Funtastic Stencil Book (Spider-Man 3)

Background

Funtastic released the Spider-Man 2: Stencil Book (Funtastic) to tie-in with the second movie, and naturally they've produced another for the third film. It' a heavy chunky little book, 3/4" thick. From the front it's 8 1/4" x 11 3/4", and it goes one better than its predecessor by including ten thick cardboard stencil pages (since the front cover is also a stencil this time).

Story Details

Inside the book are four colored pencils, red, green, light blue, and black. The light blue doesn't really match Spidey's blue, which is a shame. The art and stencils feature Spidey only - no Venom, Goblin or Sandman. Normally I complain about the Spidey 3 books which totally ignore the villains, but in this case the presentation is so good that I'm inclined to forgive the omission just this once.

Each stencil comes with a hint - the Red 'n Blue logo is separate from the Black Costume logo. Most of the hints aren't very useful. "Draw the sole of Spider-Man's boot a darker red than the rest of his costume. Hmm... there's only one red pencil! I guess you could fill the sole in black then shade red over it. But the hint doesn't say that.

The book includes ten sheets of paper. More would have been nicer. And would it have killed them to include six pencils? I can't remember what I paid for this impressive looking NZ/Australia-only offering, but it wasn't that cheap. It's a shame to skimp on a couple of pencils... this would have been so much better with a few more colors.

General Comments

Overall, this feels like a quality offering, and it is. Despite my objections, the production quality is high, and this is something a little special. Funtastic made a bit of an effort this time and it shows.

Overall Rating

I'm not going to go overboard with the rating here, but I will give it an above-average three and a half webs.