Today’s post is part of a very occasional series where I
like to highlight the visual
or narrative
symmetry between the Spider-Man
and Spider-Girl
comics. For this entry, I wanted to demonstrate a great example, this time from
MC2 mainstay and Spider-Girl artist extraordinaire Pat Olliffe.
Presented for your consideration, Spider-Girl #25,
the double-sized anniversary issue which is probably best known for
parallelling and referencing the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, the first
appearance of the villainous team, the Sinister Six. The references
include the introduction of a new generation of six (or is it seven?!) super
villains who come together as the Savage Six, the Spidey of the
day losing their powers, the kidnapping of two supporting characters and the
use of gorgeous splash pages to punctuate each battle. Certainly, credit must
go to both writer Tom Defalco and artist Pat Olliffe for this loving
tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original work.
What’s less a direct reference or parallel to the first Sinister
Six story is the cover to Spider-Girl #25, which doesn’t homage Amazing
Spider-Man Annual #1. Instead, it references the next Sinister Six
story. The Return of the Sinister Six is, appropriately, a six-issue
story arc spanning from Amazing Spider-Man #334 to Amazing Spider-Man
#339. By now, it’s obvious that the cover of Spider-Girl #25 is an
homage to Amazing Spider-Man #337.
There’s a lot more to breakdown when it comes to this issue,
and it’s obviously just a single example of the literally hundreds of references,
homages and continuations present throughout the MC2. But that’s it from
me for today!
Until I lose my powers either before or after fighting a
team of six villains whom I’ve faced separately in the past, I remain
frogoat