Jessica Drew has always been one of the more interesting personas in the Spider-Verse, operating as a super spy, hero, villain, detective, and mother figure across nearly 50 years in the Marvel universe. Having recently just wrapped up her run on Spider-Versity and now poised to headline her own series in ages this coming November, Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 happens to be a perfect way to mark more than half a century of the character’s storied history.
Right off the bat, I feel a grave missed opportunity was sadly the short length of this book. We’ve already seen so many other celebratory books have far longer page counts, but Jessica Drew gets just about a handful of more pages than an average monthly comic (not even a standard annual, mind you). It feels a bit like a disservice for such a great character, but fortunately enough, the two stories that are there in the one-shot go a long way in making up for this, and how.
The Then & Now
The celebratory one-shot is comprised of two stories – with one taking place in the past while another takes place in the present. The first story is “High Tag Wins,” which takes place seemingly around The End of the Spider-Verse. It’s a fun little superhero shenanigans story, with Jessica taking on an old time bad guy, the ridiculous and glorious Flying Tiger, while recovering missing contraband in a story that takes a few fun twists and turns. It’s a quick little caper that ends with Flying Tiger surprisingly being cleared of wrongdoing thanks to our hero, while she also tries to help a graffiti artist friend win a contest. It’s wacky, it’s wild, and it’s short enough to be a bite-sized feel-good moment of the past.
In the second story, “The Mysterious Spider-Woman,” which is set firmly in the present and follows right after Spider-Versity. Jessica, having taken a page out of another famous namesake in the Marvel universe, is now operating out of a Private Investigation office and often working in collaboration with Ben Urich. The latter sets her on the trail of a potential monstrous mutation, though Jessica herself is feeling more distant and distracted than usual. It’s a gumshoe, noir-esque little escapade as she encounters the monster and it’s poor victims: a man-sized mutant spider freak who just happens to have been one of Miles Warren’s devotees. Jessica manages to eventually beat the creature after a tough fight, but the creature falls to its death in the scuffle. Urich is suspicious and concerned about the circumstances, especially when Jessica lies about the creature having “slipped” and fallen. Of course, we readers know what’s actually up: that Jessica is the new host of Carnage, and she might not be as much in control of the symbiotic psycho as she’d like to think.
Unwrapping the Mystery
This particular special is divided into two segments – a bit of a Then and Now – with its own respective creative teams picking up duties. It’s a fun little romp for certain, covering both aspects of Jessica’s usual adventures – the wackier and weirder stories that are feel-good comic fare, as well as the darker, more mysterious tales that are also intrinsic to the character. Both halves make for an interesting read for people who are either longtime fans of the character and are just trying to catch up on things in anticipation of her new series in November.
The first story, “High Tag Wins,” is written by none other than the legendary Ann Nocenti, who manages to tell a very fun little superhero story filled with failed heists, a little bit of sexual tension, and some hilarious mistaken identity that perfectly captures some of Jessica’s earlier adventures. While the story isn’t set too far in her past, it’s still a great encapsulation of the character. Nocenti definitely manages to capture the spirit of the character very well: as a superhero with some slightly shady morals, who treads the line between being a ne’er-do-well while also wanting to do the right thing. I also like that Jessica and Carol Danvers’ longstanding friendship is also touched here through a short phone call, which elevates the character’s waning doubts, if only for a little while. The supporting cast of characters for this story also help tremendously.
Molly, the aspiring graffiti artist looking to hit it big with a dangerous gig, sets the core tone for this story, wondering whether Jessica will help her achieve her goals or if she’ll be a stick in the mud the whole time. Molly’s friend Carlo, who outright rejects Jessica’s attractiveness, also plays his part by adding to Jessica’s current insecurities (at this point in the timeline, she’s going through a lot of stuff with her powers and headspace being messed up). And finally, you have Flying Tiger, one of the more eclectic Marvel villains who you’d think would be the main antagonist of this story, but Nocenti manages to flip the script in a fun way that leaves Tiger feeling more sympathetic than you’d expect, even if he is still a bit of an asshole. Ultimately, Nocenti’s past framing with this story does a great job capturing Jessica’s headspace and dealing with the kind of insecurities that have plagued her whole life, culminating in her reclaiming her confidence with help from friends new and old and overcoming it in truly spectacular fashion. Fairly sure that completing a stellar high-rise graffiti job to help her friend goes a long way in doing that.
