MC2 A Day

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Shawn Moll Synopsis: The origin of May "Mayday" Porker, the spectacular Swiney-Girl.  Comments: The Spider-Ham in these stories takes place on a different Earth than the Spider-Ham that Tom DeFalco created years ago. On this Earth, Peter Porker was a pig who was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of vice-versa on the original Spider-Ham earth.  The fight Spider-Ham has with the Green Gobbler seems to be taken from the end of the first Spider-Man (2002) movie where Spider-Man rescues a bunch of children on the Roosevelt Island Tram from the Green Goblin. Reed Richards is Weed Wiskers here. On the original Spider-Ham's earth, he is Mooster Fantastic. Although we shouldn't get too caught up in continuity when it comes to Spider-Ham because he was drawn inconsistently in comics that took place on that Earth, as the examples show from Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham  #1 and #12. While she's Mary Crane Watsow-Parker here, M...

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Colleen Coover Synopsis: Spider-Girl's little brother has baby adventures with the help of his spider powers.  Comments: The Li'l Benjy comics were printed as back up features in Amazing Spider-Girl #25-28 and Spectacular Spider-Girl vol. 2 #3.  The title of the feature seems to be taken from comics with child protagonists with the word "li'l" in the title. Some I found online were Li'l Jinx, Li'l Tomboy, Li'l Genius, Li'l Kids  and Li'l Willie (*chuckle*).  Tom DeFalco said in an interview that the main influence of stories were Sugar and Spike , a DC book featuring baby protagonists. This is before Rugrats or Marvin.   I suppose these comics can be considered semi-canon at most. Benjy seems older than he appeared in the Spider-Girl comics, but then his age has always seemed a little inconsistent, especially during the Spider-Verse crossover. Benjy powers include spider-sense, wall crawling, agility and p...

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Todd Nauck Synopsis: An encounter with a thief leads to an opportunity for Peter.  Comments: Mary Jane was an psychology major during DeFalco's second run on Amazing Spider-Man and she's using that training here to deescalate the situation. She's using LEAPS (Listen, Empathize, Ask, Paraphrase, Summarize). I've seen other variations like just LEAP (Listen, Empathize, Agree, Partner).  Peter obviously doesn't believe the criminal's Jean Valjean story.  The crook's name is Angelo Cantano, which means "Angel Sings." The name is probably meant to be ironic. Angelo's a jerk trying to get Peter and Mary Jane arrested or killed.  Det. Drasco shows up here who will appear in Amazing Spider-Girl as a conflicted cop working for the Hobgoblin, but also helping Spider-Girl.  Angelo unwittingly tells the truth in that he encountered Spider-Man, just not under those circumstances.  The forensic expert is Carlie Cooper, who ...

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Todd Nauck Synopsis: While in the hospital waiting room, Peter runs into an old enemy of his.  Comments: Welcome to the American healthcare bureaucracy. The attendant doesn't seem fazed by the Rhino crushing the clipboard.  Rhino is referring to an incident in Spectacular Spider-Man #190, where he was hired by Harry Osborn to threaten Peter Parker. Harry knew Peter was Spider-Man, but the Rhino didn't. Peter managed to escape and the Rhino got a beatdown from Spider-Man for his trouble.  For people who read this is in other countries with national health coverage, the whole idea of going broke because you get sick must seem so alien to them.  Rhino's origin is somewhat changed. It was shown in Amazing Spider-Man #43, that it was enemy spies that gave the Rhino his powers, but the KGB is probably better since the Russian government would have the resources to give Rhino his powers. Although at the time of that writing, the KGB ha...

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Ron Frenz Synopsis: Spider-Man pursues killers who have just carried out a hit on a local DA's wife.  Comments: We never see Aunt Anna in the present Spider-Girl issues, which makes me think she passed away in the interim.  Not identified in the dialogue, but DA and his daughter are Rene and Simone DeSantos. Rene is a high ranking member of the Order of the Goblin cult of Norman Osborn and Simone is the "mean girl" at Midtown High after Heather Noble retired. This was published between Rene's appearances in Amazing Spider-Girl #25 and #27, so ongoing readers of that comic would recognize him. Rene's connection to Simone would not be revealed until Spectacular Spider-Girl #6.  Rene reveals his wife Marlene was a corporate lawyer and that she had wanted him to give up his DA job to join in a lawyer job that was safer and paid better. Although it's written like a joke in Spectacular Spider-Girl #7 that Rene is an honest perso...

  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Ron Frenz Synopsis: When May was an infant, Spider-Man battled the Lizard once again.  Comments: It's interesting that in most TV and movie adaptations, Peter Parker is acquainted with Curt Connors before or at the beginning of his career as Spider-Man. Off the top of my head, the adaptations I can think of are Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994), Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003), The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). However, in the comics, it took quite a bit of time for Peter to meet Connors in his secret identity. The first spoke on the phone in Giant-Size Spider-Man #5. They met face to face for the first time in Spectacular Spider-Man #32, but Connors was distracted by a Lizard transformation. They finally got a chance to meet under less stressful circumstances in Spectacular Spider-Man #36. Connor/Lizard was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #6, which was in 1963. S...