This is a re-post of my review from
Spidey-Dude.com which you can see
here.
Story:
Disclaimer:
This review was written before the conclusion of the Spider-Verse storyline. Some points raised may later be addressed.
The
Inheritor named Daemos attacks the Parker home of Earth-982. Mayday's
boyfriend Wes is apparently killed attempting to defend her from being
crushed to death by Daemos.
Peter
knocks Daemos away from Mayday and tells Mary Jane to save their
children. While Peter battles Daemos, Mary Jane tells Mayday to take her
baby brother Benjy and flee. Mary Jane rushes to her husband's side as
May runs out of the burning family home with her brother. A scream is
heard from the house just as Old Man Spider-Man and Spider-UK arrive
through a portal.
Mayday begs them to help, but Old Man Spider-Man
tells her they can only detect her and Benjy. Daemos emerges from the
house dragging the body of Peter. He tells Mayday he will find them no
matter where they go. Mayday vows to break every vow to avenge her
father and kill Daemos before she disappears into the portal.
Review:
Where to start?
Dan
Slott manages to do more to ruin the MC2's Spider-Girl in 8 pages than I
ever thought possible. On the other hand, Dan Slott also writes the
married Peter and Mary Jane as well as anyone could hope for.
Starting
with some positives, I really enjoy seeing Humberto Ramos' depiction of
Spider-Girl, brief though it maybe. His kinetic style is perhaps best
suited to the action-oriented stuff, but I think he does a fine job
showing emotion through the characters faces and body language. I was
impressed how much pathos he manged to depict through Mayday's ripped
mask with just one eye visible. I did find it difficult to make sense of
where everybody was in relation to one another at times and the odd
angles chosen sometimes forced me to look twice. I think Victor
Olazaba's inks help deepen and distinguish Ramos' pencils, which is
usually a good thing. The colors by Edgar Delgado were suitably darker
in tone than most Spider-Girl stories and the lighting particularly from
the flames worked well to evoke the destructive nature of this story.
I'd like to see this art team draw more Spider-Girl someday. The cover
to the book by Giuseppe Camuncoli looks amazing too.
But what
about the story? The cover's copy reads 'Spider-Girl's Last Stand' and
with the accompanying artwork of Mayday looking battered but determined
surrounded by destruction, you'd be forgiven for thinking she had agency
in her own story. Instead, Mayday starts off pinned by Daemos and
already defeated. Wes has more of a heroic moment than Mayday. Then
Peter throws himself at Daemos to slow him down so that his family can
escape. Then Mary Jane gives Mayday Benjy and steps up to rejoin her
husband. Wes, Peter and MJ all take an active role in the story while
Mayday spends the entire story reacting.
As a story featuring
Spider-Girl there isn't a lot of the tone one would expect. Mayday's
character seems lacking. Sure, she monologues and feels responsible for
bringing this down on her family and she clearly loves and respects her
parents; that much I think was well handled. But the use of 'Mayday
Parker' instead of May 'Mayday' Parker is either an error or a clue this
isn't really the MC2 character. 'Mayday' is merely a nickname but here
Spider-Girl refers to herself this way as though it were her actual
name. Even Mary Jane calls her 'Mayday' for goodness sake. There's also
the use of 'The Spider-Girl' to describe herself as the definitive
Spider-Girl which struck me as odd.
Another quibble of mine was
Old Man Spider-Man showing up and simply telling Mayday that it's too
late to help because he can't detect any other Spider-Totems. Did Dan
Slott forget about the MC2's own Kaine. Or Darkdevil. Or Gerry Drew. Or
Jessica Drew. Or Julia Carpenter. Or Mattie Franklin. Or Aranâ. Or Black
Tarantula. I know what you might be thinking, perhaps they are already
dead? But no, dialogue from Daemos seems to imply this is his first
stop on this world.
There are a multitude of reasons I could rant
on about why this story fails, but I think the main reason is simple.
This was the first time we'd really seen May in a comic since her series
ended four years ago, and the first thing we see is her parents and
boyfriend murdered and her family home destroyed. Which leaves us with a
very different character leading into the Spider-Verse event. If they
wanted to use Spider-Girl, then use her as she has always been
portrayed. If they wanted a vengeful and angry character, then why not
use a different character? This depiction does a disservice to the fans
of the character by making her unrecognizable and does nothing but tear
down over a decade of character development and progression.
Worse
still, Spider-Girl is no longer viable as a concept with her parents
dead. The whole point of having the daughter of Spider-Man is to show
how they interact with one another. Mayday's relationship with her
parents is one of the richest sources of drama and development.
Spider-Girl was a rare find in comics: a superhero who didn't need a
tragic past to drive her. Cutting that out leaves us with yet another
brooding, angst-ridden orphan superhero.
A far more interesting
approach to having Spider-Girl in this event would have been to
highlight the various strong points of her series: The marriage of Peter
and MJ, May's optimism and strength of character, her ability to see
the good in others. There are key moments in Spider-Verse where Mayday's
unique perspective could have shone through. Instead she's reduced to
spouting rage-filled epithets. It's a true shame.
I think where
Dan Slott shows the most promise is with his depiction of the married
Peter and Mary Jane and the assertion that they would never be parted.
Which gives a nice piece of tragedy to their deaths, pointless though
they may be. I suppose some credit must be given for featuring Wes in
the story, though he's really only there to increase the drama by dying.
This universe's earth designation is correctly given as 982, which
considering the errors in other Spider-Verse stories, is something they
got right. Considering what transpires, I don't know if that's a good
thing.
Only time will tell if this is all set right at the
conclusion of Spider-Verse. On a personal note, my favorite character
suffering through the loss of her parents struck me very hard,
especially while re-reading the story again. I find it almost cruel and
heartless that anyone would write such a story without regard to the
consequences going forward. The loss of parent is a life-altering event.
I don't feel it was handled with the care and forethought that was
needed. I hope there is a plan going forward for Mayday and her family.
All
said and told, I really did not enjoy reading this story. A lot of
people wanted to see Spider-Girl again, but not like this. Not like
this. D-
Until things are set right again, I remain
frogoat
