Fans of Spider-Girl — that’s the alternate future, May Parker, “MC2″ Spider-Girl — are uniquely passionate. Devoted. Loyal. All of that. It’s why the book has been saved from cancellation some six hundred or so times. But, as you can expect, most are not too happy over the news that Anya Corazon, the former Araña, will be starring in a new Spider-Girl series starting in November from writer Paul Tobin and artist Clayton Henry. (Read more about that here.)
Take for instance, this missive from “VENOM,” co-moderator of an unofficial Spider-Girl message board that serves as grand central station for May’s intense fanbase, reportedly sent to Marvel as an explanation for why he’ll no longer be reading their comics:
“I can almost understand giving Arana (lame character, IMO) the “Spider-Girl” name to give her some publicity, but to do it at the expense of Tom DeFalco and Co’s “Spider-Girl” and her fans is a real travesty. Not only does Arana say in the most recent ASM (which I’m ashamed to have picked up) that the Spider-Girl name is “corny” and “makes you want to puke,” now we have to accept the fact that this (THIS?!), is the “new” Spider-Girl?”
Wowzer. “Jeffers,” another co-moderator, went as far as to call fans to action at last week’s Comic-Con International: San Diego, where the new Spider-Girl title was announced:
“To all the Spider-Girl fans attending Comic Con
I hope you’re practicing how loudly you can boo!”
(Luckily, May Parker Spider-Girl writer Tom DeFalco intervened, telling fans not to boo and “Please don’t take your frustrations out on the new team.”)
Yet it looks like there might be a light at the end of this tunnel. Take the example of “ChastMastr,” who says he’ll be checking out the book:
“So — I hope Tom and everyone else won’t lynch me for saying this — but I’m unexpectedly going to be checking it out. Because I *also* want to support Marvel putting out classic heroic stuff as well as liking Paul’s stuff a lot.”
“Felinephoenix” agrees:
“I’m going to do the same. What Marvel did to Spider-Girl is wrong, but I don’t think it’s fair to punish the Arana (never going to call her Spider-Girl) team for it. I’ve liked Paul Tobin’s stories so far, the art looks good, and heck I even like the Arana character.”
There’s still opposition, like from ol’ Jeffers here:
“if Stan Lee himself were writing it, I wouldn’t buy it.”
Here’s what Tobin himself told Newsarama: “I certainly want and hope for all readers to support this title, and loving one character doesn’t mean you can’t like another one. Marvel’s readership is more discerning than ever, and May Parker gained a fan base by being an interesting character. I plan on Anya being plenty interesting as well.”
Where do you stand? Comment away!
July 28th, 2010 at 2:20 am
My problem with this has nothing to do with Mayday. It’s that Marvel is taking a Spanish name that stands out and making it generic.
July 28th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I don’t really like the idea of canceling an existing character just so the name can be used by another existing character. It’s just a marketing move to sell more books but it’d seem more kosher if it wasn’t for an already established character.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Ash, the Spider-Girl title was canceled due to low sales, not “just so the name can be used.” Let’s not forget, it was a title Marvel kept trying to relaunch and push forward for years when they would have (and did) given up entirely on a lot of other properties much earlier on with the same sales levels.
July 28th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Exactly, MC2 Spider-Girl had a nice long run. Marvel gave it every chance to find readers, and for whatever reason it couldn’t find enough of them. Sucks if your a fan but those have been the rules of the game for as long as comics have been around.
July 28th, 2010 at 11:11 am
When Marvel created the “Arana” character they were going to name her “Spider-girl” and change Mayday to “Spider-woman”. (Another name they can’t sell.) At the last minute they changed their minds. They want “Spider-girl” in “616″ so they can show case her and license her as a comic girls would read. Of course you’d have to figure out how to get a girl to come into a comic book shop (or even find one) since Marvel doesn’t make their comics available to anyone other than people who are already fans. But I digress…
I liked to read Spider-girl because it was the only “Spider” book that wasn’t rear ended by that idiotic “Brand New Day” crap.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Spider-Girl fans: The most self-absorbed delusional needy prima donnas in in comic fandom since 1998.
July 28th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Paul S, I see your Spider-Girl fans and raise you ‘Mary Jane & Peter Parker: The Married Years’ fans.
July 28th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I think it’s admirable that Marvel allowed May Parker to hold onto the “Spider-Girl” name as long as it did. She was a hard-sell from the start, being out-of-continuity and seen as “irrelevant” by so many fans. The isolation from company-wide crossovers was part of her charm, but it also meant that she could never benefit from the sales boost and additional attention that comes along with them. Instead, it seemed like the only way Marvel could promote the title was by continually canceling or threatening to cancel it so that her die-hard fans would react by generating enough buzz to bring it back. It worked a few times, but it’s not a sustainable model.
