SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Before I start on the review, I first have to address the elephant in the room; the death of Stan Lee, and the controversy surrounding his exact implication in the creation of the characters that populate the Marvel Universe, including of course our favorite wall-crawler.

There will always be a certain amount of discord between comic book fans and historians regarding just how much Stan Lee (Born Stanley Lieber 95 years ago) was involved in the creation of characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk, or the Fantastic Four, just to name a few. Most sources will agree that it was a collaborative effort between Lee and the artists. For instance, it has been noticed that early on, the comics only sported the signatures of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby for the first issue of Fantastic Four, or Stan Lee & Steve Ditko for Amazing Fantasy #15, which featured, of course, the first appearance of Spidey.

In a certain way, this was almost a way of sharing authorship on those stories. It's a few issues later that Lee started crediting himself as the writer, and Kirby and Ditko as the artists, which was a point of contention with the latters, since the "Marvel Method" that Lee himself would promote, implied a lot of creative input from the artists. For those unfamiliar with that creative process, Stan Lee and Gene Colan explained it pretty well in the following 2 page filler for DAREDEVIL annual #1 in 1967.

The ''Marvel Method'' was explained more seriously during Stan Lee's May 13, 2010 deposition in the fight over rights to Marvel characters between Marvel and Jack Kirby's heirs:

 Q: Okay. Why don't you describe the Marvel method?

A: There was a time when I was writing so many stories that I couldn't keep up with
the artists. I couldn't feed them enough work. And, you see, the artists were freelancers.
Now, for example, if Jack was working on a story, and Steve was waiting for
me to give him a story because he had had finished what he had been doing --

Q: Jack being Jack Kirby?

A: Jack Kirby.

Q: And Steve Ditko?

A: Right. Or it could have been any of the artists. But just using them as an example,
if one of them was waiting for a story while I was still finishing writing the story for
the other one, I couldn't keep him waiting because he wasn't making money. He was
a freelancer. He wasn't on salary. So I would say: Look, Steve, I don't have time to
write your script for you, but this is the idea for the story. I'd like this fill in, and I'd
like this to happen, and in the end the hero ends by doing this. You go ahead and
draw it any way you want to, as long as you keep to that main theme. And I will keep
finishing Jack's story. And when you finish drawing this one, I will put in all the dialogue
and the captions.

So in that way I could keep one artist working while I was finishing something for
another artist. That worked out so well that I began doing that with just about all the
artists. I would just give them an idea for a story, let them draw it any way they
wanted to. Because no matter how they drew it, even if they didn't do it as well as I
might have wanted, I was conceited enough to think I could fix it up by the way I put
the dialogue and the captions in. And I'd make sense out of it even if they may have
made -- have done something wrong.

And I was able to keep a lot of artists busy at the same time by using that system.
And I have never given that long an explanation before.

Later in the same deposition:

Q: And did Mr. Kirby ever suggest dialogue?

A: Not orally, but what he would do, when I would give Jack a rough idea for what
the story should be, and he went home and he drew it in his own way, laying it out
the way he thought it would be best, he would put in the borders, the margins of the
pages, he would put little notes letting -- so I would understand what he was getting
at with each drawing, and he would sometimes put dialogue suggestions also.

 That technique gave birth to some characters Stan Lee wasn't even expecting, as he explained in a 1995 preface to THE ULTIMATE SILVER SURFER, when talking about the first Galactus saga in FANTASTIC FOUR #48-50 in 1966. When he sent Jack Kirby home with his synopsis for that classic tale, he was surprised to see when the pages came back ''in the middle of the story we had so carefully worked out, a nut on some sort of flying surfboard" . Jack explained that ''a guy as powerful as Galactus oughtta have his own personal herald, someone to fly around and find planets for him to gobble up. So that's who he is. I gave him the flying surfboard 'cause I'm tired of drawing spaceships.''

(Interestingly, when Lee was asked in the 2010 deposition if Kirby ever created a character for Marvel, he had to be prompted to mention the Surfer. It's also possible he forgot about it.)

In this Photostatted penciled page from FANTASTIC FOUR #49, the first appearance od SILVER SURFER, one can see the dialogues suggestions by Jack Kirby.

 

That shared parenthood with the artists was expressed often by Lee in interviews, but often the titles and sidelines of articles would take the shortcut of calling him the sole creator of those characters. This ended up pushing away some of the most prolific collaborators away from Marvel, who would later express their dissatisfaction about the raw deal they got. Jack Kirby went as far as stating that he had created the Fantastic Four by himself (admitting though that Lee was involved) in an interview he made around the time he moved to DC comics to create the New Gods.Considering that the personalities of the members of the FF mirrored very closely his own CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN he had created for DC 4 years prior, the theory has some legs.

