MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: Spider-Woman #20 REVIEW

Just from the cover and the introduction page alone, you already know that this issue of Spider-Woman is going to be hilarious. And they have no shame announcing that pretty much nothing is going to happen… and that is perfectly all right! It works… it really, really works. Spider-Woman’s life has already been as crazy and hectic as can be in the past year or so, so she really does need some peace and quiet. But just when you think it is going to be a rare, normal day for Spider-Woman… things turn into a bit of a circus. But it is precisely these kinds of comic books that stand out in a very crowded industry. I still remember the classic issue of Spider-Woman, recently, when the entire comic book was a giant, continuous, Hollywood chase-scene. You have to give the glory to the creative team behind the title, always pushing boundaries and trying out story-telling tools that are not used very often. No chills! No thrills! This just might work every now and then.

OFFICIAL MARVEL COMICS DESCRIPTION:

TITLE: Spider-Woman (2020) #20

Published:

March 02, 2022

Writer:

Karla Pacheco

Penciler:

Pere Perez

Cover Artist:

Jung-Geun Yoon

ENTER…THE ANTI-ARACHNINE! Spider-Woman has made a lot of enemies in her time… …and that’s about to come back to bite her in a big way. What’s worse than a Sinister Six? THE ANTI-ARACHNINE!

TAKE IT NICE AND SLOW!

PROS:

As mentioned earlier, it is the unique and quirky premise of this issue that stands out as an avid comic book reader. The whole point of this chapter is nothing much happens. But even with the plot, the narration still manages to pull of some insane events.
On a more serious note, it was very insightful getting deeper into the inner workings of Spider-Woman’s mind. As readers, we join her on her own self-discovery in order to find out what makes her happy, what makes her tick, what she considers a job, and what she considers a lifestyle. At the end of the day, we all have to make similar decisions revolving around what we really want to do with our lives. Our cases may just not be as extreme as having to decide if we still want to go on being superheroes.
The huge, immense and epic fails of all these so-called super-villains is the spotlight of the entire issue. One rolls to his doom quite literally. Another group of villains basically shrinks under the immense rage and fury of Spider-Woman’s words. But one villain actually strikes a sensitive spot when Spider-Woman sees her bike destroyed and smashed to pieces.
The comic was able to build up to the last page successfully, creating this sense of anticipation for the next issue, where we are guaranteed fireworks will be blowing up all across the spreads.
The comic book is also made all the more relatable because we get very human interactions between two very good friends, outside the context of all the Marvel chaos.

CONS:

For those readers looking for more meat in their comics, this may come off as an empty joke to them, but sometimes we have to lighten up and not take everything so seriously, every now and then… right? I seriously doubt these villains are going to come very close to the horrific and terrifying levels of the Sinister Six. But maybe the sheer quantity will get them somewhere.
If you are not familiar with the villains featured in the issue, then obviously the panels offered to them will not seem enough to get to really know them well. Hopefully they get a special kind of shine when they start fighting Spider-Woman.

FINAL GRADE: B+

Overall, this is still one of the more entertaining comic book series out there, simply because the creative team always manages to pull of a unique twist to the superhero genre. In this book, all we get is a group of struggling super-villains trying to show off their capabilities against Spider-Woman, only to be put to shame. But perhaps there really is some truth to the concept of strength in numbers, because it appears that the 9-ish of them are going to volt in and overwhelm our favorite, martial-arts practicing, former detective, mommy superheroine.

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