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Off My Mind: Do We Need a "New" Spider-Girl?

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And does this mean we've seen the last of May "Mayday" Parker?

Next month we will see the debut of Araña's new title, Spider-Girl.  Araña's real name, as you may know, is Anya Corazon. She made her debut in 2004's Amazing Fantasy #1. She had her own series and later appeared in Ms. Marvel and Young Allies. After the events of The Grim Hunt in Amazing Spider-Man, Anya decided to take on a new name and new costume. Neither are necessarily new. 
 
Araña will be taking the name of Spider-Girl and will be wearing a costume very similar to Julia Carpenter, formerly known as Arachne.  I have to ask if this change is really necessary.  
 
Araña's original look might not have been the best costume out there but it was fitting for her character. The same could be said for her name. While I have always liked Julia's costume (which of course inspired the Venom symbiote's appearance), it just doesn't look right on  Araña.   
 
Of course there's one other major problem with Anya taking the code name Spider-Girl. 
 == TEASER == 
Where does this May "Mayday" Parker from the MC2 universe? As the daughter of Peter and Mary Jane Parker in an alternate future 'universe,' this Spider-Girl has appeared in over 250 issues. Sales for her books were never great but the fanbase was always there to beg and plead for Marvel to continue her adventures. She has once again faced cancellation and I fear that with Araña taking the name of Spider-Girl, we may not be seeing Mayday Parker again any time soon. Publishers don't often allow different characters to use the same name at the same time. 
 
What is the real reason Araña is changing her name? It's not really because of Madame Web's sacrifice and Julia Carpenter's...promotion at the end of The Grim Hunt. It most likely has to do with boosting Araña's sales and giving her more of a tie to Spider-Man. 
 
During The Grim Hunt, several of the spider-characters were brought together to fight a common threat. Araña does need a proper role model to help guide her into becoming proper superhero. It just feels that in trying to boost Araña's profile, Mayday has to be the sacrifice. 
 
This goes back to my questioning whether or not heroes should be "allowed" to change their name. In some cases it could be argued that a name change makes sense. In this case, I'm not sure if I really seen the point. 
 
What are your thoughts on Araña's name change? Do you think it will help her "career"? Will it have any affect on the MC2 Spider-Girl?
Filed under:
Spider-Man
Spider-Girl
Julia Carpenter
Spider-Girl
Grim Hunt
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Posted by danhimself

I'm more upset about Mattie Franklin dieing

Posted by Prims777

I agree. I liked her old costume more.

Posted by ComicMan24

I would like for her to keep using the "Arana" codename. It was more unique than Spider-Girl. But I do understand that they want to bring her closer to Spider-Man, establish a deeper connection between those two. I believe that the new codename may help in making more recognizable. As for the MC2 SG, I don't know how this will affect her yet. To sum all these, even though I prefer the old codename, I like that she will be appearing somewhere since Young Allies were cancelled.

Posted by xerox_kitty

I'm waiting for Vance's reply :)

 
I enjoyed her presence in the short-lived Young Allies.  I was looking forward to seeing more of her friendship with Nomad & Toro.  Still, sticking her with a Spider-Name seems to be short-changing her.  Yet nothing is permanent in comics.  Names, costumes & even life are cyclical... I'm sure she (and Mattie) will be back to their old selves within a few years.    

Moderator
Posted by Aiden Cross

I hate it. I liked her as Arana with the whole background they build up with her. What about Miguel? Is he simply forgotten now? She was a very unique fun character and i'm afraid that's going to be lost now.

Posted by Illyana Rasputin

Congratulations to Aña for becoming the first Latina Spider-Girl!
Posted by FoxxFireArt

The whole Mayday Parker was kind of an issue with me. I remember an add in the comic that let the fans choose the gender of Mary Jane's baby. We all know how well those kind of gimmicks work out (Jason Todd).
That baby never actually made it into the real series. Instead she was given a non-canon spin off. It's issues such as this, OMD, BND, and OMIT are why I can't take Spider-man seriously as  a story anymore. It's basically become Marvel's equivalent of a soap opera. It hasn't been able to stick to any real story changes in decades. Last story landmark they have stuck to was the death of Gwen Stacy, but they even attempted messing with that for a bit.
 
That tells me that there is next to no long term plan for the character and they are just taking it book to book.

