The Spectacular Spider-Man

STUDIO: Kids WB!/The CW
PREMIERE: March 8, 2008
STARRING: Josh Keaton, Vanessa Marshall, Lacey Chabert, Alanna Ubach, and Joshua LeBar
WRITTEN BY: Greg Weisman
DIRECTED BY: Vic Cook

"Who ARE you?" "Why, I'm you're friendly, neighborhood Spider-man, of course."

He's back. Everyone's favorite webslinger returns to Kids WB! tomorrow morning at 10:00am to take the animated baton being handed off by The Batman, which airs its series finale shortly thereafter. It's almost like a DC-Marvel crossover. Of course, there's no actual crossing over the shows, but it's not a coincidence that the popular series The Batman is ending its five-season run tomorrow morning, just after The Spectacular Spider-Man starts one that the network surely hopes lasts just as long. And based on the series premiere, there's no reason yet to think that it won't. Clearly inspired by the Raimi films but aimed even more directly at pre-teens, The Spectacular Spider-Man is easily as good as The Batman and arguably better. If you were worried about losing your Saturday morning fix, worry no more. You just may have to change which Underoos you wear while you watch.

The Spectacular Spider-Man opens with a very Tobey Maguire-esque narration from new star Josh Keaton about how good it is to be a hero, as we're shown shots of the coolest hero in red tights swinging through the city, much like we did in the Raimi movies. Don't worry. It's not like a Saturday morning cartoon that reminds us of the hugely popular Spider-Man movies is a bad idea, it's just that the influence is so clear that we had to mention it. So, is The Spectacular Spider-Man closer to the first two Raimi movies or the widely disliked third? It's a little cluttered with characters and action like the 2007 cinematic incarnation of the webslinger but that's something more forgivable on Saturday morning cartoon, when you want the action to keep the show moving. We don't need a lot of time for reflection on a show like The Spectacular Spider-Man. Even with its flaws, that third Raimi movie would have made a great cartoon.

Wisely ignoring the origins of the popular hero (most people know how Peter Parker became a hero by now), The Spectacular Spider-Man jumps in with a 16-year-old boy that has to deal with being unpopular at school during the day and the most famous man in the world at night. In the first episode (two new ones air back-to-back tomorrow morning, starting at 10:00am, but we were only sent the first), Spidey has to face off against not only the dark Enforcers but the super-villain The Vulture (cleverly voiced by the always-great Robert Englund). It gets a little crowded but the action moves at such a clip that kids of all ages will likely get swept up by it.

It's hard to judge a show after only one episode but The Spectacular Spider-Man seems to have all the ingredients in place to be a more-than-adequate Saturday morning replacement for The Batman. It might not break the mold - after ten incarnations, that would be a tall order - but it provides enough action, quality voice work, and detailed character design to keep older animation fans interested. And the young ones are going to love it even more.