Marvel's 616 is a new series of short form documentaries about various aspects of Marvel's organisation or output that are somewhat underappreciated. The first episode is about "Japanese Spider-Man".

In the 1970's, Gene Pelc, an American living in Japan realises that, though comics are a big business there, the Marvel ones he knows from home are having little impact. He works on a number of deals between Marvel and local companies to change that. One of the most high-profile is a deal with toy manufacturer TOEI to produce a television series and range of toys based on the Spider-man licence. With the addition of toy friendly elements like a car and giant robot, the series is very different from the version western audiences know, but those elements help to establish a genre of entertainment that still resonates with the Japanese audience.

I really enjoyed this episode. They did a great job of interviewing the major players, the actors who were in the series, the creative forces behind the show and Pelc himself. It helps that it's a good story, Pelc has to convince Marvel to let him try again, in an area they've been unsuccessful. They trust him with one of their principle characters, which he radically changes, much to the bemusement of nearly all the executives. But the show finds its audience in Japan and then helps establish that martial arts/giant robots genre of TV that would find the most worldwide success with the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers".

So it was a very detailed documentary, but also quite emotional. It's probably not the last time that I'm going to see Stan Lee in this series, but his mid-credits scenes here felt poignant. A couple of the actors shed a tear about their time filming too.

If the rest of the series can maintain this standard, I'll be very impressed.

In 1978, Marvel Comics and Japanese distributor TOEI signed a deal to bring Marvel characters to Japanese television. Their first collaboration was a massive hit that revolutionized an entire genre of popular Japanese entertainment.

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Japanese Spider-Man

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