I read Spider-Man in the nineties. You know, the era people called complete utter hell. I read Maximum Carnage, and the Clone Saga, Identity Crisis, the Final Chapter, the Howard Mackie and John Byrne relaunch. I sat through everything that’s been called a horrible time in Spider-Man, and yet I still think fondly back on those days. I remember the stupid little moments of comedy, the supporting cast trying to find its own place in the book. I remember Anna Watson taking up the place of the late May Parker, and it never feeling forced.
Remember these guys?
Spider-Man was part of a cohesive universe. He had a secret identity that was still pretty much in the bag as well. Mary Jane, Daredevil, Wolverine, Black Cat, Norman Osborn, Eddie Brock (but only as Venom!). It was a small and intimate list, and it worked. Peter had a personal life, friends, confidants, and yet we still had the drama of his double life wrecking havoc on it. There was guilt over the losses he suffered, and a desire to always do better. Friends and enemies alike switched sides, died, returned, the works.
It was fun, and yet, it reminds me a lot of Spider-Man right now.
Not that I support Brand New Day, or the event that led to it. Quite the opposite in fact. That doesn’t change that it’s all happened before, and it will all happen again. The difference is that the last time they did it there was no raping of the characters, no insults to the fans, in fact, the worst Marvel had done? Tell us that maybe Ben Reilly was the real Peter Parker. Peter wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d still be with Mary Jane, he just wouldn’t have been Spider-Man. Sure there was an outcry, but was it really that bad?
It’s not like this became his status quo or anything.
Fans, by nature, fear change. Status quo is the big scary monster in the room with us at all times. Nobody wants to give up what they’ve grown up with, it just seems…..what else is there? Do we keep characters in the same rut with nothing happening? With no growth, change, or development? How long can that really be interesting for? And I know, this same argument can be used against me and my utter hatred of what Marvel did to Spider-Man, but it’s as different as it is similar. I have no problems watching characters grow and change, and watching the way the landscape changes. I mean, come on, I support Bucky for Captain American 100%. I’m standing behind the return of Barry, the three Legions, everything going on in Action Comics, hell, I even like X-Force. But one thing that none of those are doing is taking something away from the mythos in favor of resetting something.
Had Ben Reilly stuck around, we would have had a married Peter Parker still, just somebody else in the Spider-Man suit. Scary, I know, but hardly the worst thing ever. It would have left openings for so many new and different story ideas, it would have reinvigorated the franchise had people not completely chickened out of it. One More Day didn’t leave us with something like that. Taking away the marriage of Peter and Mary Jane felt like something was being taken away from us, the readers. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that the only way to match the travesty that we’ve had laid in front of us is to remove Lois Lane from Superman. Think you can do that, DC? Can you strip Lois from us because she makes Superman feel too old?
Over ten years later and it still works.
Wait, that’s right, you guys don’t care if he seems old! He’s SUPERMAN! He’s timeless! When he needs to be reinvented, you add instead of subtract. You keep Lois, but you give him his dog and his cousin. You fix up his rogues gallery. You put a Kryptonian city on Earth. We have Superman, and we have his world, and it doesn’t feel forced. I mean, the only thing they’ve done in the title in years that has felt completely forced was killing his dad, but even that you won’t see me complain about. It was done because of the original movie, but it WORKS for the character. And look at this now, Superman had the chance to save his dad but was just seconds too late, you know what that means? Compelling character developments are going to come out of it, because when the one person that the greatest hero to ever live can’t save is his own father what does he do?
It’s smart story telling, plain and simple. Looking at the character and what you can do to shake things up, and filtering out the benefits from the detriments Sure, crap finds it’s way in more often then not (i.e. the Draco, the AoA 10th anniversary, Superman: King of the World, Hudlin’s Black Panther, Hawkgirl’s solo book, Maximum Security, etc), but you know what the beauty of most crap in comics is?
Most of it gets forgotten. Publishers and editors and writers look at some things in the canon, raise their WTF flags, and wipe it out. Sometimes they do an active retcon and show us how the moment is getting wiped from continuity, while other times they just go the route of ignoring that it ever happened. It works. I mean, sometimes good things get retconned in favor of bigger stories (I was pretty pissed when Magneto came back from his death in Planet X within six months of it happening, even if I am glad now that he’s around), but usually stuff just gets wiped (Nightcrawler being the son of a mutant from biblical times that was mistaken as Satan, who must come to Earth to knock up women to bear his kids so that he can come to Earth). That’s just the nature of comics though, bad stories happen.
