Spider-Girl's Unique Web-Shooters

 

I have not done a May ‘Mayday’ Parker focused post in a while and thanks to difficulties with other projects I have been labouring fruitlessly upon, once again, I figured I should try and look back at everyone’s favourite arachnid hero of the MC2, the Stunning Spider-Girl. So, for this post I wanted to follow up on two previous posts, Spider-Girl’s First Web-shooters and Spider-Girl’s Spider-Signal, with a look at her next set of spinnerets: Spider-Girl’s Unique Web-Shooters.

When we last left our heroine, May ‘Mayday’ Parker had proven her mettle against Kaine and her father (Peter Parker) had returned her web-shooters (Spider-Girl #17). Or did he? As mentioned in my post about her Spider-signal, in the very next issue May mentions her ‘new Spider-Signal’ which indicates it is a recent addition (Spider-Girl #18). There are two likely explanations: either Peter simply attached a Spider-signal to May’s first web-shooters or Peter made and gifted May a new pair of web-shooters and included the spider-signal as a sign of his approval of her web-swinging ways. Given Ron Frenz’s comment that ‘Pete’s [web-shooters] were always available to him whenever he decided to climb into the monkey suit’ I am inclined to choose the latter option.

 

Anyway, moving on. One notable function of a good pair of web-shooters is the adjustable, staggered spinneret openings around the turbine which ‘permit a single web line, a more complex, spin web line, and a thick stream’ (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 11). This third option being, in Mayday’s own words, ‘a stream of pure web-goop’ (Spider-Girl #21).

 

After losing her spider-powers, May remains determined to continue as a hero, but discovered she no longer possessed the necessary agility and coordination to web-swing, nor sufficient arm strength to maintain a steady grip on the web-line (Spider-Girl #26). It is worth noting, the palm switch of May’s web-shooters evidently does not require the usual sixty-five pounds of pressure to trigger (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol. 11 Spider-Man profile). For reference, the internet estimates the average adult can only exert between 15 and 25 pressure per square inch with their fingers or hands. So, while depowered May is unable to web-swing, she continues to incorporate her web-shooters into her crime-fighting, albeit from atop a Goblin-Glider (Spider-Girl #28-#32).

 

 

 

 

Peter reiterates the fact May’s webbing is based on synthetic polymers when discussing his discovery of the new Spider-Man’s organic webbing (Spider-Girl #37).

 

We learn in Spider-Girl #44 that May still relies on Peter to whip up new batches of web-fluid. Peter, recalling the web-shooters are roughly based on May’s Uncle Ben’s design, also offers to make adjustments to allow them to also fire impact webbing and stingers.

 

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We get a good demonstration of the impact webbing in Spider-Girl #46, which is also where we get another new web-shooter addition. Courtesy of Normie Osborn, May is gifted a cell phone the same weight and size as a spare web cartridge, designed to snap into her web-shooter. Normie pre-arranged for the cell phone to be billed to a blind account. I am fairly certain this marks the very first time a Spidey character had a mobile phone, please correct me if I am wrong!

 

 

 

Unless I am mistaken, we do not see Mayday use her stingers until Spider-Girl #72 and they prove ineffective against the well-versed Carolyn Trainer aka Doctor Octopus. Trainer mentions her previous experience with the stingers, referring to Ben Reilly which is a nice touch. The rarely used stingers are far more effective against the unfamiliar mob enforcer Kodiak (Spider-Girl #75).

 

After learning May lied about the destruction of the Venom Symbiote, Peter grounds her and confiscates her web-shooters along with her costume (Spider-Girl #98). While May kept her cell phone, it was soon after destroyed by the original Hobgoblin (Spider-Girl #99). That is the last time we see these particular web-shooters of May’s, with May gaining a new form of ‘web-shooters’ while briefly bonded with the Venom Symbiote, followed by Peter’s web-shooters in Spider-Girl #100 and the Amazing Spider-Girl series presenting a visibly distinct set of web-shooters.

 

That is a wrap, people! Hopefully, you learned something or had fun like I did finding yet another reason to re-read the Spider-Girl again.

 

Until I figure out how to spin a web any size, I remain

 

frogoat

 

The Fantasticar of the MC2

 

Bear with me as I try to get back into the habit of writing again after what has been an unintended hiatus. Today I thought it would be fun to look at the famous first family’s physics-defying flyer, the Fantasticar. So, let us talk about The Fantasticar in the MC2.

 

For consistency, I will follow the designations used in the FF: Fifty Fantastic Years handbook to refer to the various Fantasticars. The first Fantasticar (‘Fantasticar I’), sometimes styled ‘Fantasti-Car’ and colloquially referred to as the ‘flying bathtub,’ debuted in the pages of Fantastic Four #3. Hallmarks of future Fantasticars including Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) and the capability to separate into four separate compartments independently pilotable also debuted here.

 

The second Fantasticar or ‘Fantasticar II’ first appeared in Fantastic Four #12 where the fan reaction to the origin ‘flying bathtub’ design was directly referenced. This design would not only become the longest running but also the template for future iterations of the Fantasticar in years to come.

 

Breaking the numbering system already, the ‘Long-Range Fantasticar’ appeared in Fantastic Four #293 and was larger, more enclosed, and capable of trans-sonic speed which allowed for longer flights.

 

The last Main Marvel Universe model Fantasticar which is relevant to the MC2 does not originate in the Main Marvel Universe. In the pocket universe known as ‘Heroes Reborn’ created by Franklin Richards to save his family and the various other heroes who sacrificed themselves during the Onslaught event, the ‘reborn’ Reed Richards modified a hyper-sonic transport loaned from the ‘reborn’ Tony Stark. This Fantasticar was capable of hyper-sonic sub-orbital flight and could travel trans-globally in a matter of hours.

 

Now, the MC2’s Fantastic Five have their own Fantasticar which is first glimpsed in Spider-Girl #3. Visually similar to the Fantasticar II albeit with an appropriate five compartments capable of independent piloting. We see one section on its own in Spider-Girl #10 piloted by Franklin Richards.

 

In the pages of Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #3, we see a more modern version of what appears to be a single compartment from the Fantasticar, again piloted by Franklin Richards. We see the more classic design a few more times, with at least some compartments seen in Spider-Girl #25 and Spider-Girl #34, though one seems to double as the Big Brain 2.0’s omni-pod used for transportation in some appearance. which depending on the artist resembles a section of either the classic or modern Fantasticar.

 

Finally, we see a variety of Fantastic Five-branded vehicles in the second Fantastic Five series, including what appears to be the aforementioned earlier Fantasticar II.

 

That is all I have for today but rest assured, I think I have found yet another niche topic to explore in the future.

 

Until I stop seeing Star Trek starships in random comic panels, I remain

 

frogoat