J.M. DeMatteis and Jim Towe’s Spider-Man ’94 is a big deal. Based on the animated series that ran on Fox Kids from 1994-1998, this miniseries picks up where the original cartoon left off — kind of. While the original series finale, “Farewell, Spider-Man,” promised an unseen adventure involving our wall-crawling hero and Madame Web traversing the multiverse to find a missing Mary Jane Watson, this book instead picks up after Peter and MJ have triumphantly returned to their home dimension just in time for a new enemy to awaken.
Thankfully for new fans and cartoon viewers who need a refresher, this first issue offers a handy recap before jumping right into the next chapter of Spider-Man’s life. Within just a few pages, DeMatteis and Towe make it clear that they plan to expand upon the already-rich sandbox of the original animated series, opening the floodgates to characters from throughout Spider-Man history. In particular, fans of ol’ Webhead’s late-’90s/early-‘2000s exploits may find themselves either excited or exasperated by some of the characters who appear in just this first issue.
Without spoiling their identities, some of them may feel like they’ve gotten a little too much exposure through various multiverse shenanigans in the last several years, but the afterword from editor Danny Khazem strongly hints that this story will not play out how we expect, and that SM94‘s versions of these characters aren’t quite the ones we know. That idea already seems to have been reinforced by the sudden appearance and subsequent death of a Spidey villain before the midpoint of the book. However, it remains to be seen exactly how this series will go about making these characters fresh.
What I really enjoyed in this first issue is how DeMatteis has already been able to build upon the mythology of the animated series. The final season of the ’90s cartoon threw some serious curveballs at Peter Parker and Mary Jane, stranding the latter in some unknown parallel dimension and sending the former into a spiral of self-doubt and depression. And although I’m disappointed that this miniseries doesn’t dive into the story of how Peter rescued his Mary Jane (not yet, anyway), I am fascinated to see how the loss of Mary Jane and the subsequent death of her clone (the ’90s, everyone) would cause Peter to have a serious distrust in the concept of a happy ending. The animated series was at its best when it captured the soap operatic nature of the comics that inspired it, so it’s great to see that continue here. At this point, how is Peter supposed to believe that anything good could possibly happen?
On the flipside of that, it’s also lovely to see that old Parker luck take a turn for the positive. It warms my heart to see Mary Jane Watson getting down on one knee and proposing to Peter, to see these two crazy kids making it work. But like Peter, readers will no doubt keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Longtime readers will no doubt know that DeMatteis has his finger on the pulse of Spider-Man’s self-loathing and existential inner monologues, and he does not disappoint here.
Marvel
Towe and colorist Jim Cambell do a heroic job of capturing the feel of the cartoon, although there are a few moments where the characters (particularly Peter) look ever-so-slightly off-model. I’m glad Towe is making this book his own and not slavishly reproducing the designs from the series, but there are a few moments of stiff movement and a couple of awkward facial expressions from the characters. Aside from that, it’s a blast to see some characters who never appeared in the cartoon getting the Saturday morning treatment, as well as a bit more action than BS&P would allow on kids’ TV 30 years ago.
Spider-Man ’94 is off to a promising start. Fans have waited a long time for this story, and while it might not be the story most of us were probably expecting — and it’s a bummer that Marvel didn’t enlist the services of original series head writer John Semper, even in an advisory capacity — I’m still glad it exists.
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