COMICS-TV Stuff: Spider-Man & his Amazing Friends
Secret Origins of the Spider-Friends!
We're back with Spider-Man's second entry into "TV Stuff". After the
1981 Spider-Man
series, Marvel upgraded the show and created "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends".
Loveable loser Peter Parker was joined by two roomates: Angelica Jones (Firestar) and
Bobby Drake (Iceman). The former a "made for TV" female hero and the latter
the longtime Marvel hero and original X-man. The show also landed
a spot on NBC's Saturday morning lineup which increased the audience tremendously (sigh..
this was back in the days when the networks
ran cartoons on Saturdays...). Along the way, the show did a good job
of dropping in cameos or guest appearances of several Marvel
heroes. Also, the banter between the three main heroes was often humorous and
made them seem like actual college students. The show was a big step for
comic book animation and was unlike any previous foray into the genre.
In fact, I can honestly say that if not for "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends",
I would have never picked-up a single Marvel superhero comic. And yup, if I had never picked up a Marvel comic, I might be doing something worthwhile today!
This article will cover 3 episodes from the second season of
"Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends":
"Origin of Iceman", "Along Came Spidey" and "A Firestar is Born". Each episode
has roughly the same formula- characters are involved in an ongoing story that
allows them to flashback to their early days.
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Gasp! The other Summers brother! |
"Origin of Iceman", shockingly, is all about Iceman. The "Spider-Friends" (okay, so there was
an embarassingly stupid element to the show) are fighting
their old foe, Video-Man (okay, so there were TWO embarassingly stupid elements to the show)
when Iceman suddenly loses his powers. The heroes sneak into the science
lab of ESU (known as "Empire State" or "Eastern State Univesrity" throughout the show)
and use one of those handy "memory machines" to re-live how Iceman's powers first developed.
Bobby Drake was a mutant, and his powers manifested themselves at birth.
Quick scenes include baby Bobby freezing his bottle and teenaged Bobby
turning the prom into a blizzard. Eventually, Bobby debuts as Iceman and
saves a girl from a burning barn. In typical Frankenstein fashion, "local villagers"
arrive with pitchforks and torches to attack the "freak", Iceman. Soon, Iceman is contacted
by Professor Xavier and joins the X-men. In this case, the team
consists of the five original members: Iceman, Cyclops, Marvel Girl,
Angel and the Beast. For no other reason, this is significant because
it was probably the first time the X-men were ever seen or mentioned on TV.
That may sound stupid to you,
but comic-book nerds are all into first appearances. Considering how well-known
the X-men are in 2004, it's a nifty trivia item. My favorite group of X-men
has always been the old timey Silver Age original five, so this scene
always makes me giddy. In a
humorous production slip-up, a group shot of the X-men includes
TWO Cyclopses. D'oh
Iceman leaves the X-men and decides to improve his public image by tracking down and
apprehending the public nuisance, Spider-Man. Iceman notices a Daily Bugle column by
J. Jonah Jameson, offering
a special reward to whoever can bring in Spidey. Iceman ambushes Spider-Man in
Central Park and the obligatory Misundertood SuperHero Fight Scene errupts.
Spidey laughs when he hears about the Bugle's reward, and agrees to be
"captured". Iceman and Spidey arrive at Jameson's office and findout that the "reward"
consists of a lifetime subscription to the Bugle and a personally autograph
picture from JJJ himself. The two heroes walk-out on Jameson, leaving him with
a snowball and a ball of webbing.
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Marvel Team-up: Spider-Man and K.C. Munchkin |
Back to the present, where Video-Man is still at large. Video-Man cooks up
two more menaces: a giant Pac-Man clone named "Grabber" and a giant spaceship
from an Asteroids knock-off. The heroes are able to short-circuit Video-Man
and his flunkies as Bobby overcomes the mental block on his powers.
That brings us to the second origin episode- "Along Came Spidey". During a recent
fight with the Shocker, Spider-Man startled Aunt May and caused her to be taken to
the hospital. Peter Parker is remorseful and thinks about hanging up the costume for good.
While pondering his decision, Peter recounts his origin to Iceman and Firestar.
