Li'l Benjy in Christmas Crisis!

 

It’s that time of year once again; where we are supposed to be thinking of others, so I thought of you, faithful reader! Consider it a gift, because today I wanted to share an adorable aspect of the MC2 I don’t think I’ve ever covered before: Li’l Benjy! And because it’s Holiday Season, let’s kick things off with ‘Li’l Benjy the Spectacular Spider-Baby in “Christmas Crisis”

 

Created by Tom Defalco and Colleen Coover, Li’l Benjy was a series of short, silly and fun tales published as back-up stories starting in Amazing Spider-Girl #25. Are they canon? I see no reason why not! Shush! Anyway, in the pages of the following issue -Amazing Spider-Girl #26- we have “Christmas Crisis” wherein Benjy wonders why his mother Mary Jane appears so excited. His play date mate Shelly explains to the oblivious baby that it’s a special time of year called ‘Fat Day’ where some old Fat Man sneaks down chimneys to steal everyone’s money and leave clothes behind. Ever the courageous hero, Benjy uses his sister Mayday’s web-shooters to block off the Parker House’s chimney with webbing.

 

While this might keep your average Santa Claus from getting inside, we must remember that in the Marvel Universe, Santa is not only very much real, but also extremely powerful. The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 10 tells us that among his abilities, Santa gains superhuman strength on Christmas Eve, can teleport, has a magical sack which is bigger on the inside and possesses the ability to fit through any chimney (or any alternative if a chimney is not available). Naturally, I’m now wishing we got more Li’l Benjy stories because I’d love to see him meet the real ‘Fat Man’.

 

Happy Holidays and I hope you all find yourselves surrounded by family because that’s truly magical and worth living to see in this scary world. Hug your loved ones, enjoy this time and stay safe everybody!

 

Until I manage to work the Elf with a Gun into a post, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Symmetry: Spider-Man '67 and Spider-Girl

For today’s super-quick post we have another entry in the shamelessly swiped Spider-Symmetry series. Ron Frenz presents Spider-Symmetry: Spider-Man ’67 and Spider-Girl.

 

Spider-Girl and MC2 co-creator and artist extraordinaire Ron Frenz is an admitted lifelong fan of the original 1967 Spider-Man cartoon and he once again took the opportunity to slip several direct references into Amazing Spider-Girl. I’ll let Ron’s own Facebook post provide the explanation:

99% Inspiration!

Remember the 1967 Spider-man cartoon? Every frame is pretty much burned into my frontal lobe!

As the show changed production teams they would spend(waste?) several minutes of any given episode with a traveling montage of the web-spinner web-swinging through the concrete canyons of New York City accompanied by some of the coolest soundtrack music known to man IMHO!

We've spoken before of my cartoon-addled brain and my tendency to indulge it in my comics work, well here's another example from the pages of The Amazing Spider-Girl!

Mayday Parker is desperately searching the city for her missing Father and infant Brother who have been taken by Carnage! (I know!)

Inks by Mr.Sal Buscema, colors by Gotham, letters by Mr.Dave Sharpe and words by The Legendary Tom DeFalco!

This calls for a traveling montage! Cue the music!!

 

For anyone wondering, the issue referenced is Amazing Spider-Girl #11 and an example of previous ’67 homage would be La Fantome aka Staci Smythe. Mr Frenz has even talked about some unused concepts such as a Halloween story idea ‘Night of Evil’.

 

Here’s the page and referenced shots for comparison:

 

Until I stop appreciating the deep love the Spider-Girl creative team has for all things Spidey and more, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Raimi-Verse References in the MC2

 

Following on from the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home villain posts, for no specific reason today’s post will be about the various Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie trilogy references, easter eggs and connections in the MC2, including those I consider too coincidental not to mention. For short, here’s Raimi-Verse References in the MC2.

 

First up, here’s one I’ve always thought was ahead of it’s time and almost certainly unintentional. In Spider-Girl #5 we first meet the MC2’s Venom symbiote. When the symbiote bonds to it’s former original host Peter Parker we get a variation on both the Spider-Man and Venom’s costumes combined dubbed ‘Spider-Venom’. Now, to me this looks way too similar to Spider-Man 3’s Venom costume design for it *not* to be an inspiration. Of course, it’s more than likely a huge coincidence but it’s amusing that this comic was published in 1999, a whole seven years before the film was released. On an unrelated note, as far as I’m aware this may also be the first example of the symbiote replacing a host’s lost limb using it’s own bio-mass over a decade before ‘Agent Venom’ was a concept.

