Spider-Woman #9

 

Spider-Woman #9 "Eye of the Needle"

Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Penciler: Carmine Infantino

Plot: Spider-Woman tracks a serial mutilator called the Needle. 

Comments: Opening page, having concluded a date with Jerry Hunt, Jessica Drew is gliding home solo as Spider-Woman, which doesn't make Jerry very happy.  Credits are Mark Gruenwald, as the writer. Carmine Infantino (1925-2013) as the penciler, Al Gordon as the inker. Roger Stern is the editor, which would be the start of the professional relationship between them until it ended with Avengers #285, this time with Gruenwald as the editor and Stern as the writer. Jim Shooter is the editor in chief of Marvel, already. 

Mark Gruenwald and inker Al Gordon were born four days apart. Gruenwald was born June 18, 1953 and Gordon was born June 22, 1953. Both were 25 years old when this story was released in September 1978. 

Hearing a commotion, Jerry goes down a dark alley and sees the Needle. I think the Needle could have been a great Batman villain. If he had made his debut in a Batman comic, then his first appearance would have been in Crime Alley. I think Needle looks a lot like Ragdoll from The Batman cartoon that started in 2004 and his contortionist ability later demonstrated in the story reminds me even further.  I like how the image of a needle appears behind the Needle's name. 

For his trouble for interfering with the Needle, Jerry gets his lips sewn up, which gives me the heebie-jeebies. 

Jessica gets up and greets her landlady Mrs. Dolly and her sons, Jake and William. I knew the Brothers Grimm were going to be characters, but Jake (Jacob) and William you can spot a mile away, being the actual name of the Brothers Grimm. 

The subplot of Jessica's presence unnerving people continues demonstrated with the nurse and later a bystander. 

The Needle targets another young man. The young man mentions the movie Carrie, release in 1976 and based on the Stephen King novel of the same name released in 1974. The origin of the Needle seems to be somewhat inspired by Carrie where a person after traumatic incident awakens their psychic powers. In the Needle's case, his eye can paralyze who he's looking at. 

Spider-Woman finally catches up with the Needle and is able to incapacitate him with her venom burst since the freezing power of his eye doesn't have much of an effect on her. Kind of a sudden ending. Like Stephen King.  The way the Needle dodges Spider-Woman's first venom blast is what reminded me of Ragdoll. 

This the letters page published in Spider-Woman #13 reacting to Gruenwald's first writing effort. I agree with David L. who saw the Needle like a Batman villain also. Barbara seems to think Spider-Woman doesn't speak realistically. Well, she was educated by the High Evolutionary, probably through a learning program when she was in stasis for decades, so her way of speaking is going to seem kind of awkward. Also, Barbara seems annoyed by the subplot of Jessica making others uncomfortable for apparently no reason, but we will see later there is a scientific (well, comic book scientific) explanation for it. 

The Needle will appear next Spider-Woman #50. The issue was written by Ann Nocenti, but was the editorship of Mark Gruenwald.