Warning: contains preview images for Spider-Woman #21!
Even Spider-Woman is calling out the fact she has terrible villains. In a preview for Spider-Woman #21, she finds herself face to face with a team of villains who have come together to bring her down, and she cannot believe how ridiculous the team actually is. The issue, the last of the series' fan-favorite run, goes on sale in print and digital March 30.
The last year in Spider-Woman’s life has been one of the most tumultuous yet. After learning of the existence of a long-lost brother, Spider-Woman not only had to come to terms with that, but also take on the High Evolutionary, who had a cure to the sickness that had been plaguing her. She was also seemingly reunited with her previously thought dead mother, but it turned out to be a clone. After the dust settled, Spider-Woman decided to head to Madripoor with her friend Lindsay McCabe. Now, as she and Lindsay prepare to leave, Spider-Woman is attacked by a squad of villains, some that she recognizes and others she does not. The team calls itself the Anti-Arach9, brought together for one goal: to stop Spider-Woman once and for all. However, they are some of the most ridiculous villains she has ever encountered - and even she knows it.
Spider-Woman #21 is written by Karla Pacheco, drawn by Pere Perez, colored by Frank D’Armata and lettered by Travis Lanham. In a Marvel Comics preview, the Anti-Arach9 charge Spider-Woman all at once. As she fights her way through, she cannot help but notice there's a theme of brothers and dinosaurs to her latest foes, and even some villains whose names she can't remember. When one member tells her the team’s name, Spider-Woman is shocked they even have a name, or a “brand” as she puts it. The preview ends with members of the Anti-Arach9 attacking Lindsay McCabe, a move that is sure to draw Spider-Woman’s ire.
The preview ends there, leaving readers hanging on how Spider-Woman will put an end to the menace of the Anti-Arach9, but it is clear she has some truly awful villains - foes so bad at their job she cannot even remember their names. Further proving her point is the fact that the Anti-Arach9 barely function as a team, as Spider-Woman is able to tear through them quickly. After years of being largely ignored, Spider-Woman hasn't collected the same personal grudges and weird connections as more well-known heroes, with her current series focusing more on Jessica's personal struggles and development than her villains (and telling some fantastic stories in the process.)
Spider-Woman is in disbelief that the team even has a name and is able to successfully keep the Anti-Arach9 at bay despite their less than impressive abilities. While the Skrull Queen Veranke recently gave Jessica some major trouble, the Anti-Arach9 are much less impressive, and while it's funny to see her trash-talk her enemies, it does once again bring up the fact that Spider-Woman has one of the least impressive rogues galleries in comics. The silver lining is that this issue concludes a run that has made that fact incredibly fun, so it's fitting that it ends with Spider-Woman herself decrying the standard of enemy currently available to her in the Marvel Universe.