There are certainly more famous superhero females like Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl, but my all time favorite is Marvel Comics Spider-Woman. I really related to her for many reasons and at the tender age of 12, the first issue of Spider-Woman's own title comic was highly influential for me.
Here is a copy of the cover to Spider-Woman #1, penciled and inked by Joe Sinnot, one of the famous artists of the Marvel Bullpen!
Although her origin story is the usual "way out" type of story you expect from a comic book character, her character is easy for me to relate to. She is different from other people. She doesn't fit in. She is a loner. She is somebody who had a bad childhood, but overcame everything and made positive choices to not let her past ruin her future. She chooses on page two of issue #1 to NOT become a criminal. To not even steal to eat. She declares, "NO! Maybe my PAST 's been destroyed but I won't ruin my FUTURE as well!".
Those words didn't change my life in that moment, but those words sat with me for all these years. They rang in my head after I swallowed a bottle of pills from the medicine cabinet when I was thirteen. Those words made me think many times when I was down and out that maybe I could have a good future. Maybe I could make the choice to not let my past ruin my future.
I might not have a perfect life today, but my life has been much better than I thought it would be. Yes, I've had it hard but I've had great things happen and have had a lot of good luck, too. Jessica Drew chose not to wallow in self-pity, even though nobody could blame her for wanting to. She made the choice to use her seemingly bad circumstances for good causes. So forever and ever I will have a special place in my heart for Spider-woman.
In 2009, Marvel comics gave Jessica her own title book again. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Alex Maleev, the new comics focus on Jessica's life today. Her luck hasn't gotten much better, but she is still battling herself to make the right choices. Thankfully she didn't kill herself in issue #1 of the new title, but I sure know how she felt.
You can also check out the Spider-woman motion comic on itunes, which was number one when it premiered in the TV catagory!
Speaking of TV, for a full season back in 1979, she was also featured in her own Saturday morning cartoon show. I tried to never miss it. After all, those were the days before VCRs were common in every household. Even though the cartoon version of Jessica Drew is very different than the comic version, I still loved her. In the cartoon, she is a well adjusted woman with a steady job and a family, (at least a nephew). There's never any indication that she was involved with anything dark or negative in her past. So although the character looked the same, she was a very different person in her real life in the cartoon version vs. the comic. These cartoons have never been officially released on DVD.
The cartoon version of the costume featured yellow eyes instead of white. She is also often drawn in the cartoon without her glider webs under the arms. Otherwise, the costume is essentialy the same.
Sadly, they didn't have a Spider-woman doll back then. If they did, I haven't found one and wasn't aware of it at the time the show was on. So in desperation, I took my Wonder Woman mego doll and dressed her with my brother's Shazam doll outfit, which I sewed very crudely to fit her better. Then I used a piece of masking tape, which I colored red with a marker and made a Spider-Woman mask for the doll. Years later I did regret ruining my Mego Wonder Woman. Her face was permanently dyed red from the marker seeping though the tape. I ended up trading that doll with somebody later on, who thought they could get most of the red off. I don't know if they did.
In more modern times, there have been a few action figures and busts of Spider-Woman but I'd never found a doll. Below is a very cute recent action figure for the Marvel Superhero Squad line.
But one day, I happened upon a listing for a Spider-Woman doll and was able to obtain it for just under $100! This is the very doll I had hoped for and dreamed of having back when I was a kid!
Apparently, she was made in 1998 by a division of Marvel known as Toy Biz. Her box, which is in storage but will end up on this page eventually, says, "Special Edition Series" and has a brief introduction to her on the back of the box.
The doll is 12" tall. Her knees bend and her waist moves. Her arms are rubber and cannot be posed other than out or down. Her costume is fairly accurate except for the poor job done on the glider wings under her arms. They're just cheap netting material. Still, she is a great doll. Not something Tonner would put out, but still a great doll anyway.
These pictures were taken in a rush. At some point I will shoot some good pictures of her with her box, but I just wanted these up for starters.
