We live in a day and age filled with comic book adaptations. Movies starring our favorite superheroes, villains, anti-heroes and pulpy characters seem to pop up every month, tv shows adapting cult classic independent books are released so fast you can barely keep up with it and every now and again they even try to adapt the books we love for the stage (to middling success). Yet the stories that inspire these films and shows often get overlooked. The books that breathe life and color into these – often inferior – adaptations are sometimes completely ignored when a major studio gets their claws into them, a trend that frustrates me endlessly. That’s why I’m starting this series, where we look at upcoming comic book adaptations and discuss the books that inspired them, so you know what to pick up next time you’re in your local comic book shop.

Today we’ll be looking at Marvel Studios’ upcoming Spider-Man show: “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”, the first ever animated Spidey show set to release under the MCU banner. The show sports a vibrant color scheme and a classic Spidey narrative wrapped up in a modern coating. The show’s aesthetic is clearly inspired by the first books on our list.

Amazing Spider-Man by Ditko and Lee

Yeah. This one feels sort of obvious. But it’s here for more than just that. Yes, of course every single adaptation of Spider-Man will harken back to the original stories shaped by Ditko and Lee. It’s an inevitability. But these original works are also the only comics that have been explicitly stated as a major influence on the show’s look by Showrunner Jeff Trammell. And that influence is not subtle. The bright look of the show and its vibrant classic character design are a clear indication that – at least in parts – this show will harken back to the 60s roots of the character. 

Multiple episode titles of the first season refer to this era of Spidey comics, with both the pilot and the finale being named after seminal moments of Ditko’s time in the book. The Pilot titled “Amazing Fantasy” refers to Peter’s first appearance in “Amazing Fantasy #15” while “If This Be My Destiny…” refers to the iconic storyline of the same name which has been loosely recreated by Marvel Studios before in “Homecoming”.

It’s always good to brush up on the origins of these classic characters, both the good ones and the bad ones, and “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” is no exception. Doc Ock, Chameleon, Scorpion, Stephen Strange – they all harken back to that Silver Age of comic books – which funnily enough happens to be the golden age of Marvel if we’re being completely honest. We’ve seen many different books tell Peter’s origin as Spidey, and even more showing us the early days of his crime-fighting career, but none are as classic as Ditko and Lee’s time on the book.

Yet, Lee and Ditko’s work can be tough to get through, it’s wordy. Very wordy. A trademark of the Golden age and Silver Age that has made it quite impenetrable for some modern audiences. I suggest reading this era one book at a time. Check out the characters you most like, read an issue at a time, take your time with them. These are stunning books, rich and fun, they are the groundwork on which all of this is built, all of these stories we love so much, don’t let some text get in the way of experiencing that. 

Untold Tales Of Spider-Man

“Untold Tales Of Spider-Man” is on this list for similar reasons as our previous entry. It’s a good classic Spider-Man book chronicling Peter’s early days as the webbed wonder. Written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Patrick Olliffe, Untold Tales sets out to fill in the moments between Lee and Ditko’s original stories, making it great supplementary reading material next to our previous entry.

This is one of my personal favorite Spider-Man books, as it nails every beat a good classic Spidey story needs to hit. It has the big spectacular action beats as he fights classic villains like Vulture and Green Goblin, but it also focuses on the smaller scale day-to-day criminals, perfectly balancing a roster of A-tier evildoers and C-listers who might not always get the time of day they deserve. Having seen the roster of bad guys we’ll be getting in “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” it seems the creators of the show share a similar love for the C-listers, as we’ll be getting appearances from The Unicorn, Speed Demon and White-Rabbit to name but a few names, while also featuring classic villains like Doc Ock and Norman Osborn.

Identity Crisis

Back in 2022, Marvel Studios’ animation department had their big Comic-Con panel in which they revealed a ton of exciting stuff, among them was a whole bunch of cool tidbits about “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” (still titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year back then). Among those exciting pieces was one of Leo Romero’s amazing line-up shots featuring a bunch of different suits the webhead would be wearing in season 1, including 3 suits heavily featured in the “Identity Crisis” storyline.

“Identity Crisis” – written by a group of writers including J.M. DeMatteis and Howard Mackie, with art by artists like John Romita Jr and Joe Bennett- follows Pete as he’s figuring out how to deal with one of Osborn’s more nefarious’ attacks. He’s been able to completely sully the Spider-Man name by framing him for murder, meaning Peter has to find some new alter-ego’s while trying to clear his name. Instead of going for the usual black suit or just laying low for a bit, Peter decides to create 4 distinct new super-hero personalities, all with their own distinct function, to fill the spider-sized hole in his life.

From the show’s episode titles we can safely assume it’s third episode, titled “Secret Identity Crisis” will somehow focus on the “Identity Crisis” storyline, but in what shape or form that will manifest remains to be seen.

Honorable Mentions

There are a few more titles that I see as potential influences on the show, but I’m guessing they might not be as important as others on this list or even be bad guesses on my part which is why I’m putting them in their own little category.

Based on the show’s premise as an early days Spider-Man story I’d feel it’s always a safe bet to read 2015’s “Spidey” run by Robbie Thompson and a rotating team of artists including Nate Stockman and Nick Bradshaw. That 12 issue run focused on a more modern-day retelling of the first adventures of Peter as Spider-Man and explored not just his own world of villains and supporting characters but also introduced the webhead to many different corners of the Marvel Universe as he teamed up with heroes like Iron Man and Black Panther. I’m sure the two versions of Pete’s early days will be similar in tone, making it a fun little read while you wait on more episodes to release each week.

We know Pete will meet other heroes of the Marvel Universe in this new show as well. We’ll see Daredevil, Doctor Strange and Iron Man in the show to name but a few names and his supporting cast is filled with familiar faces like Amadeus Cho and Nico Minoru. I wonder if this means we can expect the show to pull from Pete’s time leading Marvel’s “Team-Up” books from the 70’s to mid 80’s. For a more modern take on this concept, check out “Avenging Spider-Man” from 2012, which saw Pete team-up with a bunch of characters from all sides of the Marvel Universe.

In the episode titles we can also find references to the “Big Time” initiative of 2009, which jump started a new day and age for Slott’s time on the Amazing Spider-Man title. I don’t expect there to be any real influence in “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” that can be traced back to “Big Time” but the inclusion is certainly suspicious.

Are you excited for “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”? And If so, will you be checking out any of these aforementioned books in preparation? Let us know in the comments! And give us a follow if you’d like to read more of my thoughts on Marvel Studios’ latest attempt at reinventing Spider-Man.