Spider-Man & Friends (UK Magazine) #11

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 audience.

Story 'Spidey Goes Camping'

Thor has invited his friends, Spider-Man and Captain America, to go camping with him. At his dad's estate. Dad = Odin, Estate = Asgard. Over the rainbow bridge, and they're allowed to camp anywhere in sight of the palace.

Captain America goes fishing for dinner and hooks a monster fish! It's huge! All three friends try to bring it in, but it escapes. Oh well, it's baked potatoes. Thor and Captain America use a stick. Spidey uses sticky... webbing... to dangle his potato in the fire.

Everybody is sleepy. Maybe tomorrow they'll go swimming with the monster fish. Cap and Thor are in a tent. Spidey webs a hammock under the stars.

General Comments

Hey, where the hell's my story?! This four page thing is missing something. Like... a damn plot! I've been robbed! Nothing happened! They go camping and fail to catch a fish. And...? A twist? Some intrigue? Dammit all to heck, but kindergarten literature is going down the gurgler pretty fast these days.

There's all the usual stuff... a comprehension quiz (what's to comprehend). Coloring, puzzles, drawing, match the word to the body part on Thor's body, more coloring, even more coloring, join the dots, trace some letters, follow a maze, counting and puzzles, spot the differences, a competition to win a "Day and Night-Time Spider-Man" talking soft toy.

To wrap it up, there's two pages of fan letters, and a couple of pages of advertisements for 100% Spidey merchandise.

But even after looking through all the other pages, still no sign of where the plot went to from that story!

Overall Rating

No plot, no webs. Well, one single web, but that's all I'm offering.