What follows is a by-the-book adaptation of Spider-Man's origin. Nerdy Peter Parker
is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops special abilities. Donning a mask, he
takes an open $1000 challenge to last 3 minutes with Crusher Hogan. Peter humiliates Hogan and wins
the money, while gaining the notice of an agent. The agent books Spider-Man on several
live TV performance shows and they rake in the cash. The story mentions an important
aspect of Spidey's personality
that was left out in his ensuing origin adaptations- the mask. Peter acknowledges
that the mask allowed him to overcome his natural shyness and express himself
more. Which explains why timid Peter was always a hilarious, wise-cracking chatterbox
as Spidey.
You know the rest.. while coming out of a TV studio, Peter refuses to stop
an escaping thief. A few days later, the same thief breaks into the home of his aunt and
uncle while
Peter is out performing Stupid Spider Tricks on TV. Peter's Uncle Ben
(NOT the converted rice icon) tried to attack the thief, and was killed. As Spider-Man, Peter tracks
down the thief and is shocked when he discovers it was the same guy he let escape, earlier.
The famous "with great power comes great responsibility" line follows.
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Hogan prepares to job! |
Spidey has, hands-down,
the best origin story of any superhero. It's touching, powerful, tragic and
despite the comic book elements, very realistic. It's a very harrowing example
of how selfish greed can disrupt someone's morals. If any Amerian teenager
were suddenly granted superpowers, they would do what Spidey did: make some money.
Other heroes simply received their powers and began fighting crime instantly. Peter
was Spider-Man for roughly a month before he became a full-fledged
superhero. Spidey's origin is a big reason why the character has been so succesful
over the past 35 years or so. Probably the best
single comic-book story of the century. Seriously.
The story ties up in the present where Iceman and Firestar remind Peter of his
responsibility. The heroes discover that Shocker's power comes from his costume and defeat him.
You have to suspend your reason at this point. Earlier, the heroes tried to attack Shocker
and had their booties handed to them. But now, because they're aiming at his
costume, they can beat him? If they weren't shooting at Shocker's costume
before, what were they shooting at? Logic in Comics! Oh well, it's a tidy
way to wrap up the story.
Now we're down to the final origin episode- "A Firestar is Born".
Firestar and Iceman are on the way to an X-men reunion, leaving Spidey alone to
scamper around the city. Spidey runs into the Juggernaut, on his way to crash the party.
Some portions of the Spider-Man/Juggernaut fight are directly lifted
from old issues of "Amazing Spider-Man".
At the X-reunion,
new X-Man Storm makes the mistake of asking "how did you get your powers?" Firestar is
apparently one of those people who, when you ask them the time, they build
you a clock-- since she intantly goes
off on a 15-minute recap of her entire life. Storm learns her lesson and
doesn't speak for the rest of the show.
On the great scale of origin
stories, Firestar's is very weak. The entire flashback is
like Jem Version 1.0 BETA. Mutant Angelica Jones was born with
heat-creating powers. She uses them to perform amazing tricks like heat up her dad's
coffee and melt dollhouses. When her homework blows away in the wind,
she discovers her flight abilities. Throughout her youth, Angelica is
tortured by a snobby girl named Bonnie. Angelica finally gets her revenge
by embarrasing Bonnie at halftime of the big homecoming game.
Immediately after the game, Firestar runs into Cyclops, Iceman and the Angel, who extend an
offer to join the X-men.
This was always a big point of confusion for cross-over fans. At the time
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We must defeat Evil Bubble Man |
this show first aired (1983), Firestar was nowhere to be found in Marvel's
comics. She had never been a member of the X-men, and to this day, STILL
hasn't been a member. She was brought in as an X-men affiliate in her own
mini-series, around 1984... but Firestar's comic character was nowhere near
as succesful or as well-known as her animated character. To add to the
confusion, Sunfire was briefly an X-man and had similar powers to
Firestar. He even appeared in an early episode of "Amazing Friends".
During the recruitment,
Iceman says to Firestar: "you have X-tra power, just like us".
Contradicting Marvel's current tagline, that the "X" refers
to the "X-factor in their genes". For story reasons, it also seems a little
weird that Firestar's X-men involvement wasn't mentioned
in Iceman's origin story.
