Spider-Girl (Vol. 1) #8

Background

Spider-Girl first appeared in What If (Vol. 2) #105 in February 1998 and the alternate reality she lived in was eventually spun into a whole universe called MC2. She is May Parker, the daughter of Peter Parker (the original Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson-Parker. After hitting puberty, she inherited her dad's spider-powers and decided to follow in his heroic footsteps. These stories occur very early in her crime-fighting career...

Story 'Two Of A Kind'

We start our story (once again) on a rooftop. Spider-Girl is finally back in her red-and-blue costume and is literally jumping for joy. She arrives home, changes into her clothes, and goes to check in with her parents. She still hasn't talked to her dad about the decision she made last issue.

Suddenly, Courtney Duran (May's dorky sidekick) busts in. She tells May that after last issue's fight between Moose and Jimmy Yama, Moose's parents had Jimmy arrested for assault! (Holy real world consequences, Batman!) Courtney says Jimmy is going before a judge right now and he may be expelled or worse. Peter says he has a connection with a certain lawyer so he goes to the courthouse to help.

Meanwhile, we visit an unnamed prison (probably Rikers Island) where the Kingpin (yes, the same old one) is meeting with Mr. Nobody (who we haven't seen since Spider-Girl #1). The Kingpin has arranged a pick-up and Mr. Nobody assures him everything is in order. What pick-up are they talking about? Let's check in on the action at the courthouse to find out...

At the courthouse Jimmy is getting the third degree from his aunt Sachi Yama and his parents. And hey, there's a cameo from J2 in his civilian identity of Zane Yama! Who knew Jimmy was related to a superhero? Anyway, Sachi goes to talk with the judge and Peter (this is the lawyer he was talking about earlier) catches up to her with Courtney and May in tow. Then, Moose shows up in a neck cast and asks to see Jimmy. Courtney thinks it's because he wants to gloat, but Moose says he's convinced his parents to drop the charges. Before things go any further May's Spider-Sense goes off.

In walks Crazy Eight (who we haven't seen since Spider-Girl #2). For those who don't know, he dresses like a human eightball and has green circles with a black number eight all over his body. It seems that his trial is today, too! May decides to ditch her friends and go see what happens to the bad guys after she captures them. Well, if you're this bad guy, Mr. Nobody transports into the courtroom and busts you out! He shoots gas grenades everywhere to incapacitate the guards and May runs to the bathroom to change into her battle togs. But wait a minute – May's not the only one in the building with a Spider-Sense! And sure enough, Peter's Spider-Sense also kick off while he's discussing Jimmy's situation with Sachi.

Suddenly, Spider-Girl busts out of the bathroom. On her way to stop the bad guys she runs into Peter, who is very surprised to see her. He tells her to duck. Crazy Eight is throwing his explosive eightballs (he calls them buzz bombs) everywhere! Mr. Nobody and Crazy Eight share stories about their previous run ins with Spider-Girl and they both decide to kill her on the spot. Peter keeps the crowd at bay while Spider-Girl uses a web shield to block both Mr. Nobody's bullets and Crazy Eight's bombs. Then, Mr. Nobody teleports behind her for the kill shot but Peter catches him and knocks him in the head with his cane. Spider-Girl then uses her webbing to incapacitate him. One down, one to go!

Crazy Eight is still throwing his patented buzz bombs everywhere. There's so much smoke that he can't even see Spider-Girl until she punches (?) her way out of it. Mr. Nobody, however, has somehow freed himself from the webbing and decides to retreat. May is too quick for him, however, and she rips the power pack (which his abilities come from) of his chest. Meanwhile, Crazy Eight tries to escape out of the back way, but he is stopped by Peter in a hallway. Crazy Eight tries to bully his way past, but Peter is not impressed. Next, Crazy Eight tries brute force and throws a half-dozen buzz bombs at him (where does this guy get all his weapons from?). Peter uses his Spider-Reflexes™ to catch them and throw them right back at the villain, thus ending the attempted jailbreak!

May goes to change back to her civilian clothes back in the restroom. Courtney just happens to come out of that same restroom and Moose spies her. Uh oh, he's starting to suspect that she's Spider-Girl! Sachi tells the group that Jimmy's charges have been dropped (did they really hold a session while all heck was breaking loose in the hallway?). Jimmy tries to shake Moose's hand but Moose says this doesn't change anything between them. It looks like these guys aren't becoming friends any time soon. Meanwhile, Peter finds May and says they have to talk.

Back at Rikers Island, Darkdevil teleports into the Kingpin's cell and tells him about the foiled escape attempt. Kingpin tries to act nonplussed, but Darkdevil warns him that he can deal with the Kingpin anytime he chooses. Then he disappears in a puff of brimstone smoke.

Elsewhere, Peter and May finally make it home. Peter goes into a long speech about power and responsibility. He says he thought he could ignore May's antics and the problem would just go away. But now he sees that it won't. So, he finally decides to give her his blessing and says it's his job to help her become the best superhero she can be.

General Comments

Finally, we have some resolution to the dangling plot thread of will-she-or-won't she. I said last issue that it was being strung out for just a bit too long, so now we can hopefully move on and get some fun adventuring in. And what a return to action – we get two old time villains coming back for round two and a timely assist from her dad.

Overall Rating

One of several “turning points” in this series. Peter, sort of, comes to terms with his daughter's superhero career. I think one of the things that made this series so popular was seeing Peter all grown up and living out a well-deserved happy ending with MJ (ah, those were the days!) while still staying true to his “with great power comes great responsibility” mantra.