Spider-Man ’94 #1 – Review
One of the greatest disappointments of the 90s was the way the Spider-Man cartoon concluded. With the real Mary Jane missing, Spidey breaking dimensions and meeting a young Stan Lee, all before jumping into another Madame Web portal in hopes he’ll find MJ again. For me, it was the absolute worst ending – although it prepared “adult me” for a lifetime of disappointing tv show endings.
Lost, I’m looking at you.
J.M. DeMatteis leaves the passage of time as a mystery and skips forward to Peter Parker and MJ already reunited. Although, never really addressing the issue that Spider-Man never revealed himself to be Peter Parker to Mary Jane. Only the MJ Hydro Man clone knew the truth, as the cartoon explicitly covered. So, can someone wake up J.M. and tell him to go back to the source material? That’d be great. Although there’s a brief editor note that this might all be addressed in a future issue.
Seriously?! Spider-Man fans will tear this matter to shreds if given the chance.
Interestingly, energy-vampire dickhead Morlun is introduced as this storyline’s antagonist. An antagonist who recruits clones of himself (they’re always named “Kaine”) to bring Spider-Man back to his lair for him to feed on. While Kaine’s stalking of Spider-Man taking on Molten Man eventually leads him back to the Parker household where he kidnaps Peter Parker, it’s this confrontation of Peter Parker and Kaine on a neighbouring rooftop which sees Kaine somehow tap into the lingering raw emotions of Peter’s love for Mary Jane. An ability which is never fully explained in this series but it’s reasonable to assume that it’s somehow genetically passed on to Kaine as Morlun’s clone/son.
Leaving Kaine to retreat back to Morlun only to be drained of what little life he has. Leaving Peter Parker to return to the Parker household with some conveniently believable story in tow and MJ’s always judgemental Aunt Anna to be unceremoniously kicked out of their super-villain ruined dinner party. Or what’s left of it. So, in true Spider-Man, it’s a duality of drama in both his superhero life and his personal life. An aspect of the cartoon which 90s kids came to absolutely love about him.
Borrowing as much from this era is the style of the cartoon realised in comic book form. From the clothing and colouring to the villain easter eggs which seem to prop up in every third page. But despite all this loveable nostalgia, some of Jim Towe’s artistic choices are downright unforgivable – with facial features on Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna rendering those characters almost unrecognisable.
Still, it’s a half-decent first issue and an empathetic ode to your childhood, even if it does promise a next chapter while refusing to address how the hell the characters got here in the first place. It dwells in nostalgia and despite its writer’s refusal to be observe the source material, Spider-Man ’94 somehow delivers a modern story — one with heart, style and wide appeal. Let’s see what issue 2 has in store.
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