Araña: Here Comes the Spider-Girl

Araña (Digest Size) #1

by Fiona Kelly

Out of the pages of AMAZING FANTASY comes a spectacular hero! She's a wall-crawler for a whole new generation: Anya Corazon, A.K.A. Arana!

When scrappy Brooklyn high school student Anya accidentally crosses paths with the mystical Spider Society, she finds herself empowered with a magical tattoo that generates a strange armored exoskeleton - and grants her amazing powers!

But as Arana gets more and more involved with the Spider Society, she learns of their ancient, hidden war against a ruthless enemy. Will Arana become a Hunter? Can she keep her father, an inquisitive reporter, from learning the truth? And what happens when her brand-new archenemy transfers into her school?!

Meet the modern marvel with the heart of the spider!

Collecting AMAZING FANTASY (2004) #1-6 and ARANA #1-6.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Superheroes, Marvel

280 pages, Paperback

Published December 22, 2020

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Takes what should be an interesting character and just drowns her in writing that is pure dreck, so choppy and stupid it feels like pages must be missing.

It's the sort of dumb writing that people think of when they think of comics: a high school student is given powers and is immediately pulled into a shadow war between two secret societies, one good and one evil. Anya Corazon wants to have a secret identity, but she lets the giant and distinct tattoo that is the mark of her power show on her arm both at her Brooklyn high school and when she's running around in her hero guise. And she seems to mistake her superhero code name for a credit card security question as she adopts her mother's maiden name of Araña. A super-powered assassin shows up who is about her age and tries to kill her one night, and then the next day a new transfer student shows up in her classroom, and hey isn't that . . . ? Ugh.

So much is left unexplained or unexplored, but I have no desire to find out more at this point.

[Vanny (reading.halfling) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Titel des Comics verspricht irgendwie etwas vollkommen anderes als man hier bekommt. Das fand ich neben der irgendwie langen und zugleich viel zu wenigen Story sehr störend. Trotzdem war er alles in allem nicht schlecht, nur irgendwie was ganz anderes, das mich aufgrund der komplett anderen Erwartungen einfach enttäuscht hat. Vielleicht gebe ich dem Comic in einem Jahr oder so noch eine Chance, um mit anderem Blick darauf zu schauen.

[Kori Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a fight at the beginning that is incredibly confusing scene where it’s unclear how a fight instigated and what people are responding to so I downloaded a sample of the same book and the bully says something offensive to Lynn that’s also very 2004 (not the only time he does)because Lynn bumped someone ripping a poster. I think they should have replaced it with something at least coherent Anya says “… I am” in response to nothing.

After that his hair colour randomly switches from Blonde to brunette for a page

he disappears after a few issues which probably avoided Flash Thomson comparisons in the long run)

These issues and there not being an easily accessible collection of Araña 7-12 are my main problems with the book. I know the book has issues but it just alleles to me anyway. I’m disappointed in the long run they took away her distinct powers and costume. She fits the Marvel Spider brand more but as a result she seems to get lost among them. The costume change was inevitable but the loss of the Carapace really did strip her of a defining and distinct feature.

[Mr. Stick · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I DID A LITTLE WEB SEARCHING OF MY OWN BEFORE I CAME HERE, AND IT LOOKS LIKE WEBCORPS IS A SHELL COMPANY, INSIDE ANOTHER SHELL COMPANY, INSIDE AN OFFSHORE PRIVATE COMPANY INCORPORATED IN BRAZIL BY THREE GUYS WHOSE DEATH CERTIFICATES READ ONE YEAR EARLIER THAN THE CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION."
- Anya to Mr. Sanderson, CEO of Webcorps.

Another spider character? That should be fun, right? Anya, the main character, is fairly well done. It's her supporting characters that are riddled with ploy holes.
The art made up for some rather clunky writing. I found myself re-reading sections of dialog that I didn't understand at first. This writer may be new to comics. It's a big departure from writing a story solo and only dealing with an editor, to doing half of your storytelling visually, co-writing with an artist and working under a new set of deadlines while still dealing with the editor.
Overall, the story was okay, and the art was quite good. It's not the worst, but it still read through quickly. Three stars.

[Alicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably so classically a comic book iteration of Spiderman that I couldn't get into it. The characters are overly drawn and the writing is so dense that it drowns out the action. And there wasn't enough for me to understand who she was and what her situation was before jumping right into the superheroicism. So this was a "not for me" kind of title because I'm not a "serious" Marvel and/or DC comics reader, just casual so I need it to help me and this one didn't.

[Ryan Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content Warnings: Violence

Despite detailed artwork and a spunky female lead, Araña mostly falls flat. The magic element was fairly weak and the humor, while good, is too sparse to carry the volume. This didn't hold the attention of my kids and failed to impress me.

It's not bad, it's just not great.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first experience of reading anything in the spiderverse and I really enjoyed it. I had borrowed this from my local library and now I'll be hunting down the next installment if they have it.

[alexofmacedonia · Rating 1 out of 5]

i usually love Spidey-fam comics, so I'm GUTTED that i barely made it like 20% in. there was just so much that felt disjointed, and it didn't flow well. i felt like i was missing a lot, and i don't like feeling lost with comics. c'est la vie, vrai?

[Bekka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this yesterday and I've already forgotten most of it. All I remember is that it was confusing, the main character questioned nothing when she should have done, and it was just so underwritten that nothing made sense.
TW for violence, racist remarks.

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the diversity and the fact that this felt like an old school comic book, but for the new millennium of readers.

[Marisel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the art was fun and think that the last two "issues" saved the story. I would love for her to get a better remake under Araña and not as Spider-Girl. Worth supporting and giving it a try!

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-girl, must I say more! 😊

[Court · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting and engaging but I feel like the important lore drops happened too late in the game. Still super fun