Still, this flashback has
one nifty segment-- we see Firestar, Iceman, Cyclops and the Angel fighting
as a team against the Sentinels and Magneto. Angel is seen shooting ENERGY BOLTS
at a Sentinel. Damn, even the cartoon writers could see he was worthless and
wanted to spice him up. Cyclops is fairly normal, but his voice-over is awful.
He sounds like a 1940's radio hero.
Back to the reunion, where Firestar and Iceman meet their old pals, Angel and Cylcops, along
with new members Storm and Wolverine. Yes, THAT Wolverine. Again, another "Comic Nerd
First Appearance", as this episode was the first time Wolvie ever appeared on
screen. However, he's not the prototypical bad-ass we all know. He has maybe four lines
and is easily tossed aside when Juggernaut arrives at the reunion. Wolvie gets his claws caught
in a wall...and is removed from the fight. So much for
his adamantium claws cutting through anything. Basic mortar
is enough to sytmie Wolverine. "Best there is at What I Do"! Sure, if being
a worthless putz is what you do. ANGEL ..who flies....is more
competent.
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| "Hey, betcha I could kick Puck's ass" |
Even the old bald guy in the wheelchair seems
tougher than Wolvie!
The X-men and Jugernaut tear up the main lawn of the X-mansion. Storm, Iceman, Firestar and
Cyclops all try their hand at stopping him. Angel...flies into the air. Good to have him
around. Spider-Man recovers from his earlier stomping and arrives to join the fun.
Professor X tells Spidey about Juggy's weakness- remove his helmet and Professor X can zap
his brain. The 3 Spider-Friends (ugh) converge on Juggernaut and succeed in umm...
un-helmeting him (is that a word?). Juggy gets brain-zapped and everyone's HAPPY!
Overview/ Dumb Comments /Why'd You Tape This?
These 3 episodes are probably the best of the entire series. They've aged rather well
and have more than nostalgia in them. Also, the infamous mutt Ms. Lion has
very little screentime. (Yes, the "Eighth Little Superhero")
The Iceman episode is the weakest. The scenes with the X-men and the first meeting
between Iceman and Spider-Man save it from the pits of suckitude. Jameson has a
sizeable part in both the flashback and the shell story. JJJ is always good
for a few laughs. Video-Man seems laughable nowadays, but back in 1983 he seemed
reasonable to all the Atari playing grubby little boys.
Spidey's flashback should be standard viewing for any comic fan. In the modern-day half of
the story,
Shocker seems like a bad-ass. Interesting, because he was always treated like
a throwaway villain everywhere else. A guy the hero fought in the filler issues, and never part of
a signifcant story. Also, I think the early scene with Aunt May was editted. Shocker
escapes from prison, and the next thing we know, Bobby, Angelica, Peter, Aunt May and
Ms. Lion are watching Shocker attack an aromored car. I taped these
shows off of UPN in 1998, so there may have been some slight editting.
Firestar's story gained points for including the X-men. We didn't just
see a flashback, we saw the X-men actually fighting with the main heroes. As kids, this
was the one episode we constantly gabbed about. It must have proved popular,
as Marvel did an entire show with the X-men in the following season of
"Amazing Friends".
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| Collect 'em all! |
Titled "The X-Men Adventure", it brought back Cyclops and Professor X ,while
adding Nightcrawler, Thunderbird (?!), Colossus and Sprite (Kitty Pryde). Sigh...this
was all back when the X-men had ONE comic book and no cartoon series,
toys, Spaghetti-O's line, movie franchise or videogames.
Oh yeah...and about the "first appearance" thing. Technically, you could
score MAGNETO as the first X-man to appear on Marvel cartoons. Magento
was the team's leader for about a year, circa 1986. He popped up
to bug Spidey in the 1981 series. I think he appeared on the
1970's Fantasic Four series as well (and probably scored points by
beating the tar out of HERBIE).
All three of these "Amazing Friends" episodes are worth tracking down. I'm not sure
if they're due to
be transferred to DVD soon, but they're still out there on VHS. You may be able to find
them at your local factory outlet's toy store. I'm sure that big online
media site named after fierce barbarian warrior chicks offers them as well.
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