MC2: The End...For Now! Part 2

As I outlined yesterday, Spider-Girl's 12 year publishing career took on many incarnations, with several near-cancellations along the way. The (almost) constant amidst this was creator/writer Tom DeFalco, architect of the MC2 line. DeFalco, formerly Marvel's editor-in-chief, wrote What If#105, which was reprinted as Spider-Girl#0 to launch her series.

Spider-Girl first penciler was Patrick Olliffe, who drew most of the first 56 issues. Olliffe was already known to Spider-Man fans as the artist of Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man, which related "unrevealed" stories from the 1960s era of Stan Lee's Spider-Man. Olliffe was therefore perfectly suited for the adventures of Spider-Man's daughter May, whose stories were told in the spirit of Stan Lee.

As well as drawing May's first appearance in What If#105, Ron Frenz has been one of DeFalco's most frequent artistic collaborators, working together on Amazing Spider-Man in the 80s, plus Thor and Thunderstrike. Frenz provided fill-ins for Olliffe during his tenure, then succeeded him as primary artist, seeing the series through all of its incarnations until the very end. Frenz is a skilled imitator of both Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, even drawing many of his earlier Spider-Man stories in a Ditko-esque fashion; however, for Spider-Girl he used a less traditional style, looser and more energetic.

Both of Spider-Girl's main inkers were legends in their time; Olliffe was usually inked by Al Williamson, one of the all-time greatest inkers in comics, best known for his EC Comics work of the 50s and his intense love for Flash Gordon. Williamson, who passed away earlier this year, lived long enough to see his early work favourably reevaluated; Spider-Girl was something of a finale to his lengthy career. Frenz's inker was primarily Sal Buscema, an able penciler in his own right (just like Williamson) best known for his 1980s Incredible Hulk work; Buscema had also been a frequent Spectacular Spider-Man artist in the 90s. Buscema helped keep a more traditional emphasis to Frenz's lines. Other occasional artists on Spider-Girl included John Livesay, Chris Batista, Casey Jones, Rodney Ramos and Scott Koblish; also worth mentioning is the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz, who inked What If#105.

At the time Spider-Girl launched in 1998, the main line Spider-Man titles were experiencing a rough change in direction. During the 90s, the infamous "Clone Saga" story led to Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly assuming the Spider-Man identity while Peter retired with his wife Mary Jane, who was pregnant. Only 2 years before Spider-Girl began, Reilly had been suddenly killed off and Peter returned to the costume, while Peter and Mary Jane's baby was lost and presumed dead; there was pressure to kill Mary Jane too in order to restore a single Peter Parker to fandom, but it was felt that this would be going too far.

But in 1998, the relaunched Spider-Man titles began traveling to that very direction. While the main Spider-Man titles were dividing Peter and Mary Jane's relationship and doing their best to pretend the Clone Saga, Ben Reilly and baby May never existed, Spider-Girl reveled in this material.

What If#105 establishes that Peter lost one of his legs in a final battle with the Green Goblin, but discovered baby May was still alive and rescued her. By the time the book opens, "Mayday" is now a teenager while Peter has become a forensic scientist for the police, using his scientific skills to keep fighting crime. May is something of a Peter/Mary Jane gestalt; she's intellectual enough that she consorts with unpopular "nerds" like Courtney Duran and Jimmy Yama, but as a member of the Midtown basketball team she's also accepted by the "jocks," traveling in circles with Moose Mansfield and David Kirby. May also has an immense crush on Brad Miller; like most of her crushes, it's not heading anywhere pretty.

Suddenly, a new Green Goblin appears. This is Normie Osborn, grandson of Norman Osborn (Spider-Man comics of the 90s established Normie as a potential psychopath while he was still a child). In Normie's twisted psyche, his father and grandfather were ruined by Spider-Man so he wants revenge; at the same time Peter tries to decide how to answer Normie's threats, May has begun exhibiting powers exactly like her father's; Mary Jane admits to her that Peter used to be Spider-Man and shows her the costume worn by Ben Reilly; in a nice touch, May refers to him as her "Uncle Ben."

Peter refuses to face Normie as Spider-Man, instead bringing a gun to the fight, hoping to somehow spare his family from the Goblin. However, May arrives dressed in her Uncle Ben's costume; as Spider-Girl she defeats Normie.

