- Spider Girl
Superherobox|
caption=Post-Zero Hour version of Spider Girl
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Spider Girl
real_name=Sussa Parks
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Adventure Comics " #310 (July 1963) (Pre Zero Hour - mentioned)
"Adventure Comics " #323 (July 1964) (Pre Zero Hour - full appearance)
"Legion of Super-Heroes " Vol. 4 #64 (Post-Zero Hour)
creators=Jim Tillery Jerry Siegel John Forte
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=WorkforceLegion of Super-Villains Legion of Super-Heroes
Justice League of Earth
aliases=Wave
powers=Super-strong prehensilehair |Spider Girl (Sussa Paka) is a fictional character in
DC Comics .The character was first mentioned as a concept in the letters page of "
Adventure Comics " when a fan suggested a character with the power of super-strong prehensilehair . ["Adventure Comics " #310 ]Fictional character history
Spider Girl formally first appeared as a failed
Legion of Super-Heroes applicant. ["Adventure Comics " #323]She went on to join Tarik the Mute's underground academy for
supervillain s and later theLegion of Super-Villains .Pre-Zero Hour history
Sussa Paka was the subject of 30th century mutagenic experimentation on the matriarchal world of Taltar, part of a campaign by the female aristocracy there to develop a force to protect the planet from male hostility and extend Taltar's influence in the United Planets. Sussa herself was recruited from Earth and was expected to take part in a planned matriarchal coup.
But when she reached puberty, Sussa decided there were more interesting things to do with males than fight them. She sneaked off Taltar, assumed the identity of Spider-Girl and applied for membership with the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Scientists on Taltar had given Sussa the ability to grow her hair at will to considerable lengths and to manipulate it as a weapon. She suspected this alone might not impress the Legion, but hoped that her other physical attributes might tip the scales in her favor. Sussa botched the demonstration of her power and got little sympathy from
Saturn Girl , who was presiding over the tryouts.If they'd had any reason to move on to study Sussa's psyche, the Legionnaires would have discovered she had no particular predilection for obeying rules or following orders, and that she was there for a shot at flirting with the male Legionnaires.
Sussa was disappointed by her failure, but quickly decided there were plenty of other ways a woman could enjoy herself in the United Planets. She was in the midst of doing just that when, for the first time, she met a man who was more than her match. It was the charismatic Laevar Bolto, the notorious
Cosmic King . Long practiced in the art of persuading and corrupting the morally ambivalent, Bolto worked his psychological and narcotic magic on Sussa and was able to recruit her into his growing Legion of Super-Villains.That led to some unhappy years of dependence on Bolto's cultish leadership and the illegal substances he used to force that dependence. Captured by the Science Police shortly after the epic battle between the Super-Villains and the Super-Heroes on Orando, Sussa received rehabilitative treatments on Labyrinth that allowed her to shake her psychological and physical addictions. That earned Sussa her release, though her attitude toward the law remains far from the U.P.-approved ideal.
These events behind her, Sussa wanders the post-collapse Free Worlds in search of adventure, credits, and men. She's often in a position to assist the forces of the law and can be a formidable ally of the authorities when she's in the mood. But just as often, she pursues adventures that dance on the edge of illegality and sometimes leap enthusiastically beyond that line.
Sussa enjoys provoking a chase, especially when it involves an attractive man. It's hard for her to choose, though, between seducing her pursuer or maneuvering him to fall into his own traps, so she usually attempts to do both.
Before the Legion of Super-Heroes disbanded, Sussa enjoyed a few opportunities to become a considerable pain in the posterior to the team, a role she looks forward to reassuming now that the team has reunited.
Five Year Gap
During the Five-Year Gap storyline in "Legion", Paka was written as a half-reformed thief with a crush on Legionnaire
Ultra Boy .She joined the Legion as Spider Girl but changed her codename to Wave just before the Legion reboot, dyeing her hair a sea-blue color. ["Legion of Superheroes" Vol. 4 #54 (
1994 )]Post-Zero Hour history
Spider Girl's first appearance after the "Zero Hour" event occurred in "Legion of Super-Heroes" v.4 #64 as a member of the Workforce. She had a relationship with
Ultra Boy while he was also a member of the team. As a result of this she was extremely resentful of Apparition.Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes What appears to be a revamped version of the pre-Crisis Spider Girl appears in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story beginning in "Action Comics" #859. In this version, she is a member of the "Justice League of Earth", a group of Earth-born Legion rejects which has seized control of Earth and banished the Legion and other extraterrestrials by spreading lies that
Superman was a human that hated all aliens.Powers
Sussa has the ability to quickly grow her hair to great lengths, the limits of which have yet to be determined. She can also manipulate her prodigious locks to attack or ensnare an opponent. This unusual ability results from mutagenic experiments performed on the matriarchal world of Taltar.
The Taltarese selected Sussa for the experiments based on her impressive early development and genetic history, which suggested the considerable size and strength she's gained in adulthood. She's also studiously developed her agility, endurance, and fighting skills to minimize the chances she'll ever have to pay for her extra-legal adventures.
She also has amassed an extensive collection of 30th-century criminal gadgetry, though most of it is designed to assist her in breaking and entering or evading capture. Sussa is extremely unlikely to seriously injure her adversaries except when she must defend herself from violent attack.
Appearances in other media
Spider Girl appears in her Wave identity (with the blue-dyed hair) in the "Legion of Super Heroes" animated television series as a member of the Light Speed Vanguard (Legion of Supervillains). ["Legion of Super Heroes" episode "Lightning Storm"] She displays the ability to wrap and lift things with her hair like her comic book counterpart.
References
External links
* [http://www.legiononline.net/volume2/spider.html Legion Online Biography]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=spidergirlprezh Pre-Zero Hour Unoffical Biography]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=spidergirl Post-Zero Hour Unoffical Biography]
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