Spider-Girl #75 Review

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Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Team Spider

Script, Plot, & Pencils by: Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz
Artists emeritus: Pat Olliffe & Al Williams
Inked by: Sal Buscema
Colored by: Gotham
Lettered by: Virtual Calligraphy’s Dave Sharpe
Assistant Editor: Nicole Wiley
Editor: Andy Schmidt
Publisher: Marvel Comics

My interest has been piqued to check out Spider-Girl for a long time now. It’s hard to ignore a comic that has been sent to the brink of cancellation, but always been saved largely due to a loyal and vocal fanbase. Yet, for some reason, I always imagined it would be hard to get into. The recent release of the digest-sized trade paperback Spider-Girl: Legacy, which collects the earliest issues of the series, and a conversation with Ron Frenz at Wizard World Philadelphia impressed me enough to come on board the ongoing.

I’m glad I did!

Considering this was the “jumping on point issue,” it made sense to start collecting with issue #75. Yet, I wanted to have a better basis for writing this review, so I went out and picked up issues 70-74 as well. My tastes are fairly varied and I try to have a smattering of books on my pull-list from varying genres and storytelling types. Spider-Girl is a wonderful book that appears approachable by every age group—something the comic industry desperately needs. I am a fan of a more classic storytelling approach to my comics. I wouldn’t want every book to go the retro-route, but it is wonderful to have a few books that revel in being good, fun comic-adventures.

Did I say that I’m glad that I picked up Spider-Girl?

The series is set in an alternate universe and centers on the teenage daughter of Peter Parker (if you didn’t know, that’s Spider-Man) and Mary Jane, May Parker (Spider-Girl). The book is the only holdover of Marvel’s failed M2 line. The fact that Spider-Girl is the lone title remaining from the failed imprint and has reached its 75th issue is a tremendous boon for new readers and not the hindrance you may think. Getting into this, if you’ll excuse the pun to longtime Marvel readers, new universe isn’t that difficult. There are plenty of ongoing subplots and lots of interesting characters, but the story is very accessible and the characters are well-defined.

At the moment, our heroine, Mayday, is at a tremendous crossroads. She has been soundly defeated several times in recent months by Lady Octopus. Lady Octopus is teamed with another villain the Kingpin-like character of Canis. Spider-Girl cannot compete with the villainous heir to one of her daddy’s toughest foes. She is driven to seek help from another villainous source, the Black Tarantula. BT gives Spider-Girl the opportunity to train with an aged Elektra and a strike team of shock troops that will follow her every order. She’s set on a course that leads her into conflict with Kodiak, a mystical Indian that packs a mean punch. We’re talking slam-bang old school super-heroics and villains that are written the way they should be in a comic.

The added twist we get this month is Mayday’s need for a new costume. May threw here costume in the dryer a few issues back and she’s been busting at the seams ever since. The world in which May lives in has a Spider-Shoppe that is dedicated to hers truly. She pops into said Shoppe, and instead of getting her classic togs, which are based on the Spider-Clone Ben Reilly’s gear, she decides on very cool retro-Spidey look—the black costume from the pre-Venom glory days. It’s a somewhat-cheesy moment, but it works wonderfully. Anyone that has read my Near Mint Memories work will know that the black costume is my favorite Spider-look, and seeing Mayday in said outfit is too good to be true.

The artwork perfectly translates this action-packed tale of super-heroics. Ron Frenz’s female faces can get a little out of whack at times, but overall this comic is a real pleasure to look at. The book has a wide range of colorful superhero types that are each rendered with the fantastical quality that the book needs. The action flows well and Frenz certainly is one of the top talents in the industry at capturing the kinetic speed of a superhero fight.

Spider-Girl is such a breath of fresh air to read. Sure I love adult-oriented comics, but it is fantastic to read a comic that is written for a wide-ranging audience, but not so kiddie oriented that it’s aimed for fans of one of the successful animated series. Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and the rest of the talented people involved with Spider-Girl have created a comic that feels like it came off the spinner rack of my local convenience store. Spider-Girl captures everything that is wonderful about the comic hobby and illustrates what is missing from so many of the books on the shelves. If more books like Spider-Girl don’t crop up from the Big Two in the next few years there will be an entire generation of individuals that are going to miss out on the hobby you and I love (I am of course assuming you are a comic fan).