Spotlight On... JULIA CARPENTER

[Douglas Mangum]

She wanted to be called Ariadne. She would have settled for Arachne - but what she got, was Spider-Woman! For years, Julia Carpenter was Marvel's go-to female Spider-character. And what we the readers got, was a character originally shrouded in mystery, but clearly defined as someone who will stop at nothing to do what is right - from betraying Freedom Force to rescue the Avengers, to double-crossing her friends in the superhuman Civil War, Julia Carpenter has fought long and hard as an Avenger to do right - even if that means putting her life on the line. Although she no longer bears a super hero code name, she will always be one of the Earth's mightiest and most noble of heroes... Julia Carpenter!

[Quick and Dead]

Great read!

I was always curious about the creation of Julia. Jessica Drew was already established as Spider-Woman and had a popular solo run, why create an all-new Spider-Woman less than a decade after the original’s debut?

[Monolith]

There's definitely a behind-the-scenes story there, although I don't know what it is.

She was basically unused for 20 years, from the end of her series in 1984 until Bendis' New Avengers in 2004. Sure, "Jessica Drew" made appearances here and there, but largely depowered and very rarely returning as "Spider-Woman". Given the era and the involvement of Secret Wars, I wonder if it wasn't a Shooter decree for some reason.

[Quick and Dead]

Without going too topic and taking away from the wonderful spotlight on the second Spider-Woman... I do wonder if had to do with Shooter not liking Jessica Drew's original origin. It was retconned but maybe he never quite got past it.

[Nu-D]

Claremont used Drew a number of times in Uncanny both before and after the introduction of Carpenter. She was a supporting character in the San Francisco arc, running around the time of SWII, and IIRC he also put her in Wolverine’s solo title.

I suspect that she didn’t get much attention because she was always a c-lister, had been depowered, and there was a more modern substitute. Her benching lasted a lot longer than Shooter’s tenure, so even if he did want her benched, nobody thought to bring her back for a long time.

[Quick and Dead]

I’m not really questioning Jessica Drew’s popularity or usage, I’m just curious why Shooter felt the need to create a new Spider-Woman when the other one was still around. Now we have multiple Hawkeyes and have had a few different Captain Americas and such but those are all the passing of a mantle situations. This is literally just another woman going by the name of Spider-Woman debuting a few years after the first one. So odd.

[Douglas Mangum]

You're probably over-thinking it. Jessica Drew's origin is hard to explain. A new, clean-slate character has far less baggage.

Back to the Julia Carpenter Spotlight, I'm always amazed at how a character article can lay out a character's history, making it seem as it was all a streamlined narrative, rather than writer's just making it all up month-to-month.

[UrbanExplorer]

I was always more interested in Julia, I loved the chemistry she had with U.S. Agent in Force Works and Omega Flight.

Marvel Comics Presents v2 is definitely a must read.

I felt very sorry when she was sidelined and took over as Madame Web. I rather see Jessica being as MW.

[Nu-D]

I wanted to like Julia from her first appearances in Secret Wars, but frankly, Claremont’s use of her soured me. She was this sort-of-but-not-quite villain, and her motives and characterization seemed incoherent.

I’m sure she got better once other writers got her out of Freedom Force. But I never liked her under Claremont’s pen.

[UrbanExplorer]

You need to read Force Works and Marvel Presents v2. Also Omega Flight.

[Monolith]

I am wracking my brain, but...didn't Claremont write her for all of ONE issue? UXM #206?

[Nu-D]

I am wracking my brain, but...didn't Claremont write her for all of ONE issue? UXM #206?

She wasn’t in Dallas? She was definitely on Freedom Force for those early X-Factor issues. Maybe I’m conflating those with Claremont’s stories. Also, those were back issues for me, so while I saw her first in SW, and shortly after as a villain in Uncanny and X-Factor, I was piecing stuff together out of order.

Whatever the reason, seeing her go from hero to villain team caught me off guard and never made sense to me. I accept it may have been my failure as a reader, rather than any writers failure. But it soured me on the character.