Spider-Women reads as one long story, so here are links to Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Spider-Woman #7 is part 7 of Spider-Women. Heh, hope they noticed that in the Spidey office.

Spider-Women Part 7

Writer: Dennis Hopeless

Artist: Joelle Jones

Inker: Lorenzo Ruggiero

Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Production: Idette Winecoor

Cover Artist: Yasmine Putri

Editors: Devin Lewis & Kathleen Wisneski

Executive Editor: Nick Lowe

Editor-In-Chief: Axel Alonso

Do You Think I Draw The Line When Something Personally Inconveniences Me: After splitting from Gwen Stacy and Cindy Moon at the end of Spider-Gwen #8, Jessica Drew returns home to check on her son. He is still there with Roger Gocking and Jesse Drew, Jessica’s Earth-65 male counterpart. Roger leaves and Jessica fights Jesse briefly before stopping to check on her crying child. After the break, both agree to stop fighting and Jesse explains he was there because she went to his place on Earth-65. Jesse explains this is all a job to him and he is rather indifferent to things, so long as his family is looked after. Jessica learns Cindy-65 wants to take over Gwen’s reality with stolen Earth Prime tech. She tries to talk Jesse out of working for Cindy-65 and Gwen shows up to tell the Drew Doppelgängers that Cindy-65 is manipulating Jesse into working for her. It is a disorder that gives Jesse powers, one that he was told needs a daily dose of a cure from Cindy-65. Gwen reveals that Cindy-65 actually cured Jesse and his ‘cure’ just gives him his spider powers. Gwen takes his drug to get her spider powers back, and they set out to stop Cindy 65.

Honestly, This Whole Selfless Superhero Thing Baffles Me: Dennis Hopeless must like his Jessica Drew clones. In the opening arc of his first Spider-Woman volume, a Jessica Drew loyal to the Inheritors was the secondary protagonist. And she was used as a way for Jessica Prime to re-evaluate her life and leave the Avengers, much in the way Jesse Drew is a secondary protagonist used to evaluate her parenting skills in this issue. Thankfully, that is where the comparisons between Jessica Prime, Jessica Evil, and Jesse Drew stop. Jesse Drew is very much his own man. Rather than be committed to an evil cause, he is neutral on the good/evil scale; everything he does is so his family is well looked after. Gwen delivers an amusingly narrated version of his origin (which has little in common with Jessica Prime’s origin) that explains Jesse; his parents were spies who fell in love, until his mother killed his father for spying for the wrong side. That is all we really need to know for why Jesse takes no side in this conflict once offered an out, although it is unclear whether he will be helping in the finale or not.

The scenes with Jessica and Jesse reads like a normal, slightly below average, issue of Spider-Woman. It is fun and there is some great character beats, even for Roger Gocking, who appears for only a few panels. We do finally learn Jessica’s baby name is Gerry Drew, which is the name of her child in the MC2 continuity. There is some solid Jessica trying to mentor Gwen stuff as well, but the highlights of the issue are the cute moments when Jessica/Jesse react to something in the same way. They are both parents first and speak improvisationally.

It is Gwen Stacy who steals the show once again. When faced with the chance to temporarily regain her powers or have a shot at a normal life, Gwen does not even hesitate. The second half of this crossover is really highlighting the fact that Gwen Stacy is the Spider-Woman to watch for the remainder of 2016.

Joelle Jones, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Lorenzo Ruggiero are very hit and miss this issue, and mostly when it comes to the gender of characters. I think the fault lies more with Lorenzeo and Rachelle, as it is the female figures that suffer, looking whored out in make-up thanks to heavy lines and odd colour choices. The important thing is that the fights are dynamic, with punches being thrown that look like they hurt.

Verdict: A slightly weaker than average issue of Spider-Woman, which still serves as another enjoyable instalment of Spider-Women. Jessica, Jesse, and Gwen all shine, especially Ms. Stacy. While he is not used as well as Reed Richards-65 was, it is nice to have Jesse as a secondary male figure to bounce the women off of. Now all that is left is the finale.

Pros:

• Jesse Drew
• Gwen Stacy

Cons:

• Female faces look off

B