Julia Carpenter in the MC2

 

With Sony Pictures Madame Web movie right around the corner, now is a good time to take a look at one of the film’s main cast of characters as she appears in our favourite comic imprint. Today, we will cover Spider-Woman aka Julia Carpenter in the MC2.

 

First appearing in 1984's Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 in shadow and making her first full debut in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #7, Julia Carpenter was introduced as the second Spider-Woman, and the inspiration for Spider-Man’s own black-suit design, though her origin would remain a mystery for quite some time. 

 

Born Julia Cornwall in Los Angeles, California to Elizabeth and Walter Cornwall , Julia befriended fellow college student (and later federal agent) Valerie Cooper before she met, fell in love with married Larry Carpenter. Julia dropped out of college, working to support Larry as he studied for a career in public relations (Avengers West Coast #84). 

 

After graduating college, Larry Carpenter (who first appeared in Iron Man #214) often focused his time and attention on his work and extra-marital affairs, rather than Julia despite the two having a young daughter- Rachel Carpenter-together. Rachel Carpenter (who also made her debut in Iron Man #214) was five years old when Julia divorced Larry and the courts granted custody of Rachel to Julia. Now a single mother struggling to make ends meet, Julia moved Julia to Denver, Colorado. 

 

Unbeknownst to Julia, a seemingly chance meeting with Val Cooper would lead to Julia gaining her spider-powers. Val hired Julia as a test subject for a secret government project, telling Julia it was for exercise research when the experiments were to create government-controlled super humans for the Commission of Superhuman Activities (CSA). After being subjected to weeks of intense athletic training, Julia was secretly injected with a large dose of a special spider-serum. While Dr Napier claimed this was an accident, the researchers had been dosing Julia with higher and higher amounts over time. The 'accident' yielded the desired results and Julia quickly discovered she had developed her own unique set of spider-powers including the ability to generate psionic 'webbing' (Avengers West Coast #84).

 

Despite appearances, Val Cooper had not encountered Julia by mere luck. Julia would learn much later that the story she had believed was fabricated. The CSA's ambition to have government super-agents had led to them hiring lead scientist Dr Carter Napier. Napier and his team of scientists had sought out rare plants and spider venoms only found deep in the Peruvian Amazon. The expedition had been led by jungle guides Elizabeth and Walter Cornwall, Julia's own long-absent parents. It was through this connection that Val Cooper learned of Julia's financial struggles and combined with her prior knowledge of Julia's athletic prowess, found the perfect candidate for the experiments (Spider-Woman Vol.2 #2).

 

After the events of Secret Wars, Julia spent time working for the CSA, being assigned to work alongside Freedom Force in battling the X-Men and later capturing the Avengers. Feeling it was not right, Julia freed the Avengers and was declared a fugitive by (Uncanny X-Men #206, X-Factor #8-9, Avengers Annual #15). With Julia absent for long periods of time, Larry successfully sued for custody of Rachel. Aided by Iron Man, Julia turned herself in to the CSA, working as an undercover agent under the orders of Mike Clemson, a man who was openly hostile toward her. Meanwhile, the general public continued to believe she was a wanted criminal (Iron Man #214).

 

Julia encountered the Avengers in California after moving there to be close to her daughter again. After aiding the team in their battle with the Pacific Overlords, Julia joined the West Coast Avengers team, finally allowing Julia to officially clear her name and quit the CSA. Around this time, Julia revealed her superhero identity to Rachel. Julia would serve with the Avengers West Coast branch until the team was disbanded. (Avengers West Coast #70-102). 

  

When the West Coast branch of the Avengers disbanded, Julia joined the newly formed Force Works alongside with several other former-West Coast team members. Rachel moved into the teams headquarters- The Works- alongside her mother. However, in the wake of the events of The Crossing, the Force Works team disbanded (Force Works #1-22). After this, Julia next appears in a back up story in Sensational Spider-Man Annual '96, which takes place after the events of Onslaught. In this adventure, Julia is operating solo in Los Angeles when she encounters the animated Spider-Woman costume of Jessica Drew. It leads her into an encounter with Shadowoman and Lindsey McCabe where they save Jessica Drew from the other dimensional Void-Eater. The story concludes by implying Jessica may want her old super hero moniker back, and an editorial box tells readers to look for a follow up story in the pages of Spider-Man Team-Up. Sadly, this would never come to pass as this story was writer Mark Gruenwald's final published work before his death. 

