Spider-Girl TP Tom DeFalco Mayday Parker 1st print Venom NM Condition

Description

Spider-Girl TP
(Part of the MC2 Series)

by Tom DeFalco

In 1998, Marvel created an alternate universe called the MC2 Universe with stories written by Tom DeFalco. It envisioned future heroes carrying on for many of the old standbys. In this alternate universe, the undisputed star was Spider-girl (May “Mayday” Parker), the daughter of Spider-man and Mary Jane Watson. In the mainstream continuity at the time, Mary Jane miscarried their only child. Spider-girl imagined that the child had lived and that she developed spider powers in High School. Peter Parker had retired as Spider-man after losing a leg and was now a police scientist.

This Trade Paperback Contains Issues 0-8 of the Spider-girl series beginning with the return of the Green Goblin in Issue #0 and continuing on as Spider-girl meets up with villains old and new including Venom, Crazy Eight, Spyral, and the Dragon King while also meeting up with the universe’s heroes including Dark Devil, the Fantastic Five, and Lady Hawk.

As great as the superhero action is, the story is also a great dramatic story due to her parents disapproval of her being Spider-girl. If she were one of those rebellious kids, this really wouldn’t be much of a story. However, what makes her story work so well is that May is really a good kid who respects her parents. When she’s disrespectful to her mom in response to a question she corrects herself. Ultimately she’s torn between doing what her parents said and living out the values that they taught her and given Spider-man’s credo of, “With great power comes great responsibility,” we know what that teaching is.

It’s not ultimately just a great superhero story, but a great human drama that parents and kids can relate to.

1st print ISBN 978-0785108153

For those who ever wondered what Peter Parker with a family would be like, this trade is for you!

Originally sprung from an issue of Marvel’s “What if…?” comic (issue #105 to be more specific), the character then spun off into her own series written by more or less the same talent that birthed her. Under the pen of longtime Spider-Man scribe Tom DeFalco as well as artists Pat Oliffe and Ron Frenz, audiences were introduced to a character in May “Mayday” Parker who spends the whole the length of the trade in trying to use her powers for the greater good, while trying to convince her father that she is more than worthy to take up the superhero mantle. However, Peter and Mary Jane aren’t exactly keen on their daughter doing this, Peter especially, given the fact that his last battle cost him his leg.

Can Mayday convince her parents to let her be Spider-Girl? Only one way to find out.

In all, it’s a story that meshes so well and everyone is true to character. And while we Spidey-fans sadly do not have this kind heartfelt storytelling in the current book, it is good to know that Marvel decided to go ahead and give this one-shot character a chance, and audiences responded. And with the talents of Spidey-veterans like Tom and Ron, it really was a knockout punch.

And while there are other Spider-Girl trades, this collection is the one that has the stories that started it all. Why Marvel wants to insist that a married Spider-Man doesn’t work or that he becomes un-relatable is beyond me, especially when this collection not only makes him more relatable, but it also shows how the torch can be passed to the next generation while still staying true to what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko set out to do decades ago.

So even if you don’t have all the issues of this character or don’t want to, that’s fine, because this collection will give you everything you want in a Spidey-story, but with his daughter being the one in the webs going for the ultimate spin!

In a battle in which Green Goblin/Norman Osborn was killed, Spider-Man was seriously injured and while Reed Richards was able to save his life, Peter Parker lost a leg. Of course the head of the Fantastic Four came up with a pretty good replacement, but Spider-Man retired and now he has a high school aged daughter (named May, naturally), who suddenly has the ability to do a backboard-shattering dunk on the basketball court. Could the fact that her father is Spider-Man have anything to do with it? You think? Tom DeFalco authored these first nine adventures and the chief attraction of “Spider-Girl” is nicely summed up on the back cover with the declaration that Peter Parker did not know what it meant to climb walls until his daughter put on his Spider-Man costume. So we have a retired superhero repeatedly trying to ground his daughter so she will not go out and fight crime, a nice twist on the old parental dictum, “do what I say and not what I did.” “Mayday,” as she is known, must have already been a source of aggrevation to her father Peter already has a streak of white in his hair, and a goatee, when the story begins. Of course, this leaves Mary Jane in the middle and one of the nice things about this collection is that it ends at what will clearly be considered the end of the opening act of Spider-Girl’s career. Long time readers of Marvel comics will find some interesting glimpses of the future in DeFalco’s stories, as Peter and his daughter cross paths with the Fantastic Five headed by the Human Torch and Darkdevil, who is apparently no relation to the late Daredevil. Meanwhile, the Kingpin might be in prison but by no means is out of the picture, and Flash Thompson is Mayday’s basketball coach. The first issue is co-plotted by penciler Ron Frenz (with finished art by Bill Sienkiewicz), while the rest of the issues are drawn by Pat Olliffe and inked by Al Williamson (competent, but nothing special). Overall, these first issues establish the foundation for the rest of the series by figuring out the relationship between father and daughter. The supporting case of characters is being fleshed out (May has a crush on Franklin Richards), and the one thing the series is clearly missing at this point are some defining villains. But DeFalco should be able to come up with those in due time.

Collects Spider-Girl #0-8. Near mint, 1st print.