Amazing Spider-Man: Draw a Hero Set (Parragon)

 Posted: May 2014
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)

Background

The Parragon team in the UK (along with their Scholastic Australia friends in the southern hemisphere) have been busy little web-spinners, trying to crank the maximum value out of their Marvel/Spidey licence.

Story Details

This is a "Spider-Man: Draw a Hero" premium boxed set version, which takes their Amazing Spider-Man: How to Draw (Parragon/Scholastic) book and cuts it in half, dropping the page count down from 48 pages to a meagre 24.

Sure, it adds a pencil, pencil sharpener, eraser, a few felt-tip pens, a stencil, and a sheet of small stickers, but it also more-than-doubles the price!

General Comments

The box set is large, 9" x 11" and over an inch thick. But once you open it up, you find that the contents are mostly air. As mentioned, there are a few basic drawing materials. But the tutorial book (8.5" x 10.6") has been slimmed down to half its original page count.

How are you supposed to learn to draw when half the details are missing?

The instructional content which does remain is identical to the original full-length version. It's easy: start with outlines, fill in some details, then... magic happens... and you've created a comic. There's enough detail to get you interested. But if you really want to make progress, you'll need something more substantial. Either buy a real "how-to-draw" book and take proper lessons.

Or if you're dead-set on learning by drawing super-heroes, you might want to consider Klutz: Draw The Marvel Comics Super-Heroes, which is rather more thorough in its approach than any of these Parragon/Scholastic offerings.

Overall Rating

Don't get me wrong, Parragon/Scholastic have been making some pretty stuff. Their design quality is good, but in this case there's just not enough meat on these bones to satisfy the appetite.

Pretty, but lightweight, especially at a £9.99 asking price. Two-and-a-half webs.

 Posted: May 2014
 Staff: The Editor (E-Mail)