I know it isn’t really a Spider-Girl world, but it wouldn’t
be the worst thing in the world. It’s a generally upbeat world, certainly by
Marvel standards. Bigotry and crime haven’t been wiped out, but giant robots
haven’t herded all mutants into death camps, there’s nary an Apocalypse in
sight, no Badoon or Martians invading. A new generation of heroes stepped up,
and things are doing pretty well. Peter Parker did not make a deal with
Mephisto. He may have hung up the webs, but he still helps people as a forensic
scientist. Which doesn’t mean he won’t still bust some heads.
Peter and Mary Jane are together, and each is the other’s
rock. Whatever problems one is having, the other shares the burden.
Astoundingly, being married hasn’t made their life perfect. I don’t know how
that could be, as I was assured by many fine people at Marvel that once you get
married, all your problems are over, and the drama departs from your existence.
Mary Jane has a health scare, Peter struggles from time to time with not being
Spider-Man anymore (mid-life crisis). They both worry about their teenage
daughter, the risks she faces, the choices she makes. MJ is there to help blunt
some of Peter’s bluster, and provide a supportive ear for Mayday when she needs
that.
Peter is there to offer the benefit of his years of
experience as a superhero, and maybe lend a hand once in awhile. That issue
actually highlighted something else I liked about that universe: Spider-Man is
liked and respected by the new generation of heroes. Mayday’s teammates on the
Avengers were ecstatic at the chance to actually meet the Spider-Man, much to
her surprise.
Mayday herself is a generally decent kid, trying to do the
right thing in her way. Wanting to give people the benefit of the doubt, and
getting frustrated when they take advantage of that. She questions her own
judgment, but generally recognizes she can only do her best, and other people
have to make their own choices and accept responsibility for them. By and
large, she continues to believe she can make a difference, and she keeps
trying. Because she enjoys it, and because she wants to help.
It also doesn’t hurt Defalco, Olliffee, and Frenz gave her a
pretty wide cast of acquaintances, and actually spent time developing them as
characters. Davida, Courtney, JJ, they have their own likes and dislikes, their
own plot threads, and those don’t freeze in place waiting until Mayday is
unoccupied with Normie Osborn’s latest breakdown. Things progress while she’s
not around, and that feeds into the conflict between her civilian and superhero
life. Which isn’t a new thing obviously, but Spider-Girl always did it well, I
thought.
It’s a world where the heroes mostly work together rather
than fighting each other, and they mostly beat the bad guys, protect the
innocent, and save the day, though not always without cost. It’s an optimistic
world, where redemption is possible if you make the effort, and the current
generation learns from the mistakes and experiences of the one before it,
rather than ignoring them. That makes it a nice place to turn to when either
real life or the current approach of a lot of other comics wears me down.
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