Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin and Marie Severin, the character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977) as a brainwashed spy working for Hydra who becomes a superhero and private investigator (P.I.). 50 issues of an ongoing series titled Spider-Woman followed. At its conclusion, she fell into disuse, supplanted by other characters using the name Spider-Woman, with a planned reinvention of Drew returning to her P.I. roots becoming Alias and its protagonist Jessica Jones by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos, depicted as having the same career, hair colour, and friends as Drew, her being a hitherto-before-unmentioned superhero created due to Bendis having been a fan of Drew. Bendis then added Spider-Woman to the roster of the New Avengers, which leads to her involvement in the "Secret Invasion" storyline. In 2009, the character received her second self-titled limited series, written by Bendis, which ran for seven issues. As part of the 2014 "Spider-Verse" event, Spider-Woman began her third ongoing series, written by Dennis Hopeless. The series was interrupted by Marvel's 2015 "Secret Wars" event, and ended with issue #10. Spider-Woman was relaunched several months later with a new issue #1, still written by Hopeless, which continued the story from the previous volume.
Jessica Drew has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female heroes. She made her cinematic debut in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) as Jess Drew, voiced by Issa Rae.
Concept and creation Marvel Comics' then-publisher Stan Lee said in 1978, shortly after Spider-Woman's debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977) and the start of the character's 50-issue, self-titled series (April 1978 - June 1983), that the character originated because
Spider-Woman's origin and basic character were designed by Archie Goodwin, while her visual appearance was designed by freelancer Marie Severin.
Publication history Original series Though by most accounts, Spider-Woman was intended as a one-off character for the sake of simply establishing trademark, Marvel Spotlight #32 sold unexpectedly well and writer/editor Marv Wolfman was asked to take the character to an ongoing series.
In her first appearance, Spider-Woman was to be an actual spider evolved into a human as imagined by writer/co-creator Goodwin. Her debut was shortly followed by a four-issue story arc in Marvel Two-in-One in which Wolfman presented a different origin as he felt her original origin was too implausible for mid-1970s readers. During this arc and the premiere issue of her own comic, Spider-Woman was identified as the human Jessica Drew (combining the first name of Wolfman's daughter and the last name of fictional detective Nancy Drew), who had memories of being a spider implanted into her by the terrorist group Hydra. Her costume was also redesigned for her series to incorporate a long wig.
Wolfman introduced Spider-Woman's mentor Charles Magnus and archenemies Morgan le Fay and the Brothers Grimm. He left the series after issue #8, citing a heavy workload,"Venom Blasts" letter pages in Spider-Woman #8 and 12. but later admitted "If truth be told, I never felt comfortable writing her. I never found a handle for her and kept trying until I finally decided to leave the book". Neophyte Mark Gruenwald became the writer, while the series's regular penciler, comics legend Carmine Infantino, remained on board, having developed a fondness for the character and her stories. Gruenwald continued with the macabre themes Wolfman had used, while putting more focus on Drew's struggles to deal with her social awkwardness, shyness, and the negative reactions she produced in nearly everyone she met. The last of these is revealed to be caused by fear-inducing pheromones, a previously unrevealed ability. Gruenwald also introduced outgoing aspiring actress Lindsay McCabe, who became Drew's best friend and the mainstay of her supporting cast.
Marvel had been heavily advertising the series from the start, and during Gruenwald's run an animated TV series began airing. But Roger Stern, who replaced Wolfman as editor, recounted that Spider-Woman had already lost her status as a top seller by this time. Despite her differing origin and powers and Wolfman's deliberate effort to avoid Spider-Man guest appearances or crossovers, readers still tended to see the character as a female Spider-Man. "They saw her, and later the She-Hulk", Stern explained, "as running a good idea into the ground, much as DC had done in the '60s with its then-ever-growing families of Super- and Bat-characters".
Issue #20 saw the departure of Gruenwald, Infantino, and Stern. New writer Michael Fleisher gave Spider-Woman a career as a bounty hunter, abandoned both the series' macabre tone and outstanding subplots such as Charles Magnus' mysterious disappearance, and replaced them with such superhero standbys as criminal masterminds and a love interest who is enamored of the protagonist's costumed guise but oblivious to her in her civilian identity. Many fans criticized that Fleisher had taken away everything that made the character special."Venom Blasts" letter pages in Spider-Woman #27-28. Fleisher would be retained on the series up until #32, after which Chris Claremont, already a big-name writer for his work on Uncanny X-Men, took over and switched Jessica Drew's occupation from bounty hunter to private investigator. Steve Leialoha was drawing the series by this time.
