By: Paul Tobin (writer), Clayton Henry, Tim Seeley & Sergio Cariello (art), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Joe Caramanga (letters) & Tom Brennan (editor)
The Story: Spider-Girl continues to deal with the death of her dad.
What’s Good: Marvel is really doing some ambitious stuff with Spider-Girl. I would LOVE to know if Marvel has made some kind of 12+ issue commitment to the title because Paul Tobin isn’t starting this story in a very predictable place. What you might expect given that Anya Corazon/Spider-Girl is a spunky teenage girl hero is a rollicking fun 6-issue fight against some D-list villain like Speedball while she juggles high school and boys. But, Tobin has tossed both us and the character right into deep waters by having her father (and Anya’s only parent) die in the second issue. Suddenly, she’s an unpowered hero who is also a teenage girl who will have to be responsible for paying the rent and feeding herself. This issue watches as we deal with Anya’s issues and her attempts to reach out through her support network to find anything she can hold onto during this trying time. All you people out there demanding “diversity” in comics should be checking this title out because it promises to be unafraid to deal with some very human issues with a character who is relatively unexplored.
The superhero aspect of the title isn’t neglected either, even if it takes a back seat. How will Spider-Girl react to seeing Red Hulk again? She’s clearly going to be very angry with him, but what would a 90 pound teenage girl do when she is angry at a SUPER-level character? How will Red Hulk react to this? You’ll have to read to find out but it promises to be an interesting story.
In short, this is a really good series that could become something special if Marvel gives it a chance to grow.
The art works. I’m not going to gush about it because it does look like the art was done by three different artists. But, if you want your books to ship monthly, that’s the kind of stuff that’ll happen sometimes. There’s nothing about the art where you think “bad art” and there are a few really nice panels throughout the issue (e.g. the Red Hulk – Spider-Girl panel on page 5 is really nice).
What’s Not So Good: Even though I’m starting to see the point of Red Hulk being in this issue, I still think he’s becoming an overused character. I’m just old school with my continuity and don’t like it when I see Red Hulk in Avengers #9 last week and Hulk #29 and Spider-Girl #3 this week because it destroys my illusion that everything is happening in the same universe. I like my Marvel Universe to be like an ant farm that I’m peeking into from time-to-time and overuse of characters robs some enjoyment.
If you’re an action junkie, this issue may not be for you. Honestly, if I was to offer a critique of the story it is that the attempt to keep the superhero “stop-the-villains” angle in the story at all is detracting from the more important story about the death of Anya’s father. There aren’t quite enough pages to work both in well and I’d rather stick with the story that is unique because we can come back and do the superhero stuff once the human issues are dealt with.
On the art side, there is a lot of Red Hulk shining like a brand new Ferrari. I’ve never really like shiny superheroes and I’d like to see everyone color him the way Betti Breitweiser does (with muted reds) on Hulk.
Conclusion: Keep an eye on this title and support it because Paul Tobin is not writing a typical teenage-girl-against-world story. He’s approaching issues that don’t often get mentioned in these teenage girl comics and I’m very interested to see where it goes from here.
Grade: B
-Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion