Spider-Woman (2020) #2 Review (Spoilers)

Some time has passed since Spider-Woman (2020) #1, and since then it has been announced that Spider-Woman (2020) #5 will also be Spider-Woman #100. By our numbers last review, we have that as issue #89 of Jessica Drew as Spider-Woman, but factoring in the 11 issues she factored heavily into Mattie Franklin’s Spider-Woman (1999),would put her at… #100. The math tracks for Jessica at least.

SPIDER-WOMAN (2020) #2- Of Vermis and Men 

Writer: Karla Pacheco

Artist: Pere Perez

Colorist: Frank D’Armata

Letterer: Travis Lanham

C. Artist: Junggeun Yoon

Editors: Jake Thomas & Lindsey Cohick

Editor-In-Chief: CB Cebulski

But Spiders Don’t Have Families: After the sick ending of Spider-Woman (2020) #1, Jessica declines the medical offers of her employer, Michael Marchand. Instead she visits the Night Nurse. After dealing with a dissatisfied Rhino, they examine Jessica. Two factors play a part in Jessica’s superhuman abilities: spider-based radiation poisoning while inside the womb, and the further experimentations of her father that kept her alive despite the poisoning. Her father’s later work has somehow been undone. Jessica quickly realizes it is because of a booster shot Marchand gave her. 

When confronted, Michael Marchand does not deny anything. He explains that he had replicated her father’s original experiment on Rebecca, his cancer stricken daughter. Her cancer went away, but Marchand couldn’t replicate the later experiments that kept Jessica alive.  Now that Jessica no longer has those countermeasures, she will die from the experiment like Rebecca will.

Jessica agrees to help Marchand. She receives a spider-based shot which amplify her powers. Unfortunately, it is only a temporary solution for the radiation poisoning. Michael’s next solution involves a rare spider, the Latrodectus Aeternum, a rumored to be extinct for decades. Jessica’s acquisition of the spider is made difficult by Octavia Vermis, the daughter of an old nemesis.  Jessica gains the spider, but Octavia escapes after teasing larger machinations by a member of Jessica’s own family. 

Thoughts: With Strike-Force (2019) coming to a premature end, Karla Pacheco and Kelly Thompson remain the last two Jessica Drew writers standing (Thompson pens Captain Marvel (2019), which features Jessica Drew frequently). I think the story is one of the stronger elements of the second issue. Pacheco manages to overtly and subtly work in a lot of Jessica’s history into her current story. The issue’s final line is a shout out to a dark conversation from Jessica’s past. This references implies heavily that Michael Marchand is a long lost relative of Jessica’s. Pacheco backs that hypothesis up with Marchand making verbal slips whilst talking about Jessica’s father.

Pacheco packs a lot into her dialogue, but also knows when to let the art tell the story. She builds up to her big exposition dumps with action and emotional beats. Pacheco is giving us information through a lot of exposition as stories must, but she is also telling the story through the art and lettering/dialogue. 

And when it comes to storytelling, I think Pere Perez delivers. His page compositions are something to behold. Numerous times in the story, he will blend both conversation and action into a single page. He also does this once with a flashback and a present day conversation, and it’s probably my favorite page of the issue.

Perez has strong storytelling sensibilities, but there are decisions he makes that baffles me. One of those is the fact that some of his fight panels get cut off. It is as if a physical book has been poorly stapled together. I read my books digitally though, so it has to be a conscious decision and it’s one I don’t understand. 

The issue has strong artwork when attempting to portray a hyper realistic feel. Everything is in motion. Characters go flying through the page,  vomit drips off a chin, smoke trails off a burn, and light streaks travel up the windows. The realism continues in other ways too; shirts are tucked too tightly, dust builds from impact, Jessica’s suit clings to her abs and curves. The world feels animated, but the more realistic they try to make Jessica’s new outfit, the less I like it. 

It’s a black blotch on the page too often. Nothing pops quite like it did in the first issue for me and after reviewing it, it’s the lack of yellow in Jessica’s agile combat that stands out. The use of yellow is so minimal in the suit design, and yet so vital to making it move believably on the panel.

There is no yellow blur this issue. Instead the colors have been dimmed across the issue. What looked like a yellow before, is now more of a dulled gold. It’s minimal but notable. If it has story significance later, I’ll applaud them for this. 

The other MVP on the team this issue is letterer, Travis Lanham. His sound effects are fantastic. In one panel, he’s conveying the sound of an electric whip crackling through the air. The sound effect is the color of the whip, coated in an electrical outline, mirroring the art. But the whip itself actually has a metal tip that isn’t crackling in electricity, and the last two letters of the sound effect reflect this.

Lanham’s letters are the most vibrant part of the art. He does a great job of providing a sense of motion on a page when Perez & D’Armata have cast it in shadows or filled it with spiders.

Verdict: Spider-Woman #2 isn’t as vibrant as I would prefer, but I still think it’s strong work. Travis Lanham is my MVP. Karla Pacheco continues to do well with the comic book medium. Her ability to weave Jessica’s history into the story is superb. Spider-Woman #3/98 will take the story further into familial territory, and will be going to space before too long it seems, which is continuity rich territory for Jessica. 

Pros: 

• Lanham’s Letters
• Pacheco Utilizing The Medium
• Page Composition

Cons: 

• Faded Palette
• Storytelling Choices
• The Suit