Supportive Cast

Character Development

A character is a stock character when they are defined only by a few traits. 'Oh, hey it's the black guy!' or 'The geeky friend' or 'Bitchy popular girl'. I figure if you have trouble describing the character without resorting to stereotypes, then the character is either underdeveloped or just plain boring. So, does Spider-Girl's civilian cast hold up? Let's have a look.

Davida

Davida Kirby starts off, to my mind, as a generic best friend. But let's dig a little further. Davida plays basketball along side Mayday when the series starts. She keeps up with celebrities and gossip and has a knack for knowing when a store is having a sale... normally shoe store sales, now I come to think of it. Davida wants to either go pro in basketball or go into public relations, following in her mothers footsteps. Davida does well enough in school when she wants to and is team player, both in sport and in balancing friends. She does however treat males as disposable objects and has a stubborn streak. She outed a team mate as a mutant after she took her spot on the team, believing she was a better player.

Courtney Duran

Courtney is May's earliest friend. She's the geeky friend. She loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She's in the science club. She has thick glasses. She's a little overweight. Oh my god, clearly a stereotype! But wait, hold on a second, come back! She's also the only friend May's had who would stick with her no matter what. Her friendship is unconditional, she's loyal like a German Shepard. God, bad analogy! She listens, she's there for you, she wont judge, she's understanding. Apparently, May and Courtney first met when they were four, May's first day at pre-preschool. May was feeling like crap and being picked on by second grader until Courtney came along and bit him on the leg. They've been friends ever since. There's that loyal man's-best-friend theme again. God, it's not meant to be unflattering! She's a favorite supporting character. Actually, following that theme, she's also too forgiving. When she was hit by a car and everyone else came to see her except Mayday, she shrugged it off.

Moose Mansfield

Maurice is a jock and a bit of an idiot. He jumps to conclusions, flies off the handle easily and is a bit of a bully. His favorite entertainer and politician is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, Moose is a dick. Only he's not. Starting out as the jerk in cast, he slowly grew into one of the best, most well rounded, most well loved characters in the book. Issue 19 granted us insight into his inner most thoughts, which was a word-balloon-free page of him staring blankly. Soon though, Moose starts showing his soft side, saving Jimmy from a villain attack, humorously believing Spider-Girl was Courtney....yeah, I know, not too bright. He ends up getting to know Courtney and falls for her. Things change for him when his father is diagnosed with cancer; Moose relies on May for support to get through this. Eventually everything comes to a head when his father is struck down on the job as a firefighter. Moose is forced to move away to stay with his relatives, as he can't take care of his little brothers on his own. There is one other piece to the Maurice Arthur Mansfield puzzle that changes him as a person, but I don't want to spoil everything.

I'm out,

frogoat