Day Sixteen - Ultimate Spiderman: Episode 9, or "Yes, this is a Freaky Friday ripoff and that's okay."

Trying to capitalize on Marvel 2.0, the Ultimate Spidey series took the teen titan's model, stripped it of a little of its kitsch, and extracted any and all romance drama to produce this somewhat decent actioner.

To be honest, I would've preferred to see Spiderman Loves Mary Jane get a series than this, but it's actually not that bad.

Take this episode, for instance: "Freaky." Based on an actual storyline from the comics a few years back, where Webhead and Wolvie switch bodies, it's actually a nice fish out of water scenario where both heroes have to deal with each others' powers and hangups until a solution can be found.

True, it's just "Freaky Friday" with superheroes, but it's fun.

It also manages to capture a good moment from that issue where Logan makes a play for Mary Jane Watson.

Now, we all know (or should) how big a deal this is. In pretty much every comic and cartoon universe where Spidey exists, it's WEBS&MJ 4EVAR... you know, unless it's a Gwen Stacy season or something. Either way, there's usually at least SOME sexual tension to trip Peter Parker up. It's kind of one of the key conflicts in his life... growing up as a teen superhero and combating the perils of high school dating.

In Ultimate Spiderman? Not so much. In fact, pretty much not at all. The only bit of innuendo I've seen thus far came from a quick Iron Man bit a few episodes previous... so Logan (in Peter's body) advancing on Mary Jane was both a sendup to the comic and, well, an oddly good way of inserting some fan nods without breaking established series canon.

And yeah, that's sort of a good thing, but I wish they actually would break series canon and have some drama. This is MJ we're talking about here. All the sudden she's an attractive, but sexless, Lois Lane impersonator. Not only that but, unlike Lois, she has no interest in Parker or Spidey other than to get her story?

Blah... at least Logan wants her.

Still... the series is actually pretty quality, despite my rants. It takes a little getting used to, and he breaks the fourth wall almost as much as Deadpool (which is a little annoying, coming from Spidey), but it's fun. Not to mention, having a team dynamic opens things up a bit when you need it and the mainstay cameos from the likes of Stark and Thor are cool.

And Phil Coulson is alive in this continuity... so... winning!

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~