Spider-Man: Jumbo Colouring (Scholastic Australia)

Background

Those good old boys at Scholastic Australia have been at it again. Back in 2011 they received a licence to make Spider-Man and Marvel Super Hero colouring books for the Australia/NZ market, and they've been thrashing the same tiny pool of artwork ever since.

Story Details

From the front this may look like just another "Scholastic Australia recycled colouring book". But there really is something new going on here.

You see, previous books have been 16 pages, 24 pages, 48 pages, 96 pages. But now, for the first time we have something completely exciting and original. Yes indeed, this is the first Scholastic Australia Spider-Man Colouring & Activity book to feature SIXTY-FOUR PAGES!

General Comments

But seriously, it's the same old regurgitated line art and activities. Spider-Man, Electro, Hydro-Man battle in the streets of New York. JJJ and the Daily Bugle appear. Lizard and Green Goblin make brief cameos.

The activities feature captions. The colouring pages are captionless.

Do I have any specific comments for this book? Well, the main thing I noticed was the erratic nature of the artwork reproduction. Some pages featured quite bold, dark, strong line art, while other pages were a thin and pale. One page (the giant web-shooting hand) had clearly been blown up from a smaller image to the point where the line quality was starting to become rather grainy.

Overall Rating

The whole concept of these books has been extended well beyond its natural lifetime. The bright glossy covers cannot conceal the cynical money grab which this product represents.

Please, Scholastic Australia. Give us something new in our Colouring Books, or just stop entirely!

Two Webs.