Unfortunately, that sometimes ends up working against us, the fans. On occasion the bad stories are the ones that the editors want to have happen the most, which means that regardless of how we, the fans, feel about them, we’re stuck with it. That’s what happened to Spider-Man, an editorial mandate to change the status quo of the character in an unnecessary manner, which leaves the result of a character that, for all his similarities to the one we know and love, isn’t quite the same.
Back in the nineties we had a book that would give us little glimpses though, ideas as to what the books would have been like had some events happened differently. Sure, What If?! still shows up for an end of the year event, but it’s not the same. We used to have it every single month, with stories from all over the Marvel universe.
Better as a What If?!
From What If?! Wolverine fought Weapon X to What If?! Punisher killed Spider-Man. What If?! Professor X had become Juggernaut, What If?! Storm had remained a thief, What If?! Venom had possessed the Punisher, What If?! the Age of Apocalypse had not ended, What If?! Scarlet Spider killed Spider-Man, What If?! Wolverine became savage, What If?! Captain America had awoken in a Dytopian America, What If?! Colossus had joined the USSR’s Super Soldiers, What If?! all the participants of Secret Wars had been trapped on Battleworld, the list goes on and on and on.
Hell, now they even put out like five a year that follow a theme. The concept is great, and it has longevity if you know how to use it.
But did I really just segue from Spider-Man to What If?! Why would I possibly ever do that? Wait, maybe there is a reason. Maybe there’s a very special issue of What If?! that I feel is worth speaking about.
What If?! #105. What if Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s child had survived?
Ever heard of that one? It’s best known for being the first appearance of one of the most popular Spider-characters in the franchise. May “Mayday” Parker, the Amazing Spider-Girl.
I remember buying the issue at the local news stand and reading it on my walk home and immediately knowing something was special about it. It was just that kind of book, it inspired a thought in you that maybe there was something to the idea behind the future lineage of the Parker line. That maybe it would actually be possible to age Spider-Man and still maintain the same feel. It was a great book, and it even created its own little universe.
What If?! was canceled less than a year later with #114, and yet oddly enough, a mere eight months after her debut she had popped up again. Spider-Girl #0 hit stands, giving us a reprint of that What If?! issue as it led into one hundred issues and nearly eight years of fun and classic story telling. For those of us that read Marvel in the nineties it just felt right, it was the way we were with familiar. Team ups randomly, drama interspliced throughout the book, long lasting story arcs without numbered parts, the works. And as Marvel evolved into what it is today, Spider-Girl didn’t budge.
It was the lone survivor of the MC2 universe, as J2 and A-Next each ended at #12, while Wild Thing and Fantastic Five ended at #5. Spider-Girl supporting characters DarkDevil and The Buzz each got mini-series. A few years ago the universe hit a long overdue growth point starting with Last Hero Standing, a miniseries about the broader universe rather than just May. After that we had Last Planet Standing, A-Next, Fantastic Five, even American Dream. And damn near all of it was written by Tom DeFalco. That’s what I call a labor of love, for the past ten years the former Editor in Chief has done nothing but play in his own Spider sandbox (alright, so he does some other things throughout the industry, but still. I haven’t seen a non-MC2 book with his name on it hit the shelves at my LCS since he still wrote Spidey).
Spider-Girl had an immediate appeal to me as a reader, possibly the same appeal that Spider-Man had on my parents’ generation. Here was a character that was my age, was a believable teenager, and yet had amazing powers, and a spectacular lineage, and had to balance everything. Often attempted, rarely successful in my experience as a reader, and yet here’s one that worked. It was fun, witty, and most importantly had a strong ongoing plot. The characters felt natural, and most importantly, human. The book featured a well developed supporting cast, one that sticks around to this day with several gains and only a few losses, and the book has this wonderful habit of covering forgotten continuity.
Like Normie Osborn. And Kaine. Or the Scriers. Not to mention the fact that Ben Reilly existed in the first place. Though I’m possibly just bitter that these things I remember reading about growing up are wiped clean and forgotten.
Marvel, question, how are Harry and Norman both back from the dead, and yet there is no mention of Harry’s very alive son?
I’ve been watching May since the day she got her powers. I remember her first time out in a costume, dressed up like her Uncle Ben, I remember how she fought Normie Osborn in that issue. I remember Crazy Eight, Killerwatt, Mr. Abnormal, Mr. Nobody, Funny Face, Canis, Dragon King, Angel Face, Raptor, hell, I even remember Gerry Drew. I remember when Moose developed his crush on Courtney simply because he thought she was Spider-Girl, I also remember when Jimmy Yama almost killed him with a punch to the neck. How about when May did something that her dad thought was impossible and ended the Parker/Osborn feud by taking on Normie Osborn as one of her best friends and helping him find his redemption? She survived and talked down a psychotic Green Goblin, and befriended him for life, WHILE POWERLESS!
