Spider-Girl, v. 1: Family Values

Collects: Spider-Girl v. 2 #1-8, back-up from Amazing Spider-Man #648 (2011)

Released: August 2011 (Marvel)

Format: 208 pages / color / $19.99 / ISBN: 9780785146940

What is this?: Anya Corazon embraces the name Spider-Girl and begins her own adventures.

The culprits: Writer Paul Tobin and artists Clayton Henry and Matthew Southworth

I’ve complained at length about the difficulty of establishing and selling new characters in mainstream comics. But as hard as it is, the task should be a high priority for Marvel and DC, given that both are owned by huge entertainment corporations that need new concepts constantly. Warner Brothers and Disney want new characters — ones created some time after the Vietnam War, preferably — that can be sold to a new generation of consumers, and a lot of ideas can still be generated and tested in a short time in comics.

Although commercial appeal should not be artists’ main concern, it is the main concern of the companies that employ those artists. I’m not sure why Warner Brothers and Disney don’t encourage, by threat or incentive, their subsidiaries to devote more resources and patience to new characters; the Marvel movie universe should show how lucrative one sustained burst of creativity, lasting just a few years, can be.

Until then, we get newer characters in dribs and drabs. Take Spider-Girl, for instance. Originally, Anya Corazon was Araña, a character whose most prominent selling point was her ethnicity. Predictably, that went over badly. When her original series was cancelled, she was separated from her mystic origin and put into the Young Allies. That series lasted as long as you would expect a team book with Firestar as its most recognizable character to last.

But Marvel didn’t give up on Anya, and good for them. The concept has the seeds of a good, marketable idea: spunky, young female protagonist who adds a little ethnic diversity to the Marvel Universe and who can be linked to Spider-Man. The “Grim Hunt” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man strengthened Anya’s ties to Spider-Man; change her code name, and viola! The result is Spider-Girl, v. 1: Family Values. Volume 1 is the totality of the series, though — the series was cancelled after eight issues. But is there anything here to salvage going forward? Maybe.

Writer Paul Tobin has decided that since Anya is a teenager in the ‘10s, she should be on Twitter … as Spider-Girl. I applaud Tobin for trying to find something new and unique for the character, something that fits her character. Spider-Girl’s tweets aren’t as intrusive as you might suspect, since they fill the same niche as text boxes with characters’ thoughts (which themselves replaced thought bubbles). This approach works as long as the reader doesn’t think too much about it; however, there’s no place for a phone on her skin-tight costume, and as another character reveals, her tweets reveal too much about Spider-Girl’s real name. We’re probably supposed to believe Anya is tweeting after she returns to her civilian ID, but given the detail and number of her tweets, I’d think another form of social networking — Reddit? a blog? — would be a better choice. Harder to make work on the comics page, though.

Tobin also tries to integrate Spider-Girl into the wider Marvel Universe. This is also a great idea, but the execution is lacking. Spider-Man is a natural fit for Spider-Girl, especially after Grim Hunt. The first story in Family Values, the back-up from Amazing Spider-Man #648, shows that working relationship: Spider-Girl intimidated but competent, with Spider-Girl not at the level of an Avenger but still an effective street-level hero. And that’s who Spider-Girl should be meeting: street-level heroes such as Daredevil, Heroes for Hire, Moon Knight, etc. Chuck a brick out the window in Marvel New York, and you hit a street-level hero.

But in #1, Anya is palling around with the Invisible Woman and the rest of the Fantastic Four, which feels wrong. I’m not sure if Tobin created the connection between Gil Corazon and the Fantastic Four, but the Fantastic Four is the first family of Marvel, and the connection draws Anya toward the middle of the Marvel Universe; writing Spider-Girl as important to the Fantastic Four and the Spider-Man makes Tobin seem like he’s trying too hard to push Spider-Girl, although the attempt is not as egregious Tamora Pierce and Timothy Liebe’s effort in White Tiger. By the end of the story, Spider-Girl is showing up Spider-Man and taunting the Red Hulk when she should be teaming up with young heroes like Bucky, her friend and classmate from Young Allies, or complementing more experienced heroes.

