Spectacular Spider-Girl

[Ugfugly]

Because I'm not as eloquent as native English speakers :P

 

[Manic]

Because I'm not as eloquent as native English speakers :P

Liar! That's one of the most well crafted sentences on the internet!

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Now this is some damn good news! May deserves her own book, not to be some side feature in an anthology. Now I don't hafta read crappy BND stories to get my Mayday fix.

As long as Tom D. keeps writin', I'll keep readin'!

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/defalco-spidergirl-the-end-100621.html

Well, I know there's not much point to bumping this, but I thought I would to let whoever interested know that the whole Spider-Girl: The End thing is apparently exactly what it sounds like; this is meant to be the end of Spider-Girl and the MC2 universe from a publishing standpoint.

 

[runawayboulder]

She's been dodging cancellation since she was introduced 12 yrs ago. I don't blame Marvel for ending it, it's been a good run. Now maybe they can get Frenz back on ASM for a couple of arcs, that'd be sweet.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Great, so I've absolutely NO Spider-Man to read now. May was my one last vestige of what made the webhead great, the last thing untainted by editorial mandates and craptastic revamps. You know, as much as I'd love to say that if I ever moved beyond my station at Marvel currently and had the opportunity to write SG I would, I can't. I don't think I could bring the flavor DeFalco has to this book. I was there from the beginning, and I'm sad to say I'll be there at the end (no pun intended).

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well, looks like there was a reason for Mayday and her world to finally be put to rest (outside general sales, I mean).

Looks like a Spider-Girl will be debating in the 616.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Yeah, formerly Arana as revealed in Young Allies #1 and the Grim Hunt story.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Oh, she's already debated? Didn't know, but I figured it was Arana.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Arana last time I checked doesn't have blonde hair.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Neither does the girl in that picture. That's light brown hair.

Kind of sucks that Arana's getting Mayday's name, but I can't say that Marvel didn't do everything they possibly could to give Mayday's comic a chance to succeed. It'll feel weird calling someone else "Spider-Girl," though.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

I thought she said at the End of Grim Hunt she was going to still go by the name of Arana, not Spider-Girl.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Even if she does, it looks like she's Spider-Girl to Marvel for marketing purposes. I'll probably check out her series since I've enjoyed the few appearances I've read of the character. It does suck that we lost Mayday and her world in the process, but at this point, it's not unexpected at all.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wonder if she'll have powers by then. Isn't she just faking it with a grappling hook in Young Allies right now?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I thought she had enhanced strength and reflexes similar to Spider-Man

 

[TheCorpulent1]

She mentioned in Young Allies #1 that she'd lost her powers. I don't read ASM or anything else she's appearing in, though, so it's possible she regained them or got new powers since then...

 

[Tron Bonne]

Oh, well I haven't been reading either, so I didn't know she lost them

 

[Jennifer Walters]

The note on that said to check Grim Hunt about how Arana lost her powers, but she actually doesn't lose them in Grim Hunt and if she did, it wasn't outright mentioned. Her entire involvement is that she's kidnapped with Madame Web and Julia Carpenter. Madame Web dies, Julia becomes the new Madame Web, and Arana takes Julia's outfit.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Julia becomes the what now? They took the good Spider-Woman and gave her that desiccated old hag's position? FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU--

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Heh.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Yeah, Julia's blind now and the new Madame Web.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I really can't react to that at all beyond sighing. That is the very definition of sigh-worthy. I mean, I'm not really surprised because, come on, it's Julia Carpenter and who gives a f*** about Julia Carpenter besides me and like 3 other people worldwide? But at the same time, I kind of hoped she'd fly under the radar long enough for a Jeff Parker or Paul Cornell type to cast her in the most stupidly obvious perfect series where she'd shine and attain new heights of cult fandom before being canceled due to low sales inside of 6 or 8 months. But no, she shares a theme with stupid f***ing Spider-Man, so stupid f***ing Spider-Man's stupid f***ing writers had to stupidly f*** her up.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I just wanted her on a non-Bendis Avengers team, but that's not gonna happen now.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Omega Flight was as close as she got to that. Damned good team, but of course they couldn't last.

