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Description
These are original characters obviously inspired by a somewhat famous brand/character/superhero, but also by other science fiction and tokusatsu elements. Originally, they're not part of any particular story or universe, but at least two of them can be considered redesigns (or simply homages) of some "spider-man costumes" I've drawn as a 10 years old kid, back in 2004, when spider-man 2 (the movie) had just been released. All of them, for some reason, were japanese and somehow related to Yakuza syndicates (some as associates, other as enemies - having spider-related powers and wearing a mask doesn't necessarily make one a defender of the status quo, or a gullible, naive "aunt's boy" moralist like some Peter Parkers out there). They also have katanas, and excel in some martial arts - so they're not just spider-man ripoffs. That said, each of them have characteristics from other characters from their own universes - stories I've created but never published, some I put more effort than others. And I just felt like bringing the four of these spider-themed vigilantes into one picture, one team, if you'd like call it so.

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The Spiders are, from left to right:

KUROGOKEGUMO (クロゴケグモ) "Black Widow"- Secret Identity: Mikoto Shijima. The daughter of a police officer who died in action, she tried to live up for her father, and got into a lot of trouble because of this. Recently moved alongside her sister to Ashville (a fictional town from this story, located in US' West Coast), where she has entered the highly technological (?) Bykear Institute to attend high school, and on the meantime tried to put in practice her detective skills. This, too, pushed her into trouble, when she has been identified by local Yakuza-related syndicates and forcibly used as a test subject which involved fusing her with a symbiotic, artificial intelligence - that ultimately gave her the spider powers. More than that, her symbiote has alien-tech related to an intergalactic corporation which sees her every move. Willingly or not, she became part of the semi-official " Insect Syndicate" (that should rather be known as Arthropod Syndicate), and while she can keep the suit to her own and do whatever she pleases with her powers, when the Syndicate (or rather its leader, a mysterious cyborg named ICHNEUMON) asks her to do a mission, for her own survival, she must do it. These missions include espionage, industrial sabotage, and other crimes.
  She hates the Yakuza, and since childhood has fed a twisted sense of justice, believing might makes right, and using her father as an example, believed that police and military officers - either in Tokyo or Ashville - should be examples of incorruptible conduct. That faith in authority is just a childish, gullible belief, however, and reality has proven her wrong many times - cops are sorrupt, and their job is merely keeping the working class working under bad conditions. Some of them are even associated to the Yakuza, and despite it took a long time for her to realize, with time she has been accepting the fact that her 15 years of life have been a lie. In Ashville, her older sister is part of one of the most corrupt police forces from the world, but her sister really just want to keep people in line, and hate the poor. Eventually, it becomes harder for Mikoto to hide from her sister the fact that she's "a criminal" (actually, a vigilante), but she doesn't need to reveal that in order to make her sister feel like she's just a burden to her. She believes herself to be "good", but she's just naive and hysterical - traits which have been exploited by her latest boyfriend, the HORNET (a fellow Bykear student and Insect Syndicate member, the Hornet is known by her sister as a criminal, who believes him to be a serial killer that followed them from Japan. In truth, the Hornet merely dons a suit which reminisces her that of the man who later came to be knon as ICHNEUMON, but used to be a vigilante called BUMBLEBEE in Japan).
  Her armor design has some loose inspiration in a costume called the "Ninja Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 80's.

JOROGUMO (ジョロウグモ) "Joro Spider" - Secret Identity: Yukino Minagi. The current owner of an international network of hotels, a young businesswoman related to crime, and also associated to the Insect Syndicate. Back in Japan's countryside, she had affairs with Mangai (the OGUMO), but has found out Mangai was dating a local pop singer as well, so she planned her death. Her vengeance came, just not by her hands, but the pop-singer has been replaced with a clone, anyway. She enjoys carrying out missions for the Syndicate, and has developed a sadistic persona - some say, because of her symbiote. Whether or not that's the reason, it doesn't matter. She's allied to another businesswoman, who rivals the enterprise conglomerate held by Kosai (the TSUCHIGUMO), and also works alongside the KITSUNE (Fox), an enemy -but sometimes ally- of Mangai, specialized in cloning. The KITSUNE, whose secret identity is Yosuke Hisakawa, also works for the SPECTRO Organization, the secret sponsor of the Insect Syndicate.
  Her armor design has some loose inspiration in a costume called the "Yakuza Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 70's

