Amazing Spider-Man: Amazing 3D Adventures (Bendon)

Background

Well, it's 2014 already, and "Amazing Spider-Man 2" just hit the movie theatres. I guess that means I really should be making an effort to wrap-up my reviews of the tie-in books from the original 2012 film.

This is the second-to-last of the 15 different Spidey Coloring & Activity Books from Bendon Publishing International that I've been able to find. This one is super special, as it features... 3D Glasses!

So... have I saved the best for almost-last?

Story Details

"Amazing Spider-Man: Amazing 3D Adventures (Bendon)" is 8.5" x 11". It is stitched at the spine (not stapled), and features 20 pages plus a double-gatefold (four-page) center-fold, which technically makes 24 pages in total.

The book comes with a pair of 3D glasses, and every page of the book features red/blue 3D enhancement.

Somewhat surprisingly, this book features more genuine movie footage than any of the 2012 movie tie-in books. It even contains a better range of movie stills than The Amazing Spider-Man: The Movie Storybook (which didn't even contain any Lizard pictures).

By contrast, this book contains 3D pictures of the Lizard as well as Spider-Man. What's more, there are inset 2D stills of Peter, May & Parker, Gwen, Curt Connors, Captain Stacy, and even Dr. Ratha (the evil boss of Oscorp).

Perhaps this 3D book was produced a little bit later than the others, when there was a better range of released stock photos to chose from? Whatever the reason, there's a far superior set of photos, and more detailed text descriptions too.

General Comments

Technically, the 3D effect is pretty good and gives a clear distance separation between background and foreground. Although I did find that the red lens was quite a bit darker than the blue, which made the images feel rather lop-sided.

The text descriptions are quite extensive, and tie in very closely to the film. They are clear and accurate, which is a welcome change from the various other tie-in books.

Overall Rating

A great range of images, effective and intelligent text, plus 3D. All this for a paltry $5.99!

This is far and away the best of all the 2012 movie tie-in books. Did it did have an unfair advantage by waiting a little later in order to get better images and material? I don't know. But it is vastly superior, and I'm going to recognise that with a four-and-a-half-web rating.