Whether Grantray-Lawrence, or Krantz and Ralph Bakshi!
By CHRIS FRANKLIN
It’s amazing (pardon the pun) that the original 1967 Spider-Man animated TV series is still so influential today, nearly 60 years after its debut. It has birthed a host of memes that have flooded social media, including the famous one of the two Spider-Men pointing at one another, which in turn has been lampooned everywhere.
The theme song composed by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris continues to be THE Spider-Man theme, reorchestrated and sampled in various other forms of Spidey media, including the latest mega-blockbuster, Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Why is this amazing? Well, because the show has been MIA on home media, streaming or television airing for decades now!
Through their Buena Vista Home Entertainment arm, Disney released a box set of the entire Grantray-Lawrence/Krantz Films-produced 1967-70 series in 2004… 22 years ago(!), and that’s it! But its influence on Spider-Man and pop culture in general persists.
So, it was a pleasant surprise when Hasbro announced a box set of figures, based on the series’ Spider-Man and two of his foes, was coming to their 6-inch scale Marvel Legends line as a 2026 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive. The set is officially known as “Marvel Legends Series Spider-Man, Marvel’s Lizard, & Marvel’s Electro.”
Even though I had no chance of getting to SDCC in July, I knew, if possible, I had to have this set.
The ’67 toon is seminal to me and my love for Spider-Man, watching it in daily syndication for years on Channel 19, WXIX out of Cincinnati. Luckily, Hasbro offered the set on their homegrown Hasbro Pulse website, and the price was in line for what three Marvel Legends figures would go for at retail nowadays.
When I received the set a few days ago, I was instantly smitten and sent a message to Dan asking if he’d like an article and photo gallery spread about it. I knew he’d say yes! So, let’s take a look and see how well Hasbro managed to capture the series in plastic.
(Dan adds: Actually, my direct quote was, “YESYESYESYESYESYES! It’s as important to me as it is to Chris — only I watched it on New York’s Channel 5, WNEW!)
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THE LIZARD
This figure was based directly on the character as seen in the first story of the series’ second episode “Where Crawls the Lizard.” That was an adaptation of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s introduction of Dr. Curt Conners and his alter-ego from Amazing Spider-Man #6 (Nov. 1963). The designers at Grantray-Lawrence (which produced Season 1 before going bankrupt) took Ditko’s design and added some really exaggerated expressions, which the team at Hasbro have nailed in two head sculpts.
One is a standard face with forked tongue protruding. The other looks like it’s from the moment when Spider-Man forces an antidote down the Lizard’s throat, reverting him to Curt Connors (or Conner, per the series).
Although most of the figure is a reuse from a previous comics-based Lizard figure, this version came with the two distinct heads, interchangeable hands, a bendy, posable tail, two beakers/flasks, and a very episode-specific hand grenade straight from his debut!
Lizard kinda reappeared in the Season 3 episode “Conner’s Reptiles,” when budgets were slashed, and showrunner and animation rebel Ralph Bakshi re-edited previous shows together, hoping kids wouldn’t notice. They did.
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ELECTRO
Electro’s head sculpts seem to be more closely based on his third appearance in Season 1’s “To Catch a Spider,” where he teams up with the Green Goblin, the Vulture and the show-created Dr. Noah Boddy to defeat the wallcrawler. The large teeth are a dead giveaway, and add to the goofy, thuggish charm of the figure.
Electro’s costume is simplified like the animated version, missing the double lightning bolt “suspenders” on his torso. He comes with the aforementioned two heads, lightning effects from previous Marvel Legends releases, and several sets of hands.
My favorite accessories are the unique lightning pointer-finger hands. They perfectly capture how the animators displayed Electro’s power, and they look great on display.
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SPIDER-MAN
But of course, the star of the set is Spider-Man himself. Hasbro not only gave us a unique head sculpt capturing the look of Spider-Man’s eyes on the series, they also replicated the limited amount of webbing on the costume that saved the animators time and money. His spider emblems on his chest and back even have the incorrect six legs instead of eight!
Spidey comes with several sets of hands, two web effects and a web line, which Hasbro has produced before, but not in black to my knowledge.
Unique to this set is a Peter Parker head sculpt based on the series. There’s something just slightly off about it to me, but it’s close enough. It looks better in person than the online photos indicate. There’s also a Spider-Man mask accessory if you want to portray Peter mid-change. And who would Peter Parker be without his trusty camera?
I’m a purist and prefer the Grantray-Lawrence produced first season, which was more faithful to the stories told by Lee, Ditko and John Romita in the comics. But I can’t deny the Ralph Bakshi-produced episodes are more visually interesting, with their moody painted backgrounds and often psychedelic villains.
Bakshi padded out the episodes with endless sequences of Spider-Man swinging, often with nothing for his web to attach to, it seemed. I had to capture a few of those moments with this figure.
When I look at this Spider-Man, I can just hear a smart aleck quip from voice actor Paul Soles, who in my mind is still the definitive voice of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. That deeper, put-on Spider-Man voice always seemed perfect to me. Peter was, after all, pretending to be a Spider-MAN when he was really just a kid, at least at first. Which is one reason why legions of kids and teens identified with him from the get-go.
If you are a fan of the 1967 series, these action figures are your reward. This is a wonderful way to relive the fond memories you have of the show. I would love to see Hasbro release another set, or maybe individual figures of the Green Goblin, the Vulture, Doctor Octopus, etc.
Even better would be a Daily Bugle set of J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, and Peter in his blue suit and yellow vest. And I wouldn’t be opposed to figures of characters created for the series, like Parafino and the Human Fly twins.
Life is indeed a great big bang-up, with no end of hang-ups, but at least we’ll always find Spider-Man.
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MORE
— FINALLY! HASBRO to Release 1967 SPIDER-MAN CARTOON Action Figure Set. Click here.
— 13 GREAT THINGS About the 1967 SPIDER-MAN Cartoon. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor CHRIS FRANKLIN is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network. Check out his illustrative and design work at chrisfranklincreative.com.