Peter can't bear the idea of May becoming a super hero. He has seemingly all of the costumes and web-shooters destroyed, unaware that May hid a pair of web-shooters.

Beginning in Spider-Girl#1, May begins her career as a super hero in earnest, first fighting crime in a lycra bodysuit before sewing a replacement costume. While Peter was motivated to become a hero by personal tragedy - the death of his Uncle Ben - his daughter is seemingly a purer hero, one whose conscience is fully developed and knows she must help others; you could see this as the result of being brought up by Peter and absorbing his values over time. However, Peter becomes increasingly livid at May for continuing to play Spider-Girl against his wishes; he finally decides to "ground" her - taking away her web-shooters to at least make being a hero more difficult.

This is the lead-in to Spider-Girl#17, a pivotal moment in the series. Kaine, a recurring villain from the Clone Saga era, is preparing to assassinate the Kingpin on the day the one-time crime lord is to be brought to court. Realizing that in spite of who he is he can't let the Kingpin die, Peter makes a fateful choice:

However, his artificial leg proves a major hindrance in battle. Ultimately, May arrives and retrieves the web-shooters then completes the mission, defeating Kaine. Seeing May in battle, Peter realizes he was wrong to hold her back.

By the time of this story in the regular Marvel Universe, Mary Jane had been seemingly killed off in order to make Spider-Man single again. This only proved to make fandom spectactularly upset. To the advantage of Spider-Girl, fans began encouraging upset Spider-Man readers to start following her series instead, observing that in at least one title, Peter and Mary Jane were still together. Elements from the Clone Saga were also popular with fans who had been unwilling to dismiss the entire enterprise as a flop. Spill-over from the main Spider-Man titles may not have had a large impact on Spider-Girl's sales, but it brought the book notice at a time when it's future seemed less than certain.

Although Peter's acceptance of May's Spider-Girl career would wax and wane as the series progressed, he and Mary Jane remained supportive of her throughout. In her personal life, May became attracted to Jack Jameson, grandson of the infamous J. Jonah; however, Jack turned out to be a super hero himself, the cocky braggart Buzz; this actually proves to be a turn-off and May breaks up with him without Jack even realizing she was Spider-Girl.

Normie eventually returned and made an attempt on May's life. Unfortunately for May, she had temporarily lost her super powers, placing her entirely at his mercy. To her surprise, Normie, in spite of having her dead to rights and determined to end the Spider/Goblin conflict, refused to kill her. Realizing Normie actually hoped she'd fight back and kill him, she reached out to Normie as a friend and convinced him to make peace with the Parkers, putting an end to the Spider/Goblin conflict.

Normie soon became May's closest ally, supplying her with his weaponry to compensate for her power loss and continuing to donate a secret base and other monetary resources as time went on. May even found herself falling for Normie, but he wound up in a relationship with Raptor, a super villain whom May had helped reform. To her chagrin, Raptor considered May her best friend, making it all but impossible to compete for Normie's affections against her. May finally won her dream date with Brad, but he turned out to be a mutant-hating bigot, quickly killing her interest in him.

In the big issue #50, Peter and Mary Jane gave birth to a son, Ben (or "Benjy"). Immediately following this, issue #51 presented a story written by Sean McKeever...the only issue in the 100 issue run of Spider-Girl not involving Tom DeFalco. At the time, this upset Spider-Girl's fanbase, who considered themselves as much fans of DeFalco as the character. But in the long run, the issue certainly did no harm; Spider-Girl barely appears in #51, which is instead a story about a classmate who has a crush on her writing a letter of confession just before his family leaves town. At the time Sean McKeever was a fresh talent, (barely) known for his independent work the Waiting Place. By breaking in through books like Spider-Girl#51, he was eventually able to make a decent career in comics, including work such as Sentinel, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and Teen Titans. McKeever did introduce a daughter of Electro character in issue #51 whom DeFalco would later bring back as Aftershock in #81; more recently, McKeever reintroduced Aftershock as a character in the regular Marvel Universe.

