lillian_francis's review against another edition

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4.0

Read as part of collected Spiderverse.

taeli's review against another edition

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3.0

read 8/26/16

booknooknoggin's review against another edition

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4.0

Basically, already read the entirety of this volume when I read the Spider-verse omnibus.

lauredhel's review against another edition

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Meh, I just found the art distractingly bad.

helenareadsbooks's review against another edition

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2.0

This was okay. Jessica Drew is a cool character and I like what this comic did for her and the other Spiders. The Spider-Verse story line ended abruptly but I guess it ended in a different series/crossover? I haven't read the whole event so I'm not sure. Not a huge fan of how Silk was written in this. Spider-Verse has a lot of potential to be a cool event so I hope it pays off.

jessgj's review against another edition

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3.0

Rough start but Im eager to see more adventure of the Spider-Women.

gillyreads's review against another edition

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4.0

Spider-verse stories are pretty confusing but I was able to follow this relatively easily. Jessica is one of my favourites so I am excited to see her bold new direction.

squidbag's review against another edition

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4.0

A weird but awesome introductory story that finishes out Spider-Verse and brings us to the new costumed, pregnant SW that enjoyed reading so much last year. This one has some dimension hopping going on, and kind of drops you right into the middle of the story, but the characterization and plots are good enough and/or familiar enough to carry any reader through what is, after all, just a fun story.

abarger89's review against another edition

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3.0

This volume of Spider-Woman contains issues #1-4 and Marvel Spotlight #3.
I thought that was overall a fun book. Jessica Drew is a fun superhero and I definitely understand why she has so many fans. I think where the book really shined was the humor. This was quite a funny book!
Marvel Spotlight #3 was a kind of interest look at Spider-Woman's origins but not really needed. I will say it is sometimes fun to look at old comics because they are so colorful and pretty to look at.

tsana's review against another edition

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4.0

Spider-Woman Vol 1: Spider-Verse written by Dennis Hopeless and illustrated by Greg Land contains issues #1-4 of the latest (Marvel Now) Spider-Woman comics and an origin story issue from 1971 to bulk it out. I previously posted a short review of Issue #1.

I feel a bit bad for Spider-Woman on this run because it's very much squeezed between two events (if you consider that Vol 2 leads into Last Days). This volume deals with some of Spider-Woman's adventures during the Spider-Verse event, which also involve Silk (pictured on the cover), Spider-Gwen (who is great) and Spider-Girl (Anya, briefly). The Spider-Verse event (which I thought was explained sufficiently within the comic — a nice change) centres around a bunch of bad guys who want to eat all the spider-people. It kind of reminded me of the Family of Blood from Doctor Who. The story in this volume starts of focusing on Spider-Woman and other protecting Silk, who seems to strongly attract bad guys. The mission takes them across universes and past doppelgängers until the day is more or less saved (something which obviously involves story lines in other books) and the event winds up.


The fourth issue winds up the most recent chapter of Jessica Drew's life and sets her up to get a new costume (spoiler) in the following issue, which will be in Volume 2. It was a one-shot story involving Carol Danvers and Steve Rogers (Captains Marvel and America) a small bad to fight, and of course many quips.


The last issue, from 1971, which was bundled into this volume, tells yet another origin story of Spider-Woman. Honestly, it's not that terrible, although it is that ridiculous. It starts with Spider-Woman as a Hydra agent and,via an encounter with Nick Fury (disappointingly white), ends with her questioning everything she'd been lead to believe. It was a bit melodramatic, but on the scale of weird old comics I've read, really not as offensive as it could've been. But overall, meh.


It's interesting to see that Spider-Woman's costume hasn't changed since the 70s (except for maybe her hair) and that makes her recent update all the more exciting. Her costume isn't the worst ever since it at least covers her, but it does tend to be drawn with unrealistically clingy fabric. And so, while I enjoyed the story in this volume, there were a few slightly icky art moments. Nothing too egregious, but boobs that were too big — which bothered me most on Spider-Gwen, for whatever reason — and a few weird poses. This is the series that had the particularly anatomically incorrect cover for issue #1, so perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised. It's disappointing, but on the other hand, I was pleased to see that cover wasn't included in the cover gallery at the back or anywhere else in the volume.


I am looking forward to the next volume of Spider-Woman (out next year :-/ ) and I enjoyed this volume. I'm not sure whether I would recommend it to readers who aren't already fans of Spider-Woman or Silk (or at a stretch Spider-Gwen). I don't think it stands alone that well and I suspect the next volume will actually be a better jumping on point (although I say that without having read any of it). On the other hand, this made me even more eager to read Spider-Gwen (I'm waiting for the trade) and has also made me interested in Silk, about whom I didn't know much before.


4 / 5 stars

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