Cobweb (comics)

Cobweb is a comic book heroine co-created by famed writer Alan Moore and veteran underground artist Melinda Gebbie. Cobweb's only apparent powers were allure and the ability to make an entrance. These were usually enough.

Cobweb first appeared in issue #1 of Tomorrow Stories, an anthology title in the America's Best Comics line. ABC itself was an imprint of Jim Lee's Wildstorm Comics. When Lee signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics, the entire ABC line wound up being distributed by DC. This arrangement caused problems all around when Moore wrote a Cobweb story for Tomorrow Stories #8 concerning Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and his connection to occultist John Whiteside Parsons. Fearing legal action, DC ordered the story scrapped. Moore, in response, withdrew his approval for a commemorative fifteenth aniversary hardcover of his landmark Watchmen graphic novel. The forbidden story eventually found a home in Top Shelf Asks the Big Questions, an anthology published by independent press Top Shelf Productions.

Artist Gebbie had a deep background in feminist erotica. It showed in the depiction of Cobweb, whose costume consisted of pulled-back forties hair, a domino mask, a diaphanous purple nighty, and garters. Her sidekick (the two seemed very close) Clarice was a leggy blond in skimpy chauffeur's outfit, also with domino mask. Gebbie utilized a number of styles, making one story a surrealist collage in the André Breton/Max Ernst style, another a tribute to Marjorie Henderson Buell's beloved "Little Lulu" strip.

Gebbie drew most of the Cobweb stories in the twelve-issue run of Tomorrow Stories. The remainder were handled by Rick Veitch, Joyce Chin, and Dame Darcy.

External links

• alanmoorefansite.com