Smartship Friday
| Friday | |
|---|---|
|
Smartship Friday, art by Colleen Doran | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Power Pack #1 (August 1984) |
| Created by |
Louise Simonson June Brigman |
| In-story information | |
| Team affiliations |
Power Pack New Warriors |
| Abilities | interstellar flight |
Smartship Friday is a fictional starship in the Marvel Universe. It first appeared in Power Pack #1 (Aug 1984) and was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman.
Fictional history
The Kymellian Aelfyre Whitemane owned this “smartship”, which named itself Friday after the character from Robinson Crusoe. A smartship is a starship which is controlled by a computer system so advanced that it is effectively sentient, with a human-like personality.
After Whitemane was fatally wounded and had transferred his superhuman abilities into the four children who would become Power Pack,[1] Friday devoted itself to their service, adopting the role of mentor to the fledgling superheroes. Power Pack often argued over the use of gender-specific pronouns for Friday (possibly prompted by Friday's constant statements of maternal love towards the children), speculating that though an artificial intelligence (and thus sexless) he/she may or may not have been female, but no decision was reached amongst themselves or by Friday one way or another.
Friday was also used by the New Warriors during the period when Alex Power was a member of the team, but was destroyed in that series' final issue.[2] The artificial intelligence was later restored to another - more advanced - starship.[3]
Friday delivered Alex Power to the Fantastic Four's headquarters when Alex joined the Future Foundation.[4]
Other versions
Marvel Adventures
Friday was and remains a regular cast member of the Marvel Adventures line of successful Power Pack children's digest collections, which feature the most recognisable (and lucrative) versions of the characters from their long and varied publication history. Because of the team's youthful status in these books, Friday's role is often that of a baffled, but well-meaning mentor, and its physical appearance is identical to its original body before it was destroyed in New Warriors #75.
In the Marvel Adventures line of comics, Friday's voice was revealed to be identical to that of film actress Rosalind Russell[5]