The animated Spider-Man series from the early ’90s is my earliest Spider-Man memory. The voice of Christopher Daniel Barnes is drilled into my brain as the definitive voice of Peter Parker and the character designs are, usually, the first thing I think of when I picture his extended rogues gallery. Because of that, Spider-Man ’94 feels like finding out there was an arc of the show that was finally discovered decades later the way old Doctor Who reels are found in forgotten warehouse somewhere. Everything about this book feels note-perfect to the show and it’s even more effective because it’s written by J.M. DeMatteis, the guy who was writing Spectacular Spider-Man at roughly the same time (give or take a year or two). This book works on so many levels because it’s a classic, back to basics approach for Peter and Mary Jane, while jumping headlong into a big story that puts him to the brink.
If like me, you haven’t recently thought about the Spider-Man animated series from 1994, you’re brought up to speed quite quickly. Peter and MJ are married, but going through a rough patch, where Peter saw a clone of MJ die in his arms, which had a profound impact on him. That pain subsided when the real Mary Jane came back into his life, but he’s still hesitant to be happy, waiting for the Parker luck to show up and force the other shoe to drop.
Marvel
While dealing with his fears about MJ Leaving again, he’s best by Morlun. Yes, that Morlun from 2001 and Kaine (yes, that Kaine from 1994), making what I believe is their animated universe debut. They acknowledge that Peter is a Totem, a person of great power who can sustain Morlun and his relative immortality for a century, giving him the power and time he needs to enact his grand master plan for the world to remake it in his image.
I want to be clear, here; the book is called Spider-Man ’94 in reference to the animated series, but it really could just be a Spider-Man story from that comic book era as well that you just haven’t read yet, and that’s probably the greatest strength on display here. It’s timeless, playing on classic tropes of Peter and his extended cast of supporting characters as well as a surprise villain who turned face.
Speaking of faces… Man, some of them are really, really ugly. Despite having an established look to pull on, some of the faces mid conversation just look awkward, unnatural, and outright bad at times. While these moments are few and far between, they are jarring when they happen. Thankfully, most of the characters we care about are masked up, and those faces are protected from this lapse in character design.
Marvel
The action is choreographed well though, with some of the more violent sections tempered by the specific character design. That said, Peter is still put through his paces at every turn in classic Spidey fashion, but it’s done in a pretty restrained way. Morlun and Kaine in particular, while ruthless, benefit from the cleaner looking direction and feel like they were simply cut from production on the original show.
Spider-Man ’94 is a timeless Spider-Man story that has contextually high stakes but feels like a smooth sailing trip for someone that’s looking for a Spider-Man tale from another time. If you miss Peter married to MJ, if you miss an old but whip-smart Aunt May, and if you’re curious about how later additions to the Spider-Man mythos would look in a more established art direction, then this book is for you. At $17.99, it’s a bit more expensive than I’d like for what I’m getting, but there’s a lot to enjoy about what’s in store here, hopefully with more to come down the road.
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