Redartz: Any of you who have followed this blog (or the Bronze Age Babies before it) will probably recall that my number one comic character is the ever Amazing Spider-Man. Today we will look at the 1967 cartoon series that made him my favorite.
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| A scene with (probably) Gray Morrow's background work |
The series ran from 1967 until 1970, although many here at the BitBA may recall it best from cable reruns (WGN out of Chicago ran it daily, afternoons in the mid 70's). The show credits list Stan Lee and John Romita as advisors, and you could often see some Steve Ditko influence in some of the poses. The show was produced by Grantray Lawrence, and later by Krantz films (notable for the design work of artist Gray Morrow, and production by Ralph Bakshi). The animation was somewhat crude but serviceable, and looked immensely cool to this youthful viewer. The music was stellar: jazz-inflected, surf guitar, very action-oriented. And it had that classic theme song. After seeing Spidey in action , checking out the comics was an obvious next step.
And speaking of the comics, the show borrowed heavily from them. The cast centered on Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant (no Gwen Stacy, although Mary Jane did appear in an episode). Aunt May was seen frequently, and of course Uncle Ben appeared in the origin episode. As for the villains, much of Spidey's rogues gallery could be seen here. Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, Mysterio, the Lizard, the Enforcers, Electro , Scorpion, Vulture, Kingpin. And there were some new foes created for the program (interesting, but not as noteworthy as the Lee/Ditko/Romita creations). Parafino, Dr. Noah Boddy (yes, rather corny), Dr. Atlantean, and many more. One of the oddest new villains was a game hunter called Clivendon, who hunted the web-slinger for sport. Odd that they didn't just use Kraven the Hunter, who never made an appearance on the show. Here's a look at some of those classic foes...
The first season tended to have more of the traditional villains, while the second and third seasons got rather strange. That said, the second season did adapt some actual scripts from the comics. Among those featured were Amazing Spider-Man 50-52, introducing the Kingpin. There was ASM 65, where the web-slinger was imprisoned. There was the great Mysterio story from ASM 66 and 67 (which for some reason featured Mysterio protrayed as a skinny guy with glasses).. And the second season actually began with an episode entitled "The Origin of Spider-Man", which was a direct adaptation from the origin presented in the 35 cent magazine "Spectacular Spider-Man" #1.
This cartoon ran for three years, finally falling victim to the outcry over tv violence in children's programming. The character I learned to love on screen took me to ever greater heights of adventure on the four color pages. Years after the show went off I still recalled episodes, the song, and the cool music. Finally, decades later, a couple episodes became available on VHS and were instantly added to my want list. The biggest treat was the DVD release of all three seasons (which my generous wife gave to me as a birthday surprise). It remains, to this day, the most frequently viewed dvd in our household.
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