Spider-Woman 3 review

This is the weirdest comic I read this week, and considering Monstress 3 is about a one-armed girl with a monster living inside her in a world based on Chinese mythology, that’s saying something. The core story is a lot like Die Hard, where one person is all that stands between a group of invaders trying to take something and kill a bunch of people in the process. Of course instead of John McClane, you have a very pregnant Spider-Woman. Instead of terrorists stealing money, they’re skrulls trying to kidnap royalty. Instead of a skyscraper in Los Angeles, it’s an interspecies alien hospital located inside a black hole. Yeah, this is one of those comics, and it’s awesome.

Writer Dennis Hopeless knows how to make a comic ridiculous and fun. He fully embraces the insanity going on with this situation. In addition to some fun action, there’s a lot of great dialogue. Spider-Woman’s phone conversation with Captain Marvel is both amusing and helps move the story along. The teenaged Skrull royalty feels like an ordinary lazy teenager in the right ways, and his reference to a certain Spider-Woman alt-cover is hilarious. Even with all the fun, there’s still room for character development and a great internal narration as Jessica Drew talks to her unborn child.

The art by Javier Rodriguez is great. Like the writing, the art embraces the story’s insanity, especially when Spider-Woman takes the scenic route to get some much needed help. The 3 page montage of underwater creatures, gears and the giant slug with multiple heads is just crazy. The panels where you see space through the windows are beautiful. And of course, Jessica’s frustration, bewilderment and fatigue are perfectly portrayed by her facial expressions. Rachelle Rosenberg’s colouring is also great. The comic is bright, colourful and appealing to look at.

My favourite comic of the week is between this and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 54, and of the two, this is the more entertaining one. The cliffhanger is about as intense as one could get for this kind of story arc and it’s hard not to feel excited for the next issue. Spider-Woman fans should be reading this, as should anyone who wants to check her out or just wants a weirdly entertaining comic.