‘Fast Lane’ was the name of an infamous 4-part anti-drug story inserted into the middle of basically every comic Marvel published every second month between September 1999 and March 2000 including the MC2’s Spider-Girl, Fantastic Five, Wild Thing titles. Created by the Marvel Creative Services in conjunction with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, the story was written by Glenn Herdling with pencils by Gregg Schigiel (who contributed gorgeous art to Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide by Tom Defalco) with inks by Richard Case.
But why am I talking about this particular story here? Well, you see in Part 4 of the story "Back on Target” there’s an absolutely amazing double splash page featuring various Marvel Heroes all helping out at the site of an accident. The heroes include Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, Storm, Wolverine, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Girl. Wait… what?!
Obviously, this story doesn’t take place in the MC2 and that’s not May ‘Mayday’ Parker, so what’s going on? This was a mystery that used to bother me as a young reader, but nowadays looking up information is a lot easier. Curiously, both the Marvel Chronology Project and Amazing Spider-Man: Official Index to the Marvel Universe not only identify the character as being the Mattie Franklin incarnation of Spider-Woman but also place it within the Main Marvel Universe after the events of Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #14 and Spider-Woman (Vol. 3) #9. To be fair, the Official Index chooses to err on the side of caution with notes clarifying “If Fast Lane is in continuity, it takes place shortly after that issue” and “Spider-Woman called “Spider-Girl” here” in an attempt to tie up the matter.
While an admirable effort, there are a few problems with this explanation, the first being that Mattie Franklin never used web-shooters such as those visibly worn by Fast Lane’s Spider-Girl. The second issue is why Mattie would even use webbing in the first place, given her ability to fly. Thirdly, Mattie was never seen in the costume depicted. On this occasion, I’m going to have to disagree with the idea that this character is Mattie Franklin and that the story takes place in the Main Marvel Universe.
So, what’s going on? Well, for answers we have to take a look at an article on Comics Alliance about the Fast Lane story, which includes some great insight from the artist himself Gregg Schigiel. Here’s an excerpt:
“Just above that, there's a Spider-Man type girl who's saving a kid…that was a version of Spider-Girl that Marvel's Creative Services was working on at the time, that if memory serves, I helped design. I'm not sure what the endgame there was (clearly something licensing-related), but I only ever drew her here and as a kind of paper doll cut-out type thing, which I think was meant for presentation purposes. In perfect late '90s fashion she has a bare midriff and capri pants”
So that confirms it, then. This is not intended to be Mattie Franklin nor Mayday Parker, though the character does perhaps borrow some elements from both characters, notably the former’s hair style and the latter’s heroic identity. As for what licensed products this Spider-Girl design wound up being used for, I believe these contemporary dress-up costumes were part of the merchandising endgame Mr Schigiel mentioned:
Special thanks to Ron Frenz for providing the above image, because it is now seemingly impossible to find online anywhere in the present day. Mr Frenz would reference this costume design with both the cover and interiors for Spider-Girl #91, showcasing it during a scene centred around the Spider Shoppe, a boutique specializing in Spider-Women-themed apparel.
I guess that brings us full circle back to the good ol’ MC2. If anyone has anymore information about this unnamed Fast Lane Spider-Girl, please let me know! A huge thanks to arias-98105, Ron Frenz and the Comics Alliance website for their various contributions to this post, otherwise I’d have no idea what I’m talking about!
Until I find more obscure, unimportant and largely pointless facts to impart, I remain
frogoat