The Fantasy Review’s review of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, Season 1.
Okay, I adore this show and I’ll tell you why.
I grew up watching the Spider-Man movies from the 2000s with Tobey Maguire and I still love them to this day. They were weird, wacky, and had a lot of heart.
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man has all of the heart and weirdness and comic book-goodness you want from a Spider-Man TV show. Watching this show felt like watching that 2002 Spider-Man movie, and it was a joy.
What’s great about this show is the heart. They really focus on the emotional side of the plot, ensuring we have lots of time with every important character. So, while they grow, develop, and inevitably land themselves in some kind of trouble, we are there on the edge of our seats, hoping they get back to safety.
You can’t, and shouldn’t, have Spider-Man without the heart at the centre of the story.
The characters are fantastic, and the voice actors did a terrific job. You could feel the emotion they were putting into every line, making for a highly engrossing and addictive viewing experience.
The plot of the series is surprisingly concise. It’s easy to follow every strand of the plot and various sub-plots, all the way to a surprising and epic conclusion. There are two more series promised for the future, and I am very excited to see what’s in store!
I think what I would have liked to see is one big villain stealing the show a little bit. Sure, there are one or two I can think of, but it felt like this series was more concerned with characterisation of the main cast and setting up future villains.
This will be great, when it pays off, but not having a main bad villain for the series who felt like a threat throughout was a bit of a missed opportunity.
This weakness doesn’t ruin the series, as the character work and the battles Spider-Man has along the way are still engaging. It could just have been improved with a little something extra from a big baddie, or something!
Overall, you should definitely watch Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, season 1, if you have not already. It’s one of the best things Marvel has put out in recent years. It seems like this, along with X-Men ‘97, Marvel Animation might be where the best stories are at the moment.
