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Spiky hair and baggy jeans are just part of Anya Corazon's teenage image. She's spirited, fearless and brooding - all at the same time.

Corazon has already stood up to bullies double her size to protect her friend and defied her father by going out late at night. Yet those moves are not part of the reason she's making the news.

It isn't even because of her spider-like superpowers, because those haven't fully developed yet. And it isn't because she might one day meet up with Spider-Man's alter ego, Peter Parker, or challenge the Green Goblin.

The spotlight descended on Anya because she is Marvel Comics' first Latina heroine to star in her own comic book series.

Corazon - who hasn't yet chosen a superhero name like Peter Parker chose ''Spider-Man'' - debuted in June in Amazing Fantasy. The third issue was released last week.

She was created as a female counterpart to Peter Parker, said Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief of New York-based Marvel.

''We thought we were creating a fun character, and she is Latina to boot,'' Quesada said. ''It is fun, and we try to make our characters distinctly different. We just had no idea it was going to become this big.''

The fiery Anya has been featured in national publications, talked up by editors at Latina magazine and held up as a role model to young girls.

''She's got a lot of heart - there are certain traits she has that are very Latin,'' Quesada said. ''She has an incredible deep love for her father and even her mother, who right now is a mystery. And friendships are very important to her.''

Anyone who crosses Anya's friends will find that she stands up for them.

Comic book aficionados haven't noticed her half Puerto Rican and half Mexican origins. They are buying Amazing Fantasy for the new character and the story.

Ethnicity ''wasn't something that was brought to the forefront of the issues,'' said Sean Scott, manager of subscriptions at Mile High Comics. ''They may bring it out in the next few issues, but it wasn't blatantly obvious.''

Scott said he didn't give it a thought beyond noticing the lead character's name.

Wayne Winsett, owner of Boulder, Colo.'s Time Warp Comics, ordered about 80 copies of each issue - higher than normal - in anticipation of Anya's popularity.

''I haven't seen a rush of Hispanic girls to buy it. Our regular fans think it's a good story, and that's who is buying it right now,'' Winsett said.

The story is in English but may be released in Spanish and French. Marvel has created other Latino characters, but they were cast as supporting characters, Quesada said.

Anya is a play on the Spanish word for spider, araqa, while Corazon means ''heart'' in Spanish.

Amazing Fantasy was a '60s Marvel title that debuted Spider-Man in its final issue. The title was resurrected to introduce Anya.

Don't mistake her with Marvel's SpiderGirl series, which is set in an alternate universe and chronicles the tales of Peter Parker's future daughter.

The new series is considered different among comic book buffs because it's one of the first times a major publisher has cast a young girl as a heroine, Scott said.

By and large, comic series are led by male superheroes.

If there are female characters, they are usually adults and often part of a team. And the older female heroes are more developed, model-types.

''Most female heroines are very well-developed [physically],'' Scott said. ''But since they've [Marvel] been trying to get younger readers, the characters are younger; their style of talk and dress is also younger.''

When team members at Marvel were creating Anya's identity, they debated her origins.

Quesada is Cuban, so making her Cuban too felt a little self-serving. Instead, because she lives in New York, Puerto Rican seemed a given. Then he remembered a trip he took to Mexico City where he observed how much Mexicans love Spider-Man, so she also became Mexican.

''We were thinking of what kind of fun ways we could expand the spider universe,'' Quesada said.

First, the creation of her alter-ego. Someone his 3-year-old daughter could look up to. Someone who wasn't the typical model-looking heroine. With Anya, Quesada wanted a real-world character.

''You might know someone like her; she is tiny by stature but really, really spunky, and her personality is bigger than life,'' he said.

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