Spider-Woman #4: Mama’s Family

Karla Pacheco really flexes her Drew family history knowledge on this one, bringing us back to Wundagore and shedding some light on just exactly what happened to Jessica’s mother all those years ago. To take it one step further we even see how it is she came to have a brother despite all earlier info pointing to this being impossible. Pacheco is what a fan of a character like Spider-Woman loves to see: a real fan handling their favorite niche character with love and respect. She leans in hard on what separates Jessica from the rest of Marvel’s Spiders and doesn’t make excuses for it. Instead she glorifies and streamlines everything unique about Jessica Drew outside of the usual go to moves, this doesn’t count on SHIELD or Hydra or other heroes as supporting characters to make the book more interesting. It takes all of the Drew mythos and exemplifies these elements to give old fans something to shout about and new fans some deep cut knowledge to grow with.

The unique voice of the writing is only further enhanced and enriched by strong art from Pere Perez and Frank D’Armata as we see Jessica battling it out hand to hand, from a top a dinosaur hybrid or busting caps with a laser rifle. All of it looks fantastic and the wholly creative and stylized panel layouts make the book flow like the greatest of action movies. The cool panel designs are so well done they’re almost like a character unto themselves throughout the book, the perfect blend of inquisitive and energetic vibes they bring to the table is a chef’s kiss atop an already beautifully crafted comic.