The Amazing Spider-Man Sticker Book (2012 Movie)

Background

This sticker book is part of the half-dozen or so tie-in books which were co-released with the 2012 "The Amazing Spider-Man" movie.

Story Details

The sticker book is 8.5" x 11", staple bound with a glossy cardboard cover. It features 16 printed pages, and four pages worth of stickers. The printed pages feature silhouettes indicating where the various stickers should be placed.

There's not a great deal of creativity involved in the sticker placement process, it doesn't get any more sophisticated than "Match your Spider-Man stickers with the shapes below to reveal spectacular poses!"

In fact, it's all pretty dumb. Page 5 asks "Which green villain will Spider-Man have to stop from destroying the city? Use your amazing stickers to find out!" The page then features a grey-scale preview image of the Lizard, who is of course the only villain of any colour to appear in the book. It ain't gonna be too hard to answer THAT question, now is it?

What's more, my recollection of the film plot doesn't involve the Lizard making any specific attempt to "destroy the city". Yeah, he goes on a bit of a rampage, but then his master plot (SPOILER ALERT) involves an attempt to distribute a gas which will turn humans into a lizard army.

Furthermore, the stickers don't look as if they're removable. The pages are quite papery, and I strongly suspect that once the sticker is placed, then that's where it will stay.

All of the stickers and art work are taken from still shots from the movie. However it's pretty clear that at the time of printing, the final CGI work for the Lizard was not complete. Hence the Lizard images appear (a) pretty unappealing, and (b) not really much like how the Lizard actually looks in the final film.

General Comments

This sticker book really is pretty damn cynical stuff. There's clearly very little motivation here other than the sense of commercial obligation. The public expected a tie-in sticker book, and so one was duly produced.

Overall Rating

The production quality is pretty good, but this book is utterly lacking in charm, intelligence, or appeal.

One and a half webs.