MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: Spider-Woman #10 Review

This story has been building up for ten issues now, and the last chapter of this arc delivered a worthy ending for Spider-Woman’s tumultuous dip into the dark side, once again. But as with previous issues, what makes this series great is the exploration of themes like motherhood, sacrifice, trust, friendship, betrayal… and CLONES!

Spider-Woman #10

STORY BY: Karla Pacheco

ART BY: Pere Perez

COVER BY: Jung-Geun Yoon, Jen Bartel, Michael Cho, Ron Lim

The fuse lit back in #1 finds its destination. Spider-Woman has crossed so many lines, leading to this moment and an offer to embrace the destiny forged by her Hydra years. Will she take it? You may think you know what a super hero would choose, but Jessica has a habit of defying expectations.

NO MORE CLONES!

PROS:

• It was funny how Spider-Woman thought her acting was effective in making Octavia believe that she did not remember everything and anything. But Octavia saw right through the whole act and made Spider-Woman pay for the ruse. But what soon followed was a showdown for the century, as these two strong women duked it out like there was no tomorrow.
• It was emotional when Spider-Woman loudly proclaimed that those waves of mother-clones were not her true mom. So many layers unfolded, as later on we saw how she is a loving mother to her own child. And just earlier on, to start the issue, we witnessed how Octavia would kill her daughter over and over again just to reach that state of perfection… one that she believed within her grasp, now that she can erase any sense of rebelliousness in the girl. Even Spider-Woman, despite her rocky relationship with her real mother, grew tired of putting down the mom-clones. Clone-fatigue is apparently a real thing, in this world and beyond.
• The last scene where Spider-Woman threw her costume in the trash had me pretty worried there. But it is a good thing she likes how her suit makes her look, and she soon after picked it up to end the chapter. That was a huge moment of relief for me, personally, as I was not yet ready to see her retire. It was clear what famous and iconic scene they were referencing with that little tribute, and I was so gullible to accept that that was really where they were going with all this. Well played, Marvel. Well played.
• Spider-Woman making up to all her friends and family was a fitting end for the superheroine. At the end of the day, I am sure they all understood why she had to do what she did, but it doesn’t mean they’ll let her off easy. But with this hopeful ending, I am expecting we as readers can get back to seeing Spider-Woman in more traditional, good-versus-evil comic book action and world-saving. She is always at her best when she is doing super-secret spy action or espionage-centric adventures.
• Spider-Woman looks so mean and strong and powerful and… and… muscular on the cover. She’s definitely getting a good workout in the gym, on her spare time. I think Marvel can build on this and make her more of a powerhouse than she already is. But in her fight against Octavia, she was, in fairness, able to showcase most of her exciting powers in her offensive effort, admittedly.
• I appreciate how well-rounded the cast is growing to become across all these books. Even the High Evolutionary appeared more human and more likeable in this issue, showing actual concern for those around him. He was pretty savage with the transformed and mutated Octavia, though. That is one nasty-looking dinosaur-woman. Who can blame him, honestly?

CONS:

• Too many clones? Meh.
• The mystery of how effective the cure will be is killing me!

FINAL GRADE: A

This arc was full of espionage, double-crossing, hard-hitting fights, and a whole lot of girl power. What more can anybody ask for? Now it’s time for Spider-Woman to make amends and make up for what she has done in recent history. And as readers, will we will finally begin to see just how effective the cure actually is… if it will work on Spider-Woman and the people she loves the most.