SPIDER-GIRL was a very odd relaunch of ARANA if you examine it. In terms of title and promotion, it was promoted as a clear AMAZING SPIDER-MAN spin off - right down to a back-up strip in ASM just prior to its debut. The fact that they forced Arana to change her name to suit Tom DeFalco's ended franchise kicking and screaming was likely not a coincidence. Arana's powers were removed, but in a glaring editorial error, no one could agree exactly when she lost her powers. Many footnotes claim it was during THE GAUNTLET story, but at no point on panel in that story is it made clear that she has lost her powers; she lost her magical armor in MS. MARVEL years prior. Some even say it happened BEFORE the GAUNTLET. The bottom line is editorial wanted Arana to lose her powers, but never directly told a writer to write it in. Whoops! Carry on!
Virtually everything original about Arana was torn away - her codename, her costume, her powers - aside for her name and father, SPIDER-GIRL was a reintroduction. Her connection to MS. MARVEL was gone, only to cement her as a cast off of the Fantastic Four family - in a title promoted as an AMAZING SPIDER-MAN spin off, and in which she fights some of his spare enemies like Screwball and Ana Kravenoff. It seems obvious that was done for sales, but it seems to have been a commercial misfire.
The series itself has been enjoyable despite all that, though.
