Spider-Woman #1 from Marvel Comics, written by Steve Foxe with art by Carola Borelli, brings back Jessica Drew in a big way.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Spider-Woman #1 Review:
Back in Spider-Man, Jessica Drew was severed from the web of life. Now she’s back, and missing one thing: her son. Oh, and also there’s a gang war engulfing all of New York.
After a little break to figure out Spider-Woman’s current continuity, host Alex Zalben noted that he loves the character, and thought “Carola Borelli’s art is great here. There’s a panel that is clearly like, ‘draw Spider-Woman in a cool pose,’ and I loved it.”
Justin Tyler brought up that Spider-Woman is a character who is “famously drawn in not great poses,” so also appreciated the more appropriate poster-worthy page from Borelli. “I love Spider-Woman having her own title, and I like her interaction in Gang War,” Tyler said. He also liked having Diamondback as the villain in the book, though felt like there was a mixed plot in terms of having Jessica looking for her missing child, while also fighting in the Gang War.
While Tyler believes the book will eventually refocus on the search for Spider-Woman’s son, Alex Zalben was a little harsher, expressing frustration about launching the first issue of an ongoing series in the middle of an event. “The thing that suffers in this issue is the mystery with her son,” Zalben said. “The idea that [she] was cut out of the web of life, so [her] son disappeared… I get that. That’s an emotional resonance.”
However, he also expressed confusion with the mystery, with her son seemingly being cut out of existence, but Jessica also tracking down supervillains for information on her son. “Which one is it?” Zalben said. “Make a choice.”
Tyler generally agreed, but was less harsh in his assessment, noting that he felt the search for her son is the “understory,” but that the Gang War gets a little too much screentime in the issue. That said, “I enjoyed the issue,” Tyler added.
Spider-Woman #1 Official Synopsis:
GANG WAR: FIRST STRIKE! The Web of Destiny restored Spider-Woman’s life, but even CAPTAIN MARVEL and MADAME WEB can tell something’s changed. Now SPIDER-MAN wants to recruit her for a new team because VIPER has engineered a deadly union between HYDRA and DIAMONDBACK that’s about to tear the city apart, bringing forth a new foe powerful enough to destroy the city while burning Spider-Woman’s world to the ground. DON’T MISS OUT on this action-packed premiere that features CAPTAIN MARVEL, SPIDER-MAN, VIPER and DIAMONDBACK…and introduces a terrifying new force of evil in SPIDER-WOMAN’s world!
