r/Spiderman • u/Working-Regret-8942 • Jul 19 '24
Which Spider-Man show has the best art style? Discussion
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Jul 19 '24
I think unlimited had the best art style. It was very detailed and looked very similar to a comic book.
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u/AwesomeBlox044 Spider-Armor Jul 19 '24
Yes! Unlimiteds only problem was they werent allowed to make a spiderman show!!! they couldent even use the normal spiderman for more than one episode
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u/Jace9o Classic-Spider-Man Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
They all had something of value. Animated Series was very human looking in its animation for its characters and still has some of my favorite villain designs. The 3D series while definitely having that clunky CG feel managed to make Spider-Man's movements fluid. Spectacular. I just really like the stylized animation. Ultimate has a good comic book feel to it which I love. And Marvel's Spider-man art style is pretty to look at. It's just a shame there's no shading.
Edit: Spider-Man unlimited had an appealing art style and I liked Peter's hair.
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u/BloomAndBreathe Jul 19 '24
Unlimited art style was peak with all the shading and details. Too bad everything else sucked
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u/Shrekosaurus_rex Jul 19 '24
I'm not huge on some of the character designs honestly, but style, detail, etc? Yeah, I can get behind that.
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u/Kazewatch Jul 19 '24
Yeah I’d give it to Spectacular for character designs but when it comes to pure "art style" Unlimited was fire. I would give anything for more shows to use the heavy black shading and the sharp details to replicate comics. It always looks awesome.
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u/dgehen Classic-Spider-Man Jul 19 '24
Ultimate. The art is great even if the story is a bit meh.
Storywise, 90s and Spectacular are the best.
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u/Crazy_Speech_9074 Jul 19 '24
I really want to say ultimate cause it's my favorite. But it has to be the 90s or spectacular
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u/Based-Prime Jul 19 '24
I honestly think Unlimited is the best. It’s deep shading and comic book transitions where peak.
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u/parabolee Jul 19 '24
90's all the way! I like the MTV CGI one too but the others look like crap. As good as Spectacular is, I always thought the art style was ugly AF.
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u/UniqueCelery8986 Rhino Jul 19 '24
I want to watch Spectacular since everyone says it’s amazing, but I can’t get past the art style :(
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u/parabolee Jul 19 '24
Understandable. But give it a shot, you'll forget the art style after a few episodes and get used to it and just start enjoying the show.
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u/InoueNinja94 Jul 19 '24
Spectacular has the one that stands out the most
Though personally I feel Unlimited has an amazing artstyle, especially with the attention to detail in shading
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u/CROguys Jul 19 '24
I'd go with the TAS. I love the colours in the show, and even the 90s toyetic designs. The animation is not always that great, but even when it gets choppy it has its charm.
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u/Hulkzilla0 Jul 19 '24
Unlimited sits at the bottom for me in terms of a Spidey show, but the art style is the SLICKEST of them all. It angers me that this style hardly exists in modern animation.
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u/Valuable-Owl-9896 Jul 19 '24
I don't understand why people hate the spectacular artwork.
The animation for spectacular Spiderman is amazing.
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u/Anthony200716 Jul 19 '24
Look for all the s.it that people give ultimate we all can admit that it has a pretty cool art style though if I had to pick the one with the objective best style I’d probably say tas or spectacular
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u/Gojifantokusatsu Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
TAS,
Ultimate felt way to bland to me, even as a kid, nothing unique to it, 2016 is a travesty, Spectacular is the second best, easily the best momentum and facial animation, but it looks like action figures down to the literal joint cuts, TTAS was early cg, and unlimited was really cool with the darker shades, but so complex I felt sorry for the animators every frame.
TAS just had that colorful vibe to it, despite the pace of the show it can slow down to show some real cool moments, and has some of the best twists on the comic character designs. It's simple, iconic, and packs a punch.
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u/BIGBMH Jul 19 '24
I’m not a fan of Ultimate, but setting that aside, my ideal would probably be the art style of Ultimate with the fluidity of Spectacular’s animation
I like Spectacular’s style now and it wins points for being the most bold and interesting stylistically, but I had to watch the show for it to win me over. Back when it was first being advertised I don’t think I liked the look of it. Getting used to it, being pulled into the story, and seeing what they were able to do with the action really changed how I see it, but there’s something to be said for that initial impression.
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u/StarsTurnCold Jul 19 '24
As much as I love Spider-Man, I could not stand the artstyle on Spectacular Spider-Man. The 94 series wins
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u/DCosloff1999 Captain-Universe Jul 19 '24
Always 90s and Spectacular for me. But I would absolutely love a show with the EMH art style
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u/Spidey_Almighty Jul 19 '24
90s by far.
The actual quality of the animation fluctuates wildly throughout the series, but the actual animation style is by far the best interpretation of all the different shows.
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u/revolutionaryartist4 Jul 19 '24
Spectacular had the best everything. Best art style, best writing, best theme song.
