Spider-Man 5000 Volume 2   Starring (voice): Ted Schwartz, Linda Gary, Mona Marshall, William Woodson and Buster Jones Clear Vision RRP: £14.99 MAR1040 Certificate: U Available 05 July 2010

Following hot on the heels of Volume 1 comes the second volume of this Spider-Man animated series from the eighties, containing a further six episodes with an overall running time of 2 hours, 11 minutes. For more information on the series itself please refer to my recent review of Volume 1. I would say that this is an encouraging progression from The Original Spider-Man series from the sixties, but if this is a somewhat more realistic Peter Parker, it is also a more naive one - often having to rely on his ingenuity to escape from a situation he has blindly strolled into.

In The Doctor Prescribes Doom, Doctor Doom replaces the leaders of the United Nations Security Council with facsimiles; in Carnival of Crime, the Ring Leader hypnotises witnesses into believing SM is responsible for a string of robberies; in Revenge of the Green Goblin, the Goblin attempts to reveal SM's secret identity to the world; in Triangle of Evil, the Stuntman lures SM into a public competition as a distraction to pull off some robberies; in A-B-C's of D-O-O-M, Doctor Doom teams up with Goron in another attempt to take over the world; and in The Sidewinder Strikes!, the cowboy and his robot horse plan to steal a pair of priceless spurs at a rodeo event.

This is an enjoyable series, with stand-alone episodes - although I have to report that the colour fluctuation is back, only not quite as severe this time. Perhaps it was a sign of the times or the target audience, but it wasn't until the nineties series that we were treated to progressive storylines, and the Saga of Marvel's favourite character got turned up to eleven.

7

Ty Power