Spider-Girl: Vol. 3 – Avenging Allies collects issues #12-16 and the 1999 Annual of Spider-Girl written by Tom DeFalco and illustrated by Pat Olliffe. Continuing the adventures of May “Mayday” Parker, the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson-Parker, this volume features the new webspinner growing ever more exhausted between double training sessions from her father and uncle, Phil Urich. It takes its toll on her personal life, dragging down her grades and hurting her spot on the basketball team. Meanwhile, she auditions for the new Avengers – earning a reserve spot – and begins to learn some of Darkdevil’s mysteries as they relate to Kaine, one of Spider-Man’s old clones who was long thought dead. The MC2 universe is a great extension of the late-90s Marvel Universe, with those connections showing through as this Spider-title incorporates elements from the sprawling Clone Saga. The issues also continue DeFalco’s style of writing in the second person to introduce each story. This volume comes in a digest-sized edition as Marvel was releasing some of its titles in that format in the mid-2000s. ( )

Despite its attachment to the one of the darkest times in Spider-Man history and its outrageously dated dialogue (even for its time), Spider-Girl is still an enjoyable and wholesome superhero romp. ( )