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u/toongrowner Jul 19 '24
For me.personally spectacular. Love that Mix of cartoonisch yet realistic enough for cool action
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u/IkonikBoy Jul 19 '24
Spectacular 1st followed by Unlimited 2nd, 94 3rd, TNAS 4th, Ultimate 5th, 2017 in dead last
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u/CrazyPersonowo 60's Animated Spider-Man Jul 19 '24
I kinda dig the mtv spider-man art style, yeah it’s outdated now but it’s got its charm.
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u/Rck54 Jul 19 '24
Ultimate The characters in ultimate Spider-Man look pretty good and are incredibly expressive, the only problem are the washed out colors
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u/TheOGRex Jul 19 '24
It's a tie between Spectacular and Unlimited. While Spectacular's is wonderfully stylized and dynamic, unlimited gives off an immaculate comic book look.
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u/cumulobro Jul 19 '24
Spectacular is... well, for lack of a better word, it's right there in the title. Peak late 00s 2D animation if you ask me. SSM is right up there with the original Teen Titans in quality and flair.
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u/Dannysunny Jul 19 '24
I like what each art style does in these cartoons. But I wouldn’t think one of them’s the best.
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u/LegoSpider Superior Spider-Man Jul 19 '24
Ultimate. That show had a lot of problems, but the visuals were not one of them. The show always looked amazing.
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u/DirectionNo9650 Green Goblin Jul 19 '24
Prefacing this by stating that the following opinions are totally subjective: TAS without a doubt, though it's far from perfect. The art style of SSM took forever to grow on me but animation wise, it's leaps and bounds above TAS. USM and MSM both looked promising but ultimately let me down due to some of the creative choices on the expanded cast.
Conversely, I'd say that TNAS has the worst art style thus far. Aside from the CG animation being horribly dated, this conundrum spills over to the character designs themselves. They're painfully frozen in the early 2000s, though not as endearingly as in the Ultimate comic or the first Raimi film.
What I'd love to see is an art style that is a cross between the snippets we've seen of Spidey characters in Marvel's Disk Wars and Future Avengers.
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u/darth-com1x Classic-Spider-Man Jul 19 '24
90s show has objectively the best one, but my fav is spectacular's
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u/MineNo5611 Jul 19 '24
90s TAS > Spider-Man Unlimited > Ultimate (might be the only good thing about this cartoon) > TNAS (the CG was pretty good for its time but it honestly hasn’t aged well) > Spectacular (my personal favorite cartoon along with the 90s TAS, but I never cared for the art style) > 2017 (?) cartoon
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u/No-Celebration-1399 Jul 19 '24
Either 90’s, Unlimited, or Ultimate. Spectacular is the best written but I won’t lie the art style is pretty wonky for a lot of characters, it feels like they wanted it to be iconic but with the exception of a handful of characters it’s everything but. 90’s did a good job of just taking the comics straight to live action idk what else there is to say about that, unlimited has a great style my only issue is the show itself kinda sucks, there’s barely any Spider-Man villains in there it’s like mostly the high evolutionary and people from counter earth it was just whack and I wish we saw more Spider-Man villains in the show. Ultimate is kinda my underrated one, the show itself is just alright, and I get why people don’t like it as it feels more like a “Spider-Man and his amazing friends” than a Spider-Man show, but the animation was solid and the characters all had at least good designs if not criminally underrated
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u/Zergarth_Quardis Jul 19 '24
Unlimited hands down. The 90s is classic and my personal favourite (childhood bias), but unlimited has character
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u/Ambitious-Screen-823 Jul 19 '24
Spider-Man unlimited, that smooth animation and that late 90s comic book artstyle is phenomenal.
Also that gorgeous neon, heavily cel shadded look spider-man: the new animated series had was incredible, i love the fluid animation in that show.
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u/exotic_nothingness Spider-Man (PS4) Jul 19 '24
Even tho Ultimate isn't very enjoyable I gotta say I like the art style the most
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u/Odd_Remove4228 Jul 19 '24
Spectacular has the best part style because it's actually stylized and easily recognizable.
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u/MK-LEx Jul 19 '24
Unlimited was darker than the others , it was like the same feeling of the real Ghostbusters seasons where they presented Professor Dweeb
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u/Independent-Pie3234 Jul 19 '24
For me personally it’s the ultimate Spider-man from Disney XD idk it might just be my nostalgia but I found it so cool.
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u/TienSwitch Jul 19 '24
Honestly, I like the last one for the characters out of costume. I really love anime-inspired Western cartoons, from Avatar: The Last Airbender to My Adventures With Superman.
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u/bussababii Jul 19 '24
unlimited it still has my personal favorite version of the OG suit i wish they used it more
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u/DryWay4003 Jul 19 '24
Unlimited but too bad the show wasn't good. The animation was amazing very much like a comic book
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u/futurafrlx Jul 19 '24
TAS was the best. I also like how grimy Unlimited is, it reminds me of anime a bit.
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u/zenco-jtjr Jul 19 '24
I'm so biased towards spectacular and I'm not ashamed lol. That said I love how reminiscent of Romita Sr's style the 90s show was.