 

Following this, Julia Carpenter next shows up post-Heroes Return for cameo appearances in Avengers Vol. 3 #1-4 and Captain America Vol. 3 #3. As I've mentioned in prior posts, it's unclear what parts of this era occurred or did not occur in the history of the MC2. Around this time in the Spider-Man books, Doctor Octopus' Spider-Woman (Charlotte Witter) was taking the powers of the various other Spider-Women. However, things appear to have played out differently in the MC2, as this is where events had already begun to diverge.

 

Julia Carpenter makes her MC2 debut in Spider-Girl #37 where she seeks out Peter Parker for assistance finding the original Spider-Man's family so she can bring in Jessica Drew's son, Gerry Drew aka the new Spider-Man before Gerry comes to harm as a result of his rare blood disease.

 

In Spider-Girl #39, Julia mentions that Jessica, herself, Mattie Franklin, and Cassandra Webb aka Madame Web had all previously used Peter to get messages to Spider-Man. Julia also appears to have detailed knowledge of Jessica and Gerry's history, implying the two Spider-Women have maintained contact until recently.

 

 As with the previous issue, the connection between the three Spider-Women is reinforced with a flashback in Spider-Girl #40 showing Julia in her Spider-Woman costume meeting up with a costumed Mattie Franklin and a plain clothed Jessica Drew. It’s notable that Jessica is in plain clothes and apparently depowered while Julia seems to retain her abilities, judging by her costumed appearance.

 

Julia and Peter track down Jessica at her home and confront her, with Jessica telling the two that Gerry won't stop his reckless behaviour as superhero without a good reason. Peter approaches Gerry in costume as Spider-Man and convinces him to retire until he can get treatment from Reed Richards. Julia notes that despite being believed dead, the original Spider-Man returned when needed (Spider-Girl #42-43). 

 

Julia’s appearances in the MC2 raise a lot of unanswered questions, such as whether she retained her spider-powers (it seems likely, though it’s never stated) and we get no mention of her own daughter Rachel who would surely be an adult by this point. Maybe someday we’ll learn more.

 

Until I discover Dr Napier was in the Amazon with my parents researching rare plants and spiders, right before they… didn’t die, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Who Saved Peter's Life? (MC2 Theory)

While I’m not entirely satisfied with my post about Peter’s Lost Leg, upon my revisiting of it recently I was at least pleased that I had made my points well. I also realized I had made mention of an unexplained plot point regarding the MC2 Spider-Man’s final battle with the Green Goblin: Who saved Peter Parker’s life?

 

Let’s review the facts we do know of the situation:

 

•  Norman Osborn, for unknown reasons does not enact the Gathering of Five ritual until much later in the MC2, likely as a result of setting up other schemes and masterplans in the meantime.

•   Eventually, Kaine rescues and returns Peter and Mary Jane’s baby May Parker to them.

• Spider-Man has several adventures while raising May including those seen in the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man stories.

• Mattie Franklin, Norman Osborn, Greg Herd, Cassandra Webb (aka Madame Web) and Morris Maxwell willingly agree to participate in the Gathering of Five ritual. This ritual is interrupted by Spider-Man before it can reach its completion.

•  As Spider-Man, Peter Parker battles Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin. Mattie Franklin stands by watching her favourite hero as the other participants of the Gathering begin to flee.

•  Mattie Franklin is the last to flee, taking the pieces for the Gathering of Five ritual with her. Spider-Man loses his leg and Norman Osborn dies in their final battle.

 

By now, you’ve probably guessed where I’m going with this. With the Goblin dead and Peter haemorrhaging quickly from what remained of his right leg, I propose Mattie Franklin provided life-saving first aid to her fallen hero. There isn’t evidence, per se, but I’m going to try to form a convincing enough argument for why I believe Martha ‘Mattie’ Franklin was the one to save Peter’s life and in doing so become a hero in her own right.