Spider-Girl soldiered on through 100 issues (and an annual), then into the Amazing Spider-Girl run. The series opens with May temporarily retired as a hero, running for student council and dating football star Gene Thompson (son of Flash Thompson), but the call of heroism quickly forces her back into the webs, giving up her personal goals and relationships once more. During this series, a storyline dubbed "Brand New May" (after the main line's "Brand New Day" branding) introduced a clone of May. This clone - usually called April - claimed to be the "real" May in something of a revisit to the original Clone Saga. By the time Amazing Spider-Girl ended with issue #30, May had accepted April into her family.

The saga continued through Amazing Spider-Man Family#1-8, Web of Spider-Man#1-7 and Spectacular Spider-Girl#1-4, finally ending with Spider-Girl: The End#1 (of course). These stories continued May and April's uneasy relationship as May becomes increasingly unhinged and willing to use lethal force, until the two "sisters" are forced to a final confrontation in The End. I won't spoil The End for you, except to say that it's a happy ending.

One of the landmarks Spider-Girl achieved was to become the longest-running super hero series with a female protagonist ever published by Marvel Comics. Spider-Girl made it by running past #61 (previously, She-Hulk was the record holder with 60 issues of Sensational She-Hulk) and with 100 issues total may yet hold that achievement for some time to come.

The landscape of Marvel Comics has changed considerably in the 12 years since Spider-Girl began her adventures. Part of why I've been pleased to see Spider-Girl endure is that in the midst of so many super hero comics where language, violence and sexuality have become explicit, heroes have questionable ethics and art strives for realism rather than imagination, I enjoyed reading one - just one - super hero comic book where the hero endures triumph and tragedy but ultimately beats the odds.

Tomorrow: A closer look at the other MC2 titles.

Official Index#5 - tomorrow!

Kick off the month of September with Avengers, Thor & Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe#5, which ships this wednesday! It features more of the Index team's great work chronicling years worth of Avengers, Thor & Captain America stories, including Cap's original Golden Age series! More information is available at marvel.com!

MC2: The End...For Now! Part 1

Last week Marvel Comics shipped Spider-Girl: The End, a special one-shot designed to give closure to the character of Spider-Girl, who's had her ongoing adventures chronicled somewhere or other for 12 years. This is comics, so it may not truly be the end of Spider-Girl, but it is - as writer Tom DeFalco said in the closing of each issue - the end...for now. From Monday-Friday this week, I'm going to reflect on Spider-Girl and MC2.

Spider-Girl originated as a single issue of the What If? series. In issue #105 (1998), near the end of the book's run, Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz told the story of May "Mayday" Parker, daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Both smart and athletic, May discovers her father was once Spider-Man and she's inherited his powers. This comes in handy when Normie Osborn (grandson of the first Green Goblin) makes an attempt on Peter's life, inspiring May to don a Spider-Man costume to save him.

DeFalco, at the time a former editor-in-chief of Marvel, was eventually able to launch a series of three comic books set in the universe of What If#105. It was originally promoted as "Excelsior Comics," but presumably Stan Lee himself cracked down on that; instead, the line of three titles were collectively "MC2." The three founding books were Spider-Girl by DeFalco & Pat Olliffe, A-Next by DeFalco & Frenz and J2 by DeFalco and Ron Lim. Each title was intended to feature stories designed for new readers and were supposed to have an aggressive marketing campaign outside of comic book stores so that those new readers could find them.

After the first year, A-Next and J2 ended, DeFalco intending to rotate the line of three titles every 12 issues. Spider-Girl was supposed to end with it, but it was ultimately decided to keep her series as the one firm book in the line. The replacement titles Wild Thing (Larry Hama & Ron Lim) and Fantastic Five (DeFalco & Paul Ryan) were swiftly cancelled for reasons I'm not aware of; it was almost curtains for Spider-Girl too, but it managed a reprieve.

Spider-Girl soldiered on as the last remnant of the MC2 line, a line which never achieved the end it sought. Instead, the series became best-known for being perpetually in danger of cancellation, spared in part because of online fan campaigns to save the series. Marvel had enough faith to launch two "Spider-Girl Presents" mini-series for the Buzz and Darkdevil (both DeFalco & Frenz), but then cut back. Still, Spider-Girl carried on. It got to a point where it seemed as though Spider-Girl was an indestructible title and MC2 made a near revival as mini-series Last Hero Standing, Last Planet Standing (both DeFalco & Olliffe), Avengers Next, Fantastic Five (both DeFalco & Lim) and American Dream (DeFalco & Todd Nauck) hit the shelves.

