Summer (and Fall) of Spiders is taking this trip across the multiverse, to visit the little book that wouldn't die. Originally the product of a What If? based around the notion Norman Osborn had Peter and MJ's child kidnapped, rather than the child being stillborn, Spider-Girl followed May "Mayday" Parker as she tried to navigate high school, superheroics, boyfriends, and an at-time overprotective father.
The creative team behind that What If? story, DeFalco and Olliffe, would work on the series for most of the first 56 issues of the book. The book was nearly canceled at least twice during that span, but apparently did very well with younger readers (including young girl readers), and especially when Marvel put out digest-sized collections. I'd figure you'd get eyestrain trying to read all DeFalco's dialogue and caption boxes in a manga-sized package, but you can't say he wasn't giving the reader their money's worth on time. (Although he also writes all the caption boxes in second-person, which I know some people don't dig.)
DeFalco's a writer of a particular style, old-school style, and so the book sticks to that. I think he mostly avoids trying to write too hip, which would probably end badly, but characters do tend to make big speeches about not giving up or doing the right thing even when it's hard, especially during fights. It feels maybe better suited for a more mythic figure like Thor than Spider-Girl, who mostly sticks to street-level threats (though she does does tangle with Seth, the Serpent God of Death about the time Ron Frenz takes over as penciler), but if you figure DeFalco's thinking about younger readers, big, on-the-nose speeches might be appropriate for them.
For at least part of the book's run, it would have been contemporary with my high school years. The fashions for the teenagers don't seem off to me, so I figure Olliffe did fine on that score.
On the plus side, DeFalco and Olliffe introduce a broad supporting cast for Mayday, both in and out of school. Best friends (boy and girl), potential love interests (only boys, though I thikn this is the book that established Felicia Hardy as bisexual), rivals, villains, mentors, allies. Most of these characters get their own subplots at one point or the other (often several at the same time.) Those run in the background, often independent of whatever Mayday's doing, until advancing to the forefront. It helps flesh them out, giving them lives that continue on even when the star of the book's not around, and makes it easier to care about them.
There's a lot of focus on her relationship with her parents, as Peter swings between trying to trust and worrying she's in over her head, while Mary Jane, who has to struggle with seeing her daughter risk her neck, sometimes plays mediator and sometimes is the voice that actually gets through to May, who has heard certain spiels so often from her dad they just bounce off.
It's very much a book of its era. It spun out of events of the Clone Saga, and so it draws heavily from that era, plus some of DeFalco's other work (Seth showing up from the DeFalco/Frenz Thor run, but also Lyja, the Skrull who impersonated Alicia Masters, is still around and married to Johnny Storm.) Mayday wears a version of Ben Reilly's costume and webshooters, rather than her father's. Kaine plays a prominent role in the book, first as someone trying to deter Spider-Girl, then as sort of a gruff uncle figure. The Darkdevil character ends up being connected to the Parkers via Ben Reilly's five years on the road. Normie Osborn struggles to deal with the legacy of his father and grandfather, and Mayday struggles with wanting to help someone who was kind of an older brother to her in their early years.
DeFalco and Olliffe mostly avoid just pulling out Spider-Man's old enemies to bedevil Spider-Girl. Jonah Jameson's still around, but he thinks Spider-Girl is great, a wonderful respectful hero, not like that menace Spider-Man. Raptor (who ends up more of a friend than enemy) is the daughter of the second Vulture, but most of the villains have no apparent connection to any of her dad's Rogue's Gallery (minus things like the teleporting, intangible Mr. Nobody working for the Kingpin sometimes.) Their designs are usually unique and avoid feeling like a rehash of someone with similar abilities. Funny Face is sort of a Joker-type, but goes with the full jester look. Kilerwatt has the electricity powers, but doesn't resemble Electro or the Eel or anyone like that.
The back half of the book, however, would not continue that trend, as we'll get to next week.
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