 

As I’ve noted above and in previous posts, in the MC2 this Gathering of Five ritual took place far later than it did in the Main Marvel Universe. Naturally, this would mean Mattie was slightly older and presumably more mature. Additionally, if we assume the trajectory of young Mattie’s personal life played out similarly to how it occurred in the Main Marvel Universe, things quickly took a sharp turn toward the tragic. Firstly, with an additional in-universe year or two it can be assumed Mattie’s father Jeremy Franklin died at this point just as he is said to have died in the Main Marvel Universe (Alias #20). If you want to discard this point, there is still the fact that Mattie has obsessive and depressive moods when thinking about her mother who died in unrevealed circumstances while she was very young (Spider-Woman vol.3 #15).

I mention Mattie’s early parental losses because evidently it informs her morality and outlook. Seeing a dying man in front of her, particularly her favourite superhero Spider-Man would surely have provided the impetus for her to turn around and attempt to help him. Additionally, Norman reveals his duel identity as the Green Goblin to the other participants of the Gathering of Five. In her very first cameo appearance from Spectacular Spider-Man #262, we learn that Mattie’s father Jeremy Franklin is an unwilling associate of Osborn’s which must surely have made this reveal doubly confronting; the enemy of her recently deceased father is also the enemy of her close to death idol.

 

 

 

From a different perspective I also find the idea that Mattie’s heroic side emerged in this moment quite meta-textually satisfying. For those unfamiliar, Mattie Franklin’s introduction coincided with the rebooting of the Spider-Man titles of the time which saw the premature end to many creative team’s runs, with many plot threads left dangling. With the reboot, Mary Jane suddenly returned to modelling, Peter quit being Spider-Man and Aunt May was suddenly returned to life while baby May was brushed under the carpet. Empowered by the Gathering of Five ceremony, Mattie took over briefly as Spider-Man in the hero’s absence and soon after took on the Spider-Woman mantel with her own title under creator John Byrne’s writing pen. Along the way, Mary Jane was supposedly killed in a plane explosion and we got this infamous cover:

 

Now, imagine if instead of an extremely inappropriate kiss between a teenage girl and a married/widowed man, in the MC2 events might have depicted Mattie instead performing life-saving first aid and ‘the kiss of life’ via CPR on a dying Spider-Man? Instead of exploiting the potential death of a spouse, Mattie serves to save one of the Parker's. Seems way more heroic and endearing to me, but I’m no writer.

 

But let’s also back track again to discuss Norman Osborn during the post-Clone Saga era of the Spider-Titles, before they were rebooted. Norman Osborn had manipulated his way into a place of even more power and influence when he took control and ownership of the Daily Bugle and was even making private threats to J Jonah Jameson. With the reboot of the titles, these plots fell by the wayside and were I believe never satisfactorily resolved. Jonah and his wife Marla later became adoptive parents to Mattie when she ran away to New York and this tie was strengthened when Jeremy Franklin died in unrevealed circumstances leading the Jameson’s to adopt Mattie officially.

 

So, let’s really dive into the realm of fan theory here for a bit. We know Mattie’s mother died when she was young. We know Jeremy Franklin was unwilling to participate in the Gathering of Five, but still felt compelled to due to threats Norman made against him. Jeremy even swore to himself he’d make Osborn pay dearly. We know (thanks to references in the Mattie’s own series and some errors in continuity in Bendis’ Alias #20) that both Marla and Jonah knew Jeremy well. We know that Jeremy died without explanation. I propose Norman, at least in the MC2, held a dangling threat over the Franklin family. When Jeremy disobeyed, he was soon after killed and this led to Mattie moving in with the Jameson’s. This would also go some way to explaining why Jonah held back exposing Norman, fearing his adoptive daughter Mattie would be killed like her father (and perhaps her mother) before her. If Jeremy held off handing over the piece he had which was needed to complete the Gathering of Five ceremony, this might also have contributed to its delayed occurrence in the MC2 as well.

Would an older, more mature and freshly orphaned Mattie take the initiative and attempt to save her idol from certain death? I think so. With some first aid, Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation and quick decision-making Mattie could have not only saved Peter, but also preserved his secret identity by contacting the Fantastic Four instead of regular emergency services.