But after 100 issues, Spider-Girl was cancelled. Again, the book refused to die, instead relaunching as Amazing Spider-Girl (still by DeFalco, but Frenz had long since taken over the art) and lasting 30 issues before another cancellation. Spider-Girl moved her stories into Amazing Spider-Man Family without missing a beat; then it moved into Web of Spider-Man; finally, Spectacular Spider-Girl, a second relaunch! Unfortunately, this relaunch was cut off at the knees; Spectacular Spider-Girl was retroactively cut down to a 4 issues mini-series and the series was wrapped for (seeming) good with the aforementioned Spider-Girl: the End one-shot.

Tomorrow I'll take a closer look at Spider-Girl's publishing history, including my take on what was once a controversial subject...

What a difference 300,000 readers make!

Back in 2006, Marvel announced delays for their top-ranked series Civil War:

Over the next few weeks, the Civil War proper title and a few of the tie in books that are closely related to the story in the main book will be shipping later than originally planned. In an attempt to accommodate the creative team of Millar and McNiven and keep the artistic integrity and high standards of the event, we will be shifting the following titles...

Artist Bryan Hitch - whose series Ultimates followed an erratic schedule - defended the decision:

Two of my favourite re-reads in collections are Dark Knight and Watchmen. Nobody now remembers that each was late at the time of the original periodicals but that was a blip, a couple of years in each's 25 year publication history and these will STILL be published 25 years from now. I love these books but how awful would it have been if the otherwise brilliant Jim Aparo had drawn issue 3 of DK, or that DC had Alan Davis do an issue of Watchmen. Both brilliant guys but you would have hated the blip in the collections for the short term gain.

And there was generally much hand-holding and back-patting going on as Civil War was done by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven from start to finish, placing artistic integrity ahead of the bottom line. Sales on Civil War ranged from 250,000 to 350,000 copies per issue.

In 2008, DC published a Bat Lash mini-series by Peter Brandvold and Sergio Aargones. Bat Lash was an unusual western hero, created by Aargones in the 1960s as a trouble-making, incorrigible scoundrel who pretends to be afraid of violence when he's actually an immensely dangerous individual. The 2008 mini-series kind of misses the mark on Bat Lash's character (strange, considering Aargones' involvement), instead casting him as a typical western hero with a tragic past. It's missing a lot of the humour I expect to find in Bat Lash, but it does have one huge mark in its favour: the artwork of John Severin!

Severin has been in comics for what, 60 years? He is still an amazing talent, able to render gorgeous scenes with incredible realism. It's bold, it's dynamic, and it puts a lot of younger artists to shame.

However, for whatever reason, Severin did not complete all of the six issue mini-series. Six pages of issue #6 were drawn instead by Javi Pina and Steve Lieber. They're certainly good artists, but it's more than a little jarring to go from this:

To this:

One page you're being entertained by this:

...And suddenly it's this:

Sales of Bat Lash fell to about 8,000 copies by the final issue.

DC and Marvel are different companies and I don't have any larger point to make about their practices (especially being a Marvel freelancer), I just find it interesting that this still happens - that when a book must come out, the power that be will find a replacement artist, even if only for a few pages. The only observation I want to make is that it's a lot easier to stall for time when you've got 300,000 hungry fans, as opposed to a lowly 8,000.

Website updated!

The Atlas comics section of my website has been updated, thanks to a lot of recent additions in Atlas titles for my collection. As I accumulate more titles, the resource becomes a lot more precise, as I've been able to correct old blunders on where reprinted stories first appeared by actually obtaining the original comics themselves.

Comics That Changed Me: Street Angel#1

Up to 2004, I don't think I could have articulated my feelings on comic books from small publishers, but I believe now that I held a few prejudices against them. Obviously smaller publishers get a lot less press than Marvel, DC, Image or whoever else; they lie in the back of the Previews catalogues, they're less likely to have advertising at stores and less likely to have reviews or interviews at websites. They also don't carry many big name creators, with many of the most talented writers or artists at small publishers eventually using their modest success there to springboard into Marvel, DC or Image, leaving them behind.

The most obvious sign of a small publisher tends to be black & white interiors. To an outsider, it insinuates that the material must be cheap or inferior to what the major companies produce, otherwise they could afford to colorize it (ie, black & white is not a creative decision when used by small publishers).

