When Destiny Calls!

Not to be confused with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

When Destiny Calls!, also known as Spider-Girl and Her Amazing Friends, Keeping the Faith!, and Spider-Girl: The Black Suit Saga, is a graphic novel written by Tom DeFalco, drawn by Ron Frenz, and published by Marvel Comics 2 as the thirteenth volume of the American comic book series Spider-Girl, following Mayday Parker / Spider-Girl, the daughter of Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson, as she joins the city's gang war between Canis and Black Tarantula for the title of Kingpin on the side of the latter, taking on a new black suit to replace her tattered one and reluctantly subjecting herself to training at the hands of Elektra while planning to take the Kingpin (Black Tarantula) down, while Fury the Goblin Queen presents herself as the heir to the Green Goblin.^[3][4][5]

When Destiny Calls!
Date	May – October 2004
No. of issues	7
Main characters	Mayday Parker / Spider-Girl Elektra Natchios Fabian LaMuerto / Black Tarantula / Kingpin
Page count	146 pages
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Creative team
Writers	Tom DeFalco[1]
Artists	Ron Frenz[2]
Inkers	Sal Buscema
Letterers	VC and Dave Sharpe
Colorists	Udon Studios and Gotham
Editors	Andy Schmidt
Original publication
Published in	Spider-Girl
ISBN	978-0-7851-4511-0
Chronology
Preceded by	The Games Villains Play
Followed by	Inside the Beast

Part One, All Men Are Jerks!, was released May 5, 2004; Part Two, Buried Alive!, was released May 19, 2004; Part Three, Team Spider, was released June 3, 2004; Part Four, Keeping the Faith!, was released July 8, 2004; Part Five, A Taste for Treachery!, was released August 4, 2004; Part Six, The People Played By Games!, was released September 1, 2004; and Part Seven, When Destiny Calls!, was released October 6, 2004. Preceded by The Games Villains Play, it is followed by the story arc Inside the Beast.^[6]

The series received a positive critical reception.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Premise

The series follows Mayday Parker / Spider-Girl, sworn to follow in her father's web-tracks, as dealing with a tattered costume and Carolyn Trainer / Doctor Octopus and Canis continuing to be at large, she reluctantly agrees to temporarily partner up with the honourable Kingpin of Crime Black Tarantula for training (willing to help due to Canis' desires to become the new Kingpin, as the apparent heir of Wilson Fisk), taking on a new black suit and being mentored by Elektra Natchios, as her uncle Kaine Parker seeks to take the Kingpin down, and Fury the Goblin Queen presents herself as the heir to the Green Goblin.^[19][20]

Reception

When Destiny Calls! received generally good reviews.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Prints

Issues

Issue	Title	Publication date	Estimated sales (first month)
#73	"All Men Are Jerks!"	May 5, 2004	20,265, ranked 107th in North America[21]
#74	"Buried Alive!"	May 19, 2004	19,950, ranked 108th in North America[21]
#75	"Team Spider"	June 3, 2004	24,675, ranked 102nd in North America[22]
#76	"Keeping the Faith!"	July 8, 2004	—
#77	"A Taste for Treachery!"	August 4, 2004	21,759, ranked 103rd in North America[23]
#78	"The People Played By Games!"	September 1, 2004	22,075, ranked 120nd in North America[24]
#79	"When Destiny Calls!"	October 6, 2004	21,872, ranked 103rd in North America[25]

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Published date	ISBN
Spider-Girl: When Destiny Calls!	Spider-Girl (vol. 1) #73–79	September 15, 2010	978-0-7851-4511-0
Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Volume 5: Keeping the Faith	Spider-Girl (vol. 1) #68–84 (The Games Villains Play, When Destiny Calls!, and Inside the Beast)	November 19, 2024[26]	978-1-3029-5982-1