Spider-Man & Friends: The Best of Friends

Background

Bendon Publishing produced this series of four books, each extolling various "virtues". The books themselves are thick card cover and pages, suitable for pre-schoolers. They are 9.5" tall, about 6" across, but cut with a wavy outline to make them more "interesting".

Each book in the series competes with the others to promote the most insipid of candyfloss qualities. This one is entitled "The Best of Friends". Each contains five double pages and all follow the same pattern, as follows:

The first four double pages in each book feature Spider-Man on the first double spread, and then another one or two stars on the second and third double-spread. The fourth spread features one minor star on each page. All of these characters are accompanied by one or two paragraphs describing the character and their ideal qualities.

The fifth and final spread features a more detailed scene with several characters. The text on this page relates to the specific virtues and describes how perfectly our heroes epitomize this virtue.

Story Details

Stars: Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Iron Man (an exception to the rule where the fourth spread features two minor stars).

Final text to accompany the playground scene: "They are the best of friends and know that nothing can stop them as long as they stick together! From getting their homework finished to helping those in need, Spider-Man and his friends play to win!"

General Comments

Well, there's a bit of a mixed message there. "Be good friends" and "Play to win".

Most amusing profile paragraph: "Logan is a young hero who studied to be a samurai. Even though he was made fun of by the kids at school for being different, Logan wants to help others in need."

Rhino, Beast and Silver Surfer are teasing Wolverine for being different? Nice one!

Overall Rating

This one rates "Argentina" on the corny inspirational scale. More cheesy than offensive, let's give it two webs.