 

When a mysterious new Spider-Man first showed up at the Daily Bugle in Spider-Girl #32, he was rocking a new costume design which included classic eye-pieces and a red and black colour scheme. Additionally, the stylized spider emblem on both the front and back of the costume bore a very familiar design. While the front is a larger, modified version of Peter Parker’s own, the back with the red colour is remarkable for it’s strikingly similarity to the one first seen on screen a year later in the first Spider-Man movie.

 

Another fun detail -again more than likely unintentional- is the fact that this new Spider-Man (actually Gerry Drew, the son of the original Spider-Woman) is capable of producing organic webbing much like the Raimi-Verse’s version of Peter Parker (Spider-Girl #37). Meanwhile Peter’s ability to produce organic webbing wouldn’t be introduced in the Main Marvel Universe until 2004’s Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #20 in what was most likely an attempt at synergy between the comics and films.

 

This next one is probably my personal favourite. While attending an engagement party for Normie Osborn and Brenda Drago, Mary Jane points out to Peter a fellow partygoer’s uncanny resemblance to someone he should know all too well. Needless to say, Peter doesn’t see the resemblance and instead thinks he looks like Tobey Maguire (Spider-Girl #82). Of course, the man MJ points out is Reilly Tyne aka Darkdevil aka the son of Ben Reilly aka the clone brother of Peter Parker himself which makes this joke all the more amusing.

 

Okay, this one was so obvious I really have no idea how I nearly missed it when compiling this post! After hanging up her webs as Spider-Girl months prior, May ‘Mayday’ Parker suddenly finds herself in need of make-shift disguise. Thus, the short-lived adventures of the Red Hoodie Girl begin (Spider-Girl #1-#2, Avengers Next #1). Obviously, this look will seem very familiar to anyone who’s watched the original Spider-Man movie as it’s Peter’s ‘Human Spider’ wrestling costume.  

Calling back to the concept of producing organic webs, Peter’s second child, Benjy is shown to have developed just that ability, first in Amazing Spider-Girl #9 and later in Amazing Spider-Girl #30 when the infant manages to save himself and his mother from a deadly fall at the hands of a returned Norman Osborn. This is nicely foreshadowed in a scene where Peter and Mayday discuss organic webbing while producing a fresh batch of web-fluid together in Amazing Spider-Girl #20).

 

There’s also a nice little Raimi-Verse Spider-Man costume reference on the cover of Amazing Spider-Girl #11 featuring Peter Parker strung-up by Carnage’s tendrils, his Spider-Man costume adorned with the spider-design of his film counterpart.

 

That’s all I have for now, if you think I’ve forgotten or overlooked a reference to Sam Raimi trilogy, let me know! I thought this would be a nice little bit of fun to close things out for now.

 

Until I learn they’ve brought Tobey’s Spider-Man back… with a daughter in tow, I remain

 

frogoat

Benjy's Real First Appearance

Hey, really quick: remember when J.J. Abrams and his son Henry Abrams launched a new Spider-Man title that surprised everyone by being set in an alternate universe that introduced Peter Parker’s son, Benjamin ‘Benny’ Parker II? Remember how it caused the comic collectors market to suddenly drive up the value of Spider-Girl #59 because it was tangentially related by having also introduced Peter Parker’s son Benjamin ‘Benny/Benjy’ Parker II, our beloved Li’l Benjy of the MC2?

 

Well, what if I told you they got it wrong? I mean, obviously these two Ben’s are very different characters from completely different alternate realities. But what if I told you Spider-Girl #59 isn’t even Benjy’s real first appearance? That’s right, I’m going to be nit-picky here.

You see, Benjy actually makes his first appearance on-panel in Spider-Girl #57, two issues prior to his credited first appearance. Here, Mary Jane Parker and May ‘Mayday’ Parker pay a visit to the Fantastic Five Building for a prenatal check-up with the team’s Big Brain aka Reed Richards.

It’s here we see a full-term Ben shortly before his birth via Richards’ high-tech ‘diagnostagram’. It’s also here that Mayday get’s her first glimpse of her baby brother, which is a nice when you remember she will miss his birth in Spider-Girl #59. It’s also May who suggests to her mother Mary Jane the name Ben for her as-yet-unnamed brother.

 

Hope you’ve learned something today, and remember the value of a comic is what you get out of it, not how much money it makes in the collector’s market.

