Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 42: Sibling Rivalry

It had been a little over a year since Gwen Stacy's superhuman powers had fully developed. Since she'd begun crimefighting as the superheroic Spider-Woman, Gwen had fought a variety of superhuman criminals and had more unusual experiences than most people three times her age. Despite that, she found herself appreciating moments of peace and quiet, such as when she did the grocery shopping for her family. While her Aunt Nancy wasn't charging her any rent, Gwen Stacy still felt better about living with Nancy and the rest of the family if she was able to contribute to the household.

Yesterday Gwen had helped her cousin Jill clean Nancy's townhouse from top to bottom, and today she was getting the groceries. It was a welcome relief from having to worry about the fallout of Supercharger's rampage at Macy's Department Store almost two weeks ago, or the uncertainty she felt about her boyfriend Randy Robertson. She loved Randy and he loved her back, but it turned out that he disliked and distrusted masked superheroes.

Forcing away those thoughts as they came up again, Gwen barely stopped in time to avoid running into a middle-aged man wearing a rumpled cardigan sweater and worn pennyloafers on his feet. To Gwen's surprise, she recognized the man as Dr. Curt Connors, her Biology professor at Empire State University.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Gwen babbled, startled by Dr. Connors' sudden appearance. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked him, before realizing how silly she sounded.

"College professors have to eat too, Gwen," Dr. Connors chuckled. "I'm actually just picking some things up for my wife's New Year's Eve party. Say, is everything alright?" he asked her, suddenly noticing how flustered she was.

"I'm fine," Gwen assured him, quickly regaining her composure. "I've just had a lot going on lately."

"Well, I have some good news that should cheer you up," Dr. Connors told her. "You did really well on the Biology final-you got an A-minus."

"Really?" Gwen brightened.

"You bet," Dr. Connors grinned. "You should be proud of yourself, Gwen-you did a lot better after October."

"I'm glad to hear it," Gwen nodded. "And I'm not going to let myself slide back again."

"And I'm glad to hear that," Dr. Connors smiled, before he continued on his way.

Gwen's stress immediately faded away as she continued into the dairy section, an extra spring in her step.

She thought of Randy, her family and her teddy bear Theodore.

Comforting thoughts one and all.

SPIDER-WOMAN #42

"SIBLING RIVALRY"

"So, was Othello supposed to be black, or was he supposed to be Arabic?" Gwen asked Randy as they headed to the theater to audition for the new production of the Shakspearean play Othello that Randy had mentioned on Christmas Eve. "I was rereading the play last night, and the text doesn't really seem clear on it."

"That's because it's not clear," Randy explained to her. "Different productions have depicted him as either one."

"Really?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but unfortunately a lot of the time he was played by a white guy in blackface," Randy muttered, a disgruntled scowl crossing his face.

Gwen just shook her head in confusion.

"I never understood that whole blackface thing," Gwen shook her head. "It just seems so stupid-I mean, why go to all the trouble of getting a white guy to put on makeup when you could just cast a black guy in the role to begin with?"