Sunday Splash Page #65

"Spider-Man: World's Greatest Detective", in Arana #4, by Fiona Kai Avery (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Udon's Jeannie Lee and her awesome team (colorists), Russ Wooton (letterer)

Another title I picked up in back issues last month. I don't think I'd read any of her solo adventures prior to this. My first encounter with her seems like it was Brian Reed's Ms. Marvel series, when she wound up as a trainee/sidekick under Carol Danvers (and got badly injured in a fight with the Doomsday Man if I remember). Then Tom DeFalco brought her into the Amazing Spider-Girl cast as a sort of veteran hero with suspicious motives, or something like that. Marvel eventually had her lose her powers the same time they brought Kraven the Hunter back from the dead, and then she started calling herself Spider-Girl.

The book seems to be playing off some of what JMS had introduced in Amazing Spider-Man. Arana's connected to an Order of the Spider, which is connected to a "Great Weaver" Spidey met briefly while tooling around the Astral Plane. The Order opposes the Order of the Wasps, which means they're probably tied to that Shathra thing that came after Spider-Man because he didn't listen to Dr. Strange's instructions about what not to do in the Astral Plane. You don't really need to know all that beyond her being caught up in some long-standing struggle between two groups. 

So the classic teen hero formula. Trying to figure out the hero thing, the school thing, the "not worrying your lone parent" thing. At this moment, she's preparing to give up on heroing because the Wasps have sent some teen assassin after her, and he figured out her secret identity in about three seconds. So it's the, "stop opposing us or I target your family" thing. The assassin is a mixed bag. Supposed to be incredibly competent and dangerous, but doesn't really live up to the billing.

Cruz' art style is at least a little manga-inspired. Reminds me a lot of Mark Brooks' earlier work, back when he was drawing Cable/Deadpool. A little rougher, and not as good in the fight scenes, but close.

Hey, guess what? That's the last title in the A's! It only took me a year and a half but we're moving on to the Bs next week.