The first appearance of Spider-Woman! Jessica Drew takes aim at Nick Fury as Agent Arachne of Hydra, a woman with spider-powers, brainwashed and manipulated by the evil organization. It is revealed that Spider-Woman is one of the High Evolutionary's "New Men", unique in the fact that she is not only the first female, but the first to evolve from a spider. This origin and Spider-Woman's basic character design were created by Archie Goodwin, with her character planned as a "one-off" to ensure Marvel's trademark of the name "Spider-Woman". Needless to say, the comic had higher sales than expected, and Marvel decided to change her origin and put her in her own ongoing series. The comic ran until Issue #50 (1978-1983), with Jessica Drew going from superhero to bounty hunter to private investigator, eventually meeting her end in the last issue. After public outcry, Drew was resurrected less than a year later. She made only a handful of guest appearances and wouldn't don her costume until more than a decade later. However, it was her inclusion in New Avengers and subsequent role in the "Secret Invasion" storyline that truly catapulted her into modern fandom. As we've seen time and again in our auctions, such first appearances of important characters in the Marvel Universe are among the most sought-after comic art in the entire collecting field. And it's actually quite rare for the single first appearance of a character to come on an indisputably great cover -- beautifully drawn and impactfully composed, this is just a perfect stand-alone piece of comic art both historically and artistically -- and one that has never before come to auction, having been buried in a collection for multiple decades. This cover is so iconic and important to the Marvel mythos, it was even featured as a commemorative stamp released by the United States Postal Service, alongside Hulk #1, X-Men #1, and Amazing Spider-Man #1! This dramatic cover is drawn by Gil Kane, with Bob Layton, Dick Giordano, and John Romita Sr. attached as possible inkers. We believe Romita Sr. is the likely inker, not only because of the inking style and look of the characters, but also because Romita was credited as the inker in The Comic Reader industry fanzine.