This seemed to inflame Stan Lee who would soon claim sole ownership of those characters in following interviews. This further contributed to complicate the situation, and the inability to return original artwork to the artists who worked at Marvel only contributed to the aggravation. The ''Love-Hate'' relationship between Lee and Kirby ebbed over the years, as they went from splitting up, to working together again. Kirby, being a good company man, would always be pleasant when talking about working with Lee in interviews, but only when he was actually working with him.

Steve Ditko, who co-authored the creation of SPIDER-MAN, felt that while the main idea may have been Lee's, everything else that makes Spidey who he is was his own creation, as illustrated by this cartoon he made in 1990.

In the end, if Lee was the spark, he may not have as much fire without the gasoline provided by the creativity of Kirby, Ditko, Everett, Heck, and others who worked for him.

Yet without that original spark, the fire may not have been ignited either.

In the end, we have to attribute some important points to Lee;

First, as an editor, he knew how to surround himself with creative talents who could mesh very well with his own creative visions. He brought a sense of "realism" by having the superheroes have regular problems. They would bicker. They would catch colds. They would have money problems. Not something that had ever afflicted Superman or Green Lantern.Marvel Comics in the sixties were like no other superhero comics on the stands.

Second, he was a superb promoter who knew how to schmooze his way to colleges and Universities and gave legitimacy to the art form at a time when it was still viewed as child stuff (a viewpoint still very alive today if we consider the recent comments by Bill Maher). No longer ashamed to admit he was writing comic books, he fully embraced it and helped elevate it by integrating it into the Pop Art movement.

The Amazing Spider-Man #28, published in 1965. Note the mention ''Pop Art'' in the corner logo, in an attempt to fit in the popular art movement heralded by Warhol.

Third, he made the Marvel Bullpen a dynamic cast of characters, crediting not only the artists and writers, but also the inkers, colorists and letterers, (Something that was rare in comics at the time) giving them nicknames and featuring them in promotional items like the "Voices of Marvel"record that was given away as part of the membership to the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Along with a relaxed approach to the readers' mail, he created a stronger bond between the readers and the creative team, who was starting to feel to the fan like an extended part of the family.

Overall, whether you feel he was overexposed or not, Stanley Lieber brought an undeniable contribution to the genre, and Comic Books might have stagnated long ago if it wasn't for the much-needed boost he provided by creating his greatest character ever: Stan Lee.

(For a fascinating dissertation on that topic, you should check this page. https://comicbookhistorians.com/marvel-1960s-jack-kirby-stan-lee-steve-ditko-who-created-what/)

Now on to the review.

I can't say I was excited at first when I heard about SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. I'm pretty much a purist, and was not feeling that interested in a film that would take away the focus from my favorite friendly neighborhood superhero, and split it along a bunch of pale imitations, in an attempt to be somewhat more relevant to a younger audience.

Turns out my fears were unfounded. Not only did SPIDER-VERSE crush those misgivings, but it also impressed me by its boldness in its visual style, and its engrossing story-line and somewhat anarchic storytelling by the ever reliable Phil Lord, who had managed, with his partner Chris Miller, to make a movie about LEGO toys that was surprisingly clever and infinitely funny.

As a matter of fact, the tone of SPIDER-VERSE, while in surface serving a more traditional narrative, breaks the fourth wall constantly, as Lord did so efficiently in THE LEGO MOVIE. But it's never as broad as it's being done in DEADPOOL. Characters don't necessarily talk to the audience, yet, there is no denying that there is an awareness of being in a comic book movie. From referring to comic book sound effects to wondering about the legality of using a Warner Brothers cartoon catchphrase, most characters know they exist in a ery specific reality.

Speaking of them, who are these different versions of SPIDER-MAN that populates the Spider-verse? First, let's be clear; the 6 different visions of the hero are only a small portions of the plethora of spider-themed superheroes that have appeared in the comics when the so-called Spider-verse was introduced in a 2014 story arc, crossing over many Spider-man titles, and bringing together Spider-men...and women, from different alternative universes. While it did offer the opportunity to introduce in the Marvel comic Universe the Japanese Spider-man from the 1978 Toei TV show, along with his giant robot Leopardon (the live-action precursor to the unending parade of Sentai series featuring costumed characters fighting monsters with the help of giant robots), and bring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham inside that same universe, I have to say the whole thing left me cold. Too much of a good thing, I guess. 

Let's look at the cast of characters.

MILES MORALES (brought forth in 2011 in the Ultimate Fallout mini-series), voiced by Shameik Moore , is the main character of the film. A young black/Latino teen, who is forced into heroics after being bitten by a radioactive spider, and witnessing the death of his own universe's Spider-man at the hands of the Kingpin (Looking very much like Bill Sienkiewicz' hulking vision of the bad guy in his DAREDEVIL: LOVE & WAR 1986 Graphic Novel) . The heart of the film, he beautifully evokes the feeling of the original Spider-man as created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962 with his youthful enthusiasm and teen angst, having to work alongside more mature versions of himself, and saddled with an extraordinary load of responsibilities. He offers a perfect contrast to our following player;

SPIDER-MAN, who has gone to pot from depression after a break-up with his wife Mary Jane Watson, finds in Morales a mirror of his former self, as well as a not-always-willing pupil who helps him reach once again the levels of heroism associated with the webbed superhero. The performance by Jake Johnson offers a mature version of Peter Parker, who never seemed to have outgrown the old Parker bad luck, but is still willing to make that leap of faith necessary to be Spider-Man.

