Random Back Issues #178 - Spider-Girl #51

This is the only issue of Spider-Girl not written by Tom DeFalco, and it takes the form of a letter. A letter a nameless blonde freshman is trying to write to tell Mayday he's in love with her. He works on it on the bus, mentioning he went through six drafts debating whether to mention how many drafts he went through.

Mind you, Mayday is not on the bus with him. As the letter talks about how beautiful and smart she is, how kind and selfless, we see her struggling to wake up and seemingly lost in thought about something in the shower.

Back at school, he gets encouragement from a friend - quite possibly his only friend - to just tell May he's in love with her. He doesn't, of course, so the letter continues with him assuring her even though they've never spoken, he's not a creepy stalker. This as he sits behind her in study hall. But by the time she reads the letter, he'll be gone.

His friend gets him out class early, so he can slip his (unsigned) letter into May's locker. He and his friend exchange good-byes, then he watches around the corner - what was that about not being a stalker? - as May approaches her locker, only to get pulled away by her friend, to buy a birthday present for their coach. At this point, the letter is talking about whether people have control of their lives, or if everything is destined. He feels his life is out of his control, and wonders if she ever feels like that.

He watches her play in a basketball game that night, as the letter discusses how he wishes he asked her out, or even just let her know he existed. I don't even remember who she was dating at this point in the series. It wasn't Jameson's grandson, or the comic book artist, or Flash Thompson's jock kid. It was either that preppy Brad guy that turned out to be a mutant-hater, or maybe she still had a crush on Normie Osborn. Regardless, the kid leaves the game early, at which point the scene shifts to the mall. Now the letter is about how terrifying the future can be, but he sees May with two of her friends and decides to go for it.

Before he can catch up, a jewelry store explodes. It's funny he seems worried about May, considering she and her friends had already walked past the store, while he was directly in front of it at the time. Writer/artist miscommunication? Anyway, it's a teenage girl Electro. She's eventually going to call herself Aftershock - we saw the rematch previously - but doesn't offer any name during her brief (3 pages) fight with Spider-Girl.

One of her attacks sends the boy over a railing, but Spider-Girl saves him, complete with a joke about not falling for her. She takes out her opponent in one punch, but by the time Spider-Girl turns around, the boy's gone.

Next morning, with the letter still going - cripes, how long is this love confession? - he rides past the school with his parents as they leave town and waves to May. May waves back, but admits she has no idea who he is. As he leaves town, the letter turns to the boy insisting this isn't puppy love, and he will still get choked up looking at his high school yearbook in 20 years, but he's glad for that. I do not remember being that stupid about love at that age.

Then May finally gets the letter when she opens her locker at the end of the issue. Sadly for the kid, despite spending her evenings and afternoons punching people, Mayday doesn't actually enjoy hurting others, so his masochist fantasies will remain just that.

{10th longbox, 85th comic. Spider-Girl #51, by Sean McKeever (writer), Casey Jones (artist), Udon Studios (colorist), Randy Gentile (letterer)}