Muy entretenido y con una trama ágil. Mi primer acercamiento a Spiderwoman ha sido de lo más positivo! ( )

Spider-Woman, Volume 2: New Duds collects Spider-Woman vol. 5, nos. 5-10. Following Jessica Drew's decision to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers following all the chaos of everything she's been through with the New Avengers, the Secret Invasion, and the Secret Avengers, she returns to solo superheroics in New York City. Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich enlists her to find out who's targeting the families of C-list supervillains which leads Jessica to work with Roger Gocker, the Porcupine. Spider-Woman's new costume serves as a break with her past and follows the trend of more functional costumes on comics characters. Further, she makes extensive use of her motorcycle, a vehicle that she first used during Chris Claremont's tenure on the 1978-1983 series. In returning Spider-Woman to her private detective roots, Dennis Hopeless crafts a fun story that recalls the best of the early Spider-Woman comics. Javier Rodriguez's art is lovely and adds a nice, stylized touch that gives the comic a distinctive look and feel. ( )

I love DeConnick's Spider-Woman from the Avengers SO HARD, from her sarcasm to her friendship with Carol to her odd relationship with Hulk. I knew this book wasn't going to be any of that, so my expectations weren't super high, but I was still interested in what someone else would do with the character.

This book cleared that low bar, but I doubt I'll follow this run at all. It was fun enough, light rompy enough, seemed inspired by Fraction's Hawkeye run more than a little. I liked the storylines okay, especially the disappearing girlfriends and wives of super villains, but I miss her edge. I guess she sometimes had attitude here, but it wasn't the same. She could have almost been any superhero in the universe for most of this story without changing it much.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. ( )

Spider-Woman Vol 2: New Duds written by Dennis Hopeless and illustrated by Javier Rodriguez is the volume of Spider-Woman that falls between Spider-Verse and Secret Wars. It is also (obviously) the collection in which she gets a new, cooler costume.

The previous Spider-Woman volume was not the most exciting, and despite the illustrator switch and the promise of a pregnant Spider-Woman down the line (after Secret Wars, not in this volume), I was a little apprehensive picking this up. Basically, I didn't want to be disappointed because Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman is one of my favourite superheroes. I need not have worried. Not only is the new costume more practical, but the stories are entertaining and funny, showcasing the best of what Spider-Woman can offer.

Having quit the Avengers, Jessica Drew decides she just wants to help people solo and on a smaller scale (less world-saving, basically). But when she gives this a go, it really doesn't go that well, partly because she stopped paying attention to Avengers bulletins. But once she teams up with Ben the reporter, her efforts become better directed, if not less amusing.

I really liked the first story arc which, after an intro, was basically about the girlfriends, wives and children of supervillains. I don't want to say more, because spoilers, but this is a really great storyline. It's followed by a shorter story arc in which Spider-Woman and her new team wander into a weird Western-themed town where something is not right. This shorter arc wasn't bad, but was less awesome and lead into the start of Secret Wars (which otherwise did not feature in this volume). I am pretty sure the next volume picks up after Secret Wars (yay) and I am looking forward to eventually getting my hands on it.

I highly recommend this volume to fans of Spider-Woman and female superheroes generally. Don't be put off by the fact that this is numbered Vol 2; it's actually an excellent place to start with Jessica's career change and costume change. My only complaint is that there was no Carol Danvers, but that's a minor quibble.

4.5 / 5 stars ( )