posted
I remember in an issue of the Avengers many years ago it was stated Jessica Drew lost her powers. When was this undone?
Also, does anyone know why Marvel did a Spiderwoman comic years ago? Didn't they have to do it to keep the copyright or something? Anyone have the scoop here?
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by lancesrealm: I remember in an issue of the Avengers many years ago it was stated Jessica Drew lost her powers. When was this undone?
Ah, that's... complicated.
First, it was revealed in the early issues of Wolverine that all she'd really lost was her venom blasts. Other than that, she was only slightly depowered.
Then, in one of Mark Greunwald's last stories, in a [Spectacular?] Spider-Man Annual backup, he had Julia Carpenter (as Spider-Woman) rescue Jessica (who was in full costume, and presumably repowered) from an alternate dimension. Since Greunwald died shortly after without telling anyone what his follow-up plans were - though he apparently had some - this became a dangler.
Then Jessica was depowered AGAIN, along with Julia, after a villainous Spider-Woman stole both their powers. Apparently, however, over the course of the following Spider-Woman series, her powers returned in full (Julia's status has never been cleared up though) and Byrne had one particularly infamous scene where she put on her costume just because she wanted to say she was never putting her costume on again
And now, in Giant-Size Spider-Woman, her powers were on the fritz until someone fixed her up. Your eyes may roll now.
quote:Originally posted by lancesrealm: Also, does anyone know why Marvel did a Spiderwoman comic years ago? Didn't they have to do it to keep the copyright or something? Anyone have the scoop here?
Because Byrne wanted to to accompany the Spider-Man titles he'd been given, and Marvel said "yes".
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
posted
I'm not sure this answers my question. wasn't the original Spiderwoman series published because ABC wanted to do an animated Spiderwoman? I seem to remember Marvel said they couldn't do it without permission, yet they did not have a Spiderwoman character.
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I believe there was a SPIDERWOMAN cartoon in development in the mid-to-late 70's. Marvel very quickly created their own so they could snag the Trademark and stop anyone else from doing one. I suppose the thinking was, people would think a "Spiderwoman" must be related to Marvel's Spider-Man. I believe this is the same sort of thinking that inspired publisher Martin Goodman to tell editor Stan Lee to create a character called "Captain Marvel", since if anyone else did in the late 60's, people would think it must be related to Marvel Comics. NEITHER character was very well thought-out initially... though both EVENTUALLY were developed into something worth reading.
Of course, Marvel came under some fire from fans for suddenly creating female versions of existing characters-- the sort of thing DC was known for and Marvel had earlier shied away from (and occasionally knocked DC for doing). In a short space, you had SPIDER-WOMAN, SHE-HULK, MS. MARVEL... I guess this is what happens when money takes precedence over real creativity.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
But some of those characters ended up being pretty interesting in the hands of the right people...like Ms. Marvel by Claremont and later Busiek, Byrne's She-Hulk, Jessica Drew by Claremont.
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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I still shake my head at the roller-coaster ride of quality that SPIDER-WOMAN went thru. You started with Archie Goodwin & Sal Buscema in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT, then continued into the mess that was MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE by Wolfman, Wilson & Chan. The first year of her own book by Wolfman, Infantino & DeZuniga was SURPRISINGLY good. Gruenwald, Infantino & Gordon (earliest work by Gruenwald or Gordon I'd ever seen) were even better. But then you had Fleisher & Springer... and the book skidded completely off-track. Just when I was about to give up, Claremont & Leialoha OUT-DID the best of the earlier issues, and really gave fans something to remember!
But then they were GONE, and we were left with Nocenti (WORST writer I'd ever run across, I felt, at the time) and... I don't even remember who did the art. Did it surprise anyone that, after a brief run that made Fleisher's look GOOD by comparison, they cancelled the book?
Sad, that's what it was...
Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by lancesrealm: I remember in an issue of the Avengers many years ago it was stated Jessica Drew lost her powers. When was this undone?
Was that in AVENGERS (vol. 1)240-241? I remember Jessica being in a coma while her Spider-Woman self was floating around in some astral plane and it took the efforts of Dr. Strange and the Avengers to get her back? Who was responsible for the coma in the first place?
If the question has been answered already, please tell me or else i'll lose my "train of thought" typing this response (most likely I'll lose the message, too!)
From: Adelaide, Australia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by profh0011: then they were GONE, and we were left with Nocenti (WORST writer I'd ever run across, I felt, at the time) and... I don't even remember who did the art. Did it surprise anyone that, after a brief run that made Fleisher's look GOOD by comparison, they cancelled the book?
Sad, that's what it was...
