Into the Spider-Verse: An Apotheotic Marriage of Comic Book Tradition and Film
Through the use of animation in lieu of live action, graphic design elements that mimic the look and feel of drawn comics, and a plot driven by the premise of multiverses, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse transcends the boundaries of retro comic book style and film, creating an unprecedented visual experience that places its source material on a pedestal and celebrates it vivaciously.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse veered from conventional parameters through a blend of comic art techniques and CGI animation, thereby creating visual parallels that live action adaptations are unable to achieve. Comic books are characterized by paneled storytelling and are narrated through the use of various text boxes to denote thought, speech, sound, and context. Unlike traditional forms of literature, the comic book isn’t bound by rigid formalities and rules of language, nor do they have a high barrier of entry for consumption. Approaching a Leo Tolstoy novel, for example, requires contextual knowledge of 18th and 19th century Russian history and culture in order to be fully appreciated. A copy of Batman, on the other hand, merely requires a desire to be entertained.
The comic book is accessible, imaginative, and routinely a visual spectacle. Characters often inhibit fantastical characteristics, have superpowers, and live in worlds that are exuberant in color and capacity. A comic panel to a comic artist is much like a cinematic frame to a filmmaker (Morton 6), a likeness that Into the Spider-Verse exploits masterfully. The movie’s opening credits waste no time in introducing the stylistic blend that characterizes the entire film. When the Sony logo appears, the frame slowly closes in on the lettering, revealing a dotted gradient of primary colors. The familiar Columbia Pictures logo of a female roman soldier is distorted several times, re-imagining her as a comic book character. The full integration of comic book style and storytelling takes a temporary backseat in order to adequately set up the story and introduce the protagonist, Miles Morales.
It isn’t until Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider, which triggers his transformation into Spiderman, that Into the Spider-Verse finds a true harmony between comic book elements and animation. After the pivotal spider bite, Miles’ thoughts are amplified, visualized by thought boxes. Moreover, his senses are increased as well, portrayed through a stunning multi-panel closeup of people who are saying things about him. These initial scenes of Miles’ descent into the role of a superhero are marvelously constructed, positing a palpable contrast to the world he was in before. His life before the spider bite was more visually subdued and richer in spoken language and foreshadowing. The school experience is illustrated initially with snapshots of academic life; a book titled Great Expectations; a math teacher speaking of “volumetric pressure,” the latter word uttered concurrently to a dramatic zoom-in on her mouth; another instructor explaining an essay format, in which the “conclusions are stressed,” as the frame zooms in once more.
These snapshots are followed by Miles’ entrance into a classroom, where a film is being projected, in which a woman speaks of “countless other possibilities, parallel universes, happening at the exact same time.” The classroom film, a background element, foreshadows the major premise of Into the Spider-Verse: what-if to infinity, the concept of parallel universes. After the first ten minutes of the movie the viewer is familiarized with Miles’ circumstances, hopes, and fears, establishing a relatable protagonist in a familiar world before turning it upside down. The spider bite doesn’t just function as a plot device, but doubles as a stylistic propellant — altering the version of reality not just for Miles, but for the audience as well. Through the use of half tones, gradients, Ben-Day dots, crisscrossed lines, and subtly misaligned overlapping, known as misprint style, the elements of comic book illustrations bounce off of the screens, truly creating an illusion of a comic book that has come to life. It’s a sensory experience, heightening tense and emotional moments in the film by color-changing frames. That too, is a comic book staple, where drastic shifts in color denote moods, conflicts, and resolutions.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse further adheres to comic book tradition by the plot- driving premise of a multiverse, a collection of alternate, albeit parallel universes that have a universal hierarchy in common. The movie’s villain, Kingpin, is building a particle accelerator to gain access to parallel universes. His aim is to find alternate versions of his family. But once reality is cracked open, the many versions of “spider people” are pulled together. Now we don’t just have Miles Morales, we have an entire entourage who all encountered that life-altering spider bite: Peter Porker, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and a chubbier, rather average Peter Parker. As foreshadowed in Miles’ class, where he also meets Gwen for the first time, the concept of the multiverse becomes a plot-driving focal point, which is also a long-time staple of comic book publisher DC Comics.
Introduced in 1940 as The Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #3, the notion of a super-hero team created by a collision of universes has been a popular comic book arc ever since. Into the Spider-Verse adheres to the conventional set-up of such a plot device by divulging the “origin story” of each hero before their universes are usurped into one common plane by Kingpin. The creators of the film utilize this device as a contemporary mirror, focusing on Miles, a bi-cultural person of color listening to Post Malone, a compelling heroine, Gwen, Peni, a Japanese character, and a female villain, Doctor Octopus. As such, the multiverse becomes representational of the infinite different backgrounds and destinations in life, while showing that none of those differences can thwart the power of a common plight: the fight against evil.
The combination of astounding animation and CGI, faithful incorporation of retro comic book style elements, and the multiverse premise launches Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse into a league of its own. Incomparable to live action adaptations of superhero narratives, the multi- sensory experience this film delivers isn’t just satisfying for comic book fanatics and superhero movie lovers. The artistry and effort that went into the creation of Into the Spider-Verse stands to capture the attention and the imagination of just about anyone. Just like comic books, there’s no age range, background, or knowledge necessary to sit back and appreciate this revolutionary marriage of two mediums.