TSUCHIGUMO (ツチグモ) "Earth Spider" - Secret Identity: Kosai Nakamura. The heir of late scientist and businessman Yao Nakamura, head of a wealthy Yakuza Syndicate from Kyushu. During the time when the OGUMO turned his back on the Yakuza (in support to another syndicate, the Shin Zaibatsu), Yao tried to use several of his experiments against the vigilante. One day, while experimenting with alien tissue from a Xenophage, he transformed himself into a hideous creature in the proccess, and went to kill the OGUMO, but ended up dying in an accident. Kosai blamed the OGUMO for this, and besides inheriting his father's fortune and position, he tried to capture the OGUMO, in the proccess investing on means to do so. Kosai's research brought him closer to the source of the OGUMO's power (a transgenic alien symbiote), replicating it for his own, at the cost of joining the Insect Syndicate, and forging an alliance of his crime syndicate with the SPECTRO Organization, unaware it also sponsors his rivals, the Shin Zaibatsu. Eventually, as the vigilante known as TSUCHIGUMO, Kosai discovered that his arch nemesis' secret identity is actually his best friend at school - Mangai Minami. He hasn't revealed his secret identity, however, or the fact that he knows Mangai killed his father (who was later revealed to be alive, but unable to return to his human form): instead, he plans to use Mangai in his plans. Kosai has recently moved to Ashville, and joined the Bykear Institute as well. From there, he controls the business of his crime syndicate, and distributes weapon and equipment with consent of the local police (or at least the leading part of the police). When younger, he had almost no contact from his father, who lived for his work, and was blackmailed by the family's butler, who died years ago. This butler and his father knew the secret identity of the missing japanese vigilante BUMBLEBEE, who currently is ICHNEUMON, leader of the Insect Syndicate, which both Kosai and Mangai are part of.
  Unknowingly, like Mangai and other Bykear Students, Kosai has been selected to be part of a great experiment involving time-travelling, and led by one of their old teachers, who lectured at another school - The Academy - that closed a year before, because the principal was accused of human rights violations. Kosai is an arrogant young man who intends to become "the number one spider-man in Japan", and believes both him and his crime syndicate have more autonomy than they really do. He also rivals a businesswoman related to JOROGUMO/Yukino, and seeks both to buy her enterprise and to marry her.
  Tsuchigumo's suit/armor is identical to the SPIDER, a member of the Insect Syndicate in another story/universe/continuity I'm working on. It's also loosely inspired on the "Samurai Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 90's

