Spider-Woman #1 Review

By now you’ve probably heard the hubbub about the variant cover to Spider-Woman #1.  None of that is important now, it has passed and the series is finally here.  Is the book worth all the attention brought on by the controversy?  Read the review and find out!

SPIDER-WOMAN #1
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Greg Land
Inker:  Jay Leisten
Letterer:  Travis Lanham
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in Spider-Woman:  Nothing.  New series, though you’ll probably want to know that the Inheritors are tracking down every Spider-Man they can find to feed on their life force.  Somehow Spider-Woman is mixed up in this.

LIKE SPIDER-WOMAN?  TOO BAD, SHE’S BARELY IN THIS

I’m not going to lie, the Milo Manara variant cover debacle is the only reason this title is on my radar.  I know next to nothing about Spider-Woman so what better place to be introduced than the first issue of her new series?  Somewhere else would be the answer to that question.

What could have been a great introduction to a possibly great series turns out to be nothing more than another Spider-Verse tie-in  Not only is the reader expected to be familiar with Spider-Woman but to be reading Spider-Verse as well.  I was looking forward to this book possibly making me a fan of a character that I’ve heard people love, but there was nothing that interested me.  I learned more about Spider-Woman in the paragraph at the top of the credits page than I did the whole issue.  I’ve barely stuck my toe into the Spider-Verse pond and I haven’t liked the little I read.  Why is Spider-Woman in another universe with Silk riding giant lizards?  Who knows.

Though I find being a tie-in issue for its first go ‘round a bad choice, it would have been an easier pill to swallow had Spider-Woman been in it.  Well, she is in it but she takes second stage to Silk whom the story revolves around.  If the title was “Silk” it wouldn’t be so egregious, but making the title character supporting cast, and the opening issue nonetheless, is a huge bummer.  Dennis Hopeless writes a decent story but I care so little about Spider-Verse that it didn’t matter, I was completely disengaged.  Readers enjoying Spider-Verse may like this but those looking for a good Spider-Woman comic will have to wait.

YOU LOOK FAMILIAR

While the criticism against Greg Land is justified, I find much of it to be a bit harsh.  I like his work but there are instances where he falls into what is almost a parody of himself.  Spider-Woman #1 is one of those instances.  Land’s “photo-realistic” technique (for lack of a better term) has become a crutch and he’s clearly reusing references here.  There are faces on Silk that I’m positive have been used on covers of Ultimate Fantastic Four and elsewhere.  As usual, characters look posed and there is little motion in the action scenes.  When he doesn’t rely on reference things fall apart and figures look disproportionate.  There are some good layouts in the issue but it’s nothing spectacular.  Of course it wouldn’t be Greg Land without over sexualized poses, and this issue has them in spades.  Gwen Stacy Spider-Girl is in high school but is built like an adult film star.  Looking at the cover alone is enough of a giveaway as I could wrap my hand around Silk’s waist.  It was another disappointment in a book that had some promise.

THE BOTTOM LINE: DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, CERTAINLY NOT YOUR MONEY

There’s very few positive things I can say about Spider-Woman #1.  Dennis Walker writes an okay, if somewhat bland story that is a good tie-in to Spider-Verse.  Unfortunately that story happens in a character’s debut issue of a new series, of which she is hardly in.  Greg Land’s art has all his weakness and few of his strengths.  Readers following Spider-Verse may want to give this a read but I can’t see it being important enough to drop $3.99.  I was looking forward to becoming a Spider-Woman fan but this book let me down in so many ways.  Turns out the controversy surrounding the issue was more interesting than the book itself.