 

Until I stop revisiting my favourite series just to ruin things for collectors by picking nits, I remain

 

frogoat

Carnage in the MC2

So the Venom film is still in theatres and I've noticed people are still talking about it, making YouTube videos and generally discussing anything tangentially related to the symbiotic Spidey villain, including discussing a character who may appear in the movie's post-credits scene. Guess I'll jump on the bandwagon by talking about the spawn of Venom, the murderous maniac Carnage in the MC2!

Despite all the previously discussed appearances of the Venom symbiote in the MC2, we didn't learn anything about what happened to it's offspring until Amazing Spider-Girl #9-12 where S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill tasks Special Agent Arthur Weadon and his team of former villains with safeguarding the transport of an item referred to only as 'Specimen 297'.

Naturally, things go awry when the convey Weadon's team are guarding is attacked and Specimen 297 is taken. When Spider-Girl intercepts those attempting to make off with Specimen 297, a stray shot pierces the container, allowing it's contents to escape. We learn that the operatives are actually S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on a top secret mission and that the Carnage symbiote is now loose.

With the Carnage symbiote newly bonded to a host, it attacks Midtown High students at the Café Indigo. However, Carnage is prevented from killing anyone by his new host and after seeing Courtney Duran afraid, flees.

Also worth noting is that the Carnage symbiote mentions being split into many splinters by the scientists studying it. Digging into the who's and why's of S.H.I.E.L.D. transporting the dangerous alien symbiote specimen through New York or why another group within the organisation was sabotaging the operation, it suffices to say that it was politically motivated...

Events take a dark turn when Carnage appears at the Parker's family home while Peter Parker is looking after his infant son, Benjy. Sensing danger, Peter attempts to sneak Benjy out of the house only to be accosted by Carnage. When Mayday and Mary Jane return home, they find Peter and Benjy gone and an ominous message on the wall...

While threatening baby Benjy, we see that Carnage's new host is resisting the symbiote's murderous tendencies, and we learn the reason he came to the Parker home: Mayday. Ignoring Peter's pleas, Carnage takes Benjy and heads off, promising to fulfill a promise to his host.

Tracking down Carnage, Spider-Girl and the symbiotic villain battle until Mayday appeals to the host: Moose Mansfield. We learn that Carnage has promised to help Moose's dying father in exchange for his co-operation.

Carnage heads to the hospital, driven on by Moose's desire to help his father. This is followed by one of my all time favourite sequences of storytelling ever, ending with a shocking reveal...

Yup, Kid Carnage! Spider-Girl attempts to neutralise her baby brother while avoiding Carnage long enough to reach the sonic gauntlets the police had recently confiscated following a super-battle. Unfortunately, Agent Weadon's team show up to apprehend Spider-Girl. Somewhat more fortunately, Carnage makes short work of the team.

When Spider-Girl points out Carnage might be able to actually cure Moose's father of cancer, Moose convinces the symbiote to head back to the hospital with the promise of compliance. Having bought time, Mayday organises for her father to pick up the sonic gauntlets and armour from the Midtown South Police Precinct and meet her at the hospital.

Carnage makes his way through the hospital toward Mr Mansfield, encountering Moose's girlfriend Courtney and cousin Donna as he fights through security. Spider-Girl holds him off so that Peter can use the sonic device to stop Carnage. But Peter freezes at the sight of  Benjy, fearing his infant son will be harmed.

Forced to take over, May uses the sonic device on Benjy, driving the symbiote off of her brother but also causing him to lose his hearing. Racing after Carnage, May forces the symbiote from Moose moments before it could bond with his father and save his life.

With the Carnage symbiote dead, May's baby brother Benjy deaf and Moose's father on the verge of death, the story reaches it's conclusion. While Specimen 297 appears to be destroyed, we are left to wonder if the other 299 remaining specimens will be destroyed.

Which leads us to Spider-Girl: The End where we are shown a possible future where May 'Mayday' Parker died, which led to April Parker aka Mayhem killing several villains and eventually the hero American Dream. This prompted the government to hand over samples of the Carnage symbiote to Blackworks Paramilitary Services in an effort to create an army of 'Bio-Predators' to combat Mayhem.

Possibly as a result of using mercenaries, these Bio-Preds went rogue, becoming a swarm of destruction that absorbed or killed everyone in their path. Immune, Mayhem atoned for her crimes helped defend humanity against these creatures, but eventually mankind was forced underground to survive. In a last ditch effort, Mayhem was sent back in time to avert the series of events leading to the end of the human race.

I think it goes without saying that clearly the government did not destroy the remaining 299 Carnage Specimens. Never trust a politician.


Until I bond with the spawn of an alien symbiote, I remain

frogoat