With Spider-Man into the SpiderVerse swinging, it’s way to the top of the cinematic food chain have you wondered what went into creating such an abstract movie when Disney Marvel films practically dominate the Comic-Book genre? Or maybe you’re simply interested in learning more about Miles, Gwen, Ham, and every over Spider-Person and villain from that universe? Well, don’t fear because all of that and more can be answered in Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse Movie Special, a wonderful Movie tie-in which beautifully showcases everything that made the movie so fantastic for general audiences and Comic-Book nerds like us alike.
Exploring the Spiderverse
The Spiderverse is an ever-expanding multiverse chocked full of all kinds of weird and wonderful Spider-People and plenty of villains for them to battle. Hell, just look at this movie’s cast of characters and that gives you an idea of just how large the SpiderVerse can be. Luckily the movie special not only delves deep into the characters from the movie themselves but also into the people who created this masterpiece, with a detailed Q and A with directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman as they discuss bringing Mile’s story from the comic page to the big screen. If you’re at all interested in the way this movie came to be I highly recommend you check this out because it was a seriously interesting read.
We then get to read up more on the movies star Miles, with all of his comic history, powers and even some detailed section on Mile’s family, and if you’re a more casual Spiderman fan or maybe you’re only reading this because you liked the movie I highly recommend you check this book out, purely to learn more about Miles Moral because he seriously is one of Marvel’s coolest characters. If you ever thought that Mile’s was simply a “Race Bended” Peter Parker the movie plus this book proves you couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t claim to be the biggest Mile Morales fan by any stretch but this book is full of genuinely interesting trivia that I highly recommend you read up on if you want to learn more about the Wall-Crawler or you just want to increase your Comic-Book knowledge.
The Good…
It’s not just Miles that gets to shine in the limelight here however with a whole Spiderverse full of Spider-People to look at from classics like Peter and Gwen to the abstract like Spider-Noir and Ham. Each character gets their own section of the book with words from the directors and actors and even some of the characters comic-book origins and history. Such a colorful, cast of characters comes with plenty to learn and read about and all of that is beautifully accompanied with fantastic stills from the movie itself and incredibly cool concept art which shows off some early designs of the characters and some alternate looks for them too.
The Bad…and The Ugly
A universe full of Spider-Style heroes means a universe full of dastardly villains for them to face off against and as someone who’s always loved themselves a good villain, I really enjoyed delving into some of these less well known Spidey villains and even checking out these new interpretations of some better-known ones. The standouts for me were definitely Kingpin, a character I have really come to love through Daredevil and a character I thought was criminally underused in Insomniacs Marvels Spider-man PS4, and the Green Goblin just because this version is unlike anything we’ve seen on this big screen before. Some of that previously unseen artwork was especially cool when showing off some of the villain’s early concepts and that was only heightened because of how unique the animation style for Into The Spiderverse was.
Animating the Spiderverse
that leads us nicely into the final section if the book, where we hear from Josh Beveridge, the animation supervisor on the movie just how much of a challenge animating Into The Spiderverse was and how the film broke new ground. We also get a pretty cool look into the animating process with some T-Pose shots of miles and it is overall a very nice insight into what exactly made Into The Spiderverse so special.
Overall I highly recommend you check out the Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse Movie Special if you’re a fan of the film or even if your just a Spider-man fan and you want to learn more about that side of the Marvel Universe. Hardback copies are available now and it would make a fantastic Christmas present either to someone you know is a massive Spider-man fan or maybe even as a late treat to yourself.