OGUMO (オグモ) "Giant Spider" - Secret Identity: Mangai Minami. A 14 years old boy who moved from Tokyo to a small city in Japan's countryside (where he met JOROGUMO), Mangai has been the first of the group to become a Spider, when he found by chance a symbiotic, transgenic alien suit which gave him the spider-powers. Inspired by the missing vigilante known as BUMBLEBEE (whose legacy is mixed, between different Yakuza syndicates, the police force and general population. To some, he's a hero, to others, a serial killer), he used this suit as "the Spider", before other spiders started to appear, when he changed his name to OGUMO ("Giant Spider"). Believing himself to be a hero, in no time his actions started to be coopted by the Shin Zaibatsu Crime Syndicate, and because he started to get paid, he found that just fine. He never knew his parents (one of his enemies, the Kitsune, claims he never had parents because he's the clone of a chinese serial killer named Shanghai), and has lived with his uncle and cousin for a year on Japan's countryside, before they moved to Ashville. His uncle works for the local police department alongside a friend of his, William Ford, who is also associated to the SPECTRO Organization which created the Insect Syndicate. A corrupt FBI officer from Detroit, Michigan, William has been on Japan's countryside in the same year as Mangai, and there he has been responsible for a killing spree, whose culprit the local police (including Mangai's uncle) have never discovered - but Mangai did. Mangai only didn't reveal because he became an accomplice of William, who bribed him. In America, Mangai got ever closer to crime, as did William. William also has an alien transgenic symbiote remotely observed by the SPECTRO Organization, but because it's not shaped after any arthropod, he's not originally part of the syndicate, instead, he's the test subject of a secret project called "MALIK".
  In Japan, Mangai used to be a motocross racer, and in America, besides studying at the Bykear he works part time at an enterprise like Cabify - he's usually called by drunken acquaintances, friends and colleagues to drive them home late at night. Despite considered a hero by some, all he cares about is money, and he's not even honest with his girl friends. That, though, starts to change when they begin to care less for him. He's also spineless enough not to find out Kosai is Tsuchigumo, and sometimes he lets his secret identity slips - for his luck, though, Ashville's police dept. is corrupt enough not to let his uncle know about it (because William already does, and uses it in his favor).
  Ogumo's suit/armor is almost identical to the THETA armor, from the ALPHA-OMEGA series of armors of another story/universe/continuity I'm working on. It's also loosely inspired on the "Kingdom Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 2000's

So, these spiders surely aren't heroes, but more like organized vigilantes, if not mercenaries for hire, and despite all are japanese in origin, they live in US' West Coast now. All of them have their problems, bills to pay, and as time goes aren't fooled by the promises of a brighter future, or making a positive difference anymore. Whether or not they see it, all of their actions are coopted by an intergalactic, alien corporation that shows them education doesn't mean anything when money is involved. There's just one way to make things right, and that's destroying everything, collapsing social order, resising persecution - but there's not enough solidarity to even start doing that, so they just dug a hole to delay the inevitable: death. Between that and birth, only some fractions of pleasure and a lot of suffering - for everyone.

In the case you really want to know who are the girls on the big screens of these buildings: the one on the left is Ann G. an original character by and the one on the right is inspired by Rise Kujikawa, from Atlus' Persona 4.

  Currently, I'm busy working on an independent production, a comic book inspired in the pre-hispanic Mexica/Aztec Cosmology and the Legend of the Five Suns, but on the meantime I get to practice sketching and painting (digitally) other stuff. This one, in particular, came to my mind after I saw a promotional art from the latest spider-man cartoon, "Marvel's Spider-man". I've been a fan of spider-man since the late nineties, when I was some 5 years old, but it was Playstation's "Spider-man" game (released in 2000, there was a similar version for N64) that boosted my interest on the arachnid's comics. The 90's animated show was good, too, but when I grew up I came to feel less interested in this stuff. Anyway, I fancied watching one or two episodes of this new show, and I know it's not for me - it's for kids - but anyway, this is real crap, don't waste your time with it. Just imagine a dim-witted teenager spider-man paying to get to the subway in the midst of a persecution, that's just too moralist and ridiculous - with his powers, he could go anywhere in the city without paying a shit. It's sad, but when people plan to make something for kids, they do it necessarily dumb, gullible, naive and these are supposed to be different things. Don't waste your time with this show - and I don't really want to talk about Homecoming... the bad stuff just overweights the good, starting with Spider-man being reduced to a pet of Iron Man. There's nothing good coming from spider-man in ages - some fraction of Miles Morales' comics may be acceptable, but Peter Parker is just so mischaracterized IMHO. Not to mention the Daily Bugle added another layer to Spider-man's story, and it's been a while since we don't see it anywhere.

Liked it? Wanna know more? FOLLOW ME, Like my page and support my art on other "social" networks!

