Spider-Women Omega #1 Review

Writer: Dennis Hopeless / Artist: Nico Leon / Marvel Comics From a distance Spider-Women can easily appear as a bad gimmick: they’re a team of women from a publisher that has struggled with an increasingly strong push for diversity; they’re a collection of remixed Spider-heroes who seemed to have reached a saturation point even for Marvel; they’re a crossover event. They’re also 3 women characters being written by a team of 3 male writers, which isn’t quite a good look no matter how you frame it. Pick your reason to dislike a Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Silk crossover, but as we reach the conclusion of their book with the culminating Spider-Women Omega I have to say… this series turned out great.

The interwoven story arcs made for a Spider-Women crossover that was character-driven, web-slinging, inter-dimensional fun. Not only did each of the trio have their own identity, but, as a team, they also formed one that was dynamic, recognizable, and distinct. Spider-Women was meant to be about family – the kinds you are born into the kinds you choose – and that’s what we saw develop between Jessica, Gwen, and Cindy as they learned each other’s strengths, fears, and weaknesses in order to support one another. And they grew into it, because they definitely didn’t start out that way. I criticized issue #1 because the most uncomfortable element of Spider-Women Alpha was reading 3 people who really don’t want to be with each other. In a book based on the concept of family, those emo…