REVIEW: Spider-Woman #5

Well, there was an inevitability throughout this book since its return following the Secret Wars event.Â With Jessica being in “the family way”, sooner of later Baby Drew was going to make an appearance.Â As of last issue, it was definitely sooner.Â Now, he is here, what does that mean for this street level super heroine?

Dennis Hopeless deserves a lot of credit.Â Reading this issue brought back a lot of those new parent feelings I felt with my own son.Â The exhaustion of the sleep interrupted nights, the panic of the baby sleeping longer than you expect, the crying for food, the crying for a diaper change and of course, the crying just because; all means that new parents have a lot to deal with a new baby whose world destroying powers rival even Galactus!Â I am not sure if Hopeless is writing from experience or not, but he is bang on track with his writing of Jessica’s situation.Â Every nuance from her being overwhelmed, the guilt of going back to work and the awe in which her babysitter manages the baby is fully realized, which in turn gives the whole book a real life quality.Â The dialogue is sharp, generating genuine emotions in the reader.

Javier Rodriguez continues his great work on this book.Â The line work and poses may not be the most dynamic in comics, but the mix ofÂ grounded character workÂ along with the cartoon element that seems so popular at the moment provides some great visuals throughout the issue.Â Honestly there is nothing in there that I can complain about.Â Rodriguez is helped out by Alvaro Lopez on inks and their work gels like other great partnerships, such as Lee and Williams in context, if not in style.Â Colors are provided by Rachelle Rosenberg who despite the vibrancy of the scheme, manage to convey a retro feel to proceedings.

One of my Crusading cohorts believes that Javier Rodriguez should be nominated for this years Harvey award.Â Whilst its easy to agree with him, I think the truth of the matter is that Spider-Woman could be the book of the year.Â Regardless of the constant reboots and the not so “All New” vibe that surrounds some of their main books, Marvel are clearly doing fantastic work with their female characters.

STORY BYÂ Dennis Hopeless
ART BYÂ Javier Rodriguez, Alvaro Lopez
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

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Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network