Sunday, January 4, 2015

The Spider-People of "Spider-Verse" Checklist

As I mentioned in my review of "Amazing Spider-Man" #10, I was floored to discover that we've actually had two teams of Spider-Men in action all along; I had previously thought that everyone in action had been working with Otto.  Because I'm anal-retentive, I went through all the "Spider-Verse" issues to date (as of "Amazing Spider-Man" #10) and assembled a catalogue of the characters that have joined what we now know to be one team or the other.  It's not a list of all the various Spider-Men that have appeared so far, because quite a number of them died before someone from one of the two teams was able to rescue them.

In putting together the list, I have a better idea why I wound up confused.  For most of the issues before "Amazing Spider-Man" #9 (the first issue of the main story), it's all about Otto and his team.  In fact, only three issues involve characters from the team that we now know is the "Safe Zone" team contacting other Spider-People:  Billy observes Gwen in "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2, Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham approach Peni in issue #5, and Old Man Spider and someone else save May from Daemos in "Amazing Spider-Man" #8.  (Retroactively, in "Spider-Verse Team-Up" #1, we see Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham save Ben Reilly from Earth-94.)  All the other issues deal with Otto assembling his team.  Since the characters from the Safe Zone team appear only briefly in these issues before "Amazing Spider-Man" #9, it's easy to assume that they're working with Otto, since we're not given any information to the contrary.

One obvious question is how the Safe Zone team was assembled in the first place.  "Superior Spider-Man" #32 and #33 show in detail Otto assembling his team, but we don't see that with the Safe Zone team.  I think that I now understand, though Slott could've really done a better job clarifying it, since it came late in the game.  In "Amazing Spider-Man" #7, Spider-UK uses the Captain Britain Corps' cross-dimensional scanner to stumble upon the fact that Spider-People are being killed.  Roma dispatches him to save them.  At some point, he likely makes contact with Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham, since they've been the two other most prominent members of the Safe Zone team.  We don't see Billy make these contacts, so we don't know why he approaches them first, but it's safe to assume that it's what happened.  Again, the problem is that Slott doesn't really make that clear in the "Amazing Spider-Man" 37 story and that we've already seen the team in action by the time that he does (in "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2).  Slott and his co-authors could've easily avoided this confusion by using one of the stories to show Spider-UK make contact with Old Man Spider and Spider-Ham.  Then, we would've been fine.

Interestingly, in the end, he Safe Zone team outnumbers the 2099 team; Billy tells Peter that they've got over "twenty strong" in "Amazing Spider-Man" #9, whereas Otto has half that number.  It's more or less moot now, because the teams seem to be fully integrated at the end of "Amazing Spider-Man" #10 (even if Otto and Peter are going to fight over leadership).

At any rate, without further ado, the list, arranged by Earth designation numbers and including the character's first appearance in the event:

Safe Zone (Earth-13)
Ezekiel, Old Man Spider, Earth-4, "Edge of Spider-Verse" #5
Peter Parker, Cosmic Spider-Man, Earth-13, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Peter Porker, Spider-Ham, Earth-25, "Edge of Spider-Verse" #5
Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman, Earth-65, "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2
Ben Reilly, Spider-Man, Earth-94, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Cindy Moon, Silk, Earth-616, "Amazing Spider-Man" #7
Anya Corazon, Spider-Girl, Earth-616, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman, Earth-616, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Kaine Parker, Scarlet Spider, Earth-616, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Earth-616, "Amazing Spider-Man" #7
Billy Braddock, Spider-UK, Earth-833, "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2
Benjamin Parker, Spider-Baby, Earth-982, "Amazing Spider-Man" #8
Mayday Parker, Spider-Girl, Earth-982, "Amazing Spider-Man" #8
Peter (unknown), Spider-Man, Earth-2301, "Spider-Verse" #1
Bruce Banner, Spider-Man, Earth-70105, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9

Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man, (unknown designation of future Earth-616), "Spider-Man 2099" #5
Peni Parker, SP//dr, (unknown designation), "Edge of Spider-Verse" #5

Otto's Base of Operations (Spider-Man 2099's Earth)
(first name unknown) Brown, Spider-Punk, Earth-138, "Amazing Spider-Man" #10
Otto Octavius, Superior Spider-Man, Earth-616, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Lady May Reilly*, Lady Spider, Earth-802, "Spider-Verse" #1
Jessica Drew, Black Widow, Earth-1610, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
Miles Morales, Spider-Man, Earth-1610, "Amazing Spider-Man" #9
name unknown, Cyborg Spider-Man, Earth-2818, "Superior Spider-Man" #33
Peter Parker, Spider-Monkey, Earth-8101, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Peter Parker, Assassin Spider-Man, Earth-8351, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Pavitr Prabhakar, Indian Spider-Man, Earth-50101, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Peter Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Earth-90214, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Peter Parker, Six-Armed Spider-Man, Earth-92100, "Superior Spider-Man" #32
Ashley Barton, Spider-Girl/-Woman, Earth-807128, "Superior Spider-Man" #32

* Lady Reilly isn't actually saved by anyone in "Spider-Verse" #1.  However, she appears at the side of Otto's team in "Amazing Spider-Man" #10.

issues in reading order
"Superior Spider-Man" #32
"Edge of Spider-Verse" #1-#2
"Superior Spider-Man" #33
"Edge of Spider-Verse" #3-#4
"Amazing Spider-Man" #7
"Edge of Spider-Verse" #5
"Spider-Man 2099" #5
"Amazing Spider-Man" #8-#9
"Spider-Verse Team-Up" #1
"Spider-Verse" #1
"Amazing Spider-Man" #10

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