Anya could be a simple character with a simple, if well-worn, hook: a high-school girl with a connection to Spider-Man, balancing fighting street-level crime and a personal life centered around school and friends. But Anya was already a convoluted character before this series. Her original series made her the super-powered operative of the Spider Society, which fought the Sisterhood of the Wasp in a mystical war. During Civil War, she hobnobbed with famous heroes, such as Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man. There’s a cryptic mention in Family Values of her learning advanced computer skills from SHIELD, but I have no idea where that comes from. None of this backstory is mentioned in Family Values — the extremely brief recap page from Spider-Girl #1 is entirely insufficient. But whether Tobin is hiding these complications, trying to push across a slightly rolled-back version of Anya before pushing her back into the MU, or deprecating her complications because they aren’t relevant, it’s for the best: none of those stories make her more interesting.

Tobin nicely balances Spider-Girl’s heroism with Anya’s personal life. Anya and her father move, giving Tobin a chance to introduce a new supporting cast. In theory, that’s good, allowing the book to distance itself from Araña. However, Tobin goes too far. Her friendship with Bucky, both in and out of costume, was one of the strengths of Young Allies, but Bucky is barely in Family Values, and she’s never in costume. Worse, Tobin kills Anya’s father in the first issue. (That’s hardly a spoiler; it’s on the back cover.) Beyond the complicated questions of grief that should grip the book, it leaves the question of how a high-school student would be allowed to live without a guardian. (She could be 18, but I never had that impression.) It also removes a character who should have had a strong supporting role in favor of cheap pathos; Gil Corazon had much more potential as a father than as a corpse. Rocky, who becomes Anya’s best friend and roommate, never quite becomes interesting enough to fill in the gap. I’m sure the Fantastic Four, Marvel’s First Family, is supposed to serve as a surrogate family, but that feels forced.

Tobin does an excellent job of choosing adversaries for Spider-Girl. Screwball (a parkour-using publicity hound) and Ana Kravinoff (Kraven the Hunter’s daughter) are thematically excellent choices, although since Spider-Man has had some trouble with both of them, Spider-Girl’s victories over both does make Spider-Man look weak next to a unpowered teenager. Hobgoblin is a bit out of her league, but Spider-Man gets involved with their fight, making the heroes’ victory more believable. The Red Hulk is a mistake — not just in this book, but as a character. But the assorted muggers and thus, of course, are exactly what is needed.

Family Values also introduces Raven, a secret organization with scientists and augmented operatives in the same vein as the Secret Empire, the Corporation, AIM, etc. Raven plans to blackmail or suborn Spider-Girl into becoming its agent; it’s cute that one of its operatives thinks having Spider-Girl on Raven’s side is going to make a big difference — cute, and totally believable in the tunnel-vision way of mad planners. I’m assuming Tobin had plans to make this slow-burning plot last longer; the resolution, which takes up all of #7 and 8, feels rushed and has all the hurried hallmarks of a plot that has to be wrapped up before cancellation. There’s nothing unique about Raven that required it to be a new group — there are dozens of similar groups in Marvel history waiting for resurrection — but perhaps Tobin had something specific in mind that didn’t fit other groups.

Family Values has two pencilers on its main stories: Matthew Southworth, who drew #4 and 5 (the fight vs. Ana Kravinoff), and Clayton Henry, who drew the rest. Henry provides most of the pencils. His work is clear and pleasant, although occasionally the characters come across as a little plastic. Southworth has the more unusual style, reminiscent of Michael Lark — a good comparison when you’re dealing with two people of normal power levels kicking and punching each other. Dean Haspiel’s cartoony art is an excellent complement to Tobin’s amusing backup in #1, in which a young Anya meets the Fantastic Four for the first time. Chris Sotomayor, the colorist, has trouble finding a consistent skin tone for Anya. Her skin runs the gamut from light to dark, and she switches between being a brunette and a redhead.

So is there much to salvage from Family Values? The character of Anya, perhaps, but she was in better shape at the end of Young Allies. The stories and art are solid but not spectacular, so reading Family Values is not time wasted. But by trying to add too many new connections to the hero, Tobin’s restart doesn’t add much to the character; it serves as a detriment, actually, making the character less relatable and taking away Anya’s father. The story with Raven and the Red Hulk is wrapped up with a neat bow at the end, so the story’s main plot has few-to-no loose ends. (The exception is that another civilian knows her secret identity.) Family Values gives writers the opportunity to team Anya with the Fantastic Four. I’m not sure that’s a positive, though.