The next story, by Dan Watters, definitely lives up to the moniker of “The Mysterious Spider-Woman” – crafting a story that’s meant to set up the upcoming Spider-Woman series by Watters this November. Told like a detective story from the perspectives of both Ben Urich and Spider-Woman, we get a bit of a standard monster-of-the-week type tale that also has undercurrents of body horror going for it. I mean, what else can you expect with a giant Man-Spider kidnapping hapless workers and storing them in abandoned skyscrapers for feasting? Not to mention Jessica’s latest partner in crime being the symbiotic serial killer Carnage – who she’s now sharing body and mind with. There’s a creepier vibe to this story, especially with how Jessica is characterized, with Ben Urich being the POV character point out this fact repeatedly in the story. Even at the story’s conclusion, when Jessica doesn’t share the full details of what really happened in her fatal confrontation with the Man-Spidery, Watters maintains a strong sense of unease throughout, going back to some of the creepier and more sinister tones of Spider-Woman’s older stories and her less than heroic days. I’m hoping this tonality continues in the main series later on, but for now this feels like a great primer, and watching Jessica once again being pulled back into the darkness of potential manipulation – this time by the Carnage symbiote – will be interesting to follow.
With two stellar writing teams working side by side, Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 covers two halves of a very strange and wonderful character fairly effectively. Nocenti’s more fun superhero caper set in the past that also focuses on Jessica’s headspace easily informs and transitions to the present story that Watters is building for the character, who is once again trying to do the right thing but is also in over her head with a new power set and malicious partnership that once again promises headaches to come.
From Glamor to Grim
Two stellar art teams also play a strong role in making each story feel distinct in this anniversary special, and it’s fun to watch these styles work in service of their respective stories. A colorful superhero adventure with some wild colors and a truly psychedelic feel starts off the book, followed by a bit more of a dour and grim story with more of a monster-movie feel to it in the second half: both coming together to once again capture the character of Jessica Drew surprisingly well.
“High Tag Wins” sees Stefano Raffaele and Neeraj Menon craft a captivating superhero romp with their gorgeous line and color work, respectively. Raffaele draws a fun, high-energy set of adventures with all the glitz and glamour that comes with the day-to-day of Jessica’s superheroics, making her look pretty damn sexy throughout. Her swimsuit and Spider costume also align visually in that regard, once again blurring the lines between the civilian and superhero persona, which also takes another more trippy turn when we get a visual representation of Jessica’s own powers also acting on the fritz during her usual relaxation period. It’s a truly fun and action-packed adventure, taking place in bright daylight and colorful focus thanks to Menon’s own shading work, which makes the visual fidelity of this particular past-centered story really pop.
In a bit of a contrast to this first story, “The Mysterious Spider-Woman” sees Andrea Broccardo and Mattia Iacono create a comparatively dour and grimmer adventure for Jessica. Here the more spidery and mysterious visual aspects of Jessica are played up by Broccardo’s line work, with even her costume design appearing to be more alien and insectlike, which also clashes against the more monstrous foe she faces in this book. And of course we get a quick yet meaningful little glimpse of Jessica’s latest Carnage-ified self, which appears fairly like you’d expect, though there are small telltale visual cues to suggest his growing influence on our favorite character. Iacono further augments these grittier aspects by having a more noir-inspired color palette while still maintaining the colorful designs of Jessica’s costume and Carnage’s blood-red influence as well.
In Need of a Bit More Bash
Jessica Drew’s always had a wonky history throughout her long 50-year career. A name slapped on a box to ensure copyright enforcement, followed by a rollercoaster ride of being a villain, a hero, and everything in between across a cavalcade of strange and wonderful stories before finally settling in the here and now alongside the rest of the Spider-folk. This anniversary issue does a good job reconciling a bit of that wild and weird history for the character, and it’s a fun ride throughout, even though I wish a celebratory issue of this nature got a bit more space to tell more stories deserving of the character’s posterity.
That being said, Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 sets up a new status quo for the character fairly admirably, embracing her more venomous roots (pun intended) to establish her upcoming series. At the heart of it all, she might not be the most famous to hold the Spider-Woman moniker, but this book does a fairly good job in reminding people why she’s the first and why Jessica is still around and kicking after nearly half a century of adventuring across Marvel’s pages.
Final Verdict: Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 is a serviceable yet far too-short celebration of the antics of Jessica Drew, with a couple of fun stories that establish her past appeal and her current status quo in fairly entertaining fashion.