Did Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Just Reference the MC2?!

 

Like many people over the last few days, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying playing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac on Playstation 5. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I love the MC2, but I was honestly not expecting a potential reference to one of the MC2’s groundbreaking couples. Let me explain. Minor spoilers for the game ahead!

 

During the mission ‘Make Your Own Choices,’ Miles Morales aka Spider-Man is attempting to locate Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat to warn her about the threat of Kraven’s hunters. Of course, he arrives too late and Felicia is already on the move attempting to flee New York by stealing the Wand of Watoomb from Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. While fighting off the hunters, Miles learns from Felicia that she wanted to use the Wand in order to reach Paris where her girlfriend is in danger. After defeating droves of the hunters, Miles helps Felicia use the Wand of Watoomb to open a portal to Paris, near the Eiffel Tower and away from the threat of Kraven the Hunter to whatever fate has in store for her there.

 

What does this have to do with the MC2? Well, the MC2 was the first to establish Felicia’s bisexuality by revealing her new partner was a woman named Diana. In Spider-Girl #47, Mary Jane invites both Felicia and her partner Diana over for a cup of tea. Diana mentions the couple were previously living in Paris but have moved back so that Felicia’s daughter Felicity can reestablish a relationship with her father, Flash Thompson. When Mary Jane asks how long the two have known each other, Felicia states ‘it’s going on six years now’ and mentions that Diana used to be a contract operative for her detective agency.

 

Could this be the unidentified girlfriend Felicia mentions in the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 video game? I’m willing to believe so, at least. I can’t think of any other romantic partners of Felicia with a connection to Paris. Let me know what you think!

 

Until I stop jumping to conclusions, I remain

 

frogoat  

Baby Mayday in Across the Spider-Verse

 

It is not exactly news now, as I am sure you have already heard or seen it: Baby Mayday is coming to the big screen for the first time in Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. We have seen snippets and glimpses of little Mayday in trailers for the movie, as well seen some officially released concept art.

 

It seems the downtrodden Peter B. Parker who mentored Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse reconciled with the Mary Jane of his universe and the couple brought the little bundle of joy into the wide world. From concept art we know that this depiction of Mayday has heterochromia and red-hair. We got our first look at Mayday last year around the release of the initial full trailer with this colourful concept art:

 

 

 

In the YouTube Afterparty video following the full trailer, in conversation with Hailee Steinfeld

 Phil Lord and Chris Miller had this to say:

 

"Peter B. Parker is in a family way. Peter got back with Mary Jane and they had a baby named Mayday. She has half spider-blood. Parenting is hard enough when they don't have the ability to stick to walls."

 

With the latest trailers and tv spots we see more of the cutie Mayday, though I do not believe we know who voices her just yet. I am not sure if this adorable baby can talk, but she sure can ‘Coo!’ so someone’s providing those vocalisations. Someone is getting paid to make baby noises, I wonder who?

 

I am very excited for this movie, and not just because of Peter B. and Mary Jane’s bouncing, wall-crawling baby girl, either. The original Into the Spider-Verse film set an exceptionally high bar that I hope this first sequel can reach if not exceed.

 

Until I stop finding babies utterly adorable, which, let’s face it, is impossible, I remain

 

frogoat

The Prowler in the MC2

 

While I haven’t had the opportunity to play the new Spider-Man: Miles Morales, I thought it might be a nice idea to take a look at the most well-known of Miles’ rogues gallery, The Prowler. As Aaron Davis didn’t exist during the publication history of the MC2, I’ll be detailing the sparce information we have on the original Prowler, Hobie Brown in the MC2.

 

This is going to be super quick! Unless I’m mistaken the only mention we have of Hobie Brown’s alter ego is in Amazing Spider-Girl #4 where the television celebrity Bounty Hunter Julius ‘Mad Dog’ Rassitano notes he is using ‘The Prowler’s steel-tipped claw’ along with various other gadgets formerly belonging to different super villains.