Posted by iLLituracy

I enjoyed the character in her original series and was kind of bummed when they just seemed to toss her into Ms. Marvel's title after hers got cancelled, but as long as the character--who has a lot of potential, didn't get swept under the rug, I didn't care. Spider-Girl is fitting [I remember an interview from way back that said she was supposedly supposed to take on the name but due to the MC2 Universe's title continuing she couldn't or something, could be recalling that wrong], Arana is a horrible codename, IMO. While it does seem like despite her loose ties with Spider-Man [much like all of the Spider-Women save Mattie Franklin] she's being lumped into the Spider-Man family, but there are only but so many names that work. 

Posted by Deih

Never been a huge, huge fan of the Spider-man related stuff, but it seems silly to 'kill off' May Parker's spider-girl in favour of a, not exactly, new spider-girl.
 
They should just keep calling her Araña and give her a completely original, different costume...

Posted by Theodore
@danhimself said:
" I'm more upset about Mattie Franklin dieing "
this.
Posted by cold_fuzion

I like the costume and I'm glad she's getting a chance to step up, but I liked Mayday. She was a fun character and one of the few places in comics that editorial seemed to not really care what was going on.

Posted by G-Man
@FoxxFireArt: I don't remember that ad. Must have missed it.  
 
But the baby did make it in Amazing Spider-Man. Alison Mongrain was working for Norman Osborn and slipped Mary Jane something that made her go into premature labor. Then she switched the baby, making Peter and MJ think theirs was stillborn. She later was seen with a baby-shaped object when she went to the Scriers.
Staff
Posted by squiresmadnessmachine

they are just goin to build her up so when the kill her off it will be a bigger deal so when she comes back to life later on it will be a bigger deal and sell more books............oh wait thats DC 
 
i would have liked if she adobted the name arachne but spider girl can work cuz she is spider girl in the present doesnt mean mayday cant be in the future with amazing spider man coming out weekly its good to use some issues for cameos and little stories featuring minor heroes lie her and hopefully other cuz this last run or spierman has been dreadfull
Posted by Vance Astro
@xerox-kitty said:
"

I'm waiting for Vance's reply :)

 
I enjoyed her presence in the short-lived Young Allies.  I was looking forward to seeing more of her friendship with Nomad & Toro.  Still, sticking her with a Spider-Name seems to be short-changing her.  Yet nothing is permanent in comics.  Names, costumes & even life are cyclical... I'm sure she (and Mattie) will be back to their old selves within a few years.    

"

Well you got it Xerox :) 
 
I don't think we need another Spider-Girl but making Arana,Spider-Girl should get her more attention..that is if Marvel is actually going to use her.Marvel knows very well they can't just give a character a comic and let them fly on their own.They won't even let Spider-Man and Wolverine stand on their own two.Also as far as Young Allies they had alot of characters that COULD have been on the team but they messed it up by making a mismatched random team of unpopular and new characters.Toro is possibly the worst character design I have ever seen.If you aren't going to bring back the fire based character..don't mess his name up by making poor character designs. 
 
They need to give Ms.Marvel her book back and continue to cameo Spider-Man and Spider-Girl Arana...remember Carol and Simon trained her.Carol was her mother figure during the Initiative event.Secret Invasion ruined everything.
Moderator
Posted by Green Flash
@Vance Astro: Totally Agree. 
 
Also, Arana's old costume looks like a Spider-Impulse... i liked it.
Posted by Vance Astro
@Green Flash said:
" @Vance Astro: Totally Agree.  Also, Arana's old costume looks like a Spider-Impulse... i liked it. "

Her new costume is just Arachne's old costume...HORRAY FOR ORIGINALITY   -__-
Moderator
Posted by N7_Normandy

I'm looking forward to this, despite the fact that  liked her old costume better

Posted by ForbushBug
@squiresmadnessmachine said:
" they are just goin to build her up so when the kill her off it will be a bigger deal so when she comes back to life later on it will be a bigger deal and sell more books............oh wait thats DC "
Have you met this gentleman named Steve Rogers? Or this fine couple named Clint Barton and Barbara Morris? And please don't forget to say hello to young Kathryn Pryde over here...    
Posted by Bloodstonefreak

As much as I like May "Spider-Girl" Parker, I am looking forward to this.  I look at the whole name change for her as kind of like a Robin thing.  Dick Grayson outgrew Robin so he became Nightwing and Tim Drake outgrew Robin so he became Red Robin, both more stand alone characters that are more mature.  I'm  hoping this is how it goes for her...

Posted by Doctor!!!!!

The more hot spidey chicks the better! 
Just Sayin'.

Posted by Video_Martian

No offense guys, but screw Marvel.

