Spider-Girls #3 Is An Event Tie-In That Should Be An Ongoing Series

The Spider-Girls are surrounded, trapped between a pair of Inheritors and a horde of spider mutates. Anya and May have to hold off these attackers long enough for Annie May to decipher her connection to the mystical spider-lore scrolls and find a way to stop the Inheritors once and for all.

As tie-ins to Spider-Geddon go, Spider-Girls is an interesting setup. The weakest parts of the comic are those that tie directly into the event. What makes it stand out from the crowd is the stellar character work and how all three of them work together to become better heroes. We have Spider-Geddon to thank for bringing them all together, but it ends up distracting from the overall enjoyment of this adventure.
The interaction between Annie May and Mayday is the clear highlight of Spider-Girls #3, mostly due to how close the two characters are. Although they’re from different Earths, they could have been from the same family. Annie May’s parents had a child before her that would have been named May had she survived. This makes Mayday like a sister in a weird, yet beautiful way.

Mayday is thrust into the leadership role and, more importantly, the big sister role. She looks out for Annie May, not just because she needs to figure out her connection to the spider scrolls, but because she’s practically family. This comes to a head in an emotional scene from artist Andes Genolet. The two are just standing there talking, but there’s so much depth to it. You can practically see the connections forming between them, creating a strong bond that I hope to see play out long after this event is over.
Anya serves as the middle ground between the two. She’s not a Parker, but she’s a very important member of the Spider family.  Anya is the one that puts everything together, connecting the dots and keeping a level head. As with the previous issue, she ends up with the best lines in the book. Letterer Joe Caramagna delivers these with comedic precision, serving as just the right amount of humor to break the tension.

The color contrast between the three main characters makes for a great visual. Mayday has the traditional red and blue Spider-Man outfit.  Anya has a black and white one, with her red hair adding some color. Rounding out the trio is Annie May with a mix of light and dark blue with her orange hair. Colorists Cris Peter & Jim Campbell assemble three iterations of Spider Woman in one group, the past, present, and future.

Spider-Girls is the rare instance where a small event tie-in mini-series quickly establishes itself as a solid comic that I desperately want to see as an ongoing. It ends just when it’s really hitting its stride between the three characters. I’m not sure what we really got out of it in terms of Spider-Geddon info, but in the scheme of things, that doesn’t matter. It was more than worth the ride to get the fantastic character development within this trio. Writer Jody Houser has done some excellent work with these Spider-Girls.
Spider-Girls #3 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.