Spider-Girls Mini-Series for Spider-Geddon

While I wasn't expecting much from the upcoming Spider-Geddon event, I felt it would be remiss of me not to at least note the recent announcement from the Comic-Con International: San Diego. Among the Spider-Geddon tie-ins we got this:

SPIDER-GIRLS #1 (of 3)
JODY HOUSER (W) • ANDRES GENOLET (A)
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
A SPIDER-GEDDON TIE IN!
• MAY "MAYDAY" PARKER, the original SPIDER-GIRL, ANYA CORAZON, the Prime Universe SPIDER-GIRL, and ANNIE MAY PARKER, A.K.A. SPIDERLING — together for the first time!
• May will do anything to protect her brother from the Inheritors, and Anya's knowledge of the mystical Spider-Totems could save the day.
• But how does Annie fit in? And what chance do three girls have against ageless universal forces?!

As my regular readers (if any actually exist) will know, I'm less than enthused about the rehashing of the Spider-Verse story beats for Spider-Geddon. Especially given that the original event tore down 12 years of character development and world building by needlessly killing Mayday's father simply to temporarily (and honestly, artificially) motivate a 'tragic' story arc which never really paid off.

But I am determined to be positive about this particular mini-series as it is not being handled by Dan Slott or Christos Gage. Jody Houser is the current writer for the Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows ongoing series and has recently produced some solid work portraying a functioning Spider-Family, albeit eerily similar to some of the Spider-Girl series' own plot lines. Perhaps that's why I'm willing to be more open to her work on this mini-series? Unfortunately, the overarching plot of the event rests with Christos Gage and Dan Slott so we may see a repeat of the Mayday story from Spider-Verse; stuck between character beats without the emotional pay off.

I'll be interested to learn how the interactions between Annie May and Mayday Parker are handled. We've recently learned in the Renew Your Vows series, that baby May met the same fate as in the Main Marvel Universe. This provides fertile ground for some really great character moments. I have seen some Mayday fans declare they won't be checking out this mini-series simply because of the presence of Anya Corazon aka Araña because of the real-world reasons that led to Araña being rebranded as Spider-Girl. In my opinion, this is unfair. Anya has some great potential and I don't believe the character is responsible for editorially imposed decisions. It's also worth pointing out that Spider-Girl creators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz embraced the character, even adding Anya to the MC2.

All in all, this mini-series won't change my mind about the event itself but I will be giving it a chance. With all that's happening in the Spider-Man books at the moment, it seems there's some big changes coming soon.

Until I fully commit to something instead of fence sitting, I remain

frogoat

Playing Catch Up

While I was planning on making a more extensive post about particular topics soon-ish, I felt the urge to put keystrokes to computer screen and make another entry on here on my much-neglected blog. So I'll briefly touch on various little things not worthy of a full post (or perhaps not until later, when I find time) and see how far that takes me.

The mobile-platform game Spider-Man Unlimited continues to be the only video game I can find time for in my busy schedule. Considering I can play it anywhere (at home, at work, on the loo) certainly lends itself to my lifestyle far more than a console game. Rumblings behind the scenes at Gameloft have told us Spider-Ham and Spider-Ham related characters are coming very soon.

 Interviews with the development team previously indicated they would have to build a know new character model for smaller characters such as Spider-Ham However the most recent character added to the game, Annie Parker (from the Renew Your Vows story) appears to use a scaled down version of the female character model...which sometimes glitches back to the standard size while retaining the proportions of the smaller character.

But more importantly, the character comes with a new voice over. The credits of the game currently don't indicate any new additions to the voice cast and the dialogue can't simply have been designed for little Annie because when kicking an enemy, she'll sometimes exclaim 'Taste my hooves!' So, positing a theory here....I think this new voice over is intended for a female Spider-Ham related character....namely Swiney-Girl.

Moving onto comics now, I finished and thoroughly enjoyed the MC2 back-up stories in the Spider-Island mini series. I have some very mixed feelings about the actual events leading into the story (both Spider-Verse and Secret Wars) but I believe on it's own merits the entire 31-page mini-epic was a strong read and a welcome return to down to earth, emotionally based storytelling for Mayday. On a more personal note, the story ended around the one year anniversary of my fathers death. Seeing May struggling to define her role in her family while dealing with the guilt and anger she feels surrounding her fathers passing hit home for me. I generally try to avoid placing personal bias into my thoughts about a comic, but once again I find myself truly connecting with May's swath of emotions. Her journey in many ways reflects my own. Learning to live without a loved one after they die is something that permanently alters your outlook and irrevocably changes your life. I respectfully and sincerely appreciate Tom, Ron, Sal and the entire creative team for their dedication to portraying the fallout of such a life-altering event.

I'm very glad May is not stuck wearing her fathers old costume.

On a lighter note, the ongoing series Web-Warriors will feature Mayday's Spider-Girl--erm I mean Spider-Woman as a recurring member of the cast. Judging by the first issue, I like the concept of a reality-hopping team reminiscent of the Exiles comprised of Spider-People. I think the series could be a fun ride, but I do question how Friendly Neighborhood May can be if she is flitting about across the Multiverse. Obviously, it's not the writers fault May comes to the series a changed character from the one Spider-Girl fans remember, so I won't hold that against them. Honestly, I found the characterization fairly on-target, all things considered. But why hasn't she been on any of the covers?! I'm giving this a chance. Stay tuned, I guess.

Until I find the time to actually write a wordy and well-researched blog entry again, I remain

frogoat