Bluebird (comics)

Sally Avril (aka Bluebird, or sometimes BlueBird) is a supporting character in Marvel Comics's Spider-Man series. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, she first appeared in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 (1962).

Publication

Sally is interesting in that she was a fairly minor and forgettable member of Flash Thompson's entourage, appearing in only one issue during the Silver Age. (It is thought she was mistakenly labelled "Sally Green" in #36, but this is in dispute.) Her short-lived "Bluebird" career was an afterthought created by the team of Busiek (scripts) and Olliffe (pencils) in the nineties.

History

Sally Avril was a fellow student of Peter Parker's at Midtown High who turned him down for a date, preferring the more handsome and muscular Flash Thompson.

Thirty years later, writing for "Untold Tales of Spider-Man", Kurt Busiek resurrected the one-note brunette from obscurity and gave her a background. She was an ambitious, thrill-loving girl who took blue ribbons in gymnastics. With fellow popular kid Jason Ionello, she attempted to cash in on a "Daily Bugle" contest offering a thousand dollars to a reader who brought in pictures of Spider-Man. Although their mission was a bust, Sally loved the thrill and became very smitten with the web-slinger when he touched her cheek just before leaving her and Jason with a warning to give it up.

Sally and Jason tailed Spidey again, who was (unwillingly) working for Electro. The flash from Sally's camera roused Spidey from his hypnotic state, and a well-placed kick by the athletic young Sally took Electro by surprise long enough for Spciey to readjust his mask--which the high-voltage lowlife had been preparing to remove--and defeat him. Spider-Man posed for a shot with an ecstatic Sally and Jason that the "Bugle" ran.

Suffused with glee, Sally tried to get a permanent gig on the "Bugle", but was told the photographer's job was filled--by Peter Parker. Peter admittted this but asked her not to tell their fellow Midtowners. Sally donned an eccentric blue-and-white costume and decided, with her aerobic skills, to become a superheroine. She asked Peter to take some "Bugle" pics of her doing some stunts, but Peter refused. Angered, she threatened to blackmail him by revealing that he took Spider-man pictures, but he undercut her by telling them himself.

Bluebird's zeal but lack of experience caused trouble for Spider-Man during fights with Scarlet Beetle and Electro. Her "ether egg" weapons would detonate prematurely or have little effect, once even allowing the villain to escape. Considering her more trouble than she was worth, Spider-Man actually let the Black Knight's men hurt her quite badly to dissuade her from interfering in his fights again. Spider-Man later felt bad about this.

Bruised but undaunted, Sally and Jason headed to an area where Spidey was fighting the Knight, with Sally's camera. She intended to capture some shots of the fight. However, Sally's zeal ends up costing her her life when she wheedled Jason to speed up, and the two ran a red light. Their car struck an oncoming bus. Jason incurred mild head trauma; Sally was killed.

Spidey felt horrible about this. "She'll never laugh again...She'll never toss her head the way she did, instantly dismissing whatever she didn't want to think about in favor of something new. She'll never smile, never capture everyone's attention with a few words, never light up a room with her determination and humor. She could be obnoxious, even pushy, but she was vital and alive and fun to be around and now she's gone."

Other Media

Television

Sally Avril appears as Rand Robertson's shrill-voiced girlfriend in "The Spectacular Spider-Man" voiced by Grey DeLisle. She loudly turns Peter down for a date in the pilot episode and then becomes angry that Randy doesn't seem jealous about him approaching her. She vociferously blames Peter for Liz Allan and Flash's breakup. Sally Avril later mocks Flash Thompson's hero-worship of Spidey when he is framed for armed robbery by Chameleon and his associates Quentin Beck and Phineas Mason. Later Flash tells Peter, after May Parker's heart attack, that "even Sally feels sorry for you", suggesting that perhaps she is beginning to soften towards him.

The series depicts her as a blonde, although her natural hair color in the comics was black (she donned a long blonde wig as Bluebird). Her Bluebird alter-ego has yet to appear in the series.

External Links

* [http://www.marvel.com/universe/Bluebird_(Sally_Avril) Bluebird] at Marvel.com