I never actually formed these thoughts, but they must have lurked within me. In retrospect, it's the only reason I can think of for avoiding the small publishers for as long as I did. Eventually, a comic came along which shattered my resistance: Street Angel#1.

Writers: Jim Rugg & Brian Maruca. Art: Jim Rugg.

Street Angel is a homeless teenage girl who is an exceptional skateboarder and martial artist. When a band of ninjas hired by Dr. Pangaea (the world's most deadly geologist) kidnap the mayor's daughter, only Street Angel can save the day!

It was because of the glowing reviews online that I took a gamble on Street Angel. This was my first encounter with publisher Slave Labor Graphics and I kept up with Street Angel all the way to the end (it lasted 6 issues). I've seen Street Angel touted by some as an example of how a book which receives major critical acclaim is unable to translate that into a successful continuing property.

However, in my eyes Street Angel was a major success; Slave Labor went on to publish Rex Libris which became one of my all-time favourite comics, ensuring that I would continue to judge comics by their own merit, regardless of publisher or colorization .Most importantly, Street Angel helped me accept that I could take up comics from off the beaten path and enjoy them; that black & white comics aren't just for aging hippie comix fans. I've also remained very interested in Jim Rugg's work, whether on his Street Angel follow-up Afrodisiac or his Captain Kidd story in Next Issue Project.

I suspect that most comic book fans are already very satisfied with what they read and know where to get more of the things they like; if they're happy just reading Marvel, DC, Image, etc., more power to them. But to those who want material which might be a little more challenging and a lot more personal than what the major companies put out, it's so worthwhile digging through the small publishers. There's certainly a lot of hit-or-miss in those Previews back pages, but when you find a hit like Street Angel it's wonderful.

Next time: becoming a professional; was Gruenwald right when he said "If your hobby becomes your profession, find a new hobby?"

Review: Marvel Adventures Super-Heroes#5

The Marvel Adventures line of comic books are super hero stories intended to hold all-ages appeal and they're primarily marketed to younger readers. However, ever since writers such as Jeff Parker and Fred Van Lente began writing for them, Marvel Adventures has held a reputation for delivering fun super hero comics that no adult should feel ashamed for enjoying them.

Of late, Paul Tobin has been the writer for the Marvel Adventures titles, as is the case with Marvel Adventures Super Heroes#5, the most recent issue in the series. Although the series is something of an Avengers book, this particular issue spotlights Captain America.

Paul Tobin has a terrific ear for fun dialogue and his done-in-one-plots usually come up with an entertaining premise.

Joining Tobin on art is...Chris Cross?! Yes, Chris Cross, he of Blood Syndicate, Slingers, Captain Marvel and last seen (by me) on Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance! I'm genuinely surprised to see him on a Marvel Adventures title - not because I think he's slumming it, but rather I'm impressed that the editor could corral a talent as fine as he. The art on Marvel Adventures is occasionally lacking, suggesting at times that the artists are novices, new to publishing. Chris Cross is not new to the game and he brings his best to this story! Rick Ketcham inks seem particularly effective for him. It has all the energy I expect from Cross, but his facial expressions have only improved since I last took stock of them.

At any rate, in this issue Captain America is summoned to the town of Hydrale, whose population is 100% comprised of Hydra agents. This alone could be a promising idea for a story, but it's only a set-piece. Cap has answered a distress call from the super villain Rhino, who needs help rescuing a baby rhinoceros from Hydra.

Dubbed "Bartleby" (a shout-out to all the Bone fans) by the Rhino, he's come to feel a fatherly affection for the poor animal. Hydra hopes to use Bartleby in experiments to recreate the Rhino's superhuman powers, but Rhino can't bear to see the animal suffer. Naturally, his only hope is for a hero to save them.

This is a simple story with plenty of great lines and even a touch of pathos where Rhino's love for Bartleby is concerned. Rhino himself has long been an easy mark for comedy; as Cap observes in the story, "You're a grown man committing crimes while dressed like a rhinoceros. If you think it looks impressive or intimidating, you're way off." The Marvel Adventures titles still get high marks for me; I've repeatedly recommended them for younger readers who are interested in comic books, but I also recommend them to older readers who don't take their super heroes so seriously that they can't take a few good laughs.