddenly, he hears the cathedral bell ringing and goes to investigate. Soon enough, he sees Peter who’s using the deafening sounds of the bell to rip the symbiote off of him. It soon drips down and lands on Eddie before it completely envelopes him. In his thoughts, Brock feels it trying to consume him while constantly feeling cold. After running out into an alley, he feels the symbiote feeding off of him before he angrily wants to know what Parker did to him.
Meanwhile, a few patrons are asking a vendor for some hot dogs. However, he’s unwilling to serve them due to the excessive rain coming down. Suddenly, they notice something crawling out of the alley as Venom emerges and attacks them. As he moves in to do some vicious harm, he’s suddenly mentally bombarded by images from Peter’s life, consisting of various key moments, friends, family and enemies. Eddie is puzzled by what he’s seeing and who’s life he’s viewing.
Shortly afterwards, the patrons and the vendor flee while a pair of officers show up and shoot at Venom. He’s able to fire some symbiotic shots towards them, but he’s ultimately knocked to the ground by the cops’ gunfire. Just as they approach him, Venom regains his consciousness and knocks them over before he manages to escape.
Once he gets to the rooftop, Brock then blames Peter for ruining his photography career and for turning him into a “monster”. As he starts to give into the cold feeling being put upon him, the symbiote then shows him a few more mental images that it acquired from its previous host. As such, it helps Eddie realize that Parker is Spider-Man. He then realizes that it wants him to go after Peter, especially with how to specifically attack him. From there, he proceeds to symbiotically swing off.
Later, he arrives outside of the Stacy family’s apartment as he looks in through the window. Gwen’s police captain father George gets an urgent call from his station and learns that he has to go back to his job. Shortly after they leave the room, Venom sneaks in as Brock looks to impress Gwen with his new look and set of powers. Just then, he notices a police file concerning Ben Parker and his true murderer: Flint Marko. From there, he manages to flee just before Gwen returns. Afterwards, we return to the movie as Venom comes across Sandman in an alley and convinces him to team-up in order for them to finally beat Spider-Man.
Later, the devious plan gets set into motion as Brock pretends to be a taxi cab driver as he picks up Mary Jane before kidnapping her. When she regains her consciousness, she soon finds herself trapped in the taxi and that it’s being held within a construction site by symbiotic webs. She’s then approached by Venom who tells her that he’s going to be getting back at Peter for kissing Gwen. Flint then asks him what he’s doing, to which Venom says that she’s somebody whom Parker deeply cares about. As such, they can use her to lure Spidey to them before they ambush him. And so, the comic ends with Venom sensing his foe approaching as Spider-Man web-swings his way towards them.
Overall, this era of Spider-Man movie tie-in comics captures the particular feel of a bygone era. The first film’s adaptation does a fairly nice job in capturing the plot and it’s a nerdy joy to have Stan Lee himself work on this comic. He does his absolute best to match the movie’s dialogue, while the scene condensing is fairly understandable given the differences in media. While it does omit a few scenes and its plot details from the movie, I do question some of the scene rearrangements that went on during the first half of the comic. After all, they don’t drastically improve the story in any significant way. Not to mention, there’s a bit more chatiness among those who’re in action scenes. Since Tobey’s version of Spidey was criticized for not having the right amount of quipiness while in costume, maybe this was Lee’s way of making up for that, even though these can be a bit too obvious and corny. The artwork is good and colorful throughout, helping to preserve the film’s balancing tone between light-hearted fun and thrilling danger. Everyone is detailed just enough to help them stand out and are shown with the proper amount of energy for their particular scenes. Other than the minor changes & omissions, this properly captures what made the inaugural entry a fun time for its audience and it should make it as a fairly breezy read to those who wish to experience this story in a different way. As for Spider-Man 2’s adaptation, we also have a few film moments that were dropped to fit this format. However, it’s baffling why this comic would leave out the scene where the A.I. arms would convince Otto to retry his experiment and display his conflicted situation, or even why he was given a small team of robbers for the bank scene, only to have them vanish as the adaptation goes on. Not to mention, it either rearranged or omitted early moments of Peter’s powers fluctuating due to his lack of self-balance. Despite its own omissions and rearrangements, it didn’t feel as egregious as its predecessor. Either way, it did a neat job at capturing the movie’s narrative and the slow maturity that both Peter, this film series and even the superhero genre was going through at the time. It maintained its fun roots, while also harnessing the sophisticated feel that Aguirre-Sacasa helped to maintain and carry over from its cinematic version. The artwork is also nicely handled here. The main cast of characters are presented as faithful recreations of their movie counterparts, while the fluid details helps to maintain a consistent pace with the overall story. In the end, it’s a solid representation of its cinematic sequel and it felt a bit more confident & mature in order to help progress Parker, his central core cast of characters and their developments to a better place. In terms of the prequel tale for Spider-Man 3, it’s a simple story that hints at the relationship worries that he’ll be going through for this infamous entry. Granted, he’s mainly concerned here with his intended proposal to Mary Jane and it’s the only thing that he’s deeply concerned with at this point. Yet for this mini-comic, it’s enough to serve him for this tale while also reminding fans of how far he’s come as a character after two movies. Not to mention, it allows Uncle Ben a brief moment to shine in something else for the overall storyline, which I appreciate. Not only that, but it does a fairly decent job at delving into Flint Marko’s past and how he became the desperate thief come the start of the film. As for the jewelry scene for its climax, it’s perfectly suited for its story and helps in giving Spidey someone to fight after a pair of rescues. Not to mention, Marko stumbling his way towards the police would line up with his cinematic introduction, since he does start off having just escaped from their custody. Either way, this small story is short & sweet with its swift pace, colorful 2000s artwork and humble charm. Finally, we have Venom’s biggest time to shine here with “The Black”. By this point, Eddie has already grown a certain disdain from Peter for getting him bounced from the Daily Bugle, even though he did bring this onto himself by altering one of Parker’s previous Spider-Man photos to fit his own career advancement. Not only that, but he was never in a committed relationship with Gwen, since the most they’ve done with each other was go out for a cup of coffee. As such, the symbiote feeds into their hatred for Peter as well as its own rejection from Parker, thus allowing Brock to have all of the informative ammunition he needs to set up the movie’s main climax and his chance to get back at Spider-Man alongside Sandman. When combined with his cinematic progression, it would make some sense towards the obsessive mental unstablity that he’s sunk to. While the comic’s progression doesn’t feel as smooth as it could’ve been, it’s still decently paced and backed by some moody artwork. The characters are given enough details to be uniquely presentable, while the scenes range from energetic to mind-bending to devious. For Venom fans, this may satisfy them in seeing some progression that he couldn’t get in the overly-stuffed film itself. For what it is, it’s perfectly suitable and will fulfill those who want as much as they can get from this film series, even with a bonkers take on the character that would come much later.
This may be the end for the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire era, but there’s still plenty of tie-in materials for us to wrap up within this web. As such, come back next time as we delve into Sony’s first cinematic reboot of the character and delve into what movie comics came out of it. Until then, keep your Spider Senses in tune.
Spider-Man (created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko) is owned by Marvel.