Also, I don’t think May Parker could survive without Tom DeFalco at the helm. It’s dangerous for a company to have so much riding on the talent of one freelancer. If and when he decides he’s told all of the Spider-Girl stories he wants to tell, she would be unusable and they would have to start over again.
Meanwhile, Araña has been gaining in popularity and exists in the 616 universe. She isn’t tied to any one creator and was apparently created to be “Spider-Girl” from the start and only went with Araña because the existing Spider-Girl kept coming back. I don’t blame Marvel for finally flipping the switch and making it official. It’s just a better long-term use for a valuable trademark.
That being said, I hope they keep May Parker around. If we can have Marvel Adventures, Ultimate, MAX, etc, all with alternate versions of the same characters, why can’t we keep the M2 Spider-Girl around while still having one in the 616?
July 28th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I dont think the spider-girls fans are comming down. check the marvel forums and http://www.comicboards.com/spidergirl/
why your at it check these pictures below.
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9158/81spidermanandgirl2.jpg
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7373/peterandmaryjanepissed.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/589/marryjaneangry.jpg
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/9410/fakespidergirl.jpg
and this one is my favorite
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/994/spidergirlreplace.jpg
July 28th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
What the hell des24man is right no one is calming down at the fact that spider-girl the last spiderman real comic is being canceled. Spidergirl needs marketing and cross overs and stuff I never found out about her till a year ago. What the hell is wrong with marvel marketing the spider-girl. Oh marvel is anti mary jane.
Marvel likes mephisisto! Spiderman and spidergirl is gone and so am I
July 28th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
has someone got paid off from this article?
July 28th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
I’m not buying the new Arana book. I refuse to call it Spider-Girl just like I refuse to call any Avengers book with Wolverine and Spider-Man in it a real avengers book. Just as I refuse to by post bnd new Spider-Man comics. Joe q hated this book because of the marriage and I can’t prove it other then the end around the series was given for last. Price rise to switching series without a announcement. Before that they gave it little or no advertising other then when Amazing Spider-Girl came out. At times it was ignored expect when it got canceled. Something doesn’t add up here with Marvel on this if it wasn’t marvel trying to hardest to get ride of it because of the marriage. Now Peter/MJ won’t be together in anything.
July 28th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I apologize in advance for the long post, but I have to chime in here and say that a lot of the quotes here are wildly out of context.
If you want the full posts (and hence, story), and not just snippets, check out the board (www.comicboards.com/spider-girl).
My thoughts on the cancellation in a nutshell? I don’t have a problem with the book being canceled because of low sales. As fans, we get that. I’d rather it stayed around of course, but that’s simple economics. But the Arana thing stinks because it just doesn’t make much sense for either character, in my opinion. So far, a lot of Arana fans (at least the outspoken ones) seem to agree. The name change is just odd, other than the fact that “Spider-Girl,” being an obvious off-shoot of “Spider-Man” is more sell-able than the name “Arana.”
That quote from me, taken out of context, makes me sound like a raving fanboy. I AM a huge geek, mind you, and proud to be one, but I’m neither “self-absorbed,” “delusional,” or a “needy prima donna,” as poster Paul S. would probably describe me. My letter as a whole, I have to say, is much less angry that that one quote would make it seem. Overall, I’m less angry than I am disappointed, as any fan would be when a book they like gets canceled.
Mr. Ching may have been better off to actually interview some fans rather than copy and paste from message board posts, add in some conjecture, and call it a story :-/
I’m not speaking for the whole Mayday fanbase, but I have no problem with Arana getting a book, or with Arana fans. And Mayday fans can read the new Spider-Girl book. ANYONE can and should be able to read whatever they want. The “boo” post by my co-mod, Jeffers, was intended to be tongue-in-cheek and, if anything, was directed at Marvel, not the new creative team. I have nothing against a creator who is simply trying their best to tell a good story (and earn a living).
That being said, I do feel that using the “Spider-Girl” name so soon is kind of disrespectful to the creative team that kept the book around for 12 years, and to it’s fans. Anyone is free to disagree. That’s just my opinion. In the end, it’s their right, of course, as they own the name and the characters. But as a fan, I don’t have to be thrilled about it.
Two or three posts about the new book or fans of it can not really represent the feeling of Spider-Girl fans as a whole. We are generally respectful towards each other and creators and are not going to go around blasting creative teams or fans because… well… that would be dumb. After all, they’re just comics.
But even being “just comics,” aren’t we SUPPOSED to get emotionally involved with them and the characters? Isn’t that the point? I don’t get this pseudo-cool detachment that fans seem to pretend to have nowadays.
If you love a book, you should fight to keep it around and not just let it die. And if that character is going away, it’s not wrong or silly to feel bad about it.
