Spider-Woman #3
Dennis Hopeless, Javier Rodriguez, Albardo Lopez, Racehelle Rosenberg
Marvel $3.99
WHAT I EXPECTED GOING INTO THIS ARC: Jessica Drew struggling with pregnancy and being a super hero.
WHAT I GOT INSTEAD: Die Hard, in space, starring a VERY pregnant Jessica Drew.
The first thing I did after reading this issue was to jump on Twitter and scream it’s praises. Writer Dennis Hopeless and artists Javier Rodriguez, Alvardo Lopez and Rachelle Rosenberg have come together to create an amazing story arc which sees a very pregnant Spider-Woman and a squad of fellow moms-to-be stuck in space hospital that’s trapped in Black Hole and crawling with hostile Skrulls.
That is a crazy pants premise that I love so much.
One of the best things about this arc so far is seeing Javier Rodriguez go FULL JACK KIRBY with the art. Most of my experience with his art was seeing him draw street level heroes and heroines, so seeing him go cosmic and start drawing the way King Kirby did when it came to the Skrulls and other cosmic Marvel beings blew my mind. And it’s just 
not the characters. There’s a bit in this issue where he has to draw Jessica traveling over some weird alien environments, and Javier completely manages to replicate Kirby super detailed, exotic and trippy as all hell style for this scene. All while ensuring his characters maintain the level of detail and expressiveness we’ve come to expect from him, not to mention his experimental layouts and panel placement. Alvaro Lopez and Rachelle Rosenberg bring their A games as usual too, as Lopez manages to ink Rodriguez’s lines perfectly, while adding heavy blacks to backgrounds when needed. Rosenberg’s colors are superb, helping the final look as good as a comic can look in 2015, giving it a slight advantage over the Silver Age era where Kirby ruled over.
Dennis Hopeless’ Jessica Drew remains wonderful. Anyone worried that the character wasn’t going to be done justice now that she’s pregnant has nothing to fear, as Jessica is just as kick ass as she’s always been, just now slightly more cautious. Hopeless’ Spider-Woman is a lot like Alanna from Saga, only way less foul-mouthed and way more suitable for an teenage audience. Seeing the character take charge and lead a bunch of expecting mothers against 
the Skrulls is definitely an empowering moment for the character, as she manages to keep her cool and do some serious ass kicking. Additionally, his take on Captain Marvel as the concern future godmother helping Jessica through this ordeal puts the character in a new role, without making her any less of a great character. Combined that will the cool new alien characters Hopeless and the artist team creates for this arc, Spider-Woman #3 has a great cast of characters for reader’s to get invested it.
Spider-Woman #3 is an artistic tour de force with some wonderful character moments. It’s EASILY one of the best looking comics to come out during January, and definitely a personal best for this creative team. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to top this one anytime in the near future, but now I’m just going to enjoy what we got.
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