The Spectacular Spider-Protector #1 – ‘Venomous Vengeance!”

Spider-Protector (which is what I call my Jimmy Woo version of the Japanese Spider-Man, for the sake of differentiation) faces off against Venom. Above them looms Spider-Protector’s gigantic robot buddy, LEO-SP//DR, and above him looms a tall bridge. The title of this comic, “The Spectacular Spider-Protector,” and the issue number (1) are visible at the top of the image.

A caption box in the top-left corner of the image explains the premise of the comic: “Let’s do this… one more time. My name is JIMMY WOO. I am an FBI agent. While investigating my UNCLE BEN’S corporation, on suspicion of animal experimentation, I was bitten by a RADIOACTIVE SPIDER. I know I just said I’m an FBI agent, but I’m really… The Spectacular Spider-Protector.” The title of this story is, “Venomous Vengeance.” A man (not Jimmy Woo) in an overcoat speeds through New Lion City on a motorcycle.

We can see the man’s face now, and more importantly, what he’s wearing beneath his coat: it’s a black, skintight costume, with a huge white spider outlined across his chest. You don’t have to be too invested in Marvel Comics’ history to recognize that this is Eddie Brock, AKA Venom. He mutters about how much he hates Spider-Protector to himself as he drives through the city.

From his stylized car, Spider-Protector radios his home base. Within the Spider-Protector Garage, Dr. Stone (“played” here by an action figure of Christopher Lloyd from the Back to the Future films) stares up at LEO-SP//DR. Before he begins his maintenance work, Dr. Stone wants to each his lunch (a slice of pizza and a taco).

Dr. Stone makes a remark that could be either about his lunch, or his maintenance work on the robot. Spider-Protector encourages Dr. Stone to get to work quickly. “Who knows when the next world-shaking crisis will hit?” Spider-Protector asks.

Venom fully activates his symbiote as he finds Spider-Protector on the highway.

Spider-Protector’s spider-sense can’t detect Venom, but the aggressive sound of his motorcycle’s engine, and of his webs shooting, tips him off that something is wrong. Venom leaves his motorcycle blazing forward as he leaps into the air.

As Dr. Stone finally begins his maintenance work, LEO-SP//DR looks down at him, and alerts him to Spider-Protector’s imminent danger.

Spider-Protector barely manages to leap from his car before the motorcycle crashes into it. Dr. Stone goes to get LEO-SP//DR’s remote control switch, while Venom closes in on Spider-Protector.

Spider-Protector and Venom face off in a city square, as the wreckage of their vehicles burns off to the side.

Dr. Stone fully reactivates LEO-SP//DR, and the tall robot stretches, confirming its full command of its own body again.

Venom rushes at Spider-Protector, as LEO-SP//DR sprints out of the garage, to go and join the fight.

Spider-Protector jumps just out of Venom’s grasp, and fires a blast of webbing in defense.

Venom grabs the webbing out of the air, and pulls on it, yanking Spider-Protector off his feet, and pulling him close.

Venom uppercuts Spider-Protector, but our hero still manages to land on his feet.

Venom closes again; Spider-Protector jumps up and kicks Venom square in the jaw, knocking him back.

Just as Venom is about to close the distance again, he see LEO-SP//DR, swinging the Marveller sword down at him.

LEO-SP//DR brandishes the Marveller sword in Venom’s face, putting himself between Spider-Protector and Venom.

Venom and LEO-SP//DR exchange some biting remarks.

Venom jumps high in the air and swings away on a webline. LEO-SP//DR tells Spider-Protector to stop going on patrol without him.

LEO-SP//DR realizes that Spider-Protector (who briefly removes his mask to reveal his true identity, Jimmy Woo) was on his was to his uncle’s home for dinner. Jimmy asks if LEO will give him a ride the rest of the way.

Spider-Protector stands on LEO-SP//DR’s back, as the huge robot casts an equally huge webline. LEO asks if he, too, could stay for dinner, and Spider-Protector doesn’t see any reason to object…

23. The credits for the comic strip, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the use of fonts by Blambot, the stock visual effects by Action VFX, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the creation of Marvel characters by actual human beings, and the figure photography/script/lettering by me, Phil Wrede.

My take on Jimmy-Woo-as-Spider-Man, I first introduced in March of 2023 (and he’s come back a couple times, since), but my original idea dates back to whenever I found out there was going to be a Jimmy Woo action figure. I’m a big fan of Randall Park, as I’ve mentioned before; beyond that apparently immortal bit he did on The Office, I love him in The Interview, and Always Be My Maybe. I think he’s the most consistently funny character in Fresh Off the Boat, and basically, any time he’s in something, I’m excited to see it. I was so stoked when I heard he was going to be in Ant-Man 2, and though I’m glad he had slightly more to do in WandaVision, we all know he can do, and deserves to do, so much more. This is my attempt to give Jimmy Woo a long-overdue opportunity to step into the spotlight, as The Spectacular Spider-Protector!*

Venom, well… I’d never planned to introduce him to the Phil Wrede Marvel Action Figure Comic Universe. I felt like everybody else in the world had better ideas for Venom stories than I ever would, but the more time I spent trying and failing to identify the right villain for Spider-Protector to face, the more clearly Venom emerged from the haze of my imagination as just the right villain (It probably has something to do with my obsessive re-reading of Maximum Carnage, something I do several times a year, alongside The Death and Return of Superman). I hope you’ll enjoy my slightly-skewed take on the Lethal Protector-era Venom as much as I do!

If you’re going to do any kind of a riff on the Japanese Spider-Man, you need a mech sidekick, or at least a robot buddy, and that’s where LEO-SP//DR (the Mondo Marvel Mecha) comes in. And, if you have a robot, you need somebody to perform maintenance on said robot – Spider-Protector can’t do everything – and if there’s somebody better qualified to work as Jimmy Woo’s Alfred than Christopher Lloyd, I don’t know who it is!

This summer has afforded me the opportunity to experiment and indulge my toy comic ideas significantly more than past summers, between the Deadpool & Psylocke comic, and the Steve Rogers comic, and now this. Anybody who tries to be consistently creative knows how creativity can ebb and flow, and I’m certainly grateful to the universe for giving me some significant inspiration this summer, as well as the energy to hammer it into shape.

*Sure, Spider-Protector is a mash-up/remix, about 60% Japanese Spider-Man, 25% Jimmy Woo, 10% Peni Parker, and 5% Spider-Man 2099, but I think that’s a magic recipe, and if you don’t believe me yet, I’m going to make the time to make the comics that’ll change your mind (hopefully)!

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