The Web is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

, a superhero created by

MLJ Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Zip Comics'' until 1943, and was later brought back in 1966 to appear in Archie's revived superhero line. DC Comics licensed Archie's superhero characters in 1991, and brought a new revival of the character to life in 2009.

1940s

The Web debuted in issue #27 of '' Zip Comics'' in July 1942, having originally been intended for ''

Top-Notch Comics ''Top-Notch Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. From issue #28 it was re-titled ...

'', the change occurring due to a decision to emphasize the humour of ''Top-Notch''. In that first issue, he rescues a woman named Rose Wayne from a Japanese terrorist, the Black Dragon of Death. Rose discovers his secret identity. His origin was recounted in the second story, in issue #28. The Web's secret identity was John Raymond, a college professor of

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...

, and mystery writer. Raymond's interest in studying the motives and behavior of criminals harked back to his youth, and the criminal leanings of his brother Tom. The Web's enemies include Captain Berlin, and other Nazis. The character was the lead story in ''Zip'' for a while, but lost the cover spot to Steel Sterling. His last appearance in ''Zip'' was in issue #38, in July 1943.

1960s

The Web came out of retirement in March 1966 in '' Fly-Man'' #36, written by

Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, i ...

and drawn by Paul Reinman to combat the antics of an impostor. By this time, he was retired and married to Rose, who doesn't want him to be a superhero anymore. He convinces her to let him go out once and fight a character who'd stolen his name and costume, but after one fight, he decided to stay in the superhero game, and lie to his wife. In '' Mighty Crusaders'' #4 (April

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

), he joins with the Fox and

Captain Flag Captain Flag is a superhero created by MLJ Comics' writer Joe Blair and artist Lin Streeter. He first appeared in September 1941, in issue #16 of ''Blue Ribbon Comics''. He continued until the last issue, ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' #22 (March 1942). ...

to form the Ultra-Men. In ''Mighty Comics'' #40 (November 1966), he is chastised by his wife, who no longer wanted him to be a superhero.Web
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 14, 2012. Despite this criticism, Raymond continues his crimefighting, while becoming increasingly hen-pecked domestically. His wife ultimately trains and dons her own costume: as "Pow-Girl" (appearing in ''Mighty Comics'' #43) she fights crime alongside her husband, who is unaware of her real identity. The Web had several more issues' worth of appearances, before disappearing again. It was later revealed that Rose was the younger sister of another Archie superhero, The Jaguar.

Reception

The 60s version of the Web with a nagging wife and mother-in-law was intended to copy the then-popular

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

style, in which superhero characters are seen coping with conflicts in their personal lives. This was not well-received by fans. ''The MLJ Companion'' describes it as "a conceit lifted straight out of the day's inane TV situation comedies" and Dwight R. Decker wrote in ''

Amazing Heroes ''Amazing Heroes'' was a magazine about the comic book medium published by American company Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, ''The Comics Journal'', ''Amazing Heroes'' was a hobbyist magazine rather than an analyti ...

'' that "The Web was reduced to playing straight man to mother-in-law jokes". John Wells in ''American Comic Book Chronicles'' writes that "the ongoing nagging of Rose Raymond was more shrill than funny", although "that's not to say the feature didn't have its moments".

Later appearances

The Web returned in Archie's '' Red Circle Comics'' superhero revival of the 1980s. He made several appearances alongside the company's heroes. In 2006, he made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in ''Archie and Friends'' #101, in the Katy Keene story. In 2007, he appeared again in the Katy Keene story in ''Archie and Friends'' #107.

''New Crusaders''

In ''

New Crusaders The New Crusaders is a fictional superhero team and their eponymous title published by Archie Comics' imprint Red Circle Comics. A revamp of the previously published ''Mighty Crusaders'' title, ''New Crusaders'' follows the sons and daughters of t ...

'', John Raymond/Web and Rose Raymond/Pow-Girl had a son, Wyatt, who has been given a super suit that enhances his physical skills and assumes his father's role of the Web.

DC Comics

Impact Comics

In 1991 the Archie superhero characters were re-imagined in the Impact Comics line. Here the Web is portrayed as a group of secret agents who wore powered armor.

2009 revival

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

' 2009 revival of the Red Circle characters included the Web. The new incarnation of John Raymond is a spoiled, slacker womanizer, fancying himself a

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having tradit ...

. His brother David, a social worker, has distanced himself from his family, choosing to help the poorer as a social worker. Despite their differences, John always admired David. John was made the heir of the family fortune by his father, who reasoned that John's cold, privileged mindset would make him a better businessman. John, who believed his brother to be the better man and rightful heir, decided to balance business needs with humanitarian goals. To those ends, John maintained his profile as a spoiled socialite while using part of his five-billion dollar fortune to set up a superpowered persona as the Web, a ''common people'' superhero who derived his name from the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

. John developed an advanced supercomputer to select the most urgent or worthy of numerous requests for help submitted his website ''summontheweb.com''. John later discovers that David has fallen in debt to loansharks, who later murder David. David explains with his last breath that he didn't want to ask John for help because he was too proud. David's death causes John to reevaluate his activities as the Web, and decides that he will no longer aid those who have the resources to help themselves, or who have friends and family they can turn to. Instead, the Web will assist only those who have no one else to turn to. The first beneficiary of his "new deal" is Lieutenant Joseph Higgins, stationed in Afghanistan and looking for his missing father. However, waiting for the Web reply, Higgins is grievously wounded while in a mission, and saved by an experimental warsuit: by the time the Web reviews email, and gives him a positive reply, Higgins has become

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt pol ...

