Spidergirl is a reinvention of the arachnid superhero, where she recovers the milestones of her predecessor
Spider-Man: A new universe has been an unexpected blockbuster for Sony that has seen how critics praised it, while the public flocked to theaters. This animated film, which is already in the domestic market, achieved more than 300 million dollars in just over five weeks, a milestone in a film of this genre and far from the conventions of Disney, Pixar or Universal. And then came Spidergirl. One more lap than sung.
Marvel has a long tradition of creating parallel universes. So much so that in 1977 he opened a collection to house this kind of stories set in alternative futures. The series What if…? It lived its golden period between 1977 and 1984 in which the greatest creative talents displayed their expertise, giving free rein to their crazy narratives. Stories like What if Spiderman had joined the Fantastic Four or What if Wolverine had killed the Hulk became cult pieces that answered questions fantasized by readers.
Some wonder what would have happened if Spiderman had been integrated into the group of the fantastic 4
As Rodrigo Pérez Miguel recalls, between 1989 and 1998 a second volume appeared with signs of exhaustion, something that led to its cancellation. However, before the suspension and in issue #105, the creative tandem of veterans Tom DeFalco (screenplay) and Ron Frenz (pencils) hit the nail on the head with Black and White Legacy, the debut of Mat Mayday Parker, daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane who discovers her arachnid powers at the age of 15. The story recovered everything that made the original Spiderman great in the 60s, adapting it without the need to reinvent it, and providing the reader with a recognizable framework of characters. May Parker was a well-constructed character, endearing and full of possibilities.
Both the followers – who flooded the Marvel newsroom with letters asking for the character’s continuity – and the company’s editors saw that something big could be done with the newborn Spidergirl. And that is how, under the umbrella of Earth 982 or the MC2 Universe, the Spidergirl collection was born in 1998. The publisher opted for a first-rate creative team.
At the pencils was Pat Oliffe, who had cut his teeth in the arachnid universe with the vindictive The Untold Stories of Spiderman. In front of the scripts was the father of the creature, Tom DeFalco. This veteran screenwriter has written for all the collections, even becoming an editor for a time at Marvel itself. Spiderman, Thor, The Fantastic Four or Patrol-X are some of the collections for which he has lent his talent.
Architect of the clone saga, one of the most discussed Spiderman plots ever written, or of the remarkable Maximum Carnage, he was the ideal candidate for this new challenge. But surprising both locals and strangers, he opted for a writing style and a series orientation that was far from everything seen before. But what made Spidergirl an almost instant cult series? Perhaps the easiest way for DeFalco to establish a script line would have been to take advantage of the character’s income. Spiderman has always been one of the publisher’s flagships, with a brilliant and recognizable cast of secondary characters and antagonists for almost any Marvelite.
Spiderman has always been one of Marvel’s crown jewels.
However, and from the first number, we are presented with a hotbed of new subjects. And although a multitude of regulars from the MC2 universe were taken advantage of, DeFalco created dozens of new beings, one of his specialties as a writer, for the Spidergirl universe. He also reimagined classic characters – The Avengers, The Fantastic Five – creating a vast panoply that formed an airtight world of its own within May Parker’s creation.
The orientation of the series, too, moved away from the usual arachnid collections. It was closer to the tone of adolescent television fictions such as Smallville or the recent Gotham. Of course, with a superheroic component constantly present as a backdrop.
Humor continues to be the hallmark of this saga of wall-crawlers
Spidergirl is, above all, a rabidly fun, exciting collection, with endearing characters that the reader will not be able to help but fall in love with immediately. It is still the umpteenth version of the hero’s journey and learning, in which he finds his true potential by stumbling over and over again along the way. But the richness of her universe distinguished her from all other similar volumes. The first issue spanned 100 issues, making Spidergirl the longest-running series featuring a female heroine ever published by Marvel.
Timeless cult series, where quality accompanied at extremely high levels almost from start to finish, Spidergirl is one of those covers that went unnoticed at the time in our country, quite inexplicably. Claimable, fun, great, unique and with a vision that shows that outside the current Marvel universe there is much to tell. Panini Comics Spain publishes the first compilation volume of Spidergirl this month. It brings together the first 12 numbers of the series -the first two complete sagas- plus the What If number that gave rise to the character. A unique opportunity to approach a collection that marked a before and after in how the world of comics treated female characters. And an opportunity to enjoy reading and reaffirm yourself as a lover of the ninth art.