That’s what being a fan is.
-Matt “VENOM” Kayser
July 28th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Hi Matt,
Thanks for reading and commenting.
If anyone wanted to read the entire posts, they could — every one that I quoted was linked to in the blog post. But I don’t see how I quoted you “out of context.” Honestly, the rest of your letter reads even angrier, at least to me:
“The Spider-Girl fanbase is very passionate about her, and always has been, and most of the time, Marvel (as an entity) has been supportive and appreciative of their efforts. These recent changes though (May’s latest series being canceled, more or less, before it even hit shelves by becoming a mini, and now Arana taking her name) can only come as a massive and collective slap in the face to everyone who ever supported May Parker and her book. I can’t say that it surprised me, but I didn’t think it would be done so soon and so contemptuously.
Due to what I can only perceive as a complete disregard for the character of May Parker and her fans, after 22 years of being a faithful Marvel fan, you can count me out from now on. Unless you manage to pull something crazy out of this whole thing and bring May back (all signs point to this not happening), then I will no longer be reading your books. I can’t support a company that treats it’s fans in such a manner. I’ve had to deal with Marvel’s EIC referring to fans as living in their mother’s basements and so on and so forth for years, but I guess this is the last straw.”
You’re right that it’s great to be emotionally involved in comics and characters, and it’s certainly not wrong or silly to feel bad when a title you like goes away. We’ve all been there!
July 28th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I’m also a regular at the SG board (under the handle “CylverSaber”) but I haven’t posted much of my feelings there because, frankly, I don’t have much positive to add. Spider-Girl is one of my favorite books, I think Marvel never did a good job of promoting it, and I think that’s a shame because I think a series about the daughter of Spider-Man is a concept worth investing in, as evidenced by its record-breaking run. But nothing I or anyone else say is going to make a difference to Marvel.
As for the other book; I don’t think the basic character make-up of Arana is as interesting as Spider-Girl, so she’s at a disadvantage no matter who writes her. I think Paul Tobin is a decent writer, though not someone whose works blows me away so much that I’d feel compelled to get this.
The bottom line that anyone who would like to see the daughter of Spider-Man in a Spider-Girl series has to consider that buying a different Spider-Girl will be counted as a vote against that, even if that isn’t your intention. If Marvel is able to find more success with another Spider-Girl (I personally don’t think they will) there’s little reason for them to return to the original. Put another way, if Julia Carpenter had been a smash success, Jessica Drew wouldn’t be Spider-Woman again.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I feel sorry for the Spider-Girl fans but I like Arana. Can’t say I’m rushing to pick up the new Spider-Girl book because I liked her old name and costume but we’ll see.
August 2nd, 2010 at 6:43 am
Its a moot point as youll see this arana Spider girl series wont last 12 issues.
August 6th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I’m a big fan of Mayday, and have faithfully bought her book for several years. While I am disappointed to see it come to an end, I am choosing to focus on the positive.
The fans kept her around for 12 years, and no other Marvel female has had their book run for 100 consecutive issues. When “Spider-Girl” was collected and released as digests, her books sold so well through book clubs and book fairs that Marvel commissioned “Last Hero Standing” and “Last Planet Standing” so that they had gateway books to facilitate releasing the rest of the MC2 line in digest form. I feel Mayday has made enough of an impact that we will see her again at some point.
While I will miss getting new stories about Mayday, I am happy that DeFalco and Frenz will be doing the new Thunderstrike book, and I hope to see more projects from them in the future.
August 17th, 2010 at 3:35 am
To the poster who said the “Spider-Woman” name doesn’t sell, that’s completely wrong. Jessica Drew’s series was a hot seller; it ended because Bendis is a jerk and if he couldn’t continue the series with Maleev, he wouldn’t continue it at all.
As for Spider-Girl, I think it’s just another move on Marvel’s fans to disrespect its current fans and try to gain new ones. Mayday wasn’t as marketable as she wasn’t in mainstream continuity … Although they did use “her” with the kids line of stuff but was Kara to Peter’s Superman; ie, his cousin. She was also recently featured as a head shot amongst Marvel’s finest on a wall poster in stores.
It is not necessary to try to get the dollars they don’t need so soon after telling the fans “Spider-Girl” needed to be cancelled.
They announce that Arana’s the greatest new hero they have with complete disregard for the fans they once were so proud of when they made May Parker’s book the longest running female comic book in Marvel’s history.
It’s ridiculous to think, however, that such dedicated fans will be gained by the public over this new Spider-Girl/ Spider-Woman (since they also HAD to give her Julia Carpenter’s costume.) But maybe they will Still, if this title is cancelled, they can just “Brand New Day” it and they can get rid of their latest PR fiasco, like Spidey’s ID and Cap’s Death and create the Next Greatest Event.