Spider-Man Family #1

 



Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Ron Lim

Synopsis: The release of a TV show brings Spider-Girl in contact with figures from her father's past. 

Comments: So in my head canon, this story takes place after Amazing Spider-Girl #14. After being visited by the Hobgoblin, Arana arranges for the re-release of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham DVDs to get a firsthand look at Spider-Girl. This was published in 2005, two years before Amazing Spider-Girl #14.  May's hairstyle and Arana looking younger than she did in Amazing Spider-Girl should be considered artistic license on the part of Ron Lim. Sorry, Ron Lim! 




Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham was created by Tom DeFalco, Larry Hama and Mark Armstrong in 1983. It was intended to be a one shot joke book, but it turned out to be a sleeper hit that sold well on the newsstand and so more issues were ordered with Steve Skeates taking over writing the character. Peter Porker appeared in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie. He and May would later team up in Spider-Verse comic book crossovers. 



Peter's explanation of why Spider-Ham has the name of Peter Porker makes sense to me. 


Even though he insists he's not her sidekick the dynamic between Arana and Miguel reminds me of the Star Spangled Kids (Sylvester Pemberton later Skyman and Courtney Whitmore later Stargirl) and Stripesy (Pat Dugan later S.T.R.I.P.E.) Dugan was the older sidekick to young super heroes. 


                                                               


 

The female Jack O'Lantern (Maguire Beck) first appeared in the mini-series Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto which was written by Tom DeFalco to clear up some of the plot threads about Mysterio in Kevin Smith's Daredevil run, Howard Mackie's Amazing Spider-Man run and maybe J.M. DeMatteis' Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man run. I bought all three issues at the time and I didn't understand it much since I hadn't read Daredevil or Webspinners. I did recognize a supporting character,  A Guy Named Joe, from Steve Ditko's last issue of Amazing Spider-Man #38. The mini-series also has a fantasy sequence where baby May was alive. There's supposedly a continuity error in which Maguire Beck was called Mysterio's cousin in The Mysterio Manifesto, but refers to him as her uncle in this issue. Well, the only people who say he was her uncle are Peter (who might be misremembering) and a robot who was programmed by Arana (who is probably also misremembering). Then again, perhaps Quentin "Mysterio" Beck was a lot older than Maguire and had an avuncular relationship with her. 











Pop would later devour itself when was a short lived series written by Tom DeFalco in Amazing Spider-Man Family called May Porker, Swiney-Girl. 


















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Star Spider-Man: Strange Tales Annual #2

Image
 I thought it would be interesting to see how Spider-Man was portrayed as a guest star in other comics during the first 100 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Writer: Stan Lee Penciler: Jack Kirby Inker: Steve Ditko Looking at the cover, there's not a spider insignia on the front of Spider-Man's costume. Other than that, it's a solid cover. The story is just 18 pages. The rest of the 72 pages advertised on the cover is for reprints, monster stories before the Human Torch took over Strange Tales.   I haven't usually drawn attention to who the inker was, except it was Steve Ditko which helps bring Spider-Man closer in line to how he looked at the time.  So the story begins with the Human Torch jealous because Spider-Man has been getting favorable write ups in magazines and newspapers, which kind of contradicts how Spider-Man is portrayed in his own comic. Outside of Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-Man seemed regularly vilified in the press, led by The Daily Bugle's J. Jo...
Read more

Tom DeFalco Cancels Barbie?

Image
  "Bye Bye Barbie"  May 1994 Writer: Barbara Slate Penciler: Mary Wilshire Inker: Trina Robbins Editor: Hildy Mesnik Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Plot: Barbie and Barbie Fashion editor Hildy Mesnik has to break the news to the artists who produce Barbie that it is canceled.  This is probably the only related Barbie post I will do, because it features Tom DeFalco. DeFalco, then editor in-chief, tells editor Hildy Mesnik that they are canceling the Barbie titles. DeFalco remarks that girls will just have to read Fantastic Four , a title he was writing at the time.  Devastated, Hildy calls all the talent on the Barbie comics and tells them that the comic has been canceled.  However, Hildy decides that she's going to try and save the Barbie comics after all and marches down to DeFalco's office. However, it turns out to have been an April Fool's Day prank that DeFalco and characters of Barbie have played on her.  There are some interesting codas to this sto...
Read more

The Randall Frenz Interview

Image
  Superman #149, brothers Randall and Ron Frenz credited on the cover. The Randall Frenz Interview When I first read the issues of Thor #400 and #401 back in high school (this would have been in the early 2000s, years after they were first published in 1989), I saw the name of Randall Frenz. I was familiar with Ron Frenz, the penciler of Thor , The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Girl , but who was Randall Frenz? Was it Ron's real name? Was it his alter ego? I even admitted as much when Ron wished Randall a happy birthday on Facebook.  However, I saw that there was confusion from others online as to who Randall Frenz is. The above commenter is correct, but they should have written  is, not was.  Years later, with the advent of YouTube and a book written by Tom DeFalco titled  Comics Creators on Spider-Man , I also learned that Randall Frenz is Ron's older brother through various interviews that Ron has conducted.  Randall wrote 13 published comic book stor...
Read more