I have a late-80s interview with Ann Nocenti where she disowned all her Spider-Woman stories, saying the only reason she wrote them is because she was unproven as a writer and Spider-Woman was the only book offered.
We all have to start somewhere. If she hadn't gotten her foot in the door with Spider-Woman, we wouldn't have had her excellent writing on Longshot, Daredevil (sometimes,) and Kid Eternity. Plus she created Poison, Marvel's only Latina superheroine who doesn't offend me, being as I am a Latina.
posted
I'm not at all surprised to learn such a thing.
Yet another reason to do something I've been planning to do for a long time: create a minor character named M'llar for my next fanfic, and then kill him brutally. HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAAAA!
quote:Originally posted by Stealth: I'm not at all surprised to learn such a thing.
Yet another reason to do something I've been planning to do for a long time: create a minor character named M'llar for my next fanfic, and then kill him brutally. HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAAAA!
Good to see I'm not the only person who does things like that in a fanfic!
-------------------- "Tempus Fugitive" the final part of the Adventures of Dream Boy series, set in the Three-Boot Universe. Read it only in the Bits o' Legionnaire Business Forum.
From: here, more often than not | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
The early issues of SPIDER-WOMAN, with Wolfman and Infantino were surprsingly good and creepy. Werewolf By Night, The Brothers Grimm, Madame Doll, Gypsy Moth, Nekra... the series began to lose it around the 20s.
Perhaps besides Luke Cage the character most associated with Brian Bendis’s firm control on the Marvel Universe these days. That alone might turn some fans off to her, but I’ll admit: I always thought her a bit of a lame character and its only been under Bendis’s pen that I’ve grown interested in Spider Woman the heroine and Jessica Drew the character.
First there’s her look: great costume, great powers. Sexy but bad-ass. McNiven and Finch really made me like her in New Avengers, and I honestly think its her far superior look that makes her so much better than the other irrelevant Spider Women over the years.
Then there’s all that’s gone on with her in New Avengers and most importantly Secret Invasion. There’s no doubt she’s a pretty fascinating character because of all this stuff—mainly because a lot of what was done with Spider Woman these past few years wasn’t really her.
So now Bendis has started a Spider Woman series, complete with his old Daredevil partner Alex Maleev, and when the two of them are together its generally brilliant. Bendis/Maleev on DD made that comic one of the best comics of the entire last decade. Maleev’s style is gritty, shadowy and screams noir series or spy series rather than super-hero series. Bendis, meanwhile, is in his element, doing the type of series he made to do. Like the aforementioned DD, and his monumentally excellent run on Alias, Bendis excels at single-hero stories in which the character is completely screwed up, angst-driven and in battles that keep them on the streets or in the shadows.
I picked up Spider Woman #1 on a whim and it was so good I grabbed #2. That was also so good I made it part of my pull list and its now up to #4—thus far, excellent on all counts. Bendis takes Spider Woman in another direction than anything he’s done in the past, making her part of SWORD, the intergalactic version of SHIELD that has recently become more predominant in Marvel, and she’s hunting down Skrulls still on Earth. Rather than make that a big wide-screen superhero mission, they take a cue from Wolverine’s original solo start and move her to Madripoor, dealing with the underworld and naturally, with Hydra and Madame Hydra whom she has a fascinating history with. It’s a great premise: not completely original but unlike anything else being offered these days, and by a creative team the bring out all the good qualities in one another. I’ll reiterate: I think Maleev’s presence helps reign in Bendis’s more annoying traits and keeps him focused.
Spider Woman herself is experiencing all kinds of angst due to being imprisoned by the Skrulls for a long time while her name was usurped and basically turned into public enemy #1. Everyone is uncomfortable around her and so she’s naturally even more uncomfortable around everyone. So on the most basic level its Kindergarten with killing and shape-shifting aliens.
I highly recommend people check out this comic. If you like noir, spy comics or something gritty with an international flavor, you’ll like it. If you like former b-list characters like Spider Woman who is experiencing a renaissance, you’ll be impressed. And if you can’t stand Bendis but want to find a series that might actually explain to you what all the fuss is about, then this is likely going to be it.
[ January 08, 2010, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: Cobalt Kid ]
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: So now Bendis has started a Spider Woman series, complete with his old Alias partner Alex Maleev, and when the two of them are together its generally brilliant. Bendis/Maleev on Alias made that comic one of the best comics of the entire last decade.
Maleev had nothing to do with the Alias title. He did Daredevil with Bendis, and Bendis did Alias with Michael Gaydos. (I wasn't going to point it out, but then you said it again with such effusive definitiveness )
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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