Posted by Vance Astro
@Bloodstonefreak said:
"As much as I like May "Spider-Girl" Parker, I am looking forward to this.  I look at the whole name change for her as kind of like a Robin thing.  Dick Grayson outgrew Robin so he became Nightwing and Tim Drake outgrew Robin so he became Red Robin, both more stand alone characters that are more mature.  I'm  hoping this is how it goes for her... "

Technically though Arana is the only Spider-Girl.
Moderator
Posted by ILuvMsMarvel
@Vance Astro:

Agreed, bring back Ms. Marvel's solo title and let Carol be her teacher/role model. I mean come on, what better role model for young female heroes could one possibly find?


But since Marvel won't do that, they could at least pair up Carol and Ana in SG's title, rather than putting her with Spidey. Or, continue he whole thing between Ms. M and Spidey and have them both teaching SG.

Posted by SUPER-MAN 23

Isn't Mayday Parker in an alternate Earth? Would it really matter if there's a Spider-Girl before her. She would just be Spider-Girl 2.

Posted by Vance Astro
@ILuvMsMarvel said:

But since Marvel won't do that, they could at least pair up Carol and Ana in SG's title, rather than putting her with Spidey. Or, continue he whole thing between Ms. M and Spidey and have them both teaching SG.

"

Yup.
Moderator
Posted by GothamRed

I hope MC2 can still exist, but maybe if it's cancelled it can have a sort of "relaunch" like Age of Apocalypse had.

Posted by Midnight Monk

Marvel is just gonna cancel this just like Young Allies which was a good book, when it comes to new characters with their own series they never tend to last at Marvel

Posted by Vance Astro
@Midnight Monk said:
"Marvel is just gonna cancel this just like Young Allies which was a good book, when it comes to new characters with their own series they never tend to last at Marvel "

Nobody was buying.You expected fans to buy a comic with Rikki Barnes as the leader and a bunch of characters they didn't know when there are 4 Avengers Books to get including Avengers Academy which is pretty much the same as Young Allies?
Moderator
Posted by ltbrd

   
Don't think the fact that she's going to go by Spider-Girl means anything for May Parker....that's the beauty of a multiverse just like all the various Spider-Men out there. If your worried about confusion I don't think it will be an issue because if you know Marvel than you know the distinction between the worlds and if your only a casual reader you probably don't know about May "Mayday" Parker anyways. 
As for the look, I'm glad they kept Carpenter's costume because it's a simply of passing on responsibilities to the next generation just as Carpenter took the name Madame Web after those powers were passed onto her. The costume still looks great and still allows Arana to be distinguished from Spider-Man and Spider-Woman without needing to take a codename like Arachne.  
At the same time I wouldn't say Arana isn't in need of guidance. Though she's been working as a hero for awhile both Peter and Jessica have YEARS of experience for her to take advantage of and now that she's an official member of the "Spider Family" (hey, that kind of sounds like what is going on with Batman over in the DC Universe) she has someone of similar powers as well as crime fighting background (in Peter being more of an urban fighter than anything else) to seek guidance from.  
But the cool aspect I hope the writers will work with is how Peter reacts to her presence and I would love to see Peter actually get a normal partner/side-kick given his immense role in the Marvel universe. Marvel has generally minimized the idea of sidekicks in their universe and it would be awesome if one of their flagship characters were to take one, even if Arana only showed up every few issues or when Peter needed a bit of help.

Posted by Jordanstine
@FoxxFireArt said:
"It's issues such as this, OMD, BND, and OMIT are why I can't take Spider-man seriously as  a story anymore. It's basically become Marvel's equivalent of a soap opera. "

You mean Spider-Man is Marvel's version of DC Universe's Infinitie Crisis done on a single character.
Posted by gui22

They are in alternate dimensions!
Nobody is saying "why does Ultimate Spider-man have to be called spider-man?"
For the love of god!

Posted by Midnightist

I personally like the costume although I agree on the name it's really unoriginal and doesn't serve much of a purpose but honestly the Mayday Spider-Girl was becoming to bland and out dated to me and was in need of canceling for good. The stories had a very good run and lasted much longer than a lot of books do going over 100 issues but just like 2099 it's day is done my biggest concern with Arana is the continuos lost of her powers and I hope she gets them all back to their max

Posted by tigerex78

So now spidey has a sidekick?  Guess I'll wait and see how this goes. 

Posted by AskaniSon295

Titles with the #1 on them tend to be bought more than other titles regardless if it's a new character or old character. Marvel is allways looking for a new younger audience, while May 
Parker  may have appealed to consumers 5 years ago Arana has a chance to appeal to consumers now. Marvel constantly creates and cycles characters do to response of it's audience like a new popstar Arana is like Miley Cyrus while May Parker is like Hilary Duff. It's just about marketing to a younger audience. I personally like Daken better than Old Man Wolverine.

