Spider-Girl #1 puts the fun back into comics

I remember when I first started reading comics back in the 80's they were cool. They were entertaining and exciting and most of all, they were fun. Flash forward to present times and comics are all dark and depressing. Marvel had a Civil War just rip through their universe. DC had to deal with Blackest Night. Things are just so bleak. I mean we're talking about people running around in spandex. Come on lighten up. But here comes Spider-Girl to save the day. The story has teen-ager Anya Corazon, the daughter of a famed journalist, doing the super-hero thing in New York. A few years ago Anya was transformed by a strange Spider Society into Arana, a champion who had similar powers to Spider-Man. She recently lost though powers but got trained by the best heroes in the business like Black Widow and Ms. Marvel to compensate. Now she is Spider-Girl, who continue to battle the bad guys, even without powers. The opening scene has our girl tangling with this internet crazed villaness called Screwball who wants to put her exploits all over the web. Spider-Girl ain't having it and quickly dispatches Screwball. Later on, Anya who lives with her dad plans some family time with him until he has to go to work unexpectedly. So he decides that Sue Storm AKA The Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four would be a suitable replacement. The two gals bond over dinner until Sue gets an emergency call to dispatch some new villainy. She leaves and Anya goes to vent off some frustration by taking on some would be thieves. Of course things turn out to be a lot worse as Anya happens along to see the FF getting hammered by the Red Hulk and it's up to her to save the day. I love this book. It's refreshing and it's fun, like comics should be. Spider-Man now is all dramatic and serious, so I stopped reading his book, but it appears Spider-Girl will get the job down. The writing by Paul Tobin is great and filled with lots of humor. The art by Clayton Henry is clean and sharp. I love Spider-Girl's costume. It's black with a white spider symbol on the front. Kind of like Venom but with better taste. And Anya delivers quips like a seasoned pro. She will remind you of the old Spider-Man, you know when he was cool. So I look forward to reading the adventures of Spider-Girl on a monthly basis.
B+