Spider-Girl (Vol. 1) #9

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 'Training Matters'

To change things up, we start this issue with a splash page close-up of Peter Parker's face. In this reality he has a goatee and a dash of Rogue's white tuft of hair that runs right down the middle of his head (he looks rather distinguished for a middle-aged gentleman). He is yelling at May during her early morning training sessions. He says she needs to dodge an opponent's attack while launching one of her own at the same time. Also, she's too hesitant to use her webshooters; every shot doesn't have to be perfect. Remember last issue when he says he was going to train her to be the best superhero she could be? Well, this is his way of making that happen. May is feeling rather burned out, however, because she has woke up early every day of the week for practice.

Meanwhile, at school May's friend Jimmy Yama is acting like a BMOC because of his recent fight with Moose (again, see the last two issues). He invites both May and Davida to a concert that's happening tonight. At lunch, May is still attending her superhero practice with her Uncle Phil. She's thinking of quitting these sessions to give her some much needed rest, but she also doesn't want to ditch Uncle Phil because he was the only one who stood by her when everyone else was against her. Oh, the melodrama!

On her way back from practice she meets our villain du jour – Killerwatt! His costume leaves a little to be desired. He's wearing a brown leather jacket, a blue spandex wrestling suit (the kind that only goes halfway down your thigh), and blue boots and gloves. The rest of his body is pale blue and he has hair sticking up all over the place like he just got a heavy electric shock (the one touch I like, actually). Oh, and don't forget the over-sized sunglasses. Did this guy just raid a Goodwill store?

Anyway, he is zapping some security guards while leaving a bank he just robbed. (He's carrying one measly briefcase, by the way.) He is in the middle of the usual supervillain reveling – telling everyone how invincible he is – when Spider-Girl shows up. She tries to web him up quickly but his electric bolts (that's his power, in case the name Killerwatt didn't clue you in) disintegrates them. Then, he sends another bolt skipping towards our hero, but she leaps out of the way. She circles back and lands a left to his jaw, though. He shoots at her again but she just dodges again and kicks him this time. Then he tries a new tactic – a power punch – which misses again! But while she is jumping away he electrifies the entire roof so when she lands she gets knocked out (And here we the scene from our cover.) Just as he goes in for the killshot, Darkdevil shows up and scares him off. Spider-Girl recovers quickly enough, and Darkdevil taunts her by saying, “Not everyone is cut out for the hero biz!” regarding May's defeat.

Back in school, Jimmy's macho routine is failing on all the ladies. Moose tries to set him straight but then is scared away by Courtney Duran (he still thinks she's Spider-Girl, remember?). Anyway, May is at her after-school basketball practice when in comes Brad (her secret crush). He is just about to ask her to go to the concert with him tonight but Jimmy interrupts their conversation. Brad leaves and May gets upset. She wishes Jimmy would stop with all the posturing and just be himself. She muses that this is good advice for Spider-Girl as well.

Meanwhile, Pete and Phil are at the police lab and see a news report on TV about a female superhero busting up a terrorist cell. They both breathe a sign of relief when they see it that it is only Stinger (from A-Next) and not Spider-Girl. (How's that for some sneaky cross promotion?) Meanwhile, May's school day is finally over and she is changing into costume so she can websling home. Darkdevil shows up in a puff of smoke, however, to give her a hot tip - “Perhaps you should go to a concert.”

Back at the much talked about concert (with a band that doesn't even get a name) Brad and Moose talk about their girl problems. Meanwhile, Killerwatt waits in the rafters and does some flashbacking – it seems he used to be a roadie for this very band. One day he got fired after his clumsiness caused an accident that fried their equipment and gave him his powers. Pretty weak origin, right? Well, what do you expect from an wannabe Electro? Anyway, now he is seeking the usual supervillain-type revenge and it's up to Spider-Girl to stop him.

Killerwatt leaps down to the stage and starts shooting electric bolts at the band. Spider-Girl arrives on the scene just in time and kicks him in the back and then springs away. He shoots another bolt towards the drummer but Spider-Girl pushes him out of harm's way. She decides that in order to end this she will need to go on the offensive. She rushes towards Killerwatt, leaping over all of his blasts. Once she's in firing range she counter-attacks with some webbing right to his face. Then, before he can burn it off, she lands a double uppercut on his chin and knocks him out. Round two goes to Spider-Girl, yay!

General Comments

A nice, breezy issue with a nice, breezy villain.

Overall Rating

It's a good change of pace from all the angst that came before.

Footnote

This is a pastiche of Amazing Spider-Man #9 which introduced Electro. Somehow, I don't think Killerwatt will have as much traction as the original version. He got taken out WAY too easily. (Our girl didn't even have to put on a pair of rubber booties and gloves like ol' Spidey did.)