VIC COOK – CREATING THE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN by Steve Fritz Warning: A few spoilers ahead…but you shouldn’t be REALLY surprised by them either
Up to March 7, Vic Cook is not a name that will be the first to come to one’s lips when you think of an animation director. That has a very strong possibility of changing come March 8 though. That’s when
The Spectacular Spider-Man, the show he’s the supervising director of, makes its debut on The Kids WB at 10:00 a.m.
For those unfamiliar with Cook, he’s a long time friend and collaborator with series supervising producer Greg Weisman. The two first met when Cook was the storyboard man on Weisman’s
Gargoyles, and they have been working together pretty consistently from that point on. After years working his way up the ladder, Cook earned his full directorial stripes when he worked on last year’s
Hellboy: Blood & Iron under Tad Stones. From the way the series looks right now, I would say he won’t be looking back any time soon.
Having seen the pilot episode, all I can say I was certainly pleased by it. It’s set when Peter Parker is only 16 years old. He’s had a great summer break webslinging and is about to enter his junior year at Manhattan Magnet. What Cook and Weisman have thought up is yes, the kid has learned his lesson about great responsibility, but he’s soon going to learn just how great that responsibility is going to become.
Besides the wonderful animation, what I really enjoyed is how Weisman has set up the show. You will see a lot of familiar characters, including Aunt May (naturally), Gwen Stacy, the Osbournes, Cain Marko, the Curtises, Flash, J. Jonah, Robbie, Betty Brandt and even Eddie Brock. What you will not see right off the bat is what they are going to turn into. As any Spidey fan can figure out, there are plans for them.
As an animation fan, I also will be the first to say that Cook got superb support in the form of character designer Sean “Cheeks” Galloway and shows a very good eye for action timing and background design. We discussed all these things as part of the interview.
Here’s what he had to say:
Newsarama: How did you get involved with
Spectacular Spider-Man?
Vic Cook: I was called by Sony to head up the visual development of this show. When I was told that we would be able to start with a ‘blank page,’ so to speak, in terms of a design style, I was on board. Also, being able to work with Greg Weisman, who I’ve worked with in the past, was a big lure for me.
NRAMA: Greg told me the two of you worked together as far back as
Gargoyles?
VC:I wouldn’t say we were partners, but we did work together. He was one of the producer/creators and I was one of the staff guys. I did a lot of the storyboarding on
Gargoyles. Over the years, when I became a director, we worked together on a lot more shows;
Buzz Lightyear, Tarzan and
Atlantis. On those he would be a writer and I got his scripts. At the time, I loved directing them.
NRAMA: Why is that?
VC:I like that he writes on multiple levels or layers. Also, his story lines are something that always interests me yet appeal to younger people as well. He doesn’t write Bugs Bunny cartoons, but Greg works on the same principle. Kids love Bugs’ funny visuals while we adults find the deeper meanings. I can’t see why they can’t always be written on both those levels.
NRAMA: Being you mentioned age…you’ve had your share of watching ‘toons. What version of Spider-Man animated did you enjoy the most when growing up?
VC:The touchstone for me is the 1960’s original, with the theme song that everybody knows. The one that Ralph Bakshi took over in its second season. That’s
my show. Now I watch it with older eyes and see things that worked and didn’t work. The feel of it was always this really fun show and a really fun character who didn’t have the weight of the world resting on his shoulder like the older and many of the later versions of him did.
NRAMA: What about on the comic book side?
VC: I’m a Lee-Ditko and a Lee-Romita fan. I grew up on the Lee-Romita stuff, but going back I really appreciated that Ditko was probably a little truer to what Stan Lee intended in terms of Peter Parker’s geekiness. Quite frankly, Peter became better looking later. I loved Romita because he really knew how to draw women.
NRAMA: Would you say this has carried on to the animated series?
VC: Oh yeah. He’s back to being a junior in high school. He’s really an all-American male. His hormones are in overdrive. Pretty girls are going to turn his head. He’s going to fall in love with the closest girl next to him. Peter definitely likes the ladies.
NRAMA: And there are ladies who like Peter Parker; Gwen Stacy, Betty Brandt and, of course, MJ. All bombshells.
VC:Yep, all bombshells. One of the things we are going to learn over the period of the show is Peter thinks he knows what he wants in terms of women, but he’s going to find out for sure what he’s going to need, especially in episode 13.
NRAMA: Based on what I’ve seen, it looks like you used a lot of pen and ink on this one.
VC:It is a traditional 2-D animated show. It’s all drawn by hand, but it’s not colored the old-fashioned way. The days of cel paint and ink are gone. We digitally scan it and then digitally ink and paint. But if you mean did we retain certain lines and outline work? Yes we did. We decided not to go for the air brush look so to speak.
One of the goals I wanted was to have a Spider-Man the way he should be. I think one of the things that Sam Raimi did was really pull it off in live action. I think one of the reasons is just the demands of the time frame of TV animation. One thing about Spider-Man is he has a lot of detail on him.
NRAMA: His uniform alone, with all its webs, would drive the average animator crazy.
VC:Right. So what I wanted was have a design that created a background that allowed Spidey to move the way he should. So we took those design elements and stripped them down to the bare essentials. So it still had architectural detail that is recognizable, but we didn’t have to draw every single window. The same thing with Spider-Man. We didn’t do what they did on my favorite Spider-Man, which was not have webs at all on him, but to take it down to how few could we do? I think we succeeded, especially when it comes to him moving. When you look at episodes 1 and 2, especially the action sequences at the end, you’ll see some of the best action sequences you’ll see on TV.
NRAMA: I noticed you used Cheeks Galloway for your character design. Why him?
VC:The last project I worked on was
Hellboy: Blood & Iron, which Cheeks was the conceptual designer on. I thought what you saw there wasn’t 100% Cheeks. I was not part of that. That was made before the first movie was started. But while I was on the project, I looked back on his original conceptions and he had such an appealing look. It was such a youthful look. I thought it would be perfect for this version of Spider-Man.
One of our goals was not only to create a show that would appeal to all the old Spider-Man fans, but also bring him to a new generation of fans who aren’t as familiar, but will still end up loving and appreciate. We want to bring in a whole new generation of viewers. That’s why we went with Cheeks.
NRAMA: There seems to be an animated Spider-Man for every generation, doesn’t there?
VC:There really is, you know? I think somehow, over the years, comic books stopped being for everybody. They only are being written for guys over 20 years old. As said earlier in our discussion, I don’t think we should make this like
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, strictly for kids. Back in the days of Lee-Ditko-Romita, college kids read them but so did 7 year-olds, and everybody loved them.
NRAMA: I think what people forget about the cartoons of the 60s, whether it was
The Flintstones, Jonny Quest or
Rocky & Bullwinkle is they were written for everyone.
VC:Yeah! I remember watching
The Flintstones when I was a kid and it was with my parents. They loved that it was like
The Honeymooners. I didn’t really get that. I just thought it was this funny family show set in the Stone Age with lots of gags. Again, he show was written on two levels. That is our goal on this show. We want a Spider-Man that’s for everybody. We did not want to do
Amazing Friends.
NRAMA: One thing I asked Greg about and now I’ll ask you. There’s a lot of hype and a lot of time invested in promoting this show before it ever went on the air. I remember getting press on it nearly two years ago. What’s it like with that kind of anticipation going on around you?
VC:So how do I feel about all these people knowing it’s coming? All I can say is Uncle Ben’s line that with great power comes great responsibility. We know there are a lot of fans out there and they have a lot of expectations. We don’t feel intimidated by it. We’re fans of Spider-Man and the show. We’re going to be true to the character.
NRAMA: So when you were walking around Comic Con last year, were people walking around tugging on your sleeve?
VC:It was a great response. At that time, all we could show was some of the main character designs and it was a fantastic response. So it felt good.