Spider-Girl took the last few years of Spider-Man before it was relaunched under Howard Mackie’s pencil and it rewrote them to be more akin to what Tom DeFalco had in mind. During the Final Chapter, when Peter discovered that it was Aunt May who had been secretly alive, we saw a drastic shift. In the MC2 world, Peter’s aunt died in Amazing #400, there was no actress with altered DNA. It was May Parker. Kaine, the failed clone of Peter Parker, personally rescued Peter’s daughter and returned her to Peter and Mary Jane, giving them the chance to raise their own daughter. Two years after she was returned to them, the Final Chapter happened and wound up being the final showdown for Peter and Norman. Norman was killed, and Peter lost his leg. Spider-Man’s days as a super hero were over, and Peter Parker’s days as a responsible father were just beginning. He took a job working for the police as a scientist, working alongside Phil Urich (the Good Goblin) to fight the good fight without powers or costumes.
Look at poor Peter, just the idea that a One More Day logo is making him seethe in anger.
May grew into the perfect mix of her parents; the grace, beauty, and natural popularity of her mother, while she inherited her father’s intellect, sense of responsibility…..and Spider powers.
Her early days were met with hurdles, of course. Her first battle against the Green Goblin ended with victory, but she and her parents burnt the costume she wore and the gear. Of course, she has her father’s responsibility, so do you really think that would last? She donned a black costume made up of gym clothes and a ski mask, and sought training from other sources while trying her hardest to keep her parents from discovering she was trying to be a hero. This lasted about six issues. Thankfully, despite her parent’s constant protests, May was able to get her father to train her, as well as her Uncle Phil.
May’s “I’m gonna mug you!” costume
She adopted the costume of her Uncle Ben, who died before she was born. She was raised with stories about how great of a man he was, about the kind of hero he was. Never in her life has she been told that he was the clone of Peter Parker, always that he was Peter’s cousin that was as close as a brother. And to be honest, I’m quite glad. Ben was a major part of DeFalco’s Spider-Man era, and a huge part of May’s origin. His legacy kept carrying on throughout the book as we saw things like Felicity Hardy, the new Scarlet Spider; or when Peter and MJ had their second child, a son named Ben, and May asked which of their Uncle Ben’s he was named after and Peter asked “Does it matter?” Or I could just bring up Reilly Tyne, the enigimatic Darkdevil, otherwise known as the bastard son of Ben Reilly.
Over the past ten years we’ve really had a chance to watch May mature; from her starts as the headstrong daughter of Spider-Man, going by natural ability rather than skill as she tried to satiate her sense of responsibility without proper training, to the now incredibly competent, and incredibly well training hero. Her list of teachers? Peter Parker, Phil Urich, Normie Osborn, the Ladyhawks, the Avengers, Elektra, the list goes on and on. She’s created ties and connections all throughout the MC2 universe, as it lives and breathes through her title. And as she’s grown older, and wiser, her villains have grown that much more dangerous. The Venom symbiote had returned from time to time to cause trouble, providing her with an early rival that was completely out of her league. Normie’s time as the Goblin was a bigger test then most people would think at first glance, since it was her first appearance and she won, but he’s been a dangerous villain in his time. She even had to deal with the new Raptor on several levels, both as a nemesis before her reformation, and then in a love triangle afterwards when May realized she loved Normie and Brenda (Raptor) was getting engaged to him.
There’s also one of my favorite Spider-Man villains who came back, Roderick Kingsley. The original, and greatest, Hobgoblin. Kingsley is easily the most dangerous villain she’s ever faced, having shown his ruthlessness from the start, and the fact that he’s a kind of Goblin that a Spider rarely faces….a sane one. Making matters worse, he eventually took control of the New York underworld, making life for our favorite wall crawler even worse! There was also a time when Carnage returned and took over her friend Moose, the results of which left her brother deaf, and Moose hating Spider-Girl.
Look at that, a black costume, just like her dad used to have.