Rating: (2.5 of 5)

Spider-Girl, v. 10: Season of the Serpent

Collects: Spider-Girl #52-9 (2002-3)

Released: January 2009 (Marvel)

Format: 184 pages / color digest / $9.99 / ISBN: 9780785132134

What is this?: May makes a romantic choice, goes to an alternate universe, and fights a villain far more powerful than she is.

The culprits: Writers Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz and pencilers Pat Olliffe and Ron Frenz

Some series you keep buying because of momentum. It hooked you in the beginning — characters, plot, writing, art, something — and you still want to find out how it ends. But you’re not excited any more. If you took a deep look at your buying habits, you’d probably be better off not spending the money on that series any more. Not that you’d want to admit that.

I have to admit, the Spider-Girl digest series was getting that way with me. It hadn’t found its way into that category yet, but if I was being honest with myself, it was only a matter of time. And then along came Spider-Girl, v. 10: Season of the Serpent, and I don’t have to worry about momentum being the only thing making me buy this series.

Finally, May makes a decision about her love life, instead of endlessly vacillating. Mary Jane’s pregnancy finally — finally — ends. May comes closer to making her peace with Kaine, Alison Mongrain, and Felicity Hardy. We finally see Blackie Drago again. In short, the background plots seem like they are moving for once, and that injects some interest into the story. It felt as if writer Tom DeFalco was going to let some of them simmer forever.

The main plot is above average, but it doesn’t generate as much interest as the side plots. The Sons of the Serpent, a hate group, are back, and this time they are backed by Seth, an Egyptian serpent god. Of course this means May is vastly overmatched, which makes the story a bit more entertaining, and it allows her to experience her own trapped-underwater / mother-figure-needs-medicine / won’t-give-up moment that Spider-Man gave us in Amazing Spider-Man #33. The Serpents and their hate-group activities get short shrift; they’re there simply as a bunch of goons you can safely hope get beaten up. Whatever time it might take to make them interesting is given over to an alternate universe story that takes up most of two issues. While those issues do provide some characterization, it seems mostly a vehicle to bring Captain America to the M2 universe. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; it just seems to sap the narrative flow a bit.

The art is good, if not spectacular, once again. Pat Olliffe provides most of the pencils, with Ron Frenz, who co-wrote the issues he penciled, chipping in at the beginning and end of the volume. The two artists’ styles blend remarkably well, something that doesn’t seem to happen all that often. I have to give Frenz extra points for drawing May in a slightly different style of clothing while she was considering giving up the superheroing life.

The contents of Serpent takes some of the sting out of the new $9.99 digest price; for the first time I can remember, one of Marvel’s digests has more than six issues. In this case, it’s eight, and that seems like a fair deal for $10. The rumors have the next volume allegedly containing seven issues, which is not as good but doesn’t feel like Marvel’s trying to cheat me — unless the $12.99 price is also correct, and then I’m getting ripped off.

Still, even if I’m not looking forward to that price, Serpent has me looking forward to the next digest.

Rating: (4 of 5)

Last Hero Standing

Collects: Last Hero Standing #1-5 (2005)

Released: September 2005 (Marvel)

Format: 120 pages / color / $13.99 / ISBN: 9780785118237

What is this?: The heroes of the future Marvel Universe face a dark threat as their cohorts are kidnapped.

The culprits: Writer Tom DeFalco and artist Pat Olliffe

Now in Canceled Alternate Future Theater, we have Last Hero Standing. Do you care whether future versions of Marvel heroes live or die? Do you even know who the featured, younger heroes in this book are? I’m going to guess the answer to both is “No” and proceed from there.

At a couple of points early in the MC2 Universe’s existence, it had three titles, but within a year and a half of the imprint’s founding in 1998, it had been pared down to one title: Spider-Girl. This left several loose ends, with both new characters and familiar Marvel Universe characters still running around. To capitalize on this, Marvel released Last Hero Standing.

In Hero, superheroes begin disappearing — Wolverine, Spider-Man, the Thing, one of the Ladyhawks — and the other heroes blindly investigate. As more are abducted and the remaining heroes come closer to finding the truth, the missing heroes return as ‘90s version of themselves, albeit without pouches, spikes, or shoulder pads. No, they’re grittier and grimmer, and they are out for the blood of those they loosely define as villains. Meanwhile, the aged Captain America wrestles with failing abilities in an environment in which small failures could lead to death — his or another’s.

There’s not much to say about Hero, good or ill. It’s most of a universe folded into a single limited series, much in the *ahem* proud tradition of 2099: World of Tomorrow. Cramming umpteen heroes into one story means plot will likely be more important than characterizations. True, the Avengers and Spider-Girl display differentiated personalities, but none of them make an impression.