 

However, it should be noted that Julius also admits later on that much of his equipment and gadgets come from his television program’s prop department. I say most because he does also appear to possess some genuine articles, such as confiscating the retractable legs of Stilt-Man when he captured the villain or purchasing the suction-grippers of The Beetle on eBay (Amazing Spider-Girl #5).

 

It’s unknown what the status of Hobie Brown is in the MC2’s present-day, but the appearance of his alter ego’s gauntlet gadgets does leave the potential for a future appearance someday should the MC2 ever grace the comics world again.

 

Until I develop my own battle suit and clawed gauntlets only to become the second most recognizable version of the identity I originated, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Righting Wrongs and Writing Wrong (Spider-Geddon Spoilers)

Happy New Year! Wasn't 2018 an interesting turn of events? We got a new direction for the Spider-Man comics, an amazing new video game, for Spider-Man, a great animated Spider-Man movie with Into the Spider-Verse and a definite upswing in both quality and fan engagement overall. But we also lost both Spider-Man creators, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. It was a big year, full of ups and downs. Oh, and this also happened during the Spider-Geddon event:

I'll be honest, I didn't know how to feel about this at first. On the one hand, a character who died pointlessly and gratuitously in Dan Slott's Spider-Verse has been restored in some form. On the other, I don't think the Dan Slott should get credit for simply 'resetting' things on his way out. We don't thank criminals for returning stolen goods. And yes, Slott came up with the idea, not the event's writer Christos Gage:

Social media is so helpful sometimes. So, I have mixed feelings about the whole situation. Yes, Peter is back in the land of the living but that doesn't undo the quantifiable damage Slott did to the MC2 and it's unique appeal. But...I am glad Pete is back. It's right that Mayday have her father back because therein lies one of the most endearing aspects of her character: the father/daughter dynamic.

Either way, it's a Brand New Year and I'm hopeful for the future of my favourite characters for the first time in a long time. We've got another new trade paperback coming out later this year to look forward to as well! Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Volume 2 comes out August 13th according to Amazon:

Continuing the far-out future adventures of May"Mayday" Parker, the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane - also known as the spectacular Spider-Girl! But will May be the only member of the Parker clan to wear the webs when the villainous Kaine resurfaces? The Raptor strikes,the Buzz flies in and the Soldiers of the Serpent spread hate - but nothing could be worse than the return of Spider-Man's arch-foe, the Green Goblin! But who's under the mask now?! On top of it all, May must contend with threats like Earthshaker, Funny Face and Dragonfist! What is this martial arts maestro's connection to Danny Rand? Meanwhile, May's deadliest foes band together as...the Savage Six! Or is it Seven?! Will they be the end of Spider-Girl? Plus, the man called Nova! Avengers Next! The Steel Spider! And more!


COLLECTING: SPIDER-GIRL (1998) 16-32



It's a bit of a wait, but at least we know well in advance it's being published. With the first volume collecting 18 issues (one of which was the double-sized annual) and this second volume collecting 17 issues (including the double-sized issues 17 and 25) I think it's fair to say we can expect roughly the same number of issues to be collected in further volumes. Which means (assuming the release schedule remains the same) we can expect the entire first series of Spider-Girl to be available across six volumes by...2023. Hopefully they increase the release schedule because I do not want to wait that long!

Until I run out of reasons to be hopeful, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Review

I was lucky enough to attend an early screening of Sony's new animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and thought I'd share my thoughts with my readers. Beware, there will be SPOILERS from here on out!

Let's Play Catch Up

This is going to be real quick, real short and real fun for me to do, because I wont be sat here for hours sorting out the finer details. Why? Because I just want to cover some stuff I've mentioned before along with  recent things I've been doing and also stuff you've probably already heard about. Let's jump in head first, shall we?