Ahhhh, nostalgia. How I love it, how I adore it. MC2 has been telling old school stories in a modern setting for the past ten years, it was Ultimate Marvel before there was an Ultimate Marvel. It proved to us that you don’t need to start from scratch to tell new stories in the old feel, that sometimes the best way is to just move forward. We have an aged, graying Peter Parker with a wife and two kids, with a real full time job. We have Mary Jane who’s trying to make the conversion from home maker into part time guidance counselor, while being a mother of two….where one happens to be a super hero. Think about that and the character development that comes along with it. Peter and Mary Jane are parents of a super hero, they have to sit back every day and hope their daughter comes home, that nothing horrible happens to her. Peter has, on more than one occasion, put his own life on the line to try and save her, but how much can a one legged Spider-Man truly do against the likes of Hobgoblin or Fury, the Goblin Queen?
Just the existence of the title goes to show that the editorial mandates of Marvel are unneeded. Why do we need a single Peter Parker when we have proof that the character actually gains more depth when his responsibilities grow to encompass kids and a real job? I don’t need to feel like Spidey is my age, that doesn’t impress me or help me relate to him, it just makes for frustration. I remember a few years ago when Peter was teaching high school science, and now he’s my age again. You can’t subtract years. Ugh.
Clone Saga, Spider-Girl style
You know what’s priceless? May doing her web-slinging when all of the sudden her phone rings and she has to manage a secret identity conversation with one of her friends while trying to fight the bad guys. Or May having a crush on Franklin Richards of the Fantastic Five that is utterly destroyed by her dad outing her as fifteen to the older teen, that was a great moment too. I can honestly do this all day, just bring up moments in the book that I remember fondly; like the time when she helped return Reed and Sue Richards to her Marvel universe. I really need to stop doing that and just go ahead and make a point.
May has grown up around us, before our very eyes. From a fifteen year old girl with newly manifesting powers and an urge to be a super hero despite her parent’s wishes against it, to a seventeen year old card-carrying Avenger who’s saved the world with her parents blessing on countless occasions. No matter what happens, one thing is always for sure where May is concerned. Even when she hangs up the webs, we know it’s not the end of her. Responsibility like her fathers is going to keep our girl in the webs for a long, long time…..even if we’re not going to get to see it.
In a post One More Day world, we had but one refuge, the little book that could. Ten years of amazing story telling, and a hundred and thirty-one original issues, and she will always be our girl.
I’ll miss you May, there will always be a Spider-Girl shaped hole in my heart now that I’m without your presence.
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/100813-Spider-Girl-axe.html
At the same time, this is like, the sixth time that this has happened. So the rest of you fans, you know the drill, and to those who are new to the table….get your pens and paper ready, and start writing. Snail mail campaigns work! Just ask the guys over at the Spider-Girl message boards, they’re the experts.
Did you know that Spider-Girl is the longest running female solo book in Marvel’s history?
I hear voices in my head, they council me, they understand, they talk to me….
Surprise of the week had to be Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, though that isn’t a slight against the almighty James Robinson, not at all. See, I look at a book called “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen” with a price tag of $4.99 and I expect maybe 15 pages of new story and an ass ton of reprint material. The idea that it was going to one giant over sized story? Blew my mind in the best way. My proverbial hat off to you, Mr. Robinson, I guess there’s a reason that your name alone gives me the confidence to throw down any amount of cash for a chance to read the contents.
Not to knock on Dan Jurgens, but how about Pat Oliffe in Booster Gold this week? I wouldn’t mind seeing him do some more pencils on this title, or, hell, any big book. Always been a fan.
Uncanny X-Men has been a highlight for me since 500 hit stands, but there’s always something irking me. Usually every issue has a part that makes me roll my eyes and go ‘why?’, and this issue just happened to open up with it. Sam Guthrie is NOT 21. There is no chance in hell that this issue opened with his 21st birthday, no chance in hell. Do you really expect me to believe that it’s only been five or six years since New Mutants launched back in 1982? That X-Force was a bunch of sixteen and seventeen year old kids? That Graydon Creed let an undercover X-Man on his campaign that couldn’t have been older then eighteen? Rahne I can buy still being twenty, but the rest of the original New Mutants are at least twenty-two each. Fuck, Roberto is the Black King of the Hellfire Club, and he’s the same age as Sam! You don’t appoint a twenty year old to lead the fucking Hellfire Club!
Still not liking Khoi Pham’s art too much on Mighty Avengers, but more on that later in the month when I do my next Avengers Power Review.
Ultimate Origins wrapped up this past week and left me with one big flag waving question. What the hell? It was cool to see the secret origin of Nicky Fury and Wolverine, and I even thought the Hulk stuff was awesome, but was that really it? Was this really the last issue of the mini? It felt like it belonged somewhere in the middle, what with creating more questions than it answered.
