Spider-Woman #13: They Call 3 Bullseyes a Hat Trick

It’s another chapter in the Saga of Jessica Drew, as told to you by Karla Pacheco & Pere Perez, and this might be the best issue yet from this run. Why is it the best issue, you may ask, and it’s a very good question too. The reason this is the best issue of the run to date is that we see Jessica Drew’s original gal pal, and confidante, Lindsay McCabe.

If you’re newer to comics you probably have no fricking idea who it is I’m talking about. Lindsey was Jess’s roommate and best friend from her original run in the late 70’s and early 80’s, who would go on to be Jess’s number 1 after an apparent death, rebirth sans powers, and even followed Jess & Wolverine (Patch) to Madripoor, where they became power players, and owned the Princess Bar. 

Unfortunately since Jessica’s resurgence into pop culture, thanks to Bendis’s inclusion of her in his New Avengers run, Lindsay has been noticeably absent for the better part of 2 decades. With this issue that 25 year absence from Jessica’s life that all changes!!! Unfortunately it’s only a few panels in this issue, but I’ll take it.

I’ve been a fan of Jessica’s since I was really little reading my older cousin’s comics, and I read her appearance where she co-starred in an issue of Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men, but I became a super fan when I first read her appearance in Avengers Annual 10, when she saves Ms. Marvel from a murder attempt by being thrown over the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh, and I guess some super obscure mutant was introduced in that issue. Rouge? Rogue? I don’t know…but she was never heard from again! 

This issue was a very welcome change, where we get a couple of neat potential flotsam villains who will hopefully show up again, but there’s an aerial fight between Jess & Lady Bullseye, who uses a jetpack. You read that correctly: Lady Bullseye wore a jetpack while fighting Spider-Woman. It’s this kind of “wtf is Karla thinking when she plots this book?” but I love it.

All of this to get a floppy disk about something involving the High Evolutionary for a mysterious benefactor—who turns out to be… The jokes fall kind of flat, but the action in this book is on point, and it really is the most action packed issue to date. 

I’m not going to leave this review without mentioning her partner in crime, Pere Peréz. I’ve been a fan of his since his days at Valiant, and he’s grown so much as an artist since then. Heck, even since his Rogue & Gambit mini with Kelly Thompson, or his rotating artist run on the 2018 Uncanny X-Men relaunch, it’s just leaps and bounds better than what he was giving us then. Mixed with Frank D’Armata’s colors, this team could take on the world.

I also want to give a very big shoutout to Travis Lanham’s lettering job here. I always used to overlook the lettering until a pro told me how integral they are to the book, and it’s true. Especially that first page of this book. It’s such a fun way to use the space on the page.

Top notch work by this group.