Amazing Spider-Man 2: Maximum Spider-Power Maze Book (Kappa)

Background

Modern Publishing scored a license for coloring & activity books tying into the 2014 movie Amazing Spider-Man 2. You remember that one, yeah? Electro managed to be really boring, and Andrew Garfield spent most of his time crying.

Anyhow, Modern Publishing released a bunch of books under the "Kappa Books" label. Two of them were "Maze" books — "Spidey on the Move!" and "Maximum Spider-Power".

The release dates on these books are a mess, not helped by the fact that half of the books in the series don't seem to have proper ISBN codes. The movie came out in April, but some of the books are officially registered in July or October. I've just logged them all as "2014" to avoid argument.

Story Details

Both books are magazine sized, 7.8" x 10.8". 80 pages of cheap newsprint in black and white. Square-bound spine.

Inside are mazes, with various degrees of difficulty, in various different formats. Each page is illustrated with characters from the movie.

General Comments

The artwork isn't particularly inspiring. The characters (especially Electro) are all rather flat and unappealing. I was rather fed up with Electro's "two-hand-lightning zap" pose by the time I was done flicking through the book – it gave a whole new meaning to "static" electricity!

Overall Rating

Meh. This book does exactly what it says on the cover. If you can pick these up for 99c at Dollar Tree, you'll get your money's worth I guess.

Three webs.

Footnote

The back cover of Volume 1 "Maximum Spider-Power" features the dumbest "cut-out trading cards" I have ever seen. How the heck is that supposed to work? You buy a copy and your friends buy a copy, you cut out the cards and... what kind of trading happens then? You both have the exact same cards!