MAYDAY PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-GIRL Appreciation

[Miles To Go]

This is something people have been perpetuating online for a while now. It's based on a single panel of a single issue having a newspaper which featured the year 2017 and another issue showing 1996. These are nothing more than the letterer making an in-joke or a topical reference. Further, there are more examples that no one seems to mention, such as Last Hero Standing where a newspaper gives the date as 2015. I wouldn't read too much into it.

When it comes to decanonising Spider-Verse's impact on Mayday, I'll read into it however I like.

[frogoat]

One of the BIGGEST missed chances in the original Spider-verse story was a meetup between the two Kaine (s). It’s one of my personal complaints about the overall story.

Or a proper moment between 616 Peter and his presumed deceased daughter from an alternate world, or Ben Reilly and Peter having a heart to heart as brothers. Actually, there was a lot of squandered potential for several characters who mean something to one another to have a deep and meaningful conversation. I could go on, but this isn't really the place.

[frogoat]

When it comes to decanonising Spider-Verse's impact on Mayday, I'll read into it however I like.

Could you please explain what you mean by decanonising Spider-Verse, because you have my fully attention.

[Miles To Go]

Could you please explain what you mean by decanonising Spider-Verse, because you have my fully attention.

I didn't say I decanonised Spider-Verse as as a whole, that would be silly, it still happened, I meant I was looking into anything that specifically contradicts linear canon and thus I can write off what happened in Spider-Verse as happening to a different Mayday.

If we all decided "not to read into things", mistakes would be gleefully accepted and the no-prizes wouldn't be required.

[frogoat]

I didn't say I decanonised Spider-Verse as as a whole, that would be silly, it still happened, I meant I was looking into anything that specifically contradicts linear canon and thus I can write off what happened in Spider-Verse as happening to a different Mayday.

If we all decided "not to read into things", mistakes would be gleefully accepted and the no-prizes wouldn't be required.

Oh, hey! I have also conceived ways to negate the impact of Spider-Verse on May 'Mayday' Parker. Not sure how specific Daily Bugle newspaper dates seen in the original MC2 canon helps our cause, but I'd be happy to learn.

I love No-prizes but I think this is a different issue entirely, just a topical reference.

[Miles To Go]

What would be the topical reference be though? Other than 1996 being the real-world year of Mayday's birth?

[frogoat]

What would be the topical reference be though? Other than 1996 being the real-world year of Mayday's birth?

I think any date that anchors the MC2 to a specific year in time is a topical reference because inevitably, with the passage of time the character would age exponentially. Even then-future years like 2017 become the past. I think this link explains it better than I could: https://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Glossa...ical_Reference

[Spidercide]

Just off the top of my head, the MC2 gave us a bi-sexual Felicia Hardy, redeemed Kaine, turned Galactus into a force for good in the universe and brought the original Hobgoblin back and made him a real threat all years before the 616. Also, Wolverine and Elektra's child is called Wild Thing.

Also:

-Introduced a team called the Savage Six
-Gave the Venom symbiote to a heroic supporting cast member who redeemed it and made it not evil
-Established the symbiote as female, which was something played with in the Spec cartoon
-Had a storytaglined Back in Black
-Hooked up Norman Osborn with a symbiote
-Had a Carnage infect a child and make him evil
-Had Normie become a villain
-Sent Wilson Fisk to prison
-Said 'You know what if this female teen hero is not motivated by her parents' dying and they play a vital role in defining her and her supporting cast going forward' like Kamala Khan, who guest starred in an issue of ASM that also contained a backup wherein Slott destroyed that idea for Mayday

It's also become badly outdated due to the absence of the Young Avengers (except Cassie) and Champions, who hadn't been created yet when MC2 started. That doesn't make it unenjoyable though.

While it's true that we have MC2 to thank for Cassie becoming a superhero later in 616, and MCU Hope and Nadia's entire existence, and also Kevin Masterson Thunderstrike, the fact is that the divergence point would be after those missing heroes should've already been born, so they should still exist. That's what makes it outdated. If they brought it back now, those characters would need to be retconned in. There's a reason they decided to push Anya as Spider-Girl instead.

I didn't say it was a bad continuity, but it is outdated. If someone started reading it now and didn't know what year it was published, you can bet they'd be wondering where Kate, Kamala, etc are. The stories are still enjoyable if you bear in mind when they were first published.

This presumes the Young Avengers or any of the Champions who aren't called Miles Morales or Kamala Khan are hot shit.

They are not.

The likelihood of someone picking it up now and wondering where those characters are is small because none of those characters are that big sans Miles and to a much, much, much lesser extent Kamala.