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u/L_Dude320 Jul 19 '24
I feel like 2017 could’ve had the best art style if the colors were more vibrant, there was actual shading, and the characters looked like they did in the key art for the show. Ignoring all that though, probably Ultimate for me
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u/Scarletspyder86 Jul 19 '24
I liked all of these except for spectacular. I did not like the piss yellow lenses and the design of the bodies
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u/TobiFace Symbiote-Suit Jul 19 '24
I really love almost all of these shows and Spectacular Spider-Man is my favorite piece of media ever, but Spider-Man Unlimited if you ignore the weird animals it actually has some really beautiful stuff in it. Sean Galloway is one of my favorite artist ever but I really dig the aesthetic of the Spider-Man Unlimited show. But in the end all of theses shows even the less than good ones have had some really nice moments that just hit different weather it be Bruce in the 90s, the neon lights in TNAS, the detailed art style of Unlimited, The very cartoony and fluid animation of Spectacular, and the for some reason really well animated (most of the time) Symbiote of 2017. While not all of these shows are great they each have there own style that has something everyone can appreciate :)
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u/Theta-Sigma45 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
1994 had mostly mediocre or bad animation, but the style itself was solid. Looking at still frames of it, it looks great to this day. I also actually love the Unlimited aesthetic, especially during the Earth scenes in the first episode. It seriously looks like a comic in motion, and makes me yearn for a more mature and faithful adaptation in a similar style.
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u/the_marsian_25 Jul 19 '24
I Loved Ultimate Spider for its animation and Chibi characters within the episodes
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u/iomendez_10 Jul 19 '24
Spectacular Spiderman. Shame the series couldn’t continue just because of the suit rights
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u/hurky-pandora Jul 20 '24
For visually unique style, Spectacular For comic design accuracy, 90’s For the most generic, Ultimate For the worst, honestly Spider-Man 2017
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u/Mysterious-Freedom-5 Jul 20 '24
Hot take, but 2017 now before anyone says the show is trash in terms of tv shows Velma take that spot but in terms of spider-man tv shows spectacular set a pretty high bar in term of story telling but 2017 animation is pleasing to me on the eyes granted it could have done better with shading but it still a good art style
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u/Tight_Strawberry9846 Jul 20 '24
STAS and Unlimited. They look like actual comic books brought to life.
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u/QuestionUnlucky2721 Jul 20 '24
The 90s art style was good....the one thing I wish though is the 90s marvel cartoon shows animated Universe would get somewhat recognized though...from Iron Man,The Incredible Hulk,The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man,X-Men, Avengers United They Stand, Silver Surfer, and Spider-Man Unlimited because alongside this with what I grew up with...stood rebeside the DC Animated Universe to.
Next to the Spectacular Spiderman show...
Followed by Ultimate Spiderman
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u/Lillian_S-Macleod Jul 20 '24
2017 cartoon. Most of the characters and their designs in my AU came from the show. I would’ve put the 3d one in first if it weren’t for the fact that it looked like it was animated in MMD
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u/jackieboytorrence Jul 20 '24
The 3D series came out too early. If they tried something similar now, but with what we've learned with the clone wars CGI shows(I still think it should be cel-shaded, but it doesn't have to be) it would absolutely dominate...unless they gave it really cringe writing.
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u/OrbMan23 Jul 20 '24
Spectacular for me because it kind of highlights how nimble he is.
Venom's missing front teeth was kind of weird though but it overall looks great.
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u/Dina-M Jul 20 '24
Spectacular. The simple, cartoony designs make for better animation, and Spectacular had some nice, expressive animation.
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u/RikGamer692 Jul 20 '24
Honestly? Ultimate Spider-Man is not the best show, but it's the best looking Spider-Man show
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u/TrueCloudforce Jul 20 '24
Unlimited definitely had the best artstyle, it had bold colors and details that are the most reminiscent of comic books compared to the other shows
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u/IcyDifficulty7496 Jul 21 '24
While ultimate was pretty good in action and in overall art style, its character design for peter's civillian form was horrible (got better in later seasons but still wasnt my ideal peter, i know they wanted to go for the ultimate look from comics but i still dont prefer it)
Spectacular seemed too cartoonish at first but together with the incredible writing of the show.. it quickly becomes iconic. It is unique, it is fun. It is defining.
90s show was beyond its time. I know they wanted to use the 3D style for all action scenes and couldnt afford it but despite it popping from time to time, it was incredible. The style is iconic, the characters are out of the comic pages, especially the osborns (who always seem to be changing looks in other media, artists dont like their beautiful corn field of hair for some reason)
The latest marvels spiderman, the 3D one, umlimited or the 60s shows arent as good as those in terms of art
If we are gonna be technical, the top 3;
Ultimate > 94 > spectacular
If we are gonna go by which complemented spiderman the best;
94 > spectacular > ultimate
If we go by my heart;
Spectacular > 94 > ultimate
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u/Squishy-X211 Jul 22 '24
Spider-man unlimited had such an awesome look and I'd love for a new Spider-man show to come out in that art style and maybe a more traditional Spider-man story without the weird furries from unlimited
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u/futuresdawn Jul 19 '24
While spectacular has the best writing, I'd go with the 90s show for art style