Spider-man & His Amazing Friends

Fire, Spiders & Ice!

Now that the world has witnessed the second trailer for the forthcoming sensation (The Avengers, Age Of Ultron), and news has it, the Spiderman feud between Sony and Dis..Marvel has come to an agreement, the future of comic books seems brighter than ever.  However, no one knows neither who's playing the new Spiderman nor if the new film will be a total reboot or a sequel. So, in order to help you cope with your Spidey cravings, the SPAM Alternative team has spent several hours researching for the most satisfying review a Spidey fan can get. So here you have it! Spam Alternative's favorite animated take on your friendly neighbor: 

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends is an American animated television series produced by Marvel Productions starring established Marvel Comics characters Spider-Man and Iceman and an original character, Firestar. As a trio called the Spider-Friends, they fought against various villains.

Originally broadcast on NBC as a Saturday morning cartoon, the series ran first-run original episodes for three seasons, from 1981 to 1983, then aired repeats for an additional two years (from 1984 to 1986). Alongside the 1981 Spider-Man animated series, Amazing Friends was later re-aired in the late 1980s as part of the 90 minute Marvel Action Universe (not to be confused with 1977's The Marvel Action Universe), a syndicated series that was used as a platform for old and new Marvel-produced animated fare (the newer programming featured RoboCop: The Animated Series, Dino-Riders and on occasion “X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men”, which was intended to serve as a pilot for a potential X-Men animated series).

Heroic threesome.

Who needs the Avengers & The X-Men!

In the second season, the show was aired along with a newly produced Hulk animated series as The Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spider-Man. The two shows shared one intro which showcased the new title. Stan Lee began narrating the episodes in the second season. Narrations by Stan Lee were added to the first season episodes at this time so that the series seemed cohesive. These narrations (for the first and second season) are not on the current masters. They have not aired since the NBC airings. (As seen on the Stan Lee narration list at Spider-Friends.com)

For the third season, there was another title change. This time the characters' names would be reversed and the show was called, The Amazing Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. It remained that way for most of the remaining years. NBC did air the show individually in mid-season (post 1986) after it was not initially announced for their fall schedule. Only some of the Stan Lee narrations for the third season are on the current masters. The missing narrations have not aired since the NBC airings.

The show would usually feature other characters from the Marvel Universe.

Civil War conversations before it even existed.

Enlighten me, what is Spiderman & His Amazing Friends about?

Peter Parker (Spider-Man in case you, nope, that is not possible who doesn't know Parker is Spidey?), Bobby Drake (Iceman), and Angelica Jones (Firestar) are all college students at Empire State University. After working together to defeat the Beetle and recovering the "Power Booster" he stole from Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man) the trio decide to team-up permanently as the "Spider-Friends" (such a menacing name for mobsters) They live together in Peter's Aunt May's home with her and a pet dog, Ms. Lion, (adopted from Firestar) a Lhasa Apso. Together, the superheroes battle various supervillains. The real question is, how does aunt May, being a retired woman, manage to afford the bills three superhero students cannot afford? Maybe she, was the key element in the entire series and we didn't notice! The series should be renamed to "Aunt May and her amazingly unemployed hero tenants"

Some stories featured team-ups with other characters from the Marvel Universe, including Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Sunfire, and the mid-1970s X-Men.

How many Marvel heroes can you spot?

The X-Men befriend Spiderman's team.

From comic book to TV and to comic book back again.

The first comic book that directly referenced the Amazing Friends show was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #1 (December 1981), a one-shot that adapted the pilot episode, "The Triumph of the Green Goblin". Though the comic version altered the story to bring it in line with established Marvel Universe continuity (such as making the Green Goblin identity a costume as in the comics, rather than a physical transformation as in the episode), it was not considered part of said continuity. It is notable as the first appearance of Firestar in a Marvel Comics story, though the version of Firestar that exists within Marvel continuity would not appear until Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985).

The story was reprinted in England in late 1983 in the weekly Marvel UK title Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. It was reprinted in the U.S. as Marvel Action Universe #1 (January 1989), released to coincide with the airing of Amazing Friends reruns on the television series of the same name.

Original artwork.

Firestar Who?

After her aforementioned initial appearance, the Marvel Comics version of Firestar debuted in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #193 as part of Emma Frost's Hellions team. Firestar was given an origin story in a self-titled mini-series (March – June 1986). The character went on to be a founding member of the New Warriors, and later a member of the Avengers.

Spider-Verse

The Spider-Friends of Earth-1983 (described as a "kinder, gentler than most" world), except for Ms. Lion, are apparently killed by a dimension-hopping Morlun, set on draining the life out of every variation of Spider-Man across the multiverse.

Trivia

• The series was an attempt by NBC to replicate some of the success ABC enjoyed with the Super Friends franchise.

• The makers of the show had originally intended the stars to be Spider-Man, Iceman, and the Human Torch. However, legal issues about the rights to the Human Torch character (which had also plagued Marvel once before for the 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon) led to the Human Torch being replaced by a new character, Firestar, who had similar powers, but was a mutant like Iceman. Due to Firestar's popularity with fans, she has since become a part of the mainstream Marvel Universe. In pre-production, Firestar's codename changed frequently; the unused names include Firefly, Starblaze, and Heatwave.
  

• Ms. Lion was actually Firestar's puppy, as Angelica introduced Peter to the dog before she and Bobby knew Peter's secret identity or vice versa (as former teammates in the X-Men, Iceman and Firestar knew each other's secret identities before meeting Peter/Spider-Man). However, Aunt May ended up taking care of her most the time, with Angelica leading the busy life of a superhero and college student. Strangely enough, Ms. Lion actually saved the day in the episode "Seven Little Superheroes", in which The Chameleon was the main enemy; with her canine sense of smell, Ms. Lion was able to distinguish the shape-changing villain from the heroes he was impersonating. This episode was also notable for including Marvel heroes Doctor Strange, Namor, Shanna the She-Devil and Captain America.

• Some of the sound effects used in the series originated from Universal Television's Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

• In her civilian identity, Angelica Jones resembles Peter's girlfriend from the comic books, Mary Jane Watson. This was played up in issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane in which Firestar appeared.

• In the 1984 movie Missing in Action with Chuck Norris, an episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends is shown on TV. The title of that episode is called "The Prison Plot"

Gang Bang? no way Spidey, I'm outta here.

 Here's the original intro: