Ultimate Spider-Man Art Pad (Bendon)

Background

This little Bendon art pack was a bit of a surprise in two notable ways.

Firstly, it features three bizarrely shaped "Spider-Man" topped crayons. Secondly, it features original material which I have not yet seen elsewhere.

Story Details

The book is 6.3" x 9" with a die-cut rounded profile at the top. There are 25 pages inside.

The crayons are contained within a clear plastic shell glued to the front of the book. Getting at the crayons involves tearing or cutting, either of which will ruin the appearance of the front of the book.

General Comments

The book features a series of coloring pages and activities which (almost?) form a story.

Our hero is presented – Spider-Man, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Spidey tackles first Whirlwind, then Taskmaster, then a Robot (assisted by his friends at the last).

It's so close to being a story that I'm almost tempted to consider it one. It certainly dances close to the line of "sequential art".

The colors of the crayons are: Orange, Yellow, Blue. You may not the distinct absence of Red, a color which sadly is a "sine qua non" when attempting to render the web-slinger.

The top of each crayon is shaped as a Spider-Man head above an bulky plinth. This shape is unnatural and impractical, with the bulk of the crayon being pushed up into an unusable, pointless blob at the top.

Overall Rating

The presence of an original "story" was a great surprise.

But the format is small and constrained. The pages need to be forced open, the spine is stiff and unforgiving. And the absence of a Red crayon is hard to overlook.

Two-and-a-half-webs.

Footnote

The back cover proudly claims that this book comes with "One-of-a-Kind" crayons. Three of them in fact. I'm not sure how you Bendon can say that with a straight face. Did they go to the factory and say:

"Hey, I need you to do me a run of fifty thousand one-of-a-kind crayons, all totally unique but basically identical!"