Behance | tumblr | instagram | facebook

Description
These are original characters obviously inspired by a somewhat famous brand/character/superhero, but also by other science fiction and tokusatsu elements. Originally, they're not part of any particular story or universe, but at least two of them can be considered redesigns (or simply homages) of some "spider-man costumes" I've drawn as a 10 years old kid, back in 2004, when spider-man 2 (the movie) had just been released. All of them, for some reason, were japanese and somehow related to Yakuza syndicates (some as associates, other as enemies - having spider-related powers and wearing a mask doesn't necessarily make one a defender of the status quo, or a gullible, naive "aunt's boy" moralist like some Peter Parkers out there). They also have katanas, and excel in some martial arts - so they're not just spider-man ripoffs. That said, each of them have characteristics from other characters from their own universes - stories I've created but never published, some I put more effort than others. And I just felt like bringing the four of these spider-themed vigilantes into one picture, one team, if you'd like call it so.

Liked it? Wanna know more? FOLLOW ME, Like my page and support my art on other "social" networks!

Behance | tumblr | instagram | facebook

The Spiders are, from left to right:

KUROGOKEGUMO (クロゴケグモ) "Black Widow"- Secret Identity: Mikoto Shijima. The daughter of a police officer who died in action, she tried to live up for her father, and got into a lot of trouble because of this. Recently moved alongside her sister to Ashville (a fictional town from this story, located in US' West Coast), where she has entered the highly technological (?) Bykear Institute to attend high school, and on the meantime tried to put in practice her detective skills. This, too, pushed her into trouble, when she has been identified by local Yakuza-related syndicates and forcibly used as a test subject which involved fusing her with a symbiotic, artificial intelligence - that ultimately gave her the spider powers. More than that, her symbiote has alien-tech related to an intergalactic corporation which sees her every move. Willingly or not, she became part of the semi-official " Insect Syndicate" (that should rather be known as Arthropod Syndicate), and while she can keep the suit to her own and do whatever she pleases with her powers, when the Syndicate (or rather its leader, a mysterious cyborg named ICHNEUMON) asks her to do a mission, for her own survival, she must do it. These missions include espionage, industrial sabotage, and other crimes.
  She hates the Yakuza, and since childhood has fed a twisted sense of justice, believing might makes right, and using her father as an example, believed that police and military officers - either in Tokyo or Ashville - should be examples of incorruptible conduct. That faith in authority is just a childish, gullible belief, however, and reality has proven her wrong many times - cops are sorrupt, and their job is merely keeping the working class working under bad conditions. Some of them are even associated to the Yakuza, and despite it took a long time for her to realize, with time she has been accepting the fact that her 15 years of life have been a lie. In Ashville, her older sister is part of one of the most corrupt police forces from the world, but her sister really just want to keep people in line, and hate the poor. Eventually, it becomes harder for Mikoto to hide from her sister the fact that she's "a criminal" (actually, a vigilante), but she doesn't need to reveal that in order to make her sister feel like she's just a burden to her. She believes herself to be "good", but she's just naive and hysterical - traits which have been exploited by her latest boyfriend, the HORNET (a fellow Bykear student and Insect Syndicate member, the Hornet is known by her sister as a criminal, who believes him to be a serial killer that followed them from Japan. In truth, the Hornet merely dons a suit which reminisces her that of the man who later came to be knon as ICHNEUMON, but used to be a vigilante called BUMBLEBEE in Japan).
  Her armor design has some loose inspiration in a costume called the "Ninja Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 80's.

