Amazing Spider-Man: 3D Sticker Fun (Parragon)

Background

Although it doesn't say so on the cover, this book stars Doctor Octopus! It inherits the design approach from the earlier Amazing Spider-Man: Sticker Scene (Parragon/Scholastic) (which featured the Green Goblin) but also adds 3D perspective into the mix.

Story Details

This book (and its re-titled but otherwise identical Australian reprint Amazing Spider-Man: 3D Sticker Scene (Scholastic)) is 8.5" x 10.6" with a glossy square-bound cover. A pair of 3D glasses are included in a handy plastic container built into the front of the book.

There are... some pages in the book. How many? Well, it's a little hard to tell since most of them are actually gatefold pages. Let's see... well there's six gatefold scenes, which strictly speaking are worth four pages each. But also the front and back covers are also gatefold! So technically there's 28 pages.

The artwork is shamelessly stolen from The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Doctor Octopus (Origin Storybook). But of course the content is enhanced by the addition of stickers (four sheets worth), plus the 3D enhancements.

General Comments

The plot of the original Doc Ock story is pretty much destroyed by the conversion into the sticker/3D/gatefold format. The dialog and plot is pretty much abandoned, and all that is left is generic captions in the vein of "Can Spider-Man defeat his deadly foe?"

There's four sheets of stickers. But the 3D process has also been applied to the stickers, rendering them visually unappealing.

The actual 3D scenes themselves are pretty disappointing too. Red/Blue 3D-rendering of full-colour scenes is rarely effective, and this book is no exception.

Overall Rating

There's a real "kitchen sink" feel about this book. Full-colour story plus stickers, 3D and gatefold. The result is an overwhelming mess of colour, like three bowls of jelly spilt onto patterned carpet.

Frankly, it's not a good look. Full marks for effort, but that still only means two webs.