Spider-man and X-men. There was nothing more a kid needed in the time of the 90s. Between Uncle Ben's sage-like advice and Nightcrawler's Piety, it's a wonder we all didn't revert back to the 1950's.
This show was a marvel of animation when it came out. In the spirit of Hollywood, cartoons coming out now are much blander and boring than what once was good, like this. The blended CGI which it was famous for was unique, and really helped to show New York in a "real" fashion (to us kids.) The story line can't be beat. While the comics go much deeper and have much broader character ties, this cartoon does the same thing as X-men and brings it to a realistic level that you can watch, and understand, without having to dig through comics to see what the hell just went on and who's who. Whereas the movies of both franchises have simple stories and characters (but big special effects), and the comics have HUGE stories and unlimited characters, the shows are a perfect zen of the two.
The best part of the whole series is easily the voices. The voices brought this show from the comic pages to the small screen. Christopher Daniel Barnes will always be Spider-man to me. Edward Asner (JJJ) and Jim Cummings (Shocker.) The absolute best is Roscoe Lee Brown as the Kingpin. The role was made for him.
The end of this show was really perfect, they redid the clone saga (which caused a HUGE upset in the comics) and gave it a much, much happier (and plausible) ending. Scarlet Spider is still there and he still kicks, along with Madam Web and the Beyonder. Spider-Carnage is also there, as evil as ever. Spider-Carnage's character represents a lot of hatred and malice that can be found in each and every person. The end of the series always gives me a sad/happy nostalgia.
This is one of the greatest shows ever made. Hands down.
