Spider-Man & Friends (UK Magazine) #8

Background

This UK kids Magazine is produced by Panini, and it's a companion to the Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine) produced by the same guys.

The new "Spider-Man & Friends" range is based around Spider-Man, his cousin Spider-Girl, plus Hulk and Wolverine, though there's plenty of guest appearances. You should be able to find plenty of Spider-Man & Friends toys still in the shops, the style is a western/manga cross, and the target group is the 3-9 year old market.

Published every four or five weeks, this UK magazine features a toy taped to the front of each issue. Inside you'll find a four page Spidey & Friends story with three panels per page, captions of 8-20 words per panel. Then there's some nice simple kids puzzles, some coloring, a couple of competitions, and a page or two of Spidey merchandise. Essentially, it's the same format as the older kids magazine, just with a much younger target market.

Story 'The Beast is Blue'

Once the Beast was an ordinary boy, before he became blue. Spidey and his two friends Storm and Wolverine are visiting Beast's greenhouse laboratory. Wolverine doesn't like the strong smells.

The beast has been creating mutant blue furry plants to help find a cure for his own condition. That must be because plant and animal physiologies are nearly exact parallels.

Not surprisingly, the plants go crazy and escape. Triffids, anybody? Storm calls up a lightning storm and zaps all the plants. Killing dozens of sentient creatures is clearly acceptable as long as they're a brand new hitherto unknown lifeform that could have opened up wonderful new understanding of mankind.

Anyhow, everybody loves the Beast just how he is, so he doesn't need to create any more crazy experiments.

General Comments

All these stories have plot holes bigger than a howitzer wound in a sperm whale. You gotta love 'em.

Overall Rating

Three webs for this crazy fun. Just don't read these stories on acid, you'll have a bad trip, man!

Footnote

This magazine is UK only, and so I only have random issues from when I happen to be traveling overseas. Please accept my apologies for the gaps in the reviews.