 

[Dread]

In YOUNG ALLIES, Arana definitely mentions not having powers. She even nearly kills herself messing up a jump and probably would have slipped to her death (like Dusk in SLINGERS) if Nomad hadn't been there to help her up. Over there at least she's just slumming it with her grappling hook and SHIELD/Initiative training.

Frankly, I think this is a senseless move. Arana was a spin-off of the JMS Totem story of ASM, originally written by a writer who was JMS' devotee. This was back when he was writing ASM as well as SUPREME POWER (and was about to land THOR) and had a lot of weight at Marvel. Arana's origin was ponderous, but removed from it, she had some charm. Her costume wasn't the greatest, but one could argue it wasn't unlike what a teenager in 2006 might choose to wear for herself, and was distinct. Especially the goggles, and the tattoo on her arm. But now?

Now Arana is using a name that isn't hers, and a costume that isn't hers, and honoring a legacy that isn't hers (as the various "Spider-Women" have nothing to do with the Spider Totem rubbish, or at least didn't; I've heard mixed reviews of GRIM HUNT). Frankly, this not only sounds as bad as Noh-Varr, a quirky Grant Morrison character who could have been a worthy new foil for the Fantastic Four becoming the incredibly bland Protector under Bendis' watch. They've removed almost everything that made Arana unique (besides being a Latina, and that's sad that the fact that someone is Hispanic is apparently enough of a difference to count as major to an industry that is still run, mostly, by middle aged white men who when someone says, "are you hip to the times", they reply, "No, I don't have HIP, I'm on GHI insurance"). They're trying to shove Arana into headlining a franchise that has failed every single time they have launched it.

SPIDER-WOMAN failed. It failed to last long in the 70's and 80's. Carpenter had a stab at it in the 90's, but c'mon, even SLEEPWALKER got about three years in the 90's. Not even Brian Bendis can make SPIDER-MAN sell. SPIDER-GIRL has hovered around the cancellation range for 12 years, and the only reason it has lasted this long is because the digests sold and there's some obscure contract bit with Tom DeFalco in which Marvel HAS to assign him work (which is perhaps similar to what Chris Claremont has with them). How many times does the same franchise have to fail before Marvel tries something new?

I mean, AGENTS OF ATLAS was new. Marvel gave that a very good try over the last two years, but are seeing the writing on the wall. Sad, but they're moving on. They're not just renaming the team ATLAS AVENGERS and shoving them into a franchise where they don't fit, and renaming Ken Hale Beast or calling M-11 "Human Iron Man" or whatever.

I don't think it is a good or wise or innovative idea to take a new character and shove her into a lot of old things, and remove her individuality. It's a mistake DC makes way too often and it makes a lot of their characters interchangeable. You need a Bachelor's Degree in DC Nerdologica to tell the difference between some of the various Robin's or Green Arrow's or Aqualad's or Supergirl's or Atom's or whatever. This move with Arana will fail, and then Tom B. will give some interview in which he acts truly surprised, showing how out of touch he is with his own medium. Any fan in any shop would predict this ain't going to fly.

I hate, absolutely loathe, new ideas or new characters being shoved into some old franchise for no purpose than a company being too spineless and cowardly to try anything new for any length of time. Arana, as she was, at least stood out from the crowd. Now you literally can't tell the difference between her and at least 2-3 other heroines. That leads to apathy. That leads to "why do I care?" rejections and mysteriously underwhelming sales for a debut issue.

I am getting so bloody tired of a medium in which the next new idea is just a recycled old idea from ten, twenty, forty, a hundred damned years ago.

I can see why no one in the big two makes new characters. Even when they try, they are simply chopped up and made into old characters anyway. What's the point of innovation? What is the reward for imagination? It is partly the fans' and retailers fault for not supporting new characters, but they don't do so because DC and Marvel have trained their audience to not bother with "unimportant" books and that any new title or character will be abandoned if it doesn't sell 700,000 copies out of the gate as if it was still 199-****ing 4. So they know not to try. Why bother reading AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 or YOUNG ALLIES #1? Marvel will can it immediately. Does no editorial board see the consequences of their actions, or understand the philosophy of reaping what they have sown? For a company whose major preached motto is, "with great power comes great responsibility", Marvel seems to show no responsibility for accepting some of the problems they have made for themselves regarding new blood. It's always someone else's fault.