Last week, Eric Monacelli, Marvel Entertainment’s Senior Director of Product and Franchise Development, mentored 40 of our students at Brooklyn’s Hudde School. Eric kindly brought Spider-Man 2 key chains for every student. But the main thing Eric brought was his great knowledge of the games universe. Students were rapt as he spoke about various pathways to success and the making of Spider-Man 2.

Armed with a slideshow that compared game design to architecture, Eric also spoke about the cool things he gets to do in the world of Marvel. That included meeting Ant-Man Paul Rudd and working with Adidas on Spider-Man 2 sneakers.

Some of our students had prepped thoughtful questions in the week previous to Monacelli’s presentation, and were happy to ask them during the class, which was Part 3 of a deep, critical dive into the world of Spider-Man 2. They were awed by the amount of games on which he’s worked, including the legendary original BioShock. But his favorite may have been Ōkamiden for the Nintendo DS. He liked working on it so much that he showed off a tattoo on the celestial wolf character on his calf.

Students also received snacks and Marvel minifigs, and some asked when Eric would return. We all hope to see Eric Monacelli again in our journalism and games classroom – soon! -Harold Goldberg