Advance Review: Spider-Woman #11 (LGY #106)

After ten issues of crazy Jess, crazy disease and crazy clones its back to basics for this book. Cynically, I do wonder why there needs to be a jumping on point after such a relatively short time, especially as it feels like the big red reset button has been effectively pushed. Still, there is another, more visual red return to celebrate!

Back in New York city, the ever fashionable Jess does what woman and girls love to do…. shop for a new outfit, kind of. Roger, who is doing great as a dad for Gerry has the unenviable task of joining the shopping experience as part of date day. OF course, things do turn a touch “super-heroic” but for Jess, there may be even greater, more personal dangers ahead.

Karla Pacheco’s writing carries the current Marvel flavour of humour and slapstick, a trait seen in any number of their books at the moment, well enough often using Roger as the straight man the act. Often in comedy duos the strength of the straight man is often under appreciated, which fits well as a metaphor for the Jess and Roger relationship at the moment. Being taken for granted and not being seen are worries in any relationship; when your girlfriend is a leggy brunette who looks gorgeous all the time and loves wearing skin tight red spandex, well, I guess we can all see the world from Roger’s point of view. The dialogue is quick-fire; I think i would prefer some downtime in places just as a contrast of a bit of a break.

The art is provided by Pere Pérez once again, and I have to say, it’s the best art in the run so far! The set-up in the first act is great and the transition into the action scene is also well paced. From there, with the reintroduction of the new-old red suit, the figure work changes slightly. I know that over sexualising characters is a trigger for some people and that Spider-Woman has been seen at the forefront of this issue, but please don’t make her look dumpy! Is it an attempt at realism? I don’t know but in some panels Spider-Woman’s hips don’t match with Jess’s. This is a small observation which while distracts the eye in panels, doesn’t overly impact the book negatively. Frank D’Armata’s colors work really well in this book. There are quite a few different environs to consider; the clothes shop, the restaurant, the pad and of course the action scene. There is an odd time sequence in that it seems to get dark outside pretty damn quick. VC’s Travis Lanham delivers his usual excellent letters and clean font.

After a rock y start, at least for me, this book has settled into a very solid book, proving that when it comes to producing books with female leads, Marvel knows exactly what they are doing,

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Karla Pacheco
Art by; Pere Pérez
Colors by; Frank D’Armata
Letters by; VC’s Travis Lanham
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network