This series which has struggled for its first half year to find identity seems to have finally found one, but it is also in an unlikely place.  Thus far the tale of Spider-Woman has been a confusing one to say the least.  The character has been through Spider-Verse and afterwards straight into a reboot and redesign which made her much more street level than she has been before.  While this more approachable character has been hinted at for a couple of issues now, this is the first where Jessica Drew is allowed to progress a little bit beyond the ordinary into something else.

It should be said though that this is one of the most unconventional superhero stories that has been seen in a while.  Spider-Woman is on the trail of the kidnapped families of some minor villains, but to find them she goes undercover as one of the more comedic villains that one will see in the pages of comics.  Her journey takes her to a strange town which serves as the home of the wives, girlfriends and children of many supervillains.  The women here have gone further than to be captives, but rather have established new lives for themselves away from the danger of the super-world.  Spider-Woman finds herself among this group and passes herself off as one of them.  What was especially well done was the scene with the scene where she is shopping for a new dress, especially as she manages to somehow turn her costume into what looks like a purse.  In the end she gets a lot closer to where she wants to be, but not without the unexpected appearance of some new enemies.

Despite the unconventional approach taken with this issue, it still ends up being a bit of a mixed bag.  The storytelling is fun, but the pacing is not all there, with perhaps a bit too much put into the intricate plot.  Equally the women in this small town are approachable, but the question remains whether they should be?  This is still a pretty interesting issue, and the creative team deserves some credit for trying something different.  Different doesn’t always mean great though, and that is the bottom line here, as the issue is fun and engaging but not really much else.

Story: Dennis Hopeless Art: Javier Rodriguez
Story: 8.1 Art: 8.1 Overall: 8.1 Recommendation: Read