In my last blog, I mentioned that my next media inspiration wasn't live-action. This was a cartoon that I've mentioned alot on various podcast interviews as the sole reason I fell in love with the superhero genre to begin with, as well as my introduction to a certain comics universe. The cartoon is none other than the legendary "Spider-Man: and his Amazing Friends."
Originally debuting back in September of 1981, "Amazing Friends" ran on NBC thanks to the success of a solo Spider-Man series that ran in syndication that same year. The premise was that the solo wall-crawler is now teaming up with two other superheroes, former X-Men mutants Iceman and Firestar (the latter beign created for the show). The three, called the "Spider-Friends," all live with Peter's Aunt May while attending college in New York's ESU, and fighting various marvel villains. The original run lasted until about 1983 (which I missed having been born three years earlier), so I discovered this show later on in 1988 when it was re-run on a syndicated cartoon block called "Marvel Action Universe," which also included the cartoons "Robocop" and "Dino-Riders." It was bad enough that it was syndicated on a cable access channel where I lived, but it came on on Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. So, even at eight years old, I was a dedicated TV viewer. Anyway, onto my thoughts on the show: I loved it! Having a team of superheroes (even if it's only three) just ramps up the excitement, as well as the trademark transformation sequence whenever they had a mission. I have to say though, that the main reason I watched this show was for Iceman, period. Watching him surfing on his "ice-slides" throughout every episode just looked like so much fun, and is the main reason I like a lot of other "cold-based" comic book characters like "Mr. Freeze" and "Captain Cold." The other reason was for the appearances of other supeheroes like the other X-Men members, and villains like Kraven, The Beetle, and The Shocker.
What was the direct inspiration this show had on me wanting to get into comics? Well, there wasn't a direct one, but it did introduce me to the team dynamic that helped me develop one of my first comic series "Cosmic Force." There was another show on this cartoon lineup that pushed superhero teams even further, and I'll talk about that one in two weeks, as I will be exhibiting at the San Fernando Valley Comic Book Convention this Sunday, and I'll have a review of the show and how I did sales wise shortly after the show is over. So, until sunday evening!