Television

Spider-Girl will not be appearing in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. Wait! Wait! That's not entirely accurate. May 'Mayday' Parker, the Spectacular, Amazing and Stunning Spider-Girl, daughter of the one true Spider-Man will not be appearing in this animated series during the third season, which is being marketed as Web-Warriors. Okay, yes it's called 'Web-Warriors' and not Web of Warriors or whatever the heck it was that I misinterpreted from that tiny pixelated logo from that tiny pixelated image that was slipped onto twitter. I screwed up. Anyway, back on point though, yeah. Mayday is a no-go, folks. Instead, the Spider-Girl appearing in the show will be Petra Parker, a gender-swapped analog of Peter Parker. This is a case of Spider-Man with boobs. Who'd of thought? I'm tempted to reference the Ultimate Universe comics version of the Clone Saga in which one of the teen Peter Parker clones is a female copy of him.

 Yeah. I'm really disappointed in this missed opportunity to represent Spider-Girl in other media. Alas. On the plus side, if things all go horribly wrong, Mayday's good name isn't besmirched for years to come.On a more positive note, I would like to congratulate Donald Glover (from the awesome comedy series Community) for being cast as the voice of the Miles Morales incarnation of Spider-Man. It's wonderful to see a fan ascend to playing their heroes. Next time though, cast him in a live-action film. He'd kick all sorts of butt.

In other, unrelated news I've begun watching Star Trek. Yes, I've finally crossed the threshold  I unconsciously avoided for years. It began sometime last year when a good friend selected what he identified as 'the good movies' to watch with me. It has since escalated. I've reached the forth disc of season one of The Original Series. It's better than I ever thought. It reminds me of classic Doctor Who in some respects, but with more shirt ripping and swagger. I'm gonna enjoy watching the rest of the series and who knows, maybe all the others?

Oh, and hey! Doctor Who is back on television. I'm very happy.

Film

So, Guardians of the Galaxy was a great fun film. My faith in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is completely reaffirmed. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a really wonderful film, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was...it's hard for me to give it a fair judgement. In some regards it was a great Spider-Man film with great characters and awesome quip-age, something I've really enjoyed about the reboot. On the flip side, it was a terribly paced film with multiple plot lines all slapped together to make a movie without a clear focus and a lot of narrative dead ends. Also, nobody cares about Richard and Mary Parker! I both like and dislike it. Garfield and Stone are brilliant (as is Sally Field) but I want a better plot. I love Spider-Man and I really want a great Spidey film. Better still, one with this cast because Andrew Gafield is a really watchable and entertaining Spider-Man.

Comics

I'm going to be cutting back on some titles in the coming months and years. Not because I'm not enjoying the stuff I'm reading (I've already dropped those titles) but because I'm going to attempt to transition further into trade-waiting and trade paperback purchases rather than picking up individual issues which should save some money. For me, this is going to be difficult change. Wish me luck.

Spider-Verse has begun, and so far, so good. Granted I've only read Superior Spider-Man #32 but I really enjoyed seeing SpOck (Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man's body, dontcha know?) being stranded in 2099 -if only for a short time- and voyaging across worlds. I love time travel and dimension hopping stories, so this opening 'Edge of Spider-Verse' tie-in was right up my alley. The one thing I'm really worried about is the willy-nilly death of so many alternate reality Spidey's. Are we going to see the wonton deaths of...oh, I dunno--fan-favorite characters like Spider-Girl or her family?! I'm hopeful but also very nervous. Dan Slott does enjoy teasing the imminent deaths of characters...he's so gleeful about! I'm concerned here, people.

It was announced that Tom Defalco will be returning to write his co-creation Spider-Girl in a 10-page story for the Spider-Verse Team-Up mini series. While his story hasn't been solicited yet, I do wonder if he's going to be teamed up with Ron Frenz or Pat Olliffe on art duties. I'd be kind of offended if either hadn't been approached, as they contributed so much towards developing Mayday throughout her various series. The mini series is only 3-issues so I expect the Spider-Girl story in either December or January. Which, looking at things from a publishing perspective, inclines me to think Mayday herself will be alive through the Spider-Verse event until at least December. Yes, I'm calculating in my head based on nothing more than solicitations, the survivability of my favorite character in all of comics.


Until  Marvel utterly guts me by killing a character who forever changed and influenced my entire life, I remain

frogoat