Symbiote-Symmetry

 

Yes, it’s that time once again! 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, a look at another example of Symbiote-Symmetry, once again delivered by MC2 co-creator, artist extraordinaire and friendly fella, Ron Frenz. And yes, it’s another Venom Symbiote post too so consider this a sort of  Venom: The Last Dance tie-in!

 

First up, we have the trippy one-shot Carnage tale, Carnage: Mind Bomb. Specifically, this gnarly cover by artist Kyle Hotz, who’s unique rendition of the psychotic red symbiote inspired the look of Carnage in the Spider-Man Unlimited animated series:

 

And here’s an interior page from Spider-Girl #83 depicting the Venom symbiote bonded with Normie Osborn (after receiving a hellfire burn from the vigilante Darkdevil) as drawn by Ron Frenz:

 

 

Until I stop seeing the systematic similarities of symbiotic and spidery symbolism, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Spider-Symmetry: Amazing Spider-Man 199 and Spectacular Spider-Girl 6

 

Today’s post is part of an occasional series where I try to highlight the visual or narrative symmetry between the Spider-Man and Spider-Girl comics. For this entry, I wanted to demonstrate an example of not just homage but reverence from Spidey artists Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema.

 

I’ve briefly touched on Amazing Spider-Man #199 (which has the unlikely pair of Mysterio and the Burglar) while discussing the Parker Family Home but I failed to mention it is features the guest pencils of ‘Our Pal’ Sal Buscema, an unsung icon, stalwart professional and fixture of the Spider-Mythos across his storied career. After decades working on various Spidey titles, Sal eventually became the permanent inker for the various Spider-Girl titles.

 

Here's where we come to the Spider-Symmetry part of the post, because penciller Ron Frenz loves to sneak in various homages and references to past Spider-Man artists and issues. For Spectacular Spider-Girl (vol.1) #6 (as it was initially released digitally before being printed in the pages of Web of Spider-Man (vol. 2) #2) Mr Frenz recreated a few panels of Sal’s work from Amazing Spider-Man #199, evidently knowing full well he’d be inking it!

 

Until I run out of examples of exactly this kind of deep comic knowledge and appreciation, I remain

frogoat

 

  

 

Spider-Symmetry: The Sinister and Savage Six

 

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

Spider-Symmetry: Spider-Man '67 and Spider-Girl

For today’s super-quick post we have another entry in the shamelessly swiped Spider-Symmetry series. Ron Frenz presents Spider-Symmetry: Spider-Man ’67 and Spider-Girl.

 

Spider-Girl and MC2 co-creator and artist extraordinaire Ron Frenz is an admitted lifelong fan of the original 1967 Spider-Man cartoon and he once again took the opportunity to slip several direct references into Amazing Spider-Girl. I’ll let Ron’s own Facebook post provide the explanation:

99% Inspiration!

Remember the 1967 Spider-man cartoon? Every frame is pretty much burned into my frontal lobe!

As the show changed production teams they would spend(waste?) several minutes of any given episode with a traveling montage of the web-spinner web-swinging through the concrete canyons of New York City accompanied by some of the coolest soundtrack music known to man IMHO!

We've spoken before of my cartoon-addled brain and my tendency to indulge it in my comics work, well here's another example from the pages of The Amazing Spider-Girl!

Mayday Parker is desperately searching the city for her missing Father and infant Brother who have been taken by Carnage! (I know!)

Inks by Mr.Sal Buscema, colors by Gotham, letters by Mr.Dave Sharpe and words by The Legendary Tom DeFalco!

This calls for a traveling montage! Cue the music!!

 

For anyone wondering, the issue referenced is Amazing Spider-Girl #11 and an example of previous ’67 homage would be La Fantome aka Staci Smythe. Mr Frenz has even talked about some unused concepts such as a Halloween story idea ‘Night of Evil’.

 

Here’s the page and referenced shots for comparison:

 

Until I stop appreciating the deep love the Spider-Girl creative team has for all things Spidey and more, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Spider-Symmetry: Harry and Normie Osborn

 

Occasionally I like to highlight the visual or narrative symmetry between the Spider-Man and Spider-Girl comics. Today I wanted to demonstrate another fine example of artist Ron Frenz showering adoration upon one of the comic industry’s most underappreciated artists, Sal Buscema.

 

Presented for your consideration, Spectacular Spider-Man #189, where a deranged Harry Osborn is arrested and being loaded into the back of a van before threatening to reveal Spider-Man’s secret identity.

 

Now, compare this with the ending of What If #105 wherein Normie Osborn is being loaded into the back of a van and graces everyone with his own rendition of the 1967 Spider-Man theme song, complete with altered lyrics tailored to Spider-Girl.

 

Until I figure out the full lyrics and find footage of this lost cartoon, I remain

 

frogoat

Spider-Symmetry: Mary Jane and the Smythe Family

 

Another quick post, this time for my long-neglected Spider-Symmetry series. For today’s entry, I wanted to show a fun little connection between two Spidey comics separated by 20 years and a whole universe.