Posted by Lvenger

Another great edition of Off My Mind G-Man. You should do the next one on superhero battle damage and the damage it does to surrounding areas e.g construction damage if you haven't done one on that already

Posted by Emperor Gonzo Noir

Personally I preferred her as Arana, now she's just another Spider

Posted by G'bandit

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Posted by charlieboy
@Vance Astro:
i have been buying young allies and have been enjoying it.
Posted by leokearon

Arana was originally going to be named Spider-girl when she first debuted but fans knew what Marvel were planning. Basicially Marvel didn't like that Mayday couldn't have tie-ins with all the other Marvel titles and wanted a Spider-girl more under their control
Posted by sora_thekey

My opinion on this would probably be longer that Tony's article itself... 
I'll try and keep it simple.
 
Yes they are both from different dimension but May Parker has created an iconic enough persona in the Marvel U that giving that title to someone else would just be wrong.
Spider-Girl did die recently in the MC2 universe so that was set up so she wouldn't return at all.
 
User ForbushBug made a good point in a blog post... Her ethnic Puetro Rican look is being slowly taken away now.... She looks white now. Which is what bugs me even more. Araña was distinguished more as the Latina Spider... but with the costume, name and look change Marvel seems to be making her more Americanized and less original, just boost sales.
 
If Marvel is smart, and they want to keep fans of Araña (like me) happy then midway of the series they'll change her title/name back to Araña. The Spider-Girl title is obviously for marketing purposes, and I understand that, but once the sales pick up (if they do) then reverting her back to her original "form" is the best idea.
 
Latin Super Heroes tend to be overlooked a lot... so Anya might be the light at the end of the tunnel for them.. --Latino Speakin'!

Moderator
Posted by Planewalker

does she have her powers back ? because you can't call someone spider girl without spidey powers 

Posted by DMC

It looked odd at first but Anya as Spider-Girl has grown on me. 
 
I'm just confused as to what her powers are at this point.

Posted by rufug

I hated Mattie Franklin so...good for Araña.

Posted by Wyldsong

Imagine the fallout if they had decided to give her Mayday's costume...

Posted by InnerVenom123

I think its so she gets noticed more. Good for the character, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Spidey stuff.

Posted by ComicMan24

Does anyone know how she lost her spider powers?

Posted by IIayK

I am glad that have Arana renamed!  
It is possible to name May the Spider-Girl 2020 (an example the Spider-Man 2099)    

Posted by FoxxFireArt
@G-Man said:
" @FoxxFireArt: I don't remember that ad. Must have missed it.  
 
But the baby did make it in Amazing Spider-Man. Alison Mongrain was working for Norman Osborn and slipped Mary Jane something that made her go into premature labor. Then she switched the baby, making Peter and MJ think theirs was stillborn. She later was seen with a baby-shaped object when she went to the Scriers. "
I don't believe the ad was a phone in, but something where you cut out one option and mailed it into Marvel. I believe the image was of Mary Jane sitting out on the fire escape of their apartment, Spidey was hanging upside down, and they were toasting.
 
That was just how they would explain why the baby disappears from the actual universe. I remember the basic idea of the Spider-girl comics was that Peter Parker in the future discovered the truth, went after his daughter, and in the process lost one of his legs. This caused Peter to retire as Spider-man. Until Mayday Parker became Spider-girl in the future. There was an opportunity to bring Mayday into the canon series.
 
Thanks to OMD/BND, the pregnancy didn't happen since the marriage never happened. Since they supposedly became estranged from each other after the failed attempt at marriage. I don't believe he had the opportunity to get MJ pregnant in the first place. It was events from the marriage that led to the pregnancy.
Though, don't even get me started on the whole idea that Peter would make a deal with the devil over his elderly aunt May, but no such thoughts for making any deal for the life of his own daughter that he thought had died.
Posted by ArtisticNeedham

I always thought  Araña was a character out of continuity, not connected to the real marvel universe.
So I guess they are trying to make her a bigger more important part, they could justify the name change as her stepping into a more grown up role, the next stage of her life.  Like when Robin (Dick Grayson) became Nightwing.  But I agree its a shame that May Parker had to be sacraficed.  Maybe her could have changed her name to Arana instead.  Switch names.  Heh?
Seriously though, its too bad.  I liked Spider-Girl, and the future she came from.  Her cancellation, will that also mean the cancellation of the entire M2 universe?  Maybe Spider-Girl/May Parker can appear in the Next Avengers (not sure what the comic was called).

Posted by batman_is_god

That sucks, I actually like May Parker.
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