Spider-Woman
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"Spider Woman" redirects here. For other uses, see Spider Woman (disambiguation).
| Spider-Woman | |
|---|---|
 Clockwise from bottom: Jessica Drew, Julia Carpenter, Charlotte Witter, and Mattie Franklin, along with Madame Web. Spider-Woman vol. 3, #1. Cover art by Bart Sears. |
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| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Jessica Drew Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. 1977) Julia Carpenter Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 (Oct. 1984) Mattie Franklin The Spectacular Spider-Man #236 (July 1996) Charlotte Witter The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2, #5 (May 1999) Veranke New Avengers #1 (Jan. 2005) |
| Created by | Archie Goodwin (writer) Sal Buscema, Jim Mooney (art) |
| Characters | Jessica Drew Julia Carpenter Mattie Franklin Charlotte Witter Veranke |
| Spider-Woman | |
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Spider-Woman #1 (April 1978) Featuring the Jessica Drew version of the character. Art by Joe Sinnott. |
| Series publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Format | (vols. 1 & 3) Ongoing series (vols. 2 & 4) Limited series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | (vol 1) April 1978 – June 1983 (vol 2) November 1993 – February 1994 (vol 3) July 1999 – December 2000 (vol 4) November 2009 – May 2010 |
| Number of issues | (vol. 1) 50 (vol. 2) 4 (vol. 3) 18 (vol. 4) 7 |
| Main character(s) | (vols. 1 & 4) Jessica Drew (vol. 2) Julia Carpenter (vol. 3) Mattie Franklin |
Spider-Woman is the codename of several fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Contents |
[edit] Publication history
Marvel Comics' then-publisher Stan Lee, said in 1978, shortly after Spider-Woman's debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. 1977) and the start of the character's 50-issue, self-titled series (cover-dated April 1978 - June 1983), that the character originated because,
I suddenly realized that some other company may quickly put out a book like that and claim they have the right to use the name, and I thought we'd better do it real fast to copyright the name. So we just batted one quickly, and that's exactly what happened. I wanted to protect the name, because it's the type of thing [where] someone else might say, 'Hey, why don't we put out a Spider-Woman; they can't stop us.' ... You know, years ago we brought out Wonder Man, and [DC Comics] sued us because they had Wonder Woman, and ... I said okay, I'll discontinue Wonder Man. And all of a sudden they've got Power Girl [after Marvel had introduced Power Man]. Oh, boy. How unfair.[1]
Following that initial Spider-Woman series, three more followed. Volume two was a miniseries published from November 1993 through February 1994; volume three was published from July 1999 through December 2000; and volume four, featuring Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman, was published from November 2009 through May 2010.
[edit] Spider-Women
- Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman, who left the role in the early 1980s. As of the late 2000s, she has returned to it. This version of the character starred in her own animated TV series in 1979 (which is not to be confused with the similarly named Web Woman animated series of the same time period).[2]
- Julia Carpenter, a former member of the superhero teams the Avengers and Omega Flight, who becomes Arachne and the second Madame Web.
- Mattie Franklin, who briefly impersonated Spider-Man before receiving her own short-lived comics series and appeared in the 2007 Loners miniseries.
- Charlotte Witter, a supervillain who used the name.
- Veranke, queen of the shape-shifting extraterrestrial race the Skrulls, who impersonated Jessica Drew over a long period of time and was a founding member of the superhero team the New Avengers.
[edit] Other versions
- An unrelated earlier "Spider-Woman" was published by Harry "A" Chesler's Dynamic Comics in 1944. She was a non-superpowered crime-fighter named Helen Goddard and made her first and only appearance in the Golden Age comic book Major Victory #1.[3]
- Another "Spider-Woman" (who was non-canonical character, Valerie the Librarian) appeared in the live-action, recurring skit "Spidey Super Stories" on the 1970s PBS children's television series 'The Electric Company, on which Spider-Man appeared. She also appeared as Spider-Woman in the spin-off comic book series Spidey Super Stories #11 (August 1975). She had no superpowers.
- In the 1981 episode The Triumph of the Green Goblin from the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends animated series, Firestar (Angelica Jones) dresses as the Jessica Drew version of Spider-Woman at a costume party. The episode was adapted in the comic book Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends #1 (December 1981).[4] Similarly, Spidey Super Stories #56 (January 1982) features Mary Jane Watson dressed as the Jessica Drew version of Spider-Woman at a costume party. Both stories feature Peter Parker wearing Halloween costume versions of his traditional Spider-Man costume to the parties, as well as the Green Goblin interrupting both parties.[5]
- Spider-Woman (portrayed by Mary Jane Watson as a ninja of the Spider-clan), is an alternate version of the character in the Marvel Mangaverse reality.
- Another version of Mary Jane as Spider-Woman is featured in the Exiles series.
[edit] See also
- Spider-Girl (May Parker), daughter of Spider-Man in an alternate future
- Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon), previously Araña
- Madame Web (Cassandra Webb), grandmother of Charlotte Witter
[edit] Other female spider-themed Marvel characters
- Agony
- Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)
- Black Widow (Yelena Belova)
- Scream
- She-Venom
- Tarantula (Maria Vasquez)
[edit] References
- ^ "Hello, Culture Lovers: Stan the Map Raps with Marvel Maniacs at James Madison University", The Comics Journal #42, October 1978, p. 55
- ^ "Web Woman". Toonopedia. http://www.toonopedia.com/webwoman.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
- ^ Major Victory #1 (Dynamic Publications [1940s] [Chesler], 1944 Series at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ "Comics : Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends #1". Spider Fans. http://spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_amazing_friends/001.html. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
- ^ "I Want Candy: Spidey Super Stories #56". Tastes Like Comics. http://www.tasteslikecomics.com/2011/03/i-want-candy-spidey-super-stories-56/. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
[edit] External links
- Spider-Woman at the Marvel Universe
- Spider-Woman vol.4 online at Rucomics.info
- Spider-Woman at the Marvel Database Project
- Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) at the Comic Book DB
- Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) at the Comic Book DB
- Spider-Woman (Mattie Franklin) at the Comic Book DB
- Spider-Woman (Charlotte Witter) at the Comic Book DB
- Spider-Woman (Veranke) at the Comic Book DB
- Spider-Woman sales figures for 1979–1982 at the Comics Chronicles
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This article includes a list of related items that share the same name (or similar names). If an internal link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