The series had already come under criticism for its rapid turnover of writers,"Venom Blasts" letter page in Spider-Woman #33. and like all of its writers, Claremont had a fairly short stay on Spider-Woman. After 13 issues, both he and Leialoha were compelled to leave for other projects."Venom Blasts" letter page in Spider-Woman #46. Their final issue marked the return of Gruenwald, this time as editor. He was promptly informed that due to dwindling sales, Marvel was canceling the series, and issue #50 would be the last. Gruenwald hired comic book novices Ann Nocenti and Brian Postman as writer and penciler for the final four issues, under the theory that their inexperience in the medium would give them a unique perspective and perhaps take the series out with a bang. Under Gruenwald's direction, the series returned to its macabre roots and resumed the long-abandoned subplot of Magnus's disappearance. The final issue used a photo cover of Marvel staffers (including Gruenwald and Nocenti) in costume as the issue's cast, and had Spider-Woman perish in a climactic battle with her nemesis Morgan le Fay. Nocenti reasoned, "These are licensed characters and you want them to have a forever life. At the same time, they live in a violent world and occasionally you feel like someone has to die, otherwise it's too unreal.”
Readers were outraged at the character being killed, and Nocenti and Gruenwald both came to feel remorse over their decision. Gruenwald took the readers' reaction especially to heart, and became determined to fix what he saw as a major mistake. He and Stern had been paired up again on Avengers, but with their jobs swapped, and he instructed Stern to write a story reviving Drew. Less than a year after her death, Spider-Woman was resurrected in The Avengers #240-241 (Feb.-March 1984), the superheroes discovered Drew in her dire medical straits and helped her with the assistance of Doctor Strange.
Decline For the next four years, she was limited to a handful of guest appearances. In 1988, she and Lindsay McCabe joined the supporting cast of Wolverine, appearing through the first 16 issues of the character's series, followed by brief returns in issues #27 and 125–128. She was never depicted in costume during her appearances in Wolverine, sticking with her civilian identity, though she did often use her powers to aid Wolverine.
In 1996, Mark Gruenwald returned to the character with a short back-up feature in Sensational Spider-Man Annual '96. Titled "The Return of Spider-Woman", it put Drew back in costume for the first time in over a decade and ended with a teaser for further Spider-Woman adventures in Spider-Man Team Up. Gruenwald died, however, before these stories could be written, and subsequent appearances treated "The Return of Spider-Woman" as non-canon. In 1999, Drew was again placed in the role of non-costumed supporting character, this time to the third Spider-Woman, Mattie Franklin, for the first 11 issues of Spider-Woman volume 3.
Drew made an appearance in a 2003 story arc in Alias, a series written by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis would write most of the character's adventures for the next decade.
Revival through New Avengers In January 2005, New Avengers was launched, ostensibly with Jessica Drew as a member of the titular supergroup, back in costume as Spider-Woman. Though this Jessica Drew would later be revealed as an imposter, this prominent exposure of the character opened the door for new attention to her original adventures. Firstly, on 21 December 2005, Marvel released the first issue of Spider-Woman: Origin, a five-part miniseries co-written by Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed, illustrated by the art team of the Luna Brothers, Jonathan and Joshua Luna. It was largely an extended retelling of Marvel Spotlight #32, though some details were changed.
Secondly, the original Spider-Woman series was reprinted in its entirety, along with Marvel Spotlight #32 and all her contemporaneous guest appearances, in a pair of Essentials trade paperbacks, the first released simultaneously with Spider-Woman: Origin #1, the second in 2007.
In 2009, the "Secret Invasion" storyline introduced the concept that, with the exception of some flashback scenes, all of Jessica Drew's appearances in New Avengers over the past four years were actually made by a Skrull imposter. Writer Bendis said he had this planned since New Avengers #1.
Following this story, the real Drew supplanted her doppelganger as a regular member of The New Avengers. She was also featured in another solo limited series during this time, which was published both in printed form and as a motion comic. It was written by Bendis with art by Alex Maleev and lasted 7 issues. Following the cancellation of New Avengers, Spider-Woman appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010-2013 Avengers series, from issue #1 (July 2010) through its final issue #34 (January 2013). She appears as a regular character in the 2014 Secret Avengers.
Spider-Verse and several new solo series In 2014, Jessica was a key player in the Spider-Verse event. Spinning out of that event, a new fifth volume Spider-Woman series was started, written by Dennis Hopeless. In issue #5 the series featured the first redesign of Jessica's costume since it was created in the 1970s. This series was interrupted by Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars event, and ended with issue #10. Spider-Woman Volume 6 was relaunched several months later with a new issue #1, still written by Hopeless and continues the story from the previous volume. Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy and Silk were the protagonists of the Spider-Women event. Spider-Woman issues #6 and #7 were the tie-ins. The ongoing was cancelled after 17 issues.
In the fall of 2019, Marvel announced a new ongoing with Karla Pacheco on writing and Pere Perez on art duties, the first issue was released in March, 2020. As part of the relaunch, the character received a redesigned costume that was created by Dave Johnson. From issue #11 onwards, she returned to her original 70's costume. During the Devil's Reign event, the comic series received two tie-ins with issue #18 and #19.
Fictional character biography
Origins Original