Attack of the 50 Foot Spider-Girl

 

Tis the season for all manner of monsters, so for today’s post we will be taking a look at one monstrous transformation in the MC2: the Attack of the 50 Foot Spider-Girl from Spider-Girl #90. Who knows, maybe we will have some fun with this?

 

As I mentioned and as the cover to Spider-Girl #90 depicts, May ‘Mayday’ Parker transforms into a giant monstrous spider-creature…or so it seems. After an encounter with the villain Misery, May unknowingly finds herself trapped in a nightmare in which she changes into various forms reflecting her subconscious fears. After apparently confronting Misery, Spider-Girl is overpowered and begins to change into a giant humanoid spider creature. She is then attacked by helicopters who shooter her down. Turning back to normal, May soon begins to shrink to miniscule size. Eventually, after a pep talk from the spirit of her namesake great-aunt, May realizes she is still trapped within her nightmare and busts out of Misery’s Grief Machine and stops her with a single punch, for real this time.

 

The cover of Spider-Girl #90 proclaiming ‘Attack of the 50 Foot Spider-Girl’ is a homage to the 1958 science fiction horror movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, complete with similar pose. Additionally, the aircraft shooting down a giant hairy monster is a nod to the classic 1933 movie King Kong and may also be influenced by various Godzilla films. Furthermore, monstrous transformations in pop culture are often used as metaphors for a person’s feeling of alienation, self-destructive behaviour, and loss of humanity. 

 

Let’s dive even deeper here, because Mayday’s father Peter has not only sprouted extra limbs before but has also been transformed into a Man-Spider by the Savage Land denizen Brainchild in 1982’s Marvel Fanfare #2 and later underwent a second Man-Spider ‘Spider-Morphosis’ thanks to the machinations of the Plantman in 1998’s Amazing Spider-Man #437 (the latter of which is also written by Tom Defalco, coincidentally).

 

 

This is a fun little story that looks at some of Mayday’s fears and worries. It is not the last time May would think of herself as a monstrous spider-creature, either. Nor her last encounter with her great-Aunt May for that matter! I look forward to covering more of these ‘transformations’ in a later post someday but for now, that is all I’ve got!

 

Until I mess with the Plantman and get all bug-eyed and hairy, I remain

 

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