Righting Wrongs and Writing Wrong (Spider-Geddon Spoilers)

Happy New Year! Wasn't 2018 an interesting turn of events? We got a new direction for the Spider-Man comics, an amazing new video game, for Spider-Man, a great animated Spider-Man movie with Into the Spider-Verse and a definite upswing in both quality and fan engagement overall. But we also lost both Spider-Man creators, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. It was a big year, full of ups and downs. Oh, and this also happened during the Spider-Geddon event:

I'll be honest, I didn't know how to feel about this at first. On the one hand, a character who died pointlessly and gratuitously in Dan Slott's Spider-Verse has been restored in some form. On the other, I don't think the Dan Slott should get credit for simply 'resetting' things on his way out. We don't thank criminals for returning stolen goods. And yes, Slott came up with the idea, not the event's writer Christos Gage:

Social media is so helpful sometimes. So, I have mixed feelings about the whole situation. Yes, Peter is back in the land of the living but that doesn't undo the quantifiable damage Slott did to the MC2 and it's unique appeal. But...I am glad Pete is back. It's right that Mayday have her father back because therein lies one of the most endearing aspects of her character: the father/daughter dynamic.

Either way, it's a Brand New Year and I'm hopeful for the future of my favourite characters for the first time in a long time. We've got another new trade paperback coming out later this year to look forward to as well! Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Volume 2 comes out August 13th according to Amazon:

Continuing the far-out future adventures of May"Mayday" Parker, the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane - also known as the spectacular Spider-Girl! But will May be the only member of the Parker clan to wear the webs when the villainous Kaine resurfaces? The Raptor strikes,the Buzz flies in and the Soldiers of the Serpent spread hate - but nothing could be worse than the return of Spider-Man's arch-foe, the Green Goblin! But who's under the mask now?! On top of it all, May must contend with threats like Earthshaker, Funny Face and Dragonfist! What is this martial arts maestro's connection to Danny Rand? Meanwhile, May's deadliest foes band together as...the Savage Six! Or is it Seven?! Will they be the end of Spider-Girl? Plus, the man called Nova! Avengers Next! The Steel Spider! And more!


COLLECTING: SPIDER-GIRL (1998) 16-32



It's a bit of a wait, but at least we know well in advance it's being published. With the first volume collecting 18 issues (one of which was the double-sized annual) and this second volume collecting 17 issues (including the double-sized issues 17 and 25) I think it's fair to say we can expect roughly the same number of issues to be collected in further volumes. Which means (assuming the release schedule remains the same) we can expect the entire first series of Spider-Girl to be available across six volumes by...2023. Hopefully they increase the release schedule because I do not want to wait that long!

Until I run out of reasons to be hopeful, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Girls Mini-Series for Spider-Geddon

While I wasn't expecting much from the upcoming Spider-Geddon event, I felt it would be remiss of me not to at least note the recent announcement from the Comic-Con International: San Diego. Among the Spider-Geddon tie-ins we got this:

SPIDER-GIRLS #1 (of 3)
JODY HOUSER (W) • ANDRES GENOLET (A)
Cover by YASMINE PUTRI
A SPIDER-GEDDON TIE IN!
• MAY "MAYDAY" PARKER, the original SPIDER-GIRL, ANYA CORAZON, the Prime Universe SPIDER-GIRL, and ANNIE MAY PARKER, A.K.A. SPIDERLING — together for the first time!
• May will do anything to protect her brother from the Inheritors, and Anya's knowledge of the mystical Spider-Totems could save the day.
• But how does Annie fit in? And what chance do three girls have against ageless universal forces?!

As my regular readers (if any actually exist) will know, I'm less than enthused about the rehashing of the Spider-Verse story beats for Spider-Geddon. Especially given that the original event tore down 12 years of character development and world building by needlessly killing Mayday's father simply to temporarily (and honestly, artificially) motivate a 'tragic' story arc which never really paid off.

But I am determined to be positive about this particular mini-series as it is not being handled by Dan Slott or Christos Gage. Jody Houser is the current writer for the Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows ongoing series and has recently produced some solid work portraying a functioning Spider-Family, albeit eerily similar to some of the Spider-Girl series' own plot lines. Perhaps that's why I'm willing to be more open to her work on this mini-series? Unfortunately, the overarching plot of the event rests with Christos Gage and Dan Slott so we may see a repeat of the Mayday story from Spider-Verse; stuck between character beats without the emotional pay off.

I'll be interested to learn how the interactions between Annie May and Mayday Parker are handled. We've recently learned in the Renew Your Vows series, that baby May met the same fate as in the Main Marvel Universe. This provides fertile ground for some really great character moments. I have seen some Mayday fans declare they won't be checking out this mini-series simply because of the presence of Anya Corazon aka Araña because of the real-world reasons that led to Araña being rebranded as Spider-Girl. In my opinion, this is unfair. Anya has some great potential and I don't believe the character is responsible for editorially imposed decisions. It's also worth pointing out that Spider-Girl creators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz embraced the character, even adding Anya to the MC2.

All in all, this mini-series won't change my mind about the event itself but I will be giving it a chance. With all that's happening in the Spider-Man books at the moment, it seems there's some big changes coming soon.

Until I fully commit to something instead of fence sitting, I remain

frogoat

Spider-Geddon Looms

So, I'm about a week behind on my weekly schedule and I don't know when I'll find the time to work on a really meaty post, so in the meantime we'll have to make do with talking about the sure-to-date-very-quickly alternative of *gasp* current events!

Apparently a follow up to the Spider-Verse event, we have a new event called Spider-Geddon from Christos Gage and Jorge Molina. While this storyline officially starts with a mini series called Edge of Spider-Geddon, I really don't care. This story will either be very much like Spider-Verse in tone and style, doing further damage to my favourite character or it will surprise me and be only half as bad. I'm usually fairly optimistic or at least hopeful but I can't muster it nowadays, I'm afraid. I stopped reading monthly comics as a direct result of Dan Slott's atrocious writing and I don't have high opinions of anyone hoping to follow it up with a pointless sequel event. That said, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised?

As for Mayday herself, she at appears on this promo image in her original costume rather than the last costume she was seen in at the end of the Secret Wars mini-series Spider-Island. I do find it strange that she's not in her modified 'Amazing' era costume with the larger blue areas around the axillary area and smaller eye pieces on the mask. Still, this could be merely artistic choice.

While I don't have much enthusiasm for this upcoming event, I will still check it out in some form when time permits. I felt I had to mention it here, if for no other reason than to (hopefully, but not with great likelihood) be spectacularly wrong on record. Thanks for reading my sleep-deprived rambling, everyone!

Until I find a reason to start reading modern comics again, I remain

frogoat