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Submitted: February 25, 2008
Image Size: 136 KB
Resolution: 1200×1321

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ANANSIby *Fourpanelhero

Cartoons & Comics / Traditional Media / Cartoons / Drawings

I was in a post office today and came across some new Marvel Comics stamps, and noticed that among the characters on them was the original Spider-Woman. I've always liked the character, her design especially, but like the comic fan boy I am, I began to imagine how I could reinvent her, make her better if only to my own creative sensibilities. So the first thing I thought of was the costume. I wanted something more basic, like Tim Sale's Catwoman, which was basically two colors with very few bells and whistles. I also wanted something off the shoulder, because I felt that hadn't been done very much and it would look different and good. The spider emblem is standard Spider-Man stuff, but the upper legs seemed practical to serve as straps to support the shoulder-less top. I liked the loose, almost bulky gloves and boots Sale gave Catwoman and I drew inspiration from those. For the mask I wanted to show her eyes. I know all Spider-Man spin off characters have his big blank white Bambi eyes, but I felt she'd be more feminine if we could see her real eyes. I chose to make her black in part because I was inspired by Alicia Keys and the way she used to braid her hair in those unique patterns. I thought a spider webbing braid pattern would look cool, completed with sort of a messy, almost dred looking thatch of hair pulled back behind it. As for colors, I knew I wanted black to be prominent, but for a secondary color, I almost went for white. Then at the last second I decided red and black were just totally bad ass, and so I went with that. As for the name, I thought Spider-Woman was too clumsy sounding, plus tacking "woman" on the end of a female character just seemed redundant and almost condescending somehow. When I made the character black, I remembered the spider character Anansi, who was so important to African folklore. Anansi was mischievious, a trickster, very smart and very fun. That's what I thought my Spider-Woman should be. Hence, I dubbed her Anansi. Whether or not this is Jessica Drew I haven't decided. I contemplated giving her a name that reflected her superhero identity, like Gossamyr. I don't usually allow myself to do stuff like reinvent established superheroes for the fun of it. I don't know why. I just felt like I've grown up in my creativity and got beyond that. However, like a lot of childhood games you think you've outgrown, when you stop and think about how much fun they were, it's pretty hard to keep yourself from sitting down and playing them all over again.

~Brackets002 Oct 31, 2012 Student Artist

Um... Anansi was male in African mythology.

~suranae Apr 14, 2012

this rocks

~anonymous92 Feb 23, 2010

awesome costume design and excellent character redesign.

*Fourpanelhero Feb 24, 2010 Professional Traditional Artist

Thank you so much!

~anonymous92 Feb 25, 2010

my pleasure.

~RikusShadow Jan 28, 2009

This is amazing. I would love to see this in a comic book someday.

Didn't they have an Anasazi character for DC?

*Fourpanelhero Jan 29, 2009 Professional Traditional Artist

They may have. Between DC and Marvel, they've used about every kind of name imaginable, though usually on forgettable throw away characters.

~JonKin Jan 28, 2009 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Tremendous job.

*Fourpanelhero Jan 29, 2009 Professional Traditional Artist

Thanks! I'd love to work on a character like this for Marvel.

~Elora-Danen Mar 8, 2008 Professional General Artist

i love this. everything about her is great.

the hair, the colors, the four digits on her hands. great choices all around. well done! :applause:

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