School had just ended and everybody was heading home. A student went on the bus and put their headphones in, planning to listen to music. The student soon realized a new Spider-Man show had come out on Disney+, excited about a new “Spider-man” show, the student decided to watch an episode while on their way home.
On Jan. 29, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” was released on Disney +. This new show has already gained some popularity, the first thing that many have noticed is the unique art style, music and more.
“I think it’s slick, I think it’s really cool,” Curtis Menke, the College and Career Counselor at MCHS says. “The opening sequence, it starts with notes from the original 1960s era theme song, and then, and then it morphs into a more modern kind of hip hop track. And in other words it’s got this classic 60s sensibilities, but in a modern style. So I think it’s a cool blend between those two when you know just the animation, the personality, the music.”
There were many new things that the new “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” show brought, with a mix of music and also a noticeable art style that it shows. But not only does this show have some unique qualities but the show also displays Peter Parker’s origin story and also his early days of being Spider-Man.
“It’s different enough from past iterations of it,” Menke says. “It does really capture the early teen, Peter Parker when he’s around 14 or 15 years old. I like the fact that they didn’t spend time telling the stories that we already know. We already know about Uncle Ben dying. We already know about the spider bite, and we saw bits of it, but it didn’t take too much time getting through the essential core of the story that everybody’s already familiar with.”
Even though the show is great, having an average of a 97% of Rotten Tomatoes, there are a few thoughts about Marvel making another Spider-Man show.
“It’s a little bit like, okay, it’s another Spider man show. I get it.” Menke continues and says “I also am not so naive. I mean, spider man sells. He is like the Marvel character. I mean, I would argue, ‘Iron Man,’ before the MCU started in 2008 ‘Iron Man’ was a B list character, like he wasn’t a bottom of the barrel. He was a founding Avenger, and he’s had his own solo titles. But he was not ‘Captain America,’ he was not ‘Spider Man,’ he was not ‘Wolverine.’ He was a B character. And it was only the movies that really elevated ‘Iron Man’ to be the true star.”
Because of how much Spider-Man made an impact in the Marvel world, that was the main reason why Marvel kept on making new visions of him, making new movies, shows and comics about Spider-Man. But that wasn’t the only reason why Spider-Man was liked so much, the true reason why Spider-Man became so popular was because he was also a relatable character to most audiences.
“I really think Spider Man is the quintessential Marvel character,” Menke continues to say, “because I think most people can identify with sometimes, like it’s hard to identify with rich guy ‘Tony Stark.’ It’s hard to identify with Super Soldier, Steve Rogers.’But everybody can identify with a down on your luck teen who’s trying to juggle school, a love life and also a job as well. Like everybody can identify with the classic Peter Parker story. And I think that’s one of his, that’s one of the charms of that character. That’s why he’s, like, the most popular one. Because everybody can identify with Spider-Man.”
Showing that there might be many reasons why Marvel is making another “Spider-Man,” it isn’t all about the animation but how reliable Peter Parker can be.
The student had only finished one episode until they arrived at their bus stop, but after finishing that episode the student wanted to watch more of the show. On their way walking home the student decided to watch the show at home while also doing some homework.