What is happening? I've usually liked Foxe's work in the past and this run started out at least functional. This feels so weird with Madame Web just coming out. Do writers just hate Spider-Wom(e)n? There are some decent story beats happening here, but the level of bonkers stupidity is just egregious. We have to suspend disbelief for comics, but everything about this issue breaks immersion. What did I just read? At least I can't criticize the pacing; they packed a lot of antics into one issue.

Steve Foxe’s initial arc for Jess has had its ups and downs. It’s been good when Jess has been kicking butt, but has struggled when her entire personality is confined to her being an emotional mother. I don’t like that she is reduced to a blubbering female who is only defined by her motherhood.

With Gang War wrapping up, I’m willing to give this run a few more issues to move onto bigger and better storylines for Jess, but the rope is short.

Well, that was just weird. Instead of Gang War they should have called it Jessica Drew and the Case of the Over-Complicated Info-Dumps.

I mean props where they’re due, Jess being called out for being a poor mother isn’t undeserved, and her cleverly getting Carol not to follow Gerry by demanding her attention showed Jess still occasionally has the smarts.

Sadly, overall…the plotting made little sense, beyond setting up the obvious, and mundane, ending. Jess came over as histrionic rather than emotionally believable, mostly because the script bent over backwards to justify her feelings that it had to be Hydra, instead of allowing her to solve the mystery, and uncover the truth organically. Ultimately, it all felt hollow and trite, like painting by numbers.

Honestly, this mini-series has generally ended up being quite hokey. Roger had already been replaced by Lindsay at the time of the End of the Spider-Verse story, so why was he suddenly back on the scene unannounced? Is Marvel scared of a potentially queer relationship or simply terrified by continuity? Also, even if Roger didn’t know Gerry, or why he himself was there, why would he leave a cot-bound child alone? Bonkers.

I guess the denouement goes some way towards providing a half-way reasonable reason for why she suddenly decided, with no prior inclination, to become a mother, in that it was ill conceived, but honestly it felt that way at the time. I’d always thought Hydra had pulled a deeply hidden trigger as it never truly felt honest to Jess to suddenly have a kid out of the blue. Speaking of blue, Jess’ eyes should be green, and her powers bio-electric. It’s like Marvel literally don’t care any longer.

Still, at least Gang War is over. I’m happy to forgive and forget so long as the writing turns the corner it needs to. I’m less convinced than I was at the start of the run, but fingers crossed…I really don’t want to have to abandon another Jess series, but this has not been that fulfilling so far. When, even though the pacing works, the most exciting moment in Jessica’s solo comic is Julia setting up Carol’s return, something has gone horribly wrong. Shame, as I liked the mostly serious approach.
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