Was at my comic shop picking up this past week’s haul when I mentioned buying Supergirl, the owner (who I’ve known since I was probably eleven or twelve) looks at me in shock and horror, utterly speechless. My response? “What? It was actually good.” She could hardly look at me. But it’s ok, you’re still awesome AJ!
Ever tried to fix your internet connection by standing next to the router and blowing smoke on it? I did today, kind of by coincidence, but it worked! Of course, don’t try this at home, since I’ve actually killed a router before with smoke. Then again, I have a friend who chain smokes in his office and has for three years without his router ever having an issue, so it’s quite possible my luck sucks.
Anybody want to contribute to the “Buy Grey an Xbox 360” fund? I would really appreciate it ;-).
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow was a pretty fun movie, even if reading it did nothing but remind me of What If?! #114 with the next generation of heroes…..which was infinitely better. I actually will go out and recommend this to anyone with a couple bucks to spend that want to watch a decent animated flick. Even if some of the plot feels forced, and the end battle feels slightly anti-climatic, it’s still a lot of fun.
X-Men: Worlds Apart continues the recent trend of Christopher Yost titles that make me groan from the beginning and for the next twenty pages, only to hook me with a last page reveal that makes the whole book seem worthwhile. It’s been far too long since we saw the Shadow King, so I’m very excited for issue two.
DC Decisions continues to remind me of everything wrong with comics, I mean, right now Jericho of the Titans is trying to kill the presidential candidates. Think about that. And how about Flash being a political pariah after making a blatant joke that the news media took as him being unpatriotic? It’s just…..crappy, crappy concept.
Skimmed the finale of New Ways to Die and the Stephen Colbert thing and……wow, what a waste. Sure there were funny moments, like Colbert keeping a pocket list of who’s on notice, or him helping Spidey fight the Grizzly, but it still felt……like it shouldn’t have been in Spider-Man maybe?
For the WoW enthusiasts reading, I can proudly say as I type this I just got the best achievement ever, and now my name reads ‘Bolvox Jenkins’…..LEROY! I almost yearn for a Serenity Now achievement where they make it clear just how big of a prick you are for having it.
Superjail is all kinds of guilty pleasure, as I still have no true idea why I like the show and yet I’m hooked on it. Very brutal, very graphic, hell, that’s probably it.
Legion of Three Worlds is all kinds of awesome. Rond Vidar, FTW! The entire issue is a fanboy’s dream, I mean, I finally get to see the post ZH Legion again, which is my Legion, and it was even clarified that they are currently without a world of their own. We also got to see the future of the Green Lantern Corps, and the last Guardian! I want to say who it is, but spoils! Just know that it was sprocking awesome!
I’m going out of my way to avoid talking politics, which is damn near impossible since right now is the big election, so I’m just going to level it out with a single political thought of mine just because I need to get it off my mind. Sarah Palin is a fucking idiot. She has yet to make a single valid point that wasn’t force fed to her by the party, which is obvious by how she’s constantly recycling the same speeches and points, word for word. Not to say that the other don’t (the Daily Show did this wonderful bit on McCain doing the same thing, but I’m not here to talk smack on him or Obama), but Palin is just horrible about it. Not to mention that she’s encouraging the republican base to stand up and call Obama an Arab and a terrorist, which is just the epitome of ignorant. And I can’t remember the last time she did a speech without saying “Barack Hussein” or “Hussein Obama”, which is just…..Sarah! You’re showing your red! Hell, speaking of red, after seeing Joe the Plumber talk to the media, is it any wonder why McCain kept bringing him up? Back on topic, back on topic. At least John McCain has the decency to stand up and say “Hey, that’s not acceptable. He’s a good man, even if he’s my opponent, don’t label him a terrorist out of ignorance and bigotry.” Just remember, the woman who called Obama an Arab to McCain’s face was immediately cut off. When Palin has a crowd yelling for Obama’s death for being an evil terrorist, the lady just stands and grins like a fucking idiot. Ugh. There, vented, politics over. At least until I read DC Decisions some more, then I’ll rant.
What I read this week:
- Booster Gold
- Brave and the Bold
- Legion of Three Worlds
- Rogues Revenge
- JSA
- Robin
- Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen
- Amazing Spider-Girl
- Astonishing X-Men
- Mighty Avengers
- NYX No Way Home
- Ultimate Origins
- Uncanny X-Men
Best of the week:
- Legion of Three Worlds
- Rogues Revenge
- Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen
What I watched this week:
- Entourage
- Dexter
- Heroes
- Chuck
- South Park
- Venture Bros
- Superjail
The Gold Standard
