In a few days, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man finally hits Disney+. You might not know it, though, because the marketing for this has come fairly late in the game, and we’re only recently getting an idea of what to expect from the show.
Earlier in the week, Marvel put out a pair of videos for Friendly Neighborhood. While the first is a clip wherein Peter Parker (Hudson Thames) meets Nico Minoru for the first time and gets bit by the spider that gives him his powers, the second is a more substantial behind-the-scenes look featuring insight from head writer Jeff Trammell and others as they speak on making the first Spider-Man cartoon officially under the Marvel Studios banner. Since it’s no longer completely glued to the MCU, there’s the opportunity to take some new swings with the material, like making Norman Osborn (Colman Domingo) a mentor to the teen Spidey. Other familiar, but distinct versions of heavy hitters like Daredevil, Scorpion, and Doc Ock are also expected to pop up throughout the first season.
And if that’s new enough, there’s the entire look of the thing. Visually, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’s cel-shaded 3D style is aiming to evoke the artwork of the original comics drawn by Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. back in the day. The descriptor of a “comic book come to life” feels more fitting here than it’s ever been, and speaks to Trammell and the team’s desire to deliver “something different and bring a lot of things to the table [earlier] Spidey shows may not have been able to do.”
So it’s clear the Friendly Neighborhood team want this show to stand out from previous Spider-Man cartoons. To that end, Marvel also released the full version of the show’s theme song, “Neighbor Like Me” by The Math Club, Relaye, and Melo Makes Music. It’s a nice blend of modern hip-hop and the classic theme from the original 60s series, and it grows on you after a while. Honestly, that the show even has an actual theme might be reason enough to check it out: after Spectacular Spider-Man and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes ended, Marvel cartoons lost their theme songs in favor of quick title cards, which was disappointing when you think about how much themes set the tone for all shows, not just cape ones.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man prmieres its first-two episodes this Wednesday, January 29. Look for our thoughts soon.
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