I'm not even dissing them as characters (though for some of them I certainly could) but let's not sit here and honestly pretend like the world has ever gone wild over Patriot or Hulking or Wiccan. I like them well enough for sure, but they are not in terms of exposure to the average comic book fan like on the upper tier of A-list character or anything. Same for the Champions sans Kamala and Miles. I mean honest to god how many people off the street or even kids watching cartoons know who the Hell Viv even is?

Moreover this doesn't make it 'badely outdated' because the only characters truly conspicuous via their absence are again Miles and Kamala, characters not created until less than 10 years ago. It's not like they are firmly entrenched perrennials icons of the Marvel Canon ala the F4 or Captain America. And that goes triple for every Young Avenger or Champion. Like aside from Kamala and Miles who's the highest profile character between those team? Real talk it's Nova...and he's not even the actual iconic Nova, Richard Ryder is.

It'd be easy to simply revive the MC2 universe and introduce older versions of all these characters with revised backstories sans Miles.

DeFalco and Frenz were at best somewhat hardline that everything in Spider-History up until just before Gathering of Five happened. Everythign else, they freely admitted, they cherrypicked. Thus the nature of the MC2 universe within the 15 year gap between that point and Spider-Girl #0 can be filled in as required outside of the already defined history.

Hell if 'updating' it is really neccesarry (which I don't even think it is, again none of the Champions or Young Avengers are characters who will sink or sail an AU, they are not the iconic Marvel characters who get riffed upon in every AU, shit they are themselves riffs upon those Marvel characters in a lot of cases) you could easily just pull a Sentry/Nu52 Wally West situation and say they were there all along but people forgot.

Additionally if they did hypothetically get confused as to where those new characters are...so what? Superhero comics books come with an innate barrier of 'just roll with it' with basically anything you pick up unless it is literally from the debut of that character. There is no reason to presume the confusion would last long or be a deal breaker even if it occurs at all because again, the Young Avengers and the Champions are not the iconic fixtures of the Marvel Universe. At all.


Also the reason they decided to push Anya as Spider-Girl instead is because she was a Quesada pet character and Mayday was the baby (literally) of the old regime and specifically the old EIC, the guy under who's tenure Marvel faced a lot of problems. Internally within Marvel for years they referred to the purchase of Malibu's colouring system as 'DeFalco's folly'.

In addition Mayday is a walking talking embodiment of an aspect of Spider-Man that Quesada and Alonso's regime worked hard to bury.

Oh and did I mention they genuienly believed that if they called Anya Spider-Girl Mayday's fans would somehow migrate over to her.

[Cmbmool]

Countdown of the What Ifs with a "Happy Ending" in them and guess who's #1... https://www.cbr.com/marvel-what-if-c...ally-happened/

[Huntsman Spider]

Countdown of the What Ifs with a "Happy Ending" in them and guess who's #1... https://www.cbr.com/marvel-what-if-c...ally-happened/

A happy ending that got ruined by Spider-Verse. Yeah, I'm still bitter. I admit it. Fun while it lasted, though.

[Miles To Go]

I thought it was a bit weird to suggest "What If Gwen Had Lived" as a happy ending...they even mention it ended on a tragic note and a cliffhanger to boot.

"What If Electra Had Lived" may have a dark epilogue, but it's always been one of my preferred headcanon endings for DD, I like to place it in the same universe as The Real Clone Saga

A happy ending that got ruined by Spider-Verse. Yeah, I'm still bitter. I admit it. Fun while it lasted, though.

It's not ruined. There are universes where Mayday's family is completely safe and intact, or are you just choosing to ignore that "out" DeFalco and Frenz gave in Spider-Verse? The message behind that was you don't have to accept what Marvel feed you. I certainly don't.

[WebLurker]

I thought it was a bit weird to suggest "What If Gwen Had Lived" as a happy ending...they even mention it ended on a tragic note and a cliffhanger to boot.

Agreed.

"What If Electra Had Lived" may have a dark epilogue, but it's always been one of my preferred headcanon endings for DD, I like to place it in the same universe as The Real Clone Saga

Didn't that Civil War what if also do something different? Thought the framing story was the Watcher telling 616 Iron Man what would've happened had he and Cap been able to resolve their differences.

It's not ruined. There are universes where Mayday's family is completely safe and intact, or are you just choosing to ignore that "out" DeFalco and Frenz gave in Spider-Verse? The message behind that was you don't have to accept what Marvel feed you. I certainly don't.

On the other hand, I think a case can be made that the IP holder overrules authorial intent. Just saying.

[Miles To Go]

On the other hand, I think a case can be made that the IP holder overrules authorial intent. Just saying.

In one interview, editorial said it was "fair" for DeFalco and Frenz to suggest that "out" to readers.

[Huntsman Spider]

Thanks, though.

[WebLurker]

In one interview, editorial said it was "fair" for DeFalco and Frenz to suggest that "out" to readers.

Okay then.