Spider-Woman #11

 


Spider-Woman #11 "And Dolly Makes Three"

Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Penciler: Carmine Infantino

Plot: Spider-Woman clashes with Brother Grimm again. 

Comments: On the opening page, there is some foreshadowing with the doll on the shelf in the background being an effigy of Mr. Doll, an Iron Man villain from Tales of Suspense #48. 




I guess her hand bumped against the drawer and she wasn't snooping. Jessica finds dolls that look like her foe Brother Grimm. 



Magnus comes home and his thoughts express how Gruenwald feels about the character and how he wanted to write him out. 



Brother Grimm attacks the restaurant Jessica and Jerry are eating at. They both pursue him, but he manages to capture them both. Meanwhile the dolls come alive at the Dolly house and head towards Magnus. All those dolls creeping towards him and this was before Child's Play. Cue The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky or The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Dukas. 






It's revealed that their captors are Mrs. Dolly ("Madame Doll") and the Brothers (plural) Grimm. It had been hinted at in earlier issues that there was more than one Brother Grimm. 




This issue has a featurette that explains Spider-Woman's powers. With pencils and words by Mark Gruenwald and inks by Al Gordon. The strength level is what interests me the most in that Spider-Woman can lift 40 times her own weight. The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition that was published in 1986 gave Jessica's weight as 130 pounds, which would mean she can lift 5,200 pounds (2 1/2 tons) since that would be 40 times her own weight. The Handbook did have a contradiction in that that it said Jessica could lift 7 tons (14,000 pounds).  Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) was listed to be able to lift 10 tons, which is the same as Spider-Man. Spider-Girl (May "Mayday" Parker) was said to be able to lift 5 tons. So Jessica was either the least strongest or second strongest, depending on which listing you believe. 

The illustration demonstrating Spider-Woman's wall crawling ability seems to be a swipe from Spider-Woman #1, except Spider-Woman's head was covered in the earlier illustration











The letters page published in issue #14 has some interesting feedback to this issue. Gruenwald tries to explain away some plot holes, but admits he couldn't make everything work. The reason why the magically sensitive Magnus didn't pick up on the Dolly boys' supernatural nature is because his spell to keep them in the dark about his and Jessica's supernatural nature went both ways. Gruenwald couldn't explain why one Dolly son worked at the same company as Jonathan Drew. Coincidence, I suppose. 

One reader complained about all the female versions of different characters. Deal with it. 

The last reader thought Jessica was clinging to services by somehow piercing the surfaces with her fingers and toes (like the Gargoyles on the eponymous TV show), but Gruenwald revealed that it was actually an adhesive that comes from her skin. 








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