Marvel celebrates 50 years of Spider-Woman in September

Jessica Drew is the latest Marvel character to hit a big anniversary — almost 50 years, having debuted in Marvel Spotlight #32 — and to celebrate, Marvel is dedicating a one-shot to the character with stories by Dan Watters, Andrea Broccardo, Ann Nocenti and more.

Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 will arrive in September and brings Nocenti back to a character she has some history with. In the 1980s, Nocenti wrote the final four issues of Spider-Woman’s ongoing series, not only ending the original series with issue #50 but also killing Jessica Drew off in that final issue. But you can’t keep a good hero down, so she was resurrected in the pages of Avengers a short time later.

“In the 1980s editor Mark Gruenwald gave me the assignment to ‘retire’ Spider-Woman, ending the book’s run with issue #50, so returning to write a story about how Jess’s friendships and battles are hard won feels redemptive,” she said. “Added bonus—with art by the spectacular Stefano Raffaele, the story will be gorgeous!”

Nocenti will team with Raffaele for a detective story set in L.A. that features the Flying Tiger.

“Returning to write a story about how Jess’s friendships and battles are hard won feels redemptive,” Nocenti said.

The one-shot also launches a new era for the character, with writer Dan Watters and artist Andrea Broccardo sending Jessica Drew back to her roots as a private investigator working alongside journalist Ben Urich. The story sets up a new status quo tied to what’s going on in the current Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity series. Here’s a page from their story:

“Mysterious and dangerous, Jessica Drew has always been one of my very favorite Marvel heroes, Watters, who is currently writing Nightwing for DC, said. “I’m so pleased to be bringing Spider-Woman venom-blasting into a new chapter of her story!”

The main cover is by Olivier Coipel, with variants by Greg Land and Rose Besch:

Spider-Woman 50th Anniversary Special #1 goes on sale Sept. 2.