On the Naughty List: Slaybelle, the No-Hit Wonder

 

♪Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening♪

♪A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight♪
♪Walking in a winter wonderland♪

-Winter Wonderland

 

 

It’s nearly that time again, merry people! With the holiday season upon us and with me recently having trawled back through my old notes on unused concepts in the MC2, I’ve got a gift for one and all: Slaybelle, the villainess who (almost) stole Christmas.

 

I enjoy the unused concepts conceived by the creative teams of the MC2, particularly Spider-Girl co-creator Ron Frenz, who has kindly shared a plethora of unpublished pitches through the years. Among these, we have this tantalizing titbit from Ron’s own facebook post:

 

“NOPE.

So The Legendary Tom DeFalco and I were working on an issue of Spider-Girl that would be on sale around Christmastime and needed a villain to give Mayday a warm-up battle at the beginning of the issue, you know, an opening bank robbery kinda thing. We put our heads together and came up with THIS young lady,

SLAYBELLE (Get it?)

Tom and I: Pretty cool, huh?

Editor: Nope.

Oh well.”

 

For those who don’t get it, Slaybelle is a punny bit of wordplay on ‘sleigh bell,’ which is another term for a ‘jingle bell’ which were often found on sleds or sleighs and are closely associated with the folk story of Santa Claus and his flying sleigh. Slay, meaning to violently kill is a homophone of sleigh. Belle is a term for a beautiful woman. Honestly, I’m probably overexplaining this. But it’s a clever joke!

 

On the podcast Make Mine Mayday Episode 43, Ron mentioned the situation:

 

‘The only thing I remember an editor saying we couldn’t do was Slaybelle. A young woman in a Santa suit with a big gun and we were going to use her for an opening sequence, like a bank robbery or something like that. I forget whether it was Nicole or Molly or who it was, whoever was our editor at the time said ‘No’. And we went ‘why?’ and they said ‘No. Just no.’

 

As for what issue of Spider-Girl this Miss missed, Ron notes Slaybelle was conceived for an issue published after Spider-Girl #54, which was of course pencilled by MC2 alumni Pat Olliffe. I’ll let you theorize!

Until I can come up with something for next this time next year, I remain a very merry

 

frogoat

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spider-Symmetry: Spider-Girl 31 and Spider-Girl 45

 

For today’s post we have a brief entry in the occasional series where I endeavour to highlight the visual or narrative symmetry between the Spider-Man and Spider-Girl comics. For this entry of Spider-Symmetry, we are taking a look at just the MC2 comics. For this installment, we must credit the amazing penciller Pat Olliffe and as you’ll note soon enough, MC2 co-creator, artist extraordinaire and friendly fella, Ron Frenz.

 

Spider-Girl #31 gives us this delightful cover from Pat Olliffe, first published in February 2001, of May ‘Mayday’ Parker as Spider-Girl surrounded by floating heads of guilt.

 

Now, here is Pat Olliffe’s gorgeous cover to Spider-Girl #45 which was first published in March 2002. In a direct reference to his earlier cover, we now have May ‘Mayday’ Parker in her civilian attire surrounded by Spider-Girl costume design concepts from the in-universe clothing store, the Spider-Shoppe.

 

And with the Spider-Shoppe connection, lets segue to the cover of Spider-Girl #91 by the rambunctious rascal Ron Frenz, which was first published in October 2005. This cover continues the Spider-Girl costume designs concept from the cover of Spider-Girl #45 by continuing the theme. There are even some repeated designs both here and within the story itself.

 

Okay, that is a wrap for this entry!

 

Until I find myself surrounded by cosplay costume variations or floating heads of guilt, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

The Surprising Connection Between Spider-Girl and Cheers

 

I’ve taken it upon myself to become more acquainted with classic American sitcoms recently which has led me to today’s quick post about The Surprising Connection Between Spider-Girl and Cheers.

 

The iconic American television sitcom Cheers first debuted in 1982 and ran for 11 seasons, and launched multiple spin-off shows including the popular and long-running Frasier. Cheers takes place in and around the eponymous bar in Boston which is owned by Ted Danson’s character Sam Malone.

 

 

The connection to Marvel Comics and the MC2’s own long-running series and character Spider-Girl aka May ‘Mayday’ Parker was revealed by co-creator Ron Frenz on Episode 43 of the sensational Make Mine Mayday podcast:

 

‘I’m not that creative but what I stole it from was Cheers. Sam Malone’s character on there when he played ball was called Mayday Malone. The fact her name was May, and we were going to make her a basketball star. I was trying to come up with a chant for the crowd and that became her nickname.’

