"GREAT POWER" is the pilot in which we're introduced to our cast. Drake Bell is Spider-Man, and I must say he's the most annoying voice actor to play the character on TV in a very, VERY long time. He's been the web-slinger for a year and he's still got a lot to learn. When he takes down Trapster but causes a lot of collateral damage, Nick Fury beams down from SHIELD to recruit him for official training. Spidey accepts his gift of a hi-tech web-shooter but blows him off, retreating to his high school escapades with MJ, Harry, and Flash Thompson. MJ is, strangely, the one who is an aspiring photographer and journalist who wants to work for J.J. (J.K. Simmons, who basically gets to scream anti-Spidey rants a lot). Flash Thompson is a simple bully who gets punked at the end of every episode. Harry is the poor little rich kid. Norman Osborn (Steven Weber) schemes in the background to duplicate Spider-Man's powers to create an army of super-soldiers, and isn't thrilled at the idea of SHIELD taking him in. He attempts to play the evil scheming villain, but after the Osborn of "TSSM", he's just a cheap knock off of a schemer. All he's missing is metal gloves and Madcat. When Trapster's teammates Wizard, Thundra, and Klaw arrive to avenge him and track Spidey to Midtown High, Peter gets the student body to start a food fight to distract the baddies until he can change. It works surprisingly well until Harry is blasted by one of Klaw's blasts and gets hospitalized. Managing to drive the villains off, Spidey decides to accept Fury's offer and joins up with SHIELD. "GREAT RESPONSIBILITY" picks up right from that as Spidey gets a walking tour through SHIELD with Fury. We have Clark Gregg take his mugging for the camera as Agent Coulson into another medium as he pops up here; if you want all the REAL SHIELD agents, go watch "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES". Turns out Fury is leading his own research into duplicating Spider-Man's powers with technology, although why this is somehow better than Osborn wanting to do the same is never explained. Curt Conners is a SHIELD scientist here, and for some odd reason he has both arms; the one-armed expectation is used for a cheap joke. The highlight of this episode is the introduction of Spidey's new Amazing Friends - Iron Fist, Luke Cage/Power Man, Nova, and White Tiger. I'll be honest; as a fan of Iron Fist and Luke Cage, their appearance in this series constitutes at least 65% of why I bothered to watch these episodes, and at this point they'll be 90% of why I bother with more. That isn't to say they're pitch perfect or awesome - they struggle with the same banal pandering and lame jokes that Spidey does. But with an extended cast, the viewer is distracted better. Greg Cripes - best known as Beast Boy in "TEEN TITANS" - voices Iron Fist/Danny Rand with an appropriate calm. Logan Miller ("I'M IN THE BAND") voices Nova, who is Jeph Loeb's new creation from POINT ONE, Sam Washington (and not Richard Rider, the Nova everyone cares about). Power Man/Luke Cage is voiced by Ogie Banks, while White Tiger is voiced by relative newcomer Caitlyn Talor Love. They initially see Spidey as a rookie who won't last at SHIELD, but when he's attacked by the 3/4ths of the Frightful Four, they're needed to bail Spidey out - and Spidey needs to show them the ropes about real battles outside the Helicarrier. Faster than you can say "X-MEN EVOLUTION", we learn that all of these heroes will be accompanying Peter at Midtown High during off periods, with Coulson as principal. All we need now is for them to all move into Aunt May's townhouse with Ms. Lions in tow.

Positives? The animation quality is pretty good for TV standards. The character designs aren't bad, on the most part. I can't stand Peter's hairdo and at times he looks too much like Harry. But Spidey himself looks great, and some of the other costumed characters look fine. The action is decent enough; neither the best nor worst you'll see from TV animation or Marvel Animation. Things pick up once the other heroes come in to bounce dialogue off of. Not to say this is a perfect team in harmony; it's just less bad than the first episode without them. At least 1 out of every 10 cheap, shameless jokes or visual gags is actually funny, at least to someone as old as I am. And, uh, at the very least this series isn't based on Counter-Earth where Spidey has to fight animal-men every episode like in 1999's "SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED". As an Iron Fist fan, I did enjoy seeing him utilize his trademark power against Klaw in episode two. The episodes are only 20 minutes long without credits. Is it obvious I am reaching now?

Negatives? Blue blazes, if I listed everything that made me wince, groan, or roll my eyes about these two episodes, it would circle Jupiter at least once. The tone of this show is horribly uneven and counter-productive. This is a show which wants to have animated Spider-Angels and Spider-Devils yell on Spidey's shoulders one minute while expecting us to take Harry's injury seriously in another. If the show wanted to be a sheer comedy it might work a little better, but it also wants to play certain moments dead straight which clash against it like a ballerina at a death metal rave. The idea of SHIELD being able to duplicate and improve upon Peter's web-shooters takes a lot of the mystique and intelligence out of him - which may be the point as Spider-Man is often insipid and annoying. Much like the show, he tries so very hard to be funny and more often than not it falls flat. There is nothing this show won't try to use to pander to it's audience with; from ripping off anime without any finesse to trying to throw in "achievements" from video games ("K.O.!"), this show reeks very much of men in their 40's or older trying desperately to be hip by merely and mindlessly copying things they think are "hip" around them. If the show was genuinely funny it would work, but the humor is obnoxious and desperate. Everyone from the villains to Aunt May herself is trucked out for a cheap laugh, and then the show will attempt to eat it's cake too by once in a while trying to get a serious beat out of it. This is a very, very difficult thing to pull off. "BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD" pulled it off more often than it should have - this show pales in comparison. I am sure in the halls of Jeph Loeb's office, someone there thinks it is a brilliant idea to start off a Spider-Man show and have the FRIGHTFUL FOUR as the main villains for TWO STRAIGHT EPISODES, but that person may only be Loeb himself. We are expected to be disturbed by the idea of Norman Osborn tracking down our hero, keeping tabs and trying to duplicate and mass produce his powers for military gain - yet embrace Nick Fury and SHIELD when they do THE EXACT SAME THING. Heck, replacing the principal of a school with a SHIELD agent who likely knows nothing about handling kids or education for the sole purpose of keeping tabs on Peter Parker is creepier than finding out your date's father is Killer Moth. The underlying moral is to accept a military juggernaut when it moves itself into your life because they offer cool gadgets. And then there are the small stupid moments, of which there are too many to list. MJ tripping Thundra with jello, the Wizard being treated as almost as much of a clueless mook as Bebop & Rocksteady used to be, the predictable manner in which Flash Thompson is stuck in a locker to end two episodes on the exact same note.