Spider-Woman | |
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Artwork for the cover of Spider-Woman: Origin 1 (February 2006 Marvel Comics). Art by Jonathan Luna.
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977) |
Created by |
Archie Goodwin (writer) Marie Severin (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Jessica Miriam Drew |
Team affiliations |
Avengers HYDRA Lady Liberators New Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. S.W.O.R.D. Secret Avengers |
Notable aliases | Arachne, Ariadne Hyde, Hunter |
Abilities |
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Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #32 (cover-dated February 1977), and 50 issues of an ongoing series titled Spider-Woman followed. At its conclusion she was killed, and though later resurrected in an Avengers story arc, she fell into disuse, supplanted by other characters using the name Spider-Woman.
Writer Brian Michael Bendis added Spider-Woman to the roster of the high-profile New Avengers. In 2009, the character received her second self-titled limited series, written by Bendis, which ran for seven issues. As part of the 2014 Spider-Verse event, Spider-Woman began her third ongoing series, this time written by Dennis Hopeless. This series was interrupted by Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars event, and ended with issue #10. Spider-Woman was relaunched several months later with a new issue #1, still written by Hopeless and continuing the story from the previous volume.
Marvel Comics' then-publisher Stan Lee, said in 1978, shortly after Spider-Woman's debut in Marvel Spotlight #32 and the start of the character's 50-issue, self-titled series (April 1978 - June 1983), that the character originated because
I suddenly realized that some other company may quickly put out a book like that and claim they have the right to use the name, and I thought we'd better do it real fast to copyright the name. So we just batted one quickly, and that's exactly what happened. I wanted to protect the name, because it's the type of thing [where] someone else might say, 'Hey, why don't we put out a Spider-Woman; they can't stop us.' ... You know, years ago we brought out Wonder Man, and [DC Comics] sued us because they had Wonder Woman, and... I said okay, I'll discontinue Wonder Man. And all of a sudden they've got Power Girl [after Marvel had introduced Power Man]. Oh, boy. How unfair.