Amazing Spider-Man: Make-a-Hero (Parragon/Scholastic)

Background

What you see is exactly what you get with these "Make-a-Hero" books from Parragon (in the UK) and Scholastic (in Australia/New Zealand). The books contain cardboard pieces which assemble into 3D super-hero and super-villain characters.

Story Details

Each 8.4" x 10.7" book contains 8 sheets of die-cut glossy cardboard. The front cover (including a gate-fold sheet) and back cover gives the instructions for the various figures.

The Spider-Man book contains pieces, accessories and instructions for Spider-Man, Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. The Marvel Heroes version contains Wolverine, Iron Man, and a completely different pose for a second Spider-Man figure.

The simpler figures are made up of 4 or 5 pieces. The Green Goblin is pretty complicated by comparison, featuring 8 pieces in the figure, plus 5 more accessory pieces for his glider and pumpkin bomb bag. Check out the scans for an idea of the sort of detail and artwork.

General Comments

Short version: I think these figures (and the books) are fantastic.

Naturally, a figure assembled from five pieces of rolled cardboard is not going to look like a CGI-rendered mini-bust. But that's not the point. What really matters to me is that these books are utterly original. They're not just recycled clip art annotated with a few random factoids. Instead they are individually sculpted, hand-designed character models, created by somebody who clearly put some serious time and effort into these products.

Overall Rating

Wonderful stuff. Innovative and original. If Disney is going to peddle spin-off books from Marvel Intellectual Properties, then at least let's have fresh and creative content like this.

I give both books a damn-near perfect four-and-a-half webs.