NRAMA: I noticed you redesigned some of the villains.
VC:Like the rest of the characters, we wanted a more modern look for the villains but we also wanted to retain what made them so iconic about them. So, Electro doesn’t wear the starfish mask. Yet, iconically he retains the silhouette. So he turns out great. With the Vulture, we added a little armor. He still has green in his costume, but he also has black and red trim. Sandman is pretty true to his original design though, except he has the Cheeks design applied to him.
NRAMA: How about someone like Rhino who I see is going to show up?
VC:Rhino is like Sandman. It’s just the Sean Galloway version of him. He’s based on the classic look.
NRAMA: Now is this season 26 episodes or 13?
VC:That’s a good question. I’ve heard it referred to as ‘the front 13’ and the ‘back 13.’ I’ve also heard of it as a season of 26 episodes. I do know because of what’s happening with the Kids WB, that they will only show the first 13 episodes there. I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
NRAMA: So is there already a commitment for an
additional 26 in place or is that up in the air? A true season two for lack of a better term?
VC:At the moment we’re only committed to doing 26 episodes. Beyond that, you never know.
NRAMA: I wouldn’t be surprised, based on what I saw.
VC:Yes. He’s a seriously iconic character. We wanted to create the classic, iconic Spider-Man. The one 20 years from now, 8-9 year old kids will look back and remember it the same way fans of today now remember first seeing
Batman: The Animated Series or we look back on
Jonny Quest. I will say Greg did a lot of research for the stories and we did the same with the animation. I want this show to be the modern version of that classic 60s show.
A SUPER WEEKEND AT KIDS WB
The debut of
Spectacular Spider-Man isn’t the only thing that will highlight the Kids WB this Saturday. There’s a lot more superheroics going down that morning.
For starters,
The Batman comes to its final exciting conclusion, and
Legion of Super Heroes returns with all-new episodes on The CW.
The Batman closes its fifth and final
season with a full-hour "movie" entitled "Lost Heroes" at 11:00 a.m. In the special TV movie, the most powerful members of the Justice League are abducted one-by-one. Batman, Robin and Green Arrow
discover the mystery surrounding their disappearance – The Joining has returned (with some earthly villainous assistance) and has transferred the Justice League's powers into alien androids. It's up to Batman, Robin and Green Arrow to help their JL friends regain their powers and prevent an alien invasion. The one-hour special includes appearances by Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, Superman, Green Arrow, Toyman, Mirror Master, Dr. Hugo Strange and The Joining. The film is written by Stan Berkowitz and Alexx Van Dyne, and directed by John Fang and Vinton Heuck.
While
The Batman comes to an end,
Legion of Super Heroes returns in a new timeslot – 9:30 a.m. ET/PT – with an all-new episode that examines the formation of the future corps of heroes.
The "In the Beginning" synopsis: While on a mission to rescue the Legion's benefactor, R.J. Brande, our heroes find themselves reminiscing about how the Legion was first created by Brande and its founding members: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl. The episode is written by Steven Melching and directed by James Tucker.
IFC ADDS SPEED GRAPHER
FUNimation and the IFC announced it has added the incredibly underappreciated series
Speed Grapher to its growing line of very impressive anime offerings. The series will start airing on Friday, March 7 at 11:00 p.m.
Set slightly ahead in the future, the series involves a former war photographer who becomes the unintended victim of a military bio warfare experiment. Years later, he will find out the experiment has results no one anticipates, giving him the power to kill whenever he takes a photo. He isn’t the only one with these incredible new powers either. Before he knows it he’s neck deep in a power struggle with Tokyo’s elite that has to be seen to be believed.
Created by Japan’s Gonzo, this series goes for 24 episodes.
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#81 Re: The Spectacular Spider-Man - Nueva serie animadapero no es así en todas las series animadas de spiderman???Originalmente publicado por Matiax
"The spot that aired Saturday also revealed that, through an apparent artistic choice, the size of Spider-Man's eyeholes will change to reflect emotion."
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