 

First up in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19 we meet Alistaire Alphonso Smythe, the son of Spencer Smythe. In his first appearance Alistaire is an overweight man who worked for the Kingpin until he is promptly fired. We also learn that Spencer Smythe left Alistaire and his mother, only visiting occasionally, and ignoring Alistaire, in his obsession talking only of destroying Spider-Man. Due to some silly shenanigans, Alistaire captures Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna, mistakenly believing MJ is Spider-Man until his flying saucer-style Spider-Slayer crashes into powerlines. While the cover of this story depicts Mary Jane removing her coat to reveal she is wearing a Spider-Man costume beneath, this unfortunately does not actually occur within the issue itself.

 

Staci Smythe makes her first appearance as an unnamed store clerk in the Spider Shoppe when May first discovers the place in Spider-Girl #45. We later learn more about Staci Smythe in Spider-Girl #91 when she is revealed as the costumed villain La Fantome. Staci Smythe desired to be a famous fashion designer and attended fashion college. While there she was recruited by Mary Jane Parker to work at the Spider Shoppe upon its opening, allowing her to pay for her education. Recognizing Staci's surname, Mary Jane had hoped to give the young woman a break from the stigma of her family's name, which Staci evidently greatly appreciated.

 

Disguised as La Fantome, Staci began making attacks on Daniel Kingsley at his Spider-Women themed fashion show and warehouse office as revenge for his profiting from idea's stolen from the Spider Shoppe. Staci also organized a rally in support of the Spider Shoppe which attracted the police, prompting her to don her La Fantome guise once more. However, La Fantome undone when her fellow rally attendee's (including Spider Shoppe secret-owner Mary Jane Parker and Spider-Girl herself, May Parker) joined forces to surround her wearing various spider-costumes allowing Spider-Girl the opportunity to easily apprehend and unmask her. 

 

So, we have both stories, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19 and Spider-Girl #90, featuring Mary Jane in the classic Spider-Man costume and both featuring a Smythe Family member as the antagonist, albeit with the latter issue revealing Staci at least meant well. Plus, this time Mary Jane wore the costume in the issue itself! Heck, going way back to the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25 (and visited by a time-travelling Mayday in Spider-Girl #10-#11), both Spencer Smythe and Mary Jane’s first appearance (albeit an obscured appearance), the resolution of the plot involves a Spider-Man costume being used to thwart the Spider-Slayer too. But maybe that’s a stretch?

 

Until I stop having my brain wrinkled by these fun little touches, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Raptor Ramblings

 

 

While working on the Drago Family Tree I found some nice little details about Raptor that I wanted to share, but they didn’t really fit into that post. So, here’s a little entry detailing some more info about Brenda Drago: Raptor Ramblings.

 

Let’s start with something that might be kind of obvious but interesting nonetheless: Both Brenda and her father, Raniero ‘Blackie’ Drago wear protective headgear while flying. I mention this because it’s something originated by Blackie during his initial short-lived career as The Vulture (Amazing Spider-Man #48).

 

It’s also worth noting that Raniero rigged his helmet with a short-wave radio receiver. Brenda’s Raptor helmet keeps her in constant contact with her partner in crime (and abusive POS) Tony, both via audio and visual means (Spider-Girl #18). Later, as with all member of the New Warriors initially, Brenda’s helmet used an additional headset with microphone to maintain contact (Spider-Girl #43). While serving on Special Agent Weadon’s team Raptor apparently returned to using her helmet’s internal communication, as unlike her teammates, she is not shown to wear an earpiece with microphone (Spider-Girl #62).

 

Another nice piece of symmetry between Brenda and her father’s initial appearances is their choice of targets. Raniero attacks a wall street messenger who’s chained to his briefcase, flying off with the man and threatening to drop him him to get at the contents (Amazing Spider-Man #48). Brenda does nearly the same thing, targeting a diamond courier named Theo Rudolpho who’s chained to his briefcase, only this time the man is nearly killed when his briefcase handle breaks and he falls from a great height (Spider-Girl #18). Unlike her father, Brenda shows remorse for her actions and begins stealing food and leaving it at the man’s door, which eventually leads to her eventual redemption (Spider-Girl #28).

I’ve said in the past I love the Official Handbooks of the Marvel Universe, and I do, but I also understand they are limited by page-space and time-factors as well as simple human error. While the following aren’t really mistakes, they are small omissions from Raptor’s profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #3 I’d like to see one day in an MC2 Handbook. In addition to the noted abilities of her winged suit, Raptor’s wings are able to be disengaged, folding up like a cape behind her and freeing up her arms (Spider-Girl #93, #97, Amazing Spider-Girl #26, #28). Finally, on at least one occasion, Brenda has made use of gas grenades which use gas that clings to their target and render them unconscious (Spider-Girl #62).

Okay, I think I’ve rambled enough for today. Brenda is a great character and a wonderful example of the redemption arc Spider-Girl has helped enable in members of her rogue’s gallery.

 

Until I run out of things to love about the MC2, I remain

 

frogoat