REVIEW: Spider-Woman, #1

[CBR News]

Spinning out of "Spider-Verse," Jessica Drew is given another chance at a solo series with "Spider-Woman" #1, thanks to writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Greg Land.


Full review here.

[Blacksun]

Land art wasn't so awful.

This reads more like I tie-in from spider verse than a Spider woman #1. Agree with the review that Hopeless has potential to write a good Jessica drew truly solo book

[scouse mouse]

Spot on review! This did not read like the first issue of a Jessica Drew ongoing, more an assorted Spider-Women event tie in. Hopeless gets her voice right,unfortunately the obnoxious Cindy Moon's voice is louder!

[Spider-Chan]

Anya is going to die and that will be Cindy's Uncle Ben moment, isn't she?

[Ras]

I enjoyed it, having read it right after ASM #10. I agree it's not good as a standalone debut. The one question I'd like cleared up: In ASM #10, Silk kind of impulsively grabs the portal generator to lead the Inheritors away. Jessica follows her. When Jessica finds her, why don't they immediately head to Cosmic/Captain Universe Spider-Man's safe dimension? I suppose they're heading to Manhattan to try to save that universe's Spider-Man, which is noble, but if Silk is one of the must-protect figures, they have to get her back to safety, right?

[tsaimelemoni]

It seemed like an odd way to start a series, but I liked it. Outside of a few panels and facial expressions, Land's art isn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be. Better than his MA work, imo.

[Choos]

Big Spider-Woman fan and a fan of Dennis Hopeless but this was a bad read.

Sure it suffered from Spider-Verse in a major way, launching an ongoing as a tie in seems stupid to me as people not buying the Spider-Verse event will not understand what is going on...... That being said when it came to the "action" I had a hard time working out what was supposed to be happening eg who through the egg and who was getting armoured up?

Can't believe this title will last long.

[kcekada]

I shouldn't judge the book by the cover, but that's one of the most uninspired pieces of art to grace the first issues of a series. Did they really have to add that non-character Silk on the cover. And the webs just looks silly. See Joe Sinnot's cover for the 1978 Spider-Woman series for artwork that provides a lot of bang to launch a series.

Sadly, this entire project appears to have been given very little thought -- and I won't be surprised if volume 3 is as short as 2 (not that I found volume 2 to be anything exceptional).

[John Ossie]

Not bad, but not great either imo. Art work was fine imho. To be honest I'm going to wait until this book is no longer a part of Spider-Verse before I judge it.

[Flash Gordon]

I love Jessica Drew, great character with an awesome design.

Horrible comic though, totally a pass for me.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

I think Jessica Drew has nothing going for her that warrants her own book. I mean, what does she do in her off time? What does she like to do?

And if they have her go home and you find out she has a cat, that's just lazy.

Hell, looking at the issues past Spider-Verse offer no insight what this book is gonna be about! Especially since the solicits are all concerned about Silk Silk Silk! And she's getting her own book! I swear, this book only exists so they can springboard Silk. God, I don't like Silk.

[lilyinblue]

I think Jessica Drew has nothing going for her that warrants her own book. I mean, what does she do in her off time? What does she like to do?

I agree wholeheartedly with the major criticism of this book: it's not exactly confidence-inspiring when she's not the star of her own book.

But the thing is...

... all of those things, about what she does in her off time, who she is, the really detailed character development... the pages of a solo book is where a lot of that is going to happen and come to life. If we hold characters to the standard of "must have lots of pre-existing, detailed character development" as the qualification for getting a solo book, it'll be a rare thing when anybody new does. I don't think most people want the finer details of her basket-weaving hobby cluttering up the pages of the Avengers.

I love Jess, and not just because she's Carol's BFF. I love her because she is just a hot mess, but amazingly still a functional human being. I get into psycho-analyzing fictional characters and she's a perfect target for it. I find I like reading her best when she's being written by a writer that really recognizes that she has ISSUES. Unfortunately... I think I might be the only one who would be super excited to read a book based entirely around a character's time on a therapist's couch.

So yes, Jess has a lot of material in her just due to her general screwed-up nature. I, too, would love to know where this book is going and what it's actually going to work off of.

[Vic Vega]

See its weird to me to hear that critcism for Spider Woman's book in particular.

Jess has more going for her than most chars that get a solo these days. Certainly she has more going
for her as a solo act than characters like Angela or Storm. Or Squirell Girl.

For instance: she's an ex spy whose parents were terrorists. She formerly had her own dectective agency.
She's worked for SHEILD. She's worked for SWORD. She's Captain Marvel's best friend and Hawkeye's ex. She is being stalked by an arch villan (who thinks she is her mommy).

Any two of these things could be used as the premise for a series.

In a time where every book has to justify its own existance, give Marvel credit for tying this into Spider Verse.
At least that way peope are guaranteed to as least give the book a look.

Silk's verve and enthuaism for do gooding are things that have been beaten right out of the grizzled super veteran Jessica.

Its why they are playing them off each other.

[tsaimelemoni]

I think Jessica Drew has nothing going for her that warrants her own book. I mean, what does she do in her off time? What does she like to do?

And if they have her go home and you find out she has a cat, that's just lazy.

Hell, looking at the issues past Spider-Verse offer no insight what this book is gonna be about! Especially since the solicits are all concerned about Silk Silk Silk! And she's getting her own book! I swear, this book only exists so they can springboard Silk. God, I don't like Silk.

Is there a reason why her off-time is important? I want to read about her adventures as a hero, not witness her struggle to choose a seasonal frapp at a coffee shop. That stuff can make fun filler, but should never be the sticking point of a book imo. And as others have mentioned, there a ton of layers to the character. Once we get done with this cross-over business I'm sure we'll see much less Silk. Maybe even zero. For now, she's a good counterpoint to Jess' s character.

[My Two Cents]

I read the book