An itsy-bitsy Spider Tale

As anyone who has been reading this blog for any period of time already knows, not only am I a huge comicbook fan, but I’m specifically a major Spider-Man fan. As it turns out, my love of Spider-Man, has morphed into an appreciation of all things spider, so yeah, over the years I found myself following most (if not all) of the spider-related characters in the Marvel Universe; Joining on-line spider-related online groups, wearing spider-themed T-shirts, and of course spider toys.

As can be expected, I’ve also been drawn to other spider characters as well these include Dell Comics Spider Queen. Given that Dell is no longer in business and their Golden Age characters are all in the Public Domain, and that I now write for InDELLible Comics (where we use Dell and other PD characters in new stories) I’m in the process of crafting a story with Spider Queen as the main character.

Needless to say, a short while ago, I came across the female spider character, Arachna from X53 Studios LLC, and backed a three-volume set of her adventures. When the comics arrived, I was very excited and set about to read all three issues.  Unfortunately, my anticipation of reading the series simply did not measure up to my actual reading of the series.

I don’t want to say that it was a bad series, what I am going to say is that I’ve come to the conclusion that I was simply not the target audience of the series. Perhaps, I might have been a couple of four decades ago, but as I age, I find that I am interested in different things. My issue is that the character, Arachna is a young, buxom female whose rogue’s gallery tends to be other young buxom women. When they fight, their clothes (as can be expected with these types of indie comics) tend to get ripped off (as often as not fully exposing them).

As I said, when I was in my 20s this type of storytelling would perhaps have been more interesting to me, but as I close in on 70, I find it superficially banal. I get it that sex sells, but honestly, I would prefer an actual story. The problem here is that throughout the three-issue series, Arachna keeps making not just bad decisions but the same bad decisions over and over, getting herself beat up, captured, bound, and stripped (Fredric Wertham must be as giddy as a schoolgirl in whatever funnybook hell in which he currently resides).

Again, I’m not saying this is a bad Indie comic, I’m saying that it really doesn’t seem to be living up to its true potential Although, it is entirely possible that I simply because I grew up of Stan, Jack, Steve, and JRSr, I simply expect better from my preferred entertainment.

Your mileage may differ.