Spider-Woman (2015) #2

Previously in Spider-Woman #1 

Readers may not be aware of this, but with a few exceptions, the comic books we review at Project Fandom are paid for out of our own pockets. I certainly pay for the comics I personally review, and if there’s a new title I’d like to see featured on the site, I’ll pay for the first 5 issues (or whatever covers the first arc) for one of the writers to cover. If they are really enjoying it, they may continue to pay for the upcoming issues and review them. (The struggle of being small press.) And then there are titles that the contributors have already been reading and enjoying (before they were PF writers), and they choose to continue to buy and review them. We do get some titles for free, to review, from a few publishers, but Marvel isn’t one of them.

I mention of all of this to let you know that if we’re covering it, there’s a damn good reason. We’re reading it, loving it, and we want to tell the world about it. That’s how I feel about Hopeless’ Spider-Woman run. I only decided to read it after the controversial variant cover for issue one was revealed. I wasn’t a fan, but I thought the original cover was gorgeous. Through those first few issues, I jumped into Spider-Verse (which is fantastic, by the way), and the rest is history.

I cannot think of one negative thing to say about this series. With each issue, I fall more in love with Jessica Drew. Her pregnancy is a bold new direction for the series, and one that could draw as much criticism as that variant cover. I won’t even get into how absurd it is for parents to allow their children to get their moral cues from fictional (adult) characters, but if they must, I can see nothing wrong with a grown-ass woman who decides to become a mother (without naming the father because it’s no one’s damn business) and still wants to help those who cannot help themselves.

This side of Jessica is on full display as she finds herself being held hostage by Skrull thugs in the Force Alpha Flight’s maternity ward. She’s also low-key offended they’re so easily dismissing a room full of pregnant females (of various species) as not being a threat. After she takes out two of the guards, the other women look to Jessica for protection and leadership until Captain Marvel can arrive. Of course, she agrees to take on the incoming Skrulls, but she also insists that the women have a hand in their own fates.

Man, that totally speaks to one of the reasons why I love this character. She’s tough, she talks a lot of shit, but when it gets down to it, she’s not only the type of person who helps, but inspires others to be better - just look at Porcupine or the women of Moon’s Hollow.

Unfortunately, backup is a bit further away than Jessica originally thought so the nightmare in the maternity ward isn’t yet over, but I’m really not concerned. Jessica’s got this. And if she happens to go into labor, at least she’s already where she needs to be, right?