The UK Independent wrote about a new miniseries based on the 1990s TV cartoon of Spider-Man whose goal is to complete a cliffhanger, and look what it appears to be:
Marvel Comics has announced it will finally answer a question that has been bugging superhero fans since the late 1990s.
The upcoming four-issue limited series Spider-Man ‘94 will reveal what happened to the web-slinger after the conclusion of the much loved animated show about the Marvel character.
[…] The show was written by John Semper who also wrote the English dialogue for beloved anime films Castle in the Sky and Kiki’s Delivery Service. It was also the first attempt at depicting the so-called “Spider-Verse” on screen, which has since been shown in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and the animated “Spider-Verse” franchise, which began in 2018 with Into the Spider-Verse.
The last ever episode of the show sees Spider-Man delve into the multiverse, with the help of Madame Web, to find his true love, Mary Jane Watson, who is lost in another dimension. However, despite ending on this monumental cliffhanger, Fox cancelled the show after five seasons and 65 episodes. Semper later confirmed that the decision was made for financial reasons.
I’m sure this is another example of attempting to appease Spider-fans alienated by the forced and contrived obliteration of the Spider-marriage. But again, something that’s unrelated to mainstream continuity – or what passes for it today – is no substitute. Though I do admit it is a shame if the finances of the animation studio Marvel once invested in during 1980-97 (changed to New World Animation in its last 3 years) went under, and scuttled any serious wrapup the Spidey series of the time could’ve had. Interestingly, animator Semper said he’s not part of what writer J.M. deMatties is scripting:
In addition, Semper has released a statement confirming that he was not invited to be part of the project. In a post on social media, the writer said: “Yes, it would have been nice (some might even say, respectful) if Marvel had reached out to me at some point as a courtesy. But I have long ago abandoned all expectation that Marvel would acknowledge any of my contributions to the Marvel Universe- like, for instance, my creation of what is now known as the ‘Spider-Verse’. So, I wish them well and encourage us all to celebrate with good cheer this 30th anniversary year of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.”
If they haven’t, that’s no surprise today, seeing how they’ve been short-changing everybody if they think it’s easy, and years before, when the 2002 Spider-Man film came out, Stan Lee said he didn’t receive any residuals on it, and it may have only been later that was settled. More recently, artist Dustin Nguyen accused Marvel of not paying their freelancers well. And to think there were cynics who were accusing the late Crossgen publisher of the same back in 2004, before they went under. What kind of hypocrisy is it we have going here? It’s shameful.
As for any role the 90s cartoon played in leading to a multi-Spider-verse, unfortunately, when the movie Into the Spider-Verse came out a number of years ago, it had by that time been influenced by the social justice propaganda that’s brought down the mainstream since. Which would make Semper’s take on the material much superior if by contrast, his TV show avoided the kind of politics today’s products are driven by. And whether that’ll change now is anybody’s guess.
Originally published here
English (US) · 