Note to My Neighbor
We might as well give up the fiction
That we can argue any view.
For what in me is pure Conviction
Is simple Prejudice in you.
~Phyllis McGinley
February 2012
10 posts
Let's Discuss Comics: Yet More Spider Widow
Today’s Spider Widow adventure comes from Feature Comics #59, and it is the third story in her series. (You can read the first story here and the second story here.) For her third outing, the Widow takes a trip to the circus! It’s bit of grisly fun, especially if you happen to be afraid of clowns.
Stick around after the story for a few random thoughts by yours truly! (Click through to enlarge.)
Cool stuff, huh? Here’s a few thoughts that came to my mind!
- The grim, yet colorful, violence that permeates this story is about as extreme as this series gets. Of course, most of the death is only indirectly depicted, but still—that’s quite a body count!
- Bob Ableson is back! He’s gotten to be a bit of a doormat, huh? The characterization given in this episode is pretty different from the blithely snobby Bob of the first adventure. But it’s not important: this is his last appearance in the strip. (He doesn’t die; he just disappears from series when a more compelling love interest is introduced for Dianne next issue.)
- Is Mr. Darbun the first super-villain that the Spider Widow encounters? Certainly, he’s her first villain to wear a costume, and he’s her first villain without organized crime or Axis connections. While he doesn’t have any powers, that’s never stopped the Joker or Lex Luthor.
- AND NOW FOR A POINT OF CONTINUITY! I said in the first of these Spider Widow posts (linked above) that it’s unclear whether Dianne’s spiders are supernaturally controlled or just super-well-trained. It’s never actually cleared up in the series, but this adventure gives one solid piece of evidence for the former theory. Check out the fourth panel of page three: Dianne appears to psychically command the tiger to back off. This may imply that Dianne has a more general ability to control the minds of animals, but if so, she doesn’t display it ever again (except, of course, through her spiders). (Conversely, the panel may just depict the tiger shirking away from the Widow’s hideous visage. That would explain why Dianne doesn’t psychically control the snake just a few panels later.)
- Finally, blonde Dianne is a brunette for this adventure. Her hair color will continue to vacillate over the course of the series.