JOROGUMO (ジョロウグモ) "Joro Spider" - Secret Identity: Yukino Minagi. The current owner of an international network of hotels, a young businesswoman related to crime, and also associated to the Insect Syndicate. Back in Japan's countryside, she had affairs with Mangai (the OGUMO), but has found out Mangai was dating a local pop singer as well, so she planned her death. Her vengeance came, just not by her hands, but the pop-singer has been replaced with a clone, anyway. She enjoys carrying out missions for the Syndicate, and has developed a sadistic persona - some say, because of her symbiote. Whether or not that's the reason, it doesn't matter. She's allied to another businesswoman, who rivals the enterprise conglomerate held by Kosai (the TSUCHIGUMO), and also works alongside the KITSUNE (Fox), an enemy -but sometimes ally- of Mangai, specialized in cloning. The KITSUNE, whose secret identity is Yosuke Hisakawa, also works for the SPECTRO Organization, the secret sponsor of the Insect Syndicate.
  Her armor design has some loose inspiration in a costume called the "Yakuza Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 70's

TSUCHIGUMO (ツチグモ) "Earth Spider" - Secret Identity: Kosai Nakamura. The heir of late scientist and businessman Yao Nakamura, head of a wealthy Yakuza Syndicate from Kyushu. During the time when the OGUMO turned his back on the Yakuza (in support to another syndicate, the Shin Zaibatsu), Yao tried to use several of his experiments against the vigilante. One day, while experimenting with alien tissue from a Xenophage, he transformed himself into a hideous creature in the proccess, and went to kill the OGUMO, but ended up dying in an accident. Kosai blamed the OGUMO for this, and besides inheriting his father's fortune and position, he tried to capture the OGUMO, in the proccess investing on means to do so. Kosai's research brought him closer to the source of the OGUMO's power (a transgenic alien symbiote), replicating it for his own, at the cost of joining the Insect Syndicate, and forging an alliance of his crime syndicate with the SPECTRO Organization, unaware it also sponsors his rivals, the Shin Zaibatsu. Eventually, as the vigilante known as TSUCHIGUMO, Kosai discovered that his arch nemesis' secret identity is actually his best friend at school - Mangai Minami. He hasn't revealed his secret identity, however, or the fact that he knows Mangai killed his father (who was later revealed to be alive, but unable to return to his human form): instead, he plans to use Mangai in his plans. Kosai has recently moved to Ashville, and joined the Bykear Institute as well. From there, he controls the business of his crime syndicate, and distributes weapon and equipment with consent of the local police (or at least the leading part of the police). When younger, he had almost no contact from his father, who lived for his work, and was blackmailed by the family's butler, who died years ago. This butler and his father knew the secret identity of the missing japanese vigilante BUMBLEBEE, who currently is ICHNEUMON, leader of the Insect Syndicate, which both Kosai and Mangai are part of.
  Unknowingly, like Mangai and other Bykear Students, Kosai has been selected to be part of a great experiment involving time-travelling, and led by one of their old teachers, who lectured at another school - The Academy - that closed a year before, because the principal was accused of human rights violations. Kosai is an arrogant young man who intends to become "the number one spider-man in Japan", and believes both him and his crime syndicate have more autonomy than they really do. He also rivals a businesswoman related to JOROGUMO/Yukino, and seeks both to buy her enterprise and to marry her.
  Tsuchigumo's suit/armor is identical to the SPIDER, a member of the Insect Syndicate in another story/universe/continuity I'm working on. It's also loosely inspired on the "Samurai Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 90's

