Into the Spider-Verse is the Ultimate Comic Book Movie
No pun intended.
So, we need to be clear about something before we get started. Being the ultimate and being the best are two different things, in that the definition of ultimate that applies here is “the best achievable or imaginable of its kind” and the definition of best being “of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality.” So, for example, the infamous Batman and Robin was the ultimate ‘what old people think comic books are’ movie, right down to the bat tits and the bat credit card. But it’s definitely not a good movie.
As such, I am not here to discuss the quality of the story or the acting as much as how, well, comic book-like it is.
And make no mistake, it is peak comic book.
There are lot of aspects that go into making a comic book movie, usually centered around ‘how can we get even more money from this,’ I’m sure, but between all the live action and animated movies we’ve gotten between Marvel and DC, no other movie has felt like a comic book just started moving before my eyes. The closest was probably that first Toby McGuire Spider-Man movie (remember: I said this wasn’t a discussion about whether the movies are good or bad), but even that came off less like a serious comic book take and more like a corporate understanding of comic books. The MCU, starting with Iron Man in 2008, has had a lot of hits that felt true to the characters they movies were based on, but its also been a real-world take. A great real-world take, and one that I thoroughly enjoy, but what Into the Spider-Verse has done is something that feels entirely new.
It looks and feels and plays out like a comic book. Only the Incredibles have come this close, and even then it was more Bond movie than comic book movie.
I’m not sure how to fully explain it, which is why everyone who likes Marvel comics should check it out for themselves, but the way the sound is used, the way the story is paced, and every little detail down to the lines and the way they colored the backgrounds—even down to the dots making up the animation, it all feels like a comic book.
While the finished product could definitely have used a little more polishing (I am far from the only person that had the ‘wait, did I stumble into a 3D showing?’ feeling), the overall execution shows that there is still plenty of room for animation innovation. Well, Disney does keep upping the game, certainly, but it hadn’t really pushed all the boundaries in a while. Zootopia and Coco are gorgeous, and the effort that went into making all the fur on all the animals correct and making the finger movements on the guitar correct is spectacular. But it is all in that same Disney style. Really, that same CGI style, considering other studios have been making similar-looking (even if the extra Disney edge isn’t always there) movies for the same length of time.
Into the Spider-Verse looks completely different from all other animated movies currently available, and, unlike other movies that can tout the same, it actually has a lot of interest. I’ve even heard some rumblings of hope that it might win some awards, maybe. I’m not holding my breath, but if it does, it’ll be well deserved.
In addition to the general design elements and the dot art that made up the art of so many comic books over multiple decades, they also incorporated actual comic book aesthetics — the spidey sense is wiggly lines (as depicted above), but it’s also more than that. Please note, I’m going to be spoiling some animation details here.
They use text boxes, and the integrate those boxes into the fabric of the animation. When Miles is first getting a feel for his powers, the text boxes emphasize how overwhelming the sounds around him are all of a sudden, and his first experience with spider sense? A large “LOOK OUT!” pops up behind him as he dodges the thing his senses are warning him against. It’s brilliant. It punctuates each scene that uses it, and you need to be watching all over the screen for the little places that words pop into the frame. They aren’t always in boxes. Sometimes they’re etched along an animation line. Sometimes they’re the KAPOW style written sound effect.
And, of course, that’s not even delving into the other universes being represented here:
Everyone who knows Spider-Man is familiar with Peter Parker at this point, and anyone who’s seen the trailer knows that this is the oldest iterations we’ve had of him on the screen (give or take, since the old cartoons didn’t exactly give us his age), but we also have Spider-Woman, more lovingly known as Spider-Gwen, both of whom are very well integrated into the same animation style as Miles Morales. But then the other three universes make their appearance, and they, well, they don’t have the same style. They have the style from their original depictions — For example, Peni Parker is based on manga and anime styles (and is actually the newest spider person after Miles, having been first introduced in 2014), and Peter Porker, well, he’s not inspired by the Simpsons. He’s actually been around since the 70s, and was based off of the Loony Toons. And his animation style? Well, it’s Loony Toons Style. As for Spider Noir’s style, well, it’s noir — he comes from a noir mini-series from 2009 playing with some Marvel favorites in a black and white 1930s prohibition era setting. Only here, it’s turned up to the extreme, which is probably no surprise given that Nicholas Cage voiced him. These three played off the rest of the animation gorgeously. They weren’t CGI-ified (well, not extremely so), they were really, truly from alternate universes, smashed into the Ultimate Universe (for the unaware, that’s the actual name for the universe that gave us Miles — I did say no pun intended).
This movie really just needs to be seen. I would probably put a warning on it because the animation is so trippy, especially during the final battle, so if you know you get headaches from these kinds of films (among other possible issues that can be caused by movies like this), wait for it to come out on the smaller screen or maybe skip it. But if you can watch it, and you have a love for the art of animation, I really do recommend this one. It’s a beautiful spectacle. And the overall movie is a fun action-comedy too, and who doesn’t need some of that in their lives?
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Please be sure to discuss your own experience with this film in the comments below, and if you enjoy my reflections on the latest comic book movie, perhaps consider buying me a coffee?
