Cobweb (comics) - Publication History

Publication History

Artist Gebbie's deep background in feminist erotica showed in the depiction of the Cobweb, whose costume consisted of pulled-back 1940s-style hair, a domino mask, a diaphanous purple nighty, garters and, apparently, no panties. Her sidekick and lesbian lover, Clarice, was a leggy blonde in skimpy chauffeur's outfit, also with domino mask. Gebbie utilized a number of styles, making one story a surrealist collage in the style of André Breton or Max Ernst, another in 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 Joyce Chin and Dame Darcy.

The Cobweb stories are, as mentioned above, mostly vehicles for Melinda Gebbie's feminist erotica writing style, as well as an opportunity for her to do stories in multiple styles, regardless of any sense of continuity, even going so far as to take place in different time periods. Nevertheless, a recent pair of America's Best Comics specials have attempted to flesh out the origin of Cobweb and Clarice, as well as to explain their often-changing stories.

America's Best Comics (ABC) itself was an imprint of Jim Lee's Wildstorm Comics. When Lee signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics, the entire ABC line would eventually end up being distributed by DC. This arrangement caused problems all around when Moore wrote a Cobweb story for Tomorrow Stories #8, which touched on 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 anniversary 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 comics publisher Top Shelf Productions, with Cobweb renamed "La Toile" and wearing a dark green version of her costume. She also appears in a promotional write-up for Moore and Gebbe's Lost Girls within the same anthology (though she does not appear in Girls.)