 

This theory allows Mattie to be characterised in a more heroic light, saving her hero from certain death and presents a better origin story and perhaps some more rationale for other aspects surrounding these otherwise unexplained events. We also already know Mattie goes on to become Spider-Woman and contacted Peter (Spider-Girl #39), but with this context we can speculate that she may have known his secret identity and kept it quiet.

 

 Again, this is just my wildly expanded theory to try to make sense of several dropped plotlines from that era of Spidey comics while also figuring out how it could all line up in the MC2 where things turned out drastically different. If you disagree, please tell me why and I’d be happy to have a discussion!

 

Until I stop dwelling on 20-year-old plotlines everyone would rather forget, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Who is the Fast Lane Spider-Girl?!

‘Fast Lane’ was the name of an infamous 4-part anti-drug story inserted into the middle of basically every comic Marvel published every second month between September 1999 and March 2000 including the MC2’s Spider-Girl, Fantastic Five, Wild Thing titles. Created by the Marvel Creative Services in conjunction with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, the story was written by Glenn Herdling with pencils by Gregg Schigiel (who contributed gorgeous art to Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide by Tom Defalco) with inks by Richard Case.

But why am I talking about this particular story here? Well, you see in Part 4 of the story "Back on Target” there’s an absolutely amazing double splash page featuring various Marvel Heroes all helping out at the site of an accident. The heroes include Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, Storm, Wolverine, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Girl. Wait… what?!

Obviously, this story doesn’t take place in the MC2 and that’s not May ‘Mayday’ Parker, so what’s going on? This was a mystery that used to bother me as a young reader, but nowadays looking up information is a lot easier. Curiously, both the Marvel Chronology Project and Amazing Spider-Man: Official Index to the Marvel Universe not only identify the character as being the Mattie Franklin incarnation of Spider-Woman but also place it within the Main Marvel Universe after the events of Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #14 and Spider-Woman (Vol. 3) #9. To be fair, the Official Index chooses to err on the side of caution with notes clarifying “If Fast Lane is in continuity, it takes place shortly after that issue” and “Spider-Woman called “Spider-Girl” here” in an attempt to tie up the matter.

While an admirable effort, there are a few problems with this explanation, the first being that Mattie Franklin never used web-shooters such as those visibly worn by Fast Lane’s Spider-Girl. The second issue is why Mattie would even use webbing in the first place, given her ability to fly. Thirdly, Mattie was never seen in the costume depicted. On this occasion, I’m going to have to disagree with the idea that this character is Mattie Franklin and that the story takes place in the Main Marvel Universe.

So, what’s going on? Well, for answers we have to take a look at an article on Comics Alliance about the Fast Lane story, which includes some great insight from the artist himself Gregg Schigiel. Here’s an excerpt:


“Just above that, there's a Spider-Man type girl who's saving a kid…that was a version of Spider-Girl that Marvel's Creative Services was working on at the time, that if memory serves, I helped design. I'm not sure what the endgame there was (clearly something licensing-related), but I only ever drew her here and as a kind of paper doll cut-out type thing, which I think was meant for presentation purposes. In perfect late '90s fashion she has a bare midriff and capri pants”



So that confirms it, then. This is not intended to be Mattie Franklin nor Mayday Parker, though the character does perhaps borrow some elements from both characters, notably the former’s hair style and the latter’s heroic identity. As for what licensed products this Spider-Girl design wound up being used for, I believe these contemporary dress-up costumes were part of the merchandising endgame Mr Schigiel mentioned:

Special thanks to Ron Frenz for providing the above image, because it is now seemingly impossible to find online anywhere in the present day. Mr Frenz would reference this costume design with both the cover and interiors for Spider-Girl #91, showcasing it during a scene centred around the Spider Shoppe, a boutique specializing in Spider-Women-themed apparel.

I guess that brings us full circle back to the good ol’ MC2. If anyone has anymore information about this unnamed Fast Lane Spider-Girl, please let me know! A huge thanks to arias-98105, Ron Frenz and the Comics Alliance website for their various contributions to this post, otherwise I’d have no idea what I’m talking about!



Until I find more obscure, unimportant and largely pointless facts to impart, I remain



frogoat