Rolling Over The Odometer

Alright, let's talk about happy things today, because this was a good week for me comic-wise, and I want to reflect that with these posts.

This is the sort of thing that makes me happy.

Spider-Girl, Spider-Girl,
Marvel's gonna give her another whirl.
Another book, what a chance,
Let's hope May survives to her senior dance.

OK, yes I'm terrible at song lyrics. At least you didn't see me doing the Happy Panda Dance of Joy while I sang it.

So what do I want to expound upon about this monumental news? Well first off, I still don't see why Marvel couldn't simply rename the back The Amazing Spider-Girl with #101, rather than starting over. I suppose it's less intimidating for potential new readers, but there's something cool about the fact this book has kept going this long, through how many near-cancellations? Two? Three? I mean how many comics make it to 100 issues these days?

I've also figured out just why I like this book so much: It reminds of the Spider-Man I started out reading. DeFalco and Frenz were the guys doing Amazing Spider-Man when I got my first comics, and this feels very similar to that book. Yeah, there's a lot of speechifying, but there's also high-schoolers being high-schoolers, super-villains, lots of fighting, and that added aspect of parental issues that Peter didn't have to deal with at that time. It just very much feels like a comic of the '80s, which is certainly a hell of a lot better than feeling like a comic of the '90s.

I think what DeFalco has done well with #100 is that he's wrapped up several major plot points, while leaving other ones open, and introducing new ones. The symbiote situation has finally been resolved, and I gotta admit, he did it in a way I never would have expected. The symbiote grew as a sentient being, having learned love and compassion from Normie Osborn? The symbiote was female, when I'd always had it pegged as an asexual being? Putting aside the fact that it's gender makes it's hatred of Peter Parker feel like a Jilted Lover Syndrome, let me say Wow. The Brotherhood of Scriers is off Spider-Girl's case for now, but you know the price for that is going to have to be paid at some point. And given the person responsible's somewhat unhealthy obsession with Spider-Girl, that could be kind of weird.

May and Courtney have settled their differences, but she's still hiding things from her friends and struggling to make time for them between everything else in her life. I think Peter may finally be willing to give up the webs forever, but that's probably only going to make him keep an eye on how May's doing even more. Oh yeah, Hobgoblin is still on the loose, and I have to imagine he's stinging from the beating he got from Spider-Girl. I mean, he's been fighting her dad to a standstill since before her parents were even married and she smoked him. That scene where he tried to fire his finger-blaster at her, but she webbed it up first? Classic. He's probably lucky he didn't lose the finger.

I think the plot I'm most curious to see is what happens with Normie and Brenda. Will Brenda ever have served her debt to Agent Whedon and be able to stop with all this government agency stuff? Maybe Normie could slip them some high-tech weapons under the table in exchange for her being released from that sooner. I figure that's going to have to be how he supports them now, with the symbiote out of the picture and all. I thought it was hilarious, Normie in nothing but Kaine's trenchcoat, wielding a sword, back-to-back with Kaine and Spider-Man, trying to fight off the Scriers. Really, when did Normie learn to fight? Mary Jane decked his butt at one point, fer pete's sake! But I'm sure he's going to be involved. He got into it because he wanted to work with his fiance, watch her back. I can't imagine that's going to change now that they've wed.

You know, I've been thinking about it, and if there was a Marvel comic I'd recommend to the DC fans who love the "legacy" aspect of the DCU, I think this is it. I mean, it's a universe primarily for the kids who've inherited the titles from those before them, but there are still a few of the old hands involved. Peter Parker's there, but mostly as an advisor to may, kind of like what Max Mercury was to Impulse. You've got the original Fantastic Four, but you've also got Ben Grimm's two kids, Johhny and Lyja's son (was Lyja DeFalco's idea? That would probably explain why she's here, when Marvel at large seems to have chosen to forget her), and Franklin Richards, fighting alongside them. Tony Stark is still involved in his own way. Captain America is there along with American Dream and Cassie Lang (Is it just me, or are there a whole bunch of girls named Cassie in comics these days?). Heck Nova has gone from being the sort of rookie, to being one of the top heroes on the planet. Which might actually say more about the state of heroes in the MC2 Universe than anything else. I'm kidding! Nova's cool, precisely because he acts like an arrogant jerk to Spider-Girl most of the time. He had to deal with being doubted by the front-liners when he was young, he follows their lead when it's his turn.

Well, that rambled a whole bunch, but let's just say I'm eagerly awaiting Amazing Spider-Girl #1 in October. And now to post before the power goes out again.