And the plot is not one of writer Tom DeFalco’s stronger MC2 efforts. The abduction, mind control, and last-second saving the day aren’t anything new. The ending will hinge on whether you get choked up by the fate of alternate future versions of familiar characters. DeFalco leans more on Marvel heroes readers are more familiar with than he did in the A-Next run, but the jarring effect of the normally heroic characters becoming vicious is cushioned by the passage of years between the 616 Universe and MC2 — we don’t know what happened during those years.

Pat Olliffe does his usual good work on an MC2 title. Interestingly, this is one of the few times I’ve gotten to see his work in a full-size reproduction rather than a digest, and I’m surprised how much the smaller size and cheaper paper seems to harm his work. Seeing Olliffe in a normal size makes me realize the digests might not be as big a bargain as I thought. It still won’t stop me from buying future digests, but this does alert me as to what I’m missing.

Still, I have to say this is an underwhelming book. If you want to know more about the history of the MC2 Universe, you read Hero. If not, go elsewhere. It’s as simple as that.

Rating: (2 of 5)

December Marvel Solicits

Speaking of Marvel’s December solicitations, here are the books I’m thinking of getting, which means that these books will probably be reviewed on the site:

• The aforementioned Runaways, v. 8: Dead End Kids, although they don’t call it v. 8. How long has it been since v. 7? Forever? (Actually since April 2007. Somehow it took more than a year and a half to publish six issues.) I suppose getting Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog was worth some of that wait, but geez, Whedon — have you heard of a deadline, or is that something that only the other Marvel writers have to deal with?
• X-Factor, v. 5: The Only Game in Town. Peter David is doing quite well with this title, and I’m eager for another volume. My review of v. 4 is coming up in a few weeks. I’m a little peeved there seems to be no plan to reprint X-Factor #25-7 — or if there is, I don’t know what it is. [EDITED: I see now it’s part of the X-Men: Messiah CompleX TPB. I thought TPB was entirely made of backup stories, but I see now I was thinking of Endangered Species.] Once there was a time when it would have been unthinkable that I would have been so out of touch with the status quo of the X-Books, but now, there’s nothing strange about it at all.
• Amazing Spider-Girl, v. 4: Brand New May. I keep buying the TPBs from the Amazing Spider-Girl, but I can’t read them until I catch up on the original Spider Girl series, so there won’t be a review for quite a while. Marvel hasn’t published a digest in a year. They will have published three of Amazing TPBs in that time. From June 2006 to October 2007, they published four Spider-Girl digests. Don’t leave me hanging, Marvel!
• Powers, v. 12: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of All Time. Another volume of Powers. I’m assuming this one will be published as scheduled; other collections from this series keep getting delayed because Oeming and Bendis can’t be bothered.

What about you readers out there in the Sub-Etha Network? What will you buy? Do you have recommendations for reviews? I can’t promise I’ll actually buy them, but I might find a way to get the books to review it (interlibrary loan is a wonderful tool).

Spider-Girl, v. 7: Betrayed

Collects: Spider-Girl #34-8, 51 (2001, 2002)

Released: November 2006 (Marvel)

Format: 144 pages / color digest / $7.99 / ISBN: 9780785121572

Despite the name, there seems to be a singular lack of betrayal in Spider-Girl, v. 6: Betrayed.

Betrayal of any of the protagonists, anyway. Writer Tom DeFalco spends the book amiably advancing plotlines — the second Spider-Man, Spider-Girl’s new power, Normie Osborn’s career plans, Raptor’s rehabilitation, Phil Urich’s aspirations. It makes for a surprisingly low-key volume, especially given the incipient gang war.

And DeFalco’s setting up even more plotlines, with Flash and the Black Cat’s daughter Felicity in Midtown High and their difficulties with their son, Gene. A former Spider-Woman and surprise reveal comes to see Peter about the new Spider-Man. The soap operas at May’s high school are a little tiresome; other than May’s relationships (none at the moment) and the amusing Moose / Courtney pairing (dimwit Moose thinks dumpy Courtney is Spider-Girl), I just don’t care.

This volume also includes a fill-in issue, #51, by Sean McKeever and Casey Jones, about a freshman with a crush on May. He writes her a mash note just before his family moves away (to Northern Plains — Wisconsin, one supposes, this being written by McKeever). Mostly forgettable, even the fight between Spider-Girl and a female Electro.

