EPISODE REVIEW

Episode #23: Gangland
Original Airdate: October 21st, 2009

On Valentine’s Day, Peter Parker jeopardizes his relationship with girlfriend Liz Allan, when Tombstone, Doctor Octopus and Silvermane call a Valentine’s Day Summit . But when Hammerhead betrays them all in an attempt to become the new Big Man, the summit erupts into a gang war – one only Spider-Man can stop!

Credits
Written By Andrew Robinson
Directed By Jennifer Coyle
Music by Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion
Animation By Dongwoo animation

Voices
Josh Keaton as Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Clancy Brown as The Rhino, Captain Stacey
Allana Ubach as Liz Allan
Lacey Chabert as Gwen Stacy
John Di Maggio as Hammerhead
James Arnold Taylor as Harry Osborn / Patch
Grey DeLisle as Sally Avril
Kelly Hu as Sha Shan Nguyen
Phil LaMarr as Randy Robertson
Joshua LeBar as Flash Thompson
Eric Lopez as Mark Allan
Vanessa Marshall as Mary Jane Watson
Kevin Michael Richardson as The Big Man
Steve Blum as The Green Goblin / Blackie Gaxton
Nikki Cox as Sable Manfredi
Robert Englund as Adrian Toomes / Vulture
Miguel Ferrer as Silvio Manfredi / Silvermane
Andrew Kishino as Kenny 'King' Kong
Jane Lynch as Joan Jameson
Peter MacNicol as Dr. Otto Octavius / Dr. Octopus
Daran Norris as J. Jonah Jameson
Deborah Strang as Aunt May Parker

Review: Stu - Gangland brings the conclusion to the gang war storyline a little too early for my liking but alas, it’s not as if the stuff that came after this episode wasn’t good. Taking place on Valentine’s Day this episode brings Peter Parker and his High School supporting cast into the fold more as all the couples are treated to a fancy Valentine’s Day dinner courtesy of Liz Allan’s rich old man.

The writers have advised that it was going to use characters Parker didn’t know in high school in the comics at M3, citing that they were going to interpret them as how they suspected they would be like at school. As Gwen was in Peter’s Science class at college, one would expect her to be quite a smart cookie as Peter was a boy genius (he did create web fluid in less than 15 pages!). This episode finally sees the introduction of a Gwen Stacey John Romita. Sr himself would be proud of – super hot Gwen instantly steals Peter’s heart, much to the annoyance of Harry, Liz and her brother Mark. I love this romance – it’s managed to go on for 20 some odd episodes without ever feeling contrived or dragging out, or taking a ridiculous twist somewhere – it’s a pretty accurate and entertaining story of what happens when you fall in love with someone you shouldn’t (your best friend.) Unlike a lot of these teenage superhero shows, Spectacular Spider-Man triumphs because the lead character is just as entertaining in costume as he is out of it. It also hasn’t made the usually fatal mistake of letting his best friend in on his secret – in regards to his secret identity; the crew have learned that it works best as just that – a secret. Please take notes, Mr. Bendis – this is how you do a teenage Spider-Man.

The episode cranks it up on the fight scenes with Cyborg Silvermaine, Tombstone and Doc Ock throwing down with our webbed wonder in one of the show’s best fight scenes. It’s a shame the copy of the show I had framing problems, distracting me from what should’ve been something to marvel at. Something to look forward to when I view the show on DVD I suppose. I thought Cyborg Silvermaine would’ve come across as quite silly, but the episode pulls it off.

Quip of the episode. “Great, a three way battle to declare New York’s biggest jerk!”

It was great to see Spider-Man’s fight with Tombstone – the show has done an outstanding job building up to this and having the opera play in the background only cemented just how epic this confrontation was. I admit I was shocked to see Tombstone arrested but knew that having him in jail would cut the character off at his knees. And that ending… damn. They’ve done it again. To the next episode, with speed!

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