Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: dan slott, marvel, spider-man, spiderverse, tee franklin

Dan Slott Explains Why Tee Franklin Writing Sun-Spider Is A Good Thing

Published Fri, 02 Sep 2022 06:57:12 -0500

The Edge Of Spider-Verse series has been covering a variety of Spider-Men across the probability axis of the Multiverse, and Edge Of Spider-Verse #4 is set to include the return of Charlotte Weber, the Sun-Spider, created by Dayn Broder and now being written by disabled comic book and TV career of Tee Franklin, after her initial successes with Bingo Love, but then writing the Harley Quinn Animated Series comic book and TV series. And it seems that Marvel wanted in, with her first work for Marvel Comics. Also for the same comic, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, writers of the West End/Broadway hit Canadian musical Come From Away are writing a Spintress story.

Edge Of Spider-Verse #4 seeing publication later this mont, and despite the character appearing in a number of Spider-Man titles previously, suddenly a bunch of folks aren't happy about this. Tee Franklin tweeted out:

"Allow me to reintroduce #SunSpider aka Charlotte Webber, a disabled #spidersona with #EDS created by @dayn_does_comix! #EdgeOfSpiderVerse 4 in stores 9/21! Preorder: https://amzn.to/3TzZAAv Art: @jetzun Colors: @SotoColor Letters: @JoeCaramagna Story: Me #RepresentationMatters Charlie's outfit inspired by @JanelleMonae's BET appearance. It was BEYOND important for me to name Charlie's disability and not have it implied, just as it was equally important to not having her disability cured by her new powers. She's disabled and it's a HUGE part of who she is as a student, friend, daughter and superhero."

She got a lot of thanks from disabled readers, those with the condition in question and many more. But there were others who saw having disabled characters as a bad thing. Which led to some interesting back and forths.

Creacher: My problem is not with anything to do with the character, the design, or their origins. It's the fact that this specific image alone feels like it's ticking boxes for appeal and isn't displaying much else

Dayn Broder: I hate to break it to you bud but I literally based her on myself, a real person that exists

Mythoth: The spider person in the first panels is the person using the wheel chair in the later panels. The implication is that she is somehow her universe's spidey hero while not being able to walk.

Addison: this is a comic series about a person bitten by a radioactive spider now having the abilities of a spider along with supernatural web slinging abilities and the part you find hard to believe is that she can't walk

Mythoth: Even when you have fantastical elements, common sense is still foundational/expected in story telling. Its pretty difficult to fight most combatants without the ability to stand on your own two legs. There are plenty of great comic characters/heroes that are wheelchair bound, like Professor X or Barbara Gordon as Oracle. But these character very rarely ever have frontline combat roles or like Prof X have power that allows to fight the villains indirectly.

Addison: i still don't think that's a good point considering that those characters don't have webs to swing off of as a constant mobility advantage to make up for difficulty walking. it doesn't take too much imagination to think of scenarios where not being able to walk isn't that bad

BobbyMJ7: But there's plenty where not being able to walk, lesser mobility, is a VERY bad thing. Put that character in a confined space, limit or just take away their web shooters, and they are in trouble. Likewise smart repeat enemies will recognize the weakness.

James Mathurin: Well, gosh, it almost sounds like there is a bunch of dramatic potential inherent in the character! This is *checks notes* a good thing.

Jade: "But what if… superman encounters kryptonite, huh?? WHAT THEN?" #cancelsuperman

These were some of the… politer exchanges. Then Spider-Verse creator Dan Slott tweeted out;

"Fell down a rabbit hole today of hate and ignorance. Having an award winning disabled writer tell a story about a disabled Spider-Hero who was created by a disabled fan is a GOOD THING. That someone could spin that as a bad thing is mind boggling to me. also… The character Sun-Spider lives with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). This does not mean that they have no use of their legs. If you wish to learn more about EDS, here.

On another note: How is having a singing Spider-Princess, w/ lyrics written by actual Broadway musical legends, a BAD THING? How is the fact she'll be singing mean there "won't be any action" in the story? Have you seen movies starring singing princesses lately? They kick ass! I've read Spinstress' story. There's action left and right in it. And what if there wasn't? What if there were 1 story in an anthology that didn't have punching and kicking in it. Would that be so bad? That's not the case with Spinstress. But… geez.

EOSV #4 is a book I'm really looking forward to. Sun-Spider, Spider-Ham, Spider-Mobile, and Spinstress is a killer lineup of characters, all being used in a wide range of stories, and all fleshing out and making the Spider-Verse far bigger and far more spectacular."

Tee Franklin responded with a "Thank you, Dan. I sincerely appreciate you for saying something."

EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #4 (OF 5)
MARVEL COMICS
JUL220812
(W) Dan Slott, Various (A) Nathan Stockman, Various (CA) Josemaria Casanovas
SPIDER-HAM! SPIDER-MOBILE! SUN-SPIDER! SPINSTRESS! You know the first two, but you may not remember the Amazing Sun-Spider who debuted in 2020's SPIDER-VERSE miniseries as a winner of our Spidersona contest! She gets her own story here! And Spinstress is a brand new Spider-Princess who sings, talks to a spider and kicks villainous butt! And the writers of the Broadway smash hit COME FROM AWAY are bringing her in for a landing! In Shops: Sep 21, 2022 SRP: $4.99

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