 

So there you have it, another piece of the pop culture landscape that has ties to the MC2. It’s fascinating to consider how creative efforts influence one another and in turn go on to influence later generations. It’s all a rich tapestry of humanity.

 

Until I find a place where everybody knows my name, I remain

 

frogoat

Carlos Pacheco's Influence on the MC2

 

With the recent passing of legendary comic book artist and writer Carlos Pacheco, I wanted to make a small post as tribute. While Carlos never directly worked on an MC2 title, not only has his costume designs influenced the MC2, he has also depicted various MC2 characters as we will soon discuss.  

 

At the very end of Tom Defalco’s run on the Fantastic Four title, regular penciller Paul Ryan was replaced by Carlos Pacheco who closed out the comic’s first volume with its final two issues, #415 and #416, which formed part of the Onslaught crossover. It is in these two issues that the Fantastic Four team’s new costumes debuted. Not only do these costumes make a return later starting with Fantastic Four vol. 3 #12 but they also appear to have strongly influenced the costumes of the MC2’s Fantastic Five team.

 

While the Fantastic Five’s first cameo appearance in What If #105 seems to depict them in the classic F4 costumes, starting with their first full appearance the Fantastic Five’s costumes are Pacheco-inspired (Spider-Girl #3). This is evident from the stylized insignia and the gizmos on the gloves, with penciller Pat Olliffe and colourist Christie Scheele adding their own twists to the design; removing the appearance of boots, changing the belt, and giving the various members different costume colours. The late great Paul Ryan would again tweak this design, making small changes and restoring the classic boots for the team’s own title (Fantastic Five Vol. 1 #1). The Fantastic Five’s costumes would change over time, but their basic design owes much to Mr Pacheco.

 

To round out this post, let us look at the time Carlos pencilled some of the MC2 characters. I have briefly touched on the Avengers Forever series a few times in the past, so you may already be aware that various members of the MC2’s Avengers and one from the Fantastic Five make cameo appearances. In Avengers Forever #11-#12 Mr Pacheco gives us his rendition of American Dream, Freebooter, Coal Tiger, and Kristoff Vernard.

 

I hope it is clear I greatly respect the artistic skills and imagination of Carlos Pacheco. I am deeply saddened by another passing of an extremely talented member of the comics pantheon, we have lost too many already especially lately. Thanks for all the wonder you have added to the world of comics, Mr Pacheco.

 

Until I can better express my condolences, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Girl's Spider-Signal

 

A little while back I wrote a post discussing Spider-Girl’s First Web-shooters and today I’d like to present a kind of addendum or supplemental post about one specific aspect of her web-shooters. Let us jump right in and discuss the implications.

 

Introduced in Spider-Girl #18 by Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz (who was filling-in for Pat Olliffe for the issue) is Mayday’s own version of the classic Spider-Signal, here used on The Buzz during a confrontation. Notably, the light is projected from Spider-Girl’s web-shooter unlike her father’s version which is built into his equipment belt.

 

On a side-note, the original release of Spider-Girl #18 depicts most of the eye outline projected by the Spider-Signal in a slightly different shaded red colour. This is also the case in the Spider-Girl Digest Volume 4 reprint and even the recent Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Volume 2 reprint. This does not appear to be the case on digital editions of the issue, where the Spidey-eyes are black as they would be normally for Spider-Man’s Spider-Signal.

 

The design choice to have May’s version of the Spider-Signal built into her web-shooters is an interesting but also practical one. As Mayday does not appear to use an equipment belt, it seems logical to place the Spider-Signal on her web-shooter.

 

Additionally, as pointed out by arias-98105, the idea of a Spider-Signal-like light being projected from a web-shooter dates back to at least the original 1967 Spider-Man animated series, as seen in such episodes as ‘Captured by J Jonah Jameson’. We know artist and Spider-Girl co-creator Ron Frenz does like the show though this is apparently not a deliberate reference but instead a happy coincidence.

 

Yet another point of note is that since this issue follows immediately after Peter hands over the web-shooters as a sign of trust and a passing of the torch. May herself calls it her ‘new Spider-Signal’ in her internal monologue, so it might be an upgrade Peter installed for his daughter as a sign of support, or even potentially an entirely new pair of web-shooters.

 

 

While the Spider-Signal does not make a lot of appearances in the Spider-Girl series, it is worth noting it appears on the covers of The Buzz #1, Spider-Girl #46 and #74. I will give out a coveted No-Prize to anyone who can point out any other appearances!

