Spider-Man 5000 Volume 3   Starring (voice): Ted Schwartz, Linda Gary, Mona Marshall, William Woodson and Buster Jones Clear Vision RRP: £14.99 MAR1046 Certificate: U Available 02 August 2010

Next up is Volume 3 of this Marvel animated series Spider-Man from the 1980s. Titled Spider-Man 5000 for the purposes of the DVD releases, it incorporates six episodes on a single disc, with a collected running time of 2 hours and 12 minutes.

In The Hunter and The Hunted, Kraven is hired to bring back the last sabre-tooth tiger from the Savage Lands, and Kazar comes to New York in search of the stolen animal; in The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man, the Gadgeteer steals a new miniaturising ray machine; in The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo, SM is tricked into raising an ancient galleon loaded with gold; in Cannon of Doom, we learn of Doom's origin, and see him attempt to drill into the Earth's core to create earthquakes which will destroy New York; in The Capture of Captain America, SM inadvertently gets in the way when the Cap is fighting the Red Skull, and consequentially CA is captured and SM is hounded as a traitor; in The Doom Report, a rebel from Latvaria escapes the tyranny of Doom, causing the super villain to retaliate with a weather-controlling machine.

I'm sure these Marvel animated releases are multiplying while I'm looking the other way! This is a simple but enjoyable retelling of the Spider-Man comics character, and confirms, after watching Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, that our friendly neighbourhood webslinger should always swing alone. I'm also happy to report that, whether by accident or design, the colour and contrast fluctuation, so prevalent in Volumes 1 and 2, is absent here. The forthcoming Volume 4 should see the final seven episodes.

7

Ty Power