Written by GL
Not many people in the world find spiders sexy. In fact, in my opinion, they are one of the ugliest bugs in existence and the thought of one even watching me right now as I type this blog entry makes me want to go out and buy a flame thrower. However, can you deny a spider when she comes in such body-hugging outfit as Spider Woman does ?
But please note though, throughout comic history, there have been not three or four, but five different Spider Women.
The first was Helen Goddard, who appeared only once in the Golden Age and never showed up again. The second is Jessica Drew, who appeared in 1979 and is, by far, the most popular character to hold the name. The third was Julia Carpenter, a former member of the Avengers and recognizable by her red hair and black and white costume. The fourth was Mattie Franklin, who was a true impersonator of our friendly neighborhood buddy and actually bears the exact costume of him. And the fifth and final version of Spider Woman was, funnily enough, a super-villain who went by the name of Charlotte Witter.
Today, we're only gonna talk about Jessica Drew. Because brunettes are hot.
Jessica Miriam Drew was affected by lethal radiation when she was only a child. In an attempt to save his daughter's life, Jonathan Drew injected her with an experimental serum made up of irradiated spiders' blood. But, it didn't seem to had helped at all and, by the direction of a man named Herbert Wyndham, she was placed into a genetic accelerator for several decades. This machine managed to slow down her aging process to the point that she was still a teenager even after her release.
Jessica had a hard time fitting in with modern society and she was eventually discovered by the infamous organization called HYDRA. She was brain-washed and manipulated into believing that she was not a human, but a highly evolved spider. It wasn't until Jessica was sent on a mission against S.H.I.E.L.D. that she discovered that HYDRA was not as nice as they said they were. After having run off in search of her father's killer, Jessica was recaptured by HYDRA. And once again, she managed to break free of their brainwashing.
It was then that Jessica, by the advice of a sorcerer named Magnus, moved to Los Angeles to begin a career as a crime-fighter. As Spider Woman, she faced a many number of more obscure foes, ranging from the Silver Samurai to the Viper. In between fighting crime, Jessica had been searching for a way to control her wild pheromones - which caused her to attract men but repel women at more-than-normal levels. She had worked for a while as a secretary, and this allowed her to obtain free medical treatments that could control her hormonal imbalance. But, a face off against a villain named Nekra led her to being fired from this job.
Almost at the end of her rope, Jessica ran into the one and only Spiderman, who convinced her to try using her powers for living her life for others. Spiderwoman had now turned to being a bounty huntress for a while. Failing this, she moved to San Francisco with her best friend, Lindsey McCabe, where she began life anew as a private investigator.
However, life took a turn for the worse for Jessica Drew when, in a battle with one of her arch-enemies, Morgan La Fey, Jessica's body was damaged to such a point that the sorcerer Magnus suspected that she was dead. Magnus tried to cast a spell to remove all memory of Jessica from the pages of humanity, but it didn't work. Jessica's body was discovered by two fellow superheroes, Tigra and the Shroud, who called in the help of the Avengers and Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange was able to revive Jessica but at a high cost - she was alive but she lost all of her super powers.
Still grateful to be alive, Jessica continued work as a private investigator. She later discovered that her powers were slowly returning, but they were not as controlled as before. It was during this time that she became the teacher and friend of Mattie Franklin, the female copy of Spiderman. The two ladies worked together on a few cases as Jessica's powers continued to slowly reappear.
Spider Woman's powers were restored to their full potential, ironically enough, by HYDRA. But, this meant she was obligated to do whatever the evil organization wished; or risk having her powers taken away from her once again. HYDRA recruited the renewed Spider Woman to act as their spy in the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. But (and here's the twister) through recent developments, it was found that Spider Woman had in fact been working as a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy within HYDRA the whole time. And it is here that her story is left.
Apart from the usual powers of super strength and speed, Spider Woman can also cling to walls just as well as good old Spidey can. She is immune to poisons and radiation. She can discharge venom blast from her hands. She secretes pheromones (as mentioned) strong enough to even control the minds of men. And, she can fly too.
So, as cool as our web-slinging, old school hero, Spiderman, maybe, no one looks better in a body curve-hugging suit than this sexy little Spiderwoman. Eat your heart out, Parker.