OGUMO (オグモ) "Giant Spider" - Secret Identity: Mangai Minami. A 14 years old boy who moved from Tokyo to a small city in Japan's countryside (where he met JOROGUMO), Mangai has been the first of the group to become a Spider, when he found by chance a symbiotic, transgenic alien suit which gave him the spider-powers. Inspired by the missing vigilante known as BUMBLEBEE (whose legacy is mixed, between different Yakuza syndicates, the police force and general population. To some, he's a hero, to others, a serial killer), he used this suit as "the Spider", before other spiders started to appear, when he changed his name to OGUMO ("Giant Spider"). Believing himself to be a hero, in no time his actions started to be coopted by the Shin Zaibatsu Crime Syndicate, and because he started to get paid, he found that just fine. He never knew his parents (one of his enemies, the Kitsune, claims he never had parents because he's the clone of a chinese serial killer named Shanghai), and has lived with his uncle and cousin for a year on Japan's countryside, before they moved to Ashville. His uncle works for the local police department alongside a friend of his, William Ford, who is also associated to the SPECTRO Organization which created the Insect Syndicate. A corrupt FBI officer from Detroit, Michigan, William has been on Japan's countryside in the same year as Mangai, and there he has been responsible for a killing spree, whose culprit the local police (including Mangai's uncle) have never discovered - but Mangai did. Mangai only didn't reveal because he became an accomplice of William, who bribed him. In America, Mangai got ever closer to crime, as did William. William also has an alien transgenic symbiote remotely observed by the SPECTRO Organization, but because it's not shaped after any arthropod, he's not originally part of the syndicate, instead, he's the test subject of a secret project called "MALIK".
  In Japan, Mangai used to be a motocross racer, and in America, besides studying at the Bykear he works part time at an enterprise like Cabify - he's usually called by drunken acquaintances, friends and colleagues to drive them home late at night. Despite considered a hero by some, all he cares about is money, and he's not even honest with his girl friends. That, though, starts to change when they begin to care less for him. He's also spineless enough not to find out Kosai is Tsuchigumo, and sometimes he lets his secret identity slips - for his luck, though, Ashville's police dept. is corrupt enough not to let his uncle know about it (because William already does, and uses it in his favor).
  Ogumo's suit/armor is almost identical to the THETA armor, from the ALPHA-OMEGA series of armors of another story/universe/continuity I'm working on. It's also loosely inspired on the "Kingdom Spider", which I designed in 2004, and associated to a vigilante from the 2000's

So, these spiders surely aren't heroes, but more like organized vigilantes, if not mercenaries for hire, and despite all are japanese in origin, they live in US' West Coast now. All of them have their problems, bills to pay, and as time goes aren't fooled by the promises of a brighter future, or making a positive difference anymore. Whether or not they see it, all of their actions are coopted by an intergalactic, alien corporation that shows them education doesn't mean anything when money is involved. There's just one way to make things right, and that's destroying everything, collapsing social order, resising persecution - but there's not enough solidarity to even start doing that, so they just dug a hole to delay the inevitable: death. Between that and birth, only some fractions of pleasure and a lot of suffering - for everyone.

In the case you really want to know who are the girls on the big screens of these buildings: the one on the left is Ann G. an original character by and the one on the right is inspired by Rise Kujikawa, from Atlus' Persona 4.

  Currently, I'm busy working on an independent production, a comic book inspired in the pre-hispanic Mexica/Aztec Cosmology and the Legend of the Five Suns, but on the meantime I get to practice sketching and painting (digitally) other stuff. This one, in particular, came to my mind after I saw a promotional art from the latest spider-man cartoon, "Marvel's Spider-man". I've been a fan of spider-man since the late nineties, when I was some 5 years old, but it was Playstation's "Spider-man" game (released in 2000, there was a similar version for N64) that boosted my interest on the arachnid's comics. The 90's animated show was good, too, but when I grew up I came to feel less interested in this stuff. Anyway, I fancied watching one or two episodes of this new show, and I know it's not for me - it's for kids - but anyway, this is real crap, don't waste your time with it. Just imagine a dim-witted teenager spider-man paying to get to the subway in the midst of a persecution, that's just too moralist and ridiculous - with his powers, he could go anywhere in the city without paying a shit. It's sad, but when people plan to make something for kids, they do it necessarily dumb, gullible, naive and these are supposed to be different things. Don't waste your time with this show - and I don't really want to talk about Homecoming... the bad stuff just overweights the good, starting with Spider-man being reduced to a pet of Iron Man. There's nothing good coming from spider-man in ages - some fraction of Miles Morales' comics may be acceptable, but Peter Parker is just so mischaracterized IMHO. Not to mention the Daily Bugle added another layer to Spider-man's story, and it's been a while since we don't see it anywhere.

Liked it? Wanna know more? FOLLOW ME, Like my page and support my art on other "social" networks!

Behance | tumblr | instagram | facebook