Spider-Girl (Vol. 1) #3

Background

May "Mayday" Parker, the daughter of Peter Parker (formerly the costumed fighter Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson-Parker, is Spider-Girl. But her parents doesn't know it ... yet.

Story 'Fun 'N Games With The Fantastic Five'

Peter Parker is meeting the mayor of New York to get a special commendation for his work in the police lab. Mary Jane asks May to be there, and May promises she'll be there.

Later that day, at Midtown High, May and the gang decides to go to the Fantastic Five Museum to look at some artifacts from the Negative Zone.

Unfortunately for May, an old man, named Spyral, chooses that time to rob the exhibit. May rushes off to change into Spider-Girl, then battles the villain. After battling a bit, the Fantastic Five hit the scene, and the typical "heroes beat on each other until they realize they're heroes, then they turn on the villain" scene plays out. Too bad for Spider-Girl and the Fantstic Five, then, that Spyral manages to escape.

After the scene, May meets with Phil Urich, and Phil tells May about his costumed days, then tells her that if she ever needs any help to check him up.

As May ponders Phil's offer, she goes to the FF headquarters, and catches the FF heading out. She follows them to an abadoned warehouse, and finds Spyral there. The Fantastic Five and Spider-Girl tussle with Spyral again, until Spyral sends Franklin Richards and Spider-Girl into an alien dimension.

There in the dimensional, May and Franklyn talk a bit until the rest of the FF makes the necessary rescue attempt, and everything is resolved.

It's a shame that Spider-Girl's adventure caused May to miss his father's awards ceremony. Looks like May's got the old Parker luck!

General Comments

This was another good issue of Spider-Girl, and in my opinion Spider-Girl's off to a great start. The apperance of Fantastic Five played quite well into this story, and Tom DeFalco is doing a masterful job of mixing in an interesting back story that makes me curious to learn more about the MC2 universe's "past."

Another excellent aspect of the book was the increasing tension between May and her parents, something that I hope is explored in the issues to come.

The battle was fairly generic, but to me, the main attraction of this title isn't the superhero battles, but rather the character interactions, especially between May and her parents, and so far the characterizations has been extremely well done.

The only negative of this book was the villain, Spyral. He was boring and unoriginal. Crazy Eight from last issue was a better villain. But this is just a mild complaint.

Overall Rating

Four webs. A very good and solid book.