, superhero on his own and a potential ally in John's quest. John eventually discovers that the man responsible for David's murder is a renowned scientist named Dr. Archer, who is using his knowledge of chemistry to create addictive recreational drugs which he then distributes through violent street gangs. Unable to hold off Archer and fight him actively alone the Web resorts, like the previous Impact Comics character, to turn the Web identity into an organization of equally empowered crime fighters, a small army of ''Web Hosts'', receiving functional copies of his suit in exchange for enacting justice in his name.''The Web'' (vol. 3) #1 (November 2009)''The Web'' (vol. 3) #2 (December 2009) After a brief period of unrests and anarchy,

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word ...

and

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

offer an upgrade to the ''Web Hosts'', in exchange for them pledging alliance to the

Justice League of America The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived b ...

rather than acting independently and thinning their number to expel the more rambunctious and rebellious members. The ''Web Hosts'' now receive their powers from a

cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...

server in the ''Web Lair'', making the Web able to shut their suits down remotely. Furthermore, every suit is fitted with an access to ''Twitterati'' (the DCU equivalent of

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

featured into the ''Final Crisis: Dance'' miniseries), granting the Host a private

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods fo ...

to use for personal interactions and crimefighting as well, and John Raymond himself, as the current administrator, a permanent link to his ''Hosts'' and simple supporters (and a

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their priv ...

implanted program to gain Oracle absolute control over the aptly named ''Interweb''). With the help of his new hosts and his supporters the Web finally tracks down Dr. Archer, finally handing him down to the police with enough proof to get him put on trial. However Alice, girlfriend of the late David, warns John of another hidden instigator behind Archer's actions, the mysterious Deuces Wilde.''The Web'' (vol. 3) #3 (January 2010) When a technological-savvy villain, Doctor Zadar, manages to mainline the remote link, effectively capturing and controlling the entire Web Hosts population, Raymond meets Kim Brand, the current incarnation of the Flygirl, in this continuity no longer a magic user but a former ''Web Host'' wearing an enhanced, illegally modified and souped-up ''Web Host'' suit with greater proficiency. Raymond enlists her for the rescue mission, offering her the enhanced suit in exchange, this time as her personal property. Raymond handles the crisis selflessly, deliberately risking his life to keep Fly Girl out of harm, but highlighting his lack of teamplay abilities: however, he manages to impress the U.S. Army to warrant for Kim and himself an induction into the newly formed '' Mighty Crusaders'', along with The Comet, Inferno, The Shield and War Eagle.

Powers

The DC Comics incarnation of the Web has no superpowers, having in his John Raymond persona the strength of a man in his prime engaging in moderate physical exercise. Instead, he relies on an overtly technological suit, granting him several abilities, including but not limited to flight, bullet-proof armor, HUD interface connected to a GPS tracker and enhanced strength. However, his most prized asset is his ''Lair'', similar to the ''Batcave'' in containing his weaponry and a supercomputer, always connected to the website ''summontheweb.com'' and feeding him the data of people desperate enough to get help from outside sources. John Raymond has fully functional copies of his suit, with every power of his original one, used by willing followers of ''summontheweb.com'', along with an instruction manual and 120 days of

tech support Technical support (abbreviated as tech support) is a call centre type customer service provided by companies to advise and assist registered users with issues concerning their technical products. Traditionally done on the phone, technical support ...

, creating a super-hero franchise named the "Web Hosts" (obvious pun over the webhost concept, consistent with the image of the Web as an accessibile,

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

-savvy hero). When Oracle and Batgirl confront him about his lack of control over the Hosts, John Raymond agrees to enforce a stricter charter on his users in exchange for upgrades provided by Oracle herself. The Web Hosts are now permanently connected to the Interwebs, a

-derived

, fully accessible from the suits, that constantly feeds in John Raymond's administrator account and suit all information the Hosts are willing to share about crime fighting, or simple socialization. As a programmed side-effect, however, everything the Web does is out on the display on the Interwebs, for everyone to view or comment upon. As a security measure, the Web Lair is upgraded with a

system linked to the Hosts, making Raymond (and Oracle) able to remotely disable the Hosts Suits.

Jane Raymond

In July 2015,

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Dark Circle Comics Dark Circle Comics is an imprint of Archie Comics Publications, Inc. Under its previous name, Red Circle Comics, it published non-humor characters, particularly superheroes in the 1970s and 1980s, and was a digital imprint from 2012 to 2014. I ...

would introduce a new version of the Web the following year: Jane Raymond, a 14-year old

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian American ...

high school student who becomes a costumed hero after gaining powers from an accident. The announced series never materialized.

References

External links

Offenberger, Rik Rik Offenberger (born January 30, 1964) is an American comic book journalist and publicity agent, an early utilizer of the Internet for distributing comics news, and the public relations coordinator of Archie Comics. Career Offenberger started h ...

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