True, they did say Gwen wouldn't die in the series (for DTVs would be another story)...In fact them planning to keep her around throughout the series would make it sting more if they adapted her death due to the audience gaining an attachment to the character. Oh it would have been AMAZING. Oh well, you know, the Mouse and all that.
I definitely feel like them showing the seasons passing would be something to take around from that series for future animated entries...with most animated series being stuck in perpetual spring/summer with an odd holiday episode every now and then makes it seem like major crime only happens on holidays specifically and the spring/summer. I liked Spectacular's approach of continuing the seasons/holidays from arc to arc. It made it feel like the events just happened to take place during the holidays rather than nothing of note happening until the holidays. I mean Mysterio and Kraven's intro episodes took place after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. This is a contrast to fighting Venom on Thanksgiving, going back to default spring/summer for a couple episodes and then jumping back to Christmas for another holiday episode later. So maybe having snow in episodes that don't just happen to take place near Christmas would be something to consider.
As it is there hasn't been a single Superman cartoon since Superman the Animated Series. DC keep giving Batman second chances like that "The Batman" series followed by "Beware the Batman" but Superman hasn't had a cartoon series to him (not including those home videos they keep putting out) since the end of JLU.
You know here's something not many people know. In the cartoon Superman the Animated Series, Bruce Timm featured Lana Lang. But he introduced her occasionally, and when he did he had Lana Lang be a fashion designer who knew Clark Kent from Smallville high and who figured out his secret identity back then and becomes a confidant when she meets him again.
Bruce Timm basically made Lana Lang into Mary Jane Watson, and here's his design for Lana.
3478703-8628284279-Lana_.jpg
It's kind of funny that the most comics' accurate version of MJ in backstory and design comes in a Superman cartoon.
That's actually a very good point, and while people can tout certain similarities between Spider-Man and Batman (both lost their parents in an act of criminal violence, both have motifs based on scary/creepy animals, both deal a lot with street and organized crime, both supplement their skills and abilities with gadgetry), in spirit Spider-Man hews closer to Superman than Batman (both are deep down ordinary guys just trying to do good in the world even though they have all those powers at their disposal, both were raised by adoptive parents from whom they inherited their moral compasses, both wear red and blue, both work in the news media and ironically for the same newspapers that cover their alter egos' adventures, both have as an archenemy a megalomaniacal multibillionaire in green and purple who feels entitled to do and take whatever he wants and resents anyone that gets in the way of that).
As for your other point about how DC keeps giving Batman shot after shot in animation while leaving its other great characters to languish in relative obscurity, I'd agree with that, but in between The Batman and Beware the Batman, there was Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which was basically "Batman Team-Up" and an unabashed love letter to the Silver Age.
The spider is always on the hunt.
Pokemon is a anime for children, but it has its touching moments like today's episode.
I miss this moments in Spidey's animated series.
have an episode with Iceman and 616 Firestar. (not Liz Allen).
Another good Idea for a new Spider-Man series is to follow the example of the Japanese anime that closely follows the manga storyline like Naruto. This would mean that the series has to start from where Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 began and go all the way up to ASM #350. This would mean that Marvel could produce one new episode a week on average as they do with the One Piece anime in Japan. Would anyone be interested with this idea for the new Spider-Man animated series?
What Marvel could have done (following the BND era) was to make Betty Brant Peter's love interest once again. This could start with rebuilding their friendship from the ground up. The past decade after OMD could have featured Betty as Peter's confidant. Instead, it was wasted with love interest that was not developed properly. Marvel even rejected the potential relationship development with Peter and Carol Danvers/or Jessica Drew. There is potential to make a relationship work. But if it doesn't start at the friends level as it did with MJ, Gwen, and Betty Brant, it will fall a part.
Peter's relationship with Carlie Cooper and Mockingbird failed because the writer didn't establish their friendship development. I would rather see Peter's relationship with Betty Brant or Jennifer Walters as friends for 10 years before any sort of romance develop. The only reason why Marvel can't get rid of MJ was because her relationship with Peter started out as friends. It took almost a full decade before MJ and Peter began a serious relationship. And the reason why their marriage worked so well was because it was not perfect from the start. People can relate to that.
Last edited by Darthfury78; 11-17-2019 at 02:53 PM.
I know what you mean. It's annoying to see MJ everywhere. It's not necessary as she's a supporting character in his world. The main reason why people want MJ as Peter's love interest and no one else is because they started out as friends. All of Peter's other relationships did not have the opportunity to have a slow friendship development. It could had worked with Mockingbird or Carlie Cooper if the focus was on their developing relationship as friends. The same could had been said towards Peter's relationship with Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew, who were respectively attracted to him. Good thing that Slott never bothered using Carol Danvers or Jennifer Walters as Peter's love interest because he would have destroyed it..
They could go with a real-time approach for quite a few years. If Peter Parker is a high school sophomore in Season one, he'll be in grad school in Season 8 without ever being left back.
One potential problem is that this won't appeal as much to the typical audience of a Spider-Man cartoon, where the expectation is that there'll be turnover.
There are some workarounds. They could have multiple animated series at the same time (one for small children who will go nuts for action figures and toys; one for the typical audiences of an MCU film) or trust that something that appeals to a twelve year old will also appeal to his seven year old brother.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
Definitely don't start with him in high school getting bit by a spider again. We know what happened with that and Uncle Ben. Just start with him already fighting a classic enemy or with the arc that leads to Gwen Stacy dying as the first arc.