SPIDER-MAN NOIR (First appeared in Spider-Man Noir#1 in 2009), voiced beautifully by Nicholas Cage, ails from the great depression, and uses his powers acquired by a rare spider's bite to fight the underworld. Directly inspired by Harry Steeger's THE SPIDER, created in 1933 (Same year as the events occurring in ''Noir'') as a competition to THE SHADOW, the character is a great nod to the style of Pulp magazines of the 30s and 40s, and the fact he exists only in black and white brings a lot of humor to Cage's performance.

The July 1940 issue of the pulp magazine THE SPIDER, which not only served as a direct inspiration for ''Spider-Man Noir'', but also indirectly to the original Spider-Man, as expressed by Stan Lee in this 1981 interview: ''I remember when I was a kid years old. There was a pulp magazine called "The Spider,Master of Men." And I always thought that title was so dramatic. He was nothing like Spider-Man. He was just a detective who wore a mask, and he went around punching people. He wore a ring with a spider insignia so when he punched somebody it would leave a little mark of a spider on the person. And I figured, gee, why not call the guy, my guy, Spider-Man.''

 

Some leaked footage from the shoot of SPIDER-MAN : FAR FROM HOME revealed a costume very reminiscent of Spider-Man Noir, leading fans to speculate about time travel and a cameo in the next chapter of Tom Holland's iteration of Spidey. But it's still too early to know for certain.

SPIDER-GWEN (First introduced in Edge of the Spider-Verse # 2 in 2014), voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, comes from a world where Gwen Stacy was bit by a radioactive Spider, instead of her boyfriend Peter Parker. The character became a fan favorite quickly after her introduction in the mini-series, and soon acquired her own regular series.

PENI PARKER and her SP//der suit also introduced in the Edge of the Spider-Verse mini-series in 2014, is very much an animé version of the character. Like the ''classic'' Peter Parker, she also is a teen, but instead of super-powers, she commands a robotic suit, once worm by her now deceased father, and she can only genetically be in control by allowing the radioactive spider that powers the suit to bite her. The character, voiced by ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK's Kimiko Glen, brings a bit of levity by reverting briefly the animation to one traditionally associated with Japanese cartoons.

Last but not least is the oldest of the variations on SPIDER-MAN; the spectacular SPIDER-HAM, who first appeared in Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1 in 1983, and got his own regular series that lasted 17 issues in 1985. His origin story is probably the most offbeat of all, as he was a spider named Peter, who gets bit by an irradiated May Porker, and transforms into an anthropomorphic pig himself, finding out he still kept his spider abilities. The character, voiced by comedian John Mulaney, brings to the fray the animated style of the Warner Brothers cartoons of old, complete with falling anvils and giant hammers to the head.

Original artwork for Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #8, by Joe Albelo. (1986)

While the interaction between those very different personalities are interesting, it's the bond between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, as well as the latter's relationship with his father and uncle, that constitutes the very emotional core of the film, and confers to it some dramatic weight to counterbalance the humor one has to expect from a Phil Lord script. References and homages to the comic book genre abounds and I enjoyed especially the liberal use of ''Kirby Krackle'' in the inter-dimension portal scenes, and I couldn't help but think of Ralph Bakshi's psychedelic visuals in his seasons of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon when seeing the trippy and colorful graphics in those same scenes.

The animation is superb, adding to the now expected fluidity and textures that comes with computer animation, some stylistic choices evoking old comic book coloring techniques like the Ben-Day dots (That Pop Art idol Roy Lichtenstein tried to convey in his comic book inspired artwork). As a matter of fact, the color bleeding typical of that technique was used for elements in the background and foreground, making it seems at times like I had entered a 3-D showing of the film but was not given the glasses. After a while, though, it stops being mildly annoying.

A rather extreme example of the use of Ben-Day dots and color bleeding from an old NANCY strip. Something that was evoked to a lesser extent in SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE.

Vibrant, action-packed, stylish and heartfelt, SPIDER-MAN : INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is a triumph, and more than deserves its nomination as best animated feature at the Golden Globes, as it stands as one of the top animated film of the year. The only other animated film that could give it a run for its money would have to be the sublime ISLE OF DOGS by Wes Anderson. No doubt that it will end up in the race for the Oscars too.

With BLACK PANTHER up for best picture at the Globes too, one would only wish that their creators; Lee, Kirby, and Ditko, would still be alive to bear witness to this great moment of legitimization of their work.