 

Until I stop enjoying blinding potential criminals with intense red lights to strike fear into the superstitious, cowardly lot, I remain

 

frogoat

Betty Brant in the MC2

 

A while back, I was wondering what became of Betty Brant in the MC2. I knew she’d appeared in the time travel adventure seen in Spider-Girl #10 and #11 but as far as I could recall she didn’t appear anywhere in the present day and we knew nothing of her fate. Well, I was wrong.

 

Here’s Betty Brant’s appearances in the aforementioned Spider-Girl #10-11 when Mayday travels back to the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25, which is incidentally my all-time favourite Lee/Ditko story.

 

But where does she appear in the MC2’s present day? As far as the internet is concerned, Betty Brant doesn’t appear again. I’ve consulted both Marvel Fandom and the Marvel Chronology Project to confirm this, and neither lists any further appearances for this version of the character.

 

But here she is, tucked away in a single panel of Darkdevil #1 interviewing mayoral candidate Glynis O’Neil. So, what can we learn from this cameo appearance? Betty continued to work as a journalist and is apparently highly regarded enough to interview prominent New York City politicians. While we don’t know who exactly she works for, the fact we see a tape recorder instead of a microphone suggests Betty continues to work for print media. I wonder if she still works for the Daily Bugle?

 

Until I run out of things to talk about in the wide world of the MC2, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Bluestreak's Costumes

Who’s everyone’s favourite blue-haired, fast-talking, impulsive speedster? That’s right! Bluestreak! What, did you think I was going to say Sonic the Hedgehog?! I thought now would be as good a time as ever to take a look at the different costumes worn by Blue Kelso through the years. There’s more than you might think! 

Bluestreak’s most enduring and iconic costume is the one she debuted in alongside her fellow Dream Team members in A-Next #4, following a shadowy cameo in A-Next #3. 

But let’s take a chronological look at Blue’s costumes throughout her career. As I’ve discussed in the past here, Blue was at one point a member of the X-People led by Jubilee. Unfortunately, we don’t have any visuals of what her X-Suit might have looked like, so here’s my terrible photoshop from a while back to give you a very rough idea:

Assuming my timeline of events are correct, after leaving the X-People, Blue becomes Clint Barton’s (formerly the heroic Hawkeye) special students, training to become a new generation of Avengers (American Dream #3). While training, Miss Kelso is seen wearing this training outfit:

Upon graduating, Clint gives Blue Kelso the code name Bluestreak and gifts her the costume we first saw back in the original A-Next series (American Dream #3, A-Next #3-#12).

Blue would continue to wear this costume during her guest appearances in Spider-Girl for several years. However, it is worth pointing out that a new costume debut’s as part of Felicity Hardy’s fantasy in Spider-Girl #52. This costume notably features full-length pants instead of shorts and long sleeve gloves.

Here’s where things get a little confusing. With Ron Frenz as regular artist on the Spider-Girl title, we got a few glimpses of Bluestreak alongside her fellow Avengers. While it’s a bit hard to tell with only background and cameo appearances, Blue seems to be rocking the full-length pants and long gloves look in Spider-Girl #81 with either a short or no-gloves variation in #83. I believe the former (almost certainly miscoloured) appearance is also the origin of the ‘Greenstreak’ joke, for anyone who remembers that!There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance of Blue with the short gloves again in Spider-Girl #86.

Despite apparently switching to the long pants, Blue continues to wear her original Bluestreak costume complete with bike shorts throughout both Last Hero Standing and Last Planet Standing mini-series as depicted by artist Pat Olliffe. This trend continued into the Avengers Next mini series under artist Ron Lim and the American Dream mini-series featuring art by Todd Nauck. Meanwhile, ol’ Blue’s cameo’s in Amazing Spider-Girl weren’t big enough to clarify exactly what get-up she was wearing at the time.

Which brings us to Bluestreak’s appearances in the Secret Wars Spider-Girl tie-in story published in Spider-Island #1-#5. This story actually features a few new costumes for established MC2 characters, but here we see Ron’s design from Spider-Girl #52 make its first full-fledged appearance in all it’s glory, with a few tweaks such as Blue now having grown her hair out longer.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you have any questions. I’m hoping to do more of these costume posts for other prominent MC2 heroes in future. What’s your favourite Bluestreak costume and are you as curious about her time with the X-People as I am?

Until I run out of blue hair dye and an urge to slap Thunderstrike in the buttocks, I remain

frogoat