And that’s the problem with this volume, in a nutshell. Nothing’s really at stake, there’s a lot of fighting, and I can’t be bothered to care about the villains. Funny Face and Crazy 8 are a little too “wacky” for me, and Mr. Nobody is a little too knowing of the conventions of the genre. Canis is interesting, though, in a Lobo Brothers rip-off sort of way.

Pat Olliffe provides his usual level of art; having to spends so much time on Crazy 8 and Funny Face doesn’t’ do him any favors, although Felicity and Felicia Hardy are impressive (and not in a cheesecake way, either). There is a color separation problem on several pages late in my copy of the book, although it doesn’t interfere with the comprehension.

Unless you’re thrilled by Funny Face, Crazy 8, and more Phil Urich Golden Goblin, the surprise Spider-Woman revelation is about the only outstanding moment in Betrayed.

Rating: (2.5 of 5)

Spider-Girl, v. 6: Too Many Spiders!

Collects: Spider-Girl #28-33 (2001)

Released: June 2006 (Marvel)

Format: 144 pages / color (digest size) / $7.99 / ISBN: 0785121560

Spider-Girl is Marvel’s little title that could. Based on an issue of What If? (v. 2), Spider-Girl is the last survivor of a doomed comic line (M2) that focused on characters about a generation later than the current Marvel Universe. This continuity is dominated by the offspring of current heroes, and Spider-Girl is May Parker, daughter of Spider-Man.

The series lasted 100 issues and will be relaunched as Amazing Spider-Girl in October. Part of its longevity comes from the sale of cheap digest reprints to the bookstore market. Spider-Girl, v. 6: Too Many Spiders! is the latest of these volumes.

Writer Tom DeFalco and artist Pat Olliffe tell old-school stories, stories that hearken back to the early days of Amazing Spider-Man. That’s good, in many ways; there aren’t many books that consistently give readers simple, straightforward superhero stories. It’s strange, but it’s true.

On the other hand, DeFalco (and Olliffe, who’s listed as co-plotter) retell / mine / copy old Spider-man stories. In this volume, May deals with losing her powers, which her father has done more than a few times, and then she regains them, as he always does. Other choices seem a little iffy. A new Spider-Man comes to New York, a probable link to the Clone Saga — now there’s a plot graveyard no one wants exhumed. The Steel Spider is a joke, and even 20 years after his last appearance, the joke’s wearing a little thin. Perhaps most bizarre, DeFalco choose George Washington Bridge — a former associate of the outlaw mutant Cable, a former high-ranking member of SHIELD, and a character I don’t think he’s ever had much contact with — as president of the United States. Weird.

This volume feels very missable. May lost her powers at the end of the previous volume, and in Too Many Spiders, she has to deal with it. She’s spunky, and she grows as a character, realizing she has responsibilities whether or not she has powers. But the powers unsurprisingly come back by the end of the volume, and the issues collected seem to be waiting around for that to happen. Nothing happens in May’s love life. There’s an issue with the Steel Spider, and a few taken up with Raptor and the Buzz, none of which are too exciting. Neither one of them is a villain now; in fact, the world seems to be taking it easy on May while she’s lost her powers.

The fights lack oomph; May battles the Avengers, Tony Stark’s superpowered lackey, the reformed Raptor, and the new Spider-Man. None of these are villains. The characters of Normie Osborn, Raptor, and the Buzz are softened so that they don’t / can’t provide any opposition to May, and even Mary Jane and Peter aren’t able to effectively butt into May’s life like they want. The lack of a good villain, the lack of a menace or even a challenge adds to the feeling of missability.

The storylines with Raptor, Normie, and the Buzz moving toward the right side of the law also interesting, but they lack a little something; May has no doubt of their sincerity, so she has no qualms about defending them against her pals in the Avengers. The reader knows May is right as well, so there’s no tension. Unless this is a set up for stories down the line about at least one reformed villain, the part fails to live up to its intrigue. Besides, May isn’t exactly awash in catch villains. She can’t really afford to give them up.

Because of the circularity of the powerlessness plot, Too Many Spiders seems like a cul-de-sac. It’s not an essential volume; on the other hand, its strengths lie in the strengths that have been infused into the Spider-Girl title: the setting, the old-school style, and the smoother continuity.

Rating: (2 of 5)