Episode:Horizon High, Part One

Reception
George Marston of Newsarama, in a joint review of both this and the follow-up, gave the episodes a four out of ten calling it slow, safe, and boring. He felt it failed to capture the essence or likability of Spider-Man. He did note that it had a solid foundation and strong visual identity. He claimed that the key to Spider-Man is nailing Peter Parker, but felt that the two-part premiere crammed in too many cameos, threads, and Easter eggs. He felt that Spider-Man was missing the charm that made him relatable. He claimed the premise of the series was similar to the Big Time storyline with threads hinting at The Superior Spider-Man and Spider-Verse. He felt it was hard to keep up with the number of characters and Easter eggs. He noted the series was too close to with the high school setting. He disliked the general, vague concept of science as it was not used as a tool for teaching or driving the story but as something that bogged down the pacing while turning Peter into a know-it-all nerd. He particularly pointed out Spider-Man constantly changing the PSI on his webshooters, comparing it to someone constantly checking their watch, and Peter constantly correcting others on their science. He compared this version to Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons. He felt the pacing of the fights dragged on with characters stopping to talk. He complained that Spider-Man seemed unable to move and talk at the same time. He did not like the Flash-style animation calling it stilted. He thought the fight scenes at least worked with Spider-Man's poses but felt the "seams" would show in anything with normal characters or wide shots. He also complained about the oppressive sound design, like music drowning out a conversation between Peter and Harry. He did praise the character design saying it was one area the series did excel, comparing them to the works of Hayao Miyazaki. He did like the expressive anime influence feeling they fit the characters perfectly. He claimed that Scorpion looked better than he has in years. Though he did feel that they looked too good against the flat environments. He felt the voice cast was hit or miss. He said the standouts were Tatasciore's Max Modell and Minichino's Corazon, Oswalt was just right as Uncle Ben, and Menville offered a unique twist on Octavius. However, he felt Daymond was charmless in the lead. He wondered why, with the recently released Spider-Man: Homecoming delivering a new Spider-Man experience, that this series would feature relationships and stories that have been played out so many times before, feeling it was closer to the The Amazing Spider-Man films than anything else. He did claim the second part picked up with Peter acting less insufferable. He noted that there were attempts to add humor, but it was tempered by the slow pacing and monologues about the nature of heroism. "The brilliant character designs and 'everything and the kitchen sink' approach to continuity in Marvel’s Spider-Man certainly set up some building blocks for a show that could be really special. Instead what we get is a show that attempts to straddle the line of the various portrayals of Spidey in other media, and winds up feeling true to none of them."