Synopsis & Review by DarkPhoenix_89 Thanks!
Synopsis: Jessica Drew, also known as Spider Woman, lies in her bed after a night of apparent binge drinking. She turns on the TV where a reporter explains that not since the Kree-Skrull War has there been this many news stories coming out of the Superhuman community. All these stories, of course having to do with the recently introduced with the Superhuman Registration Act and that they are trying to report it as accurately as possible. Jessica changes the channel where another reporter talks about Spiderman's recent unmasking and some disturbing news about how the Avengers have been torn down the middle about the registration act.

The reporter goes on to report that Captain America, a symbol of liberty and freedom is now considered a public menace and lawmakers using words like treason and terrorist to describe him. When there is a loud knock on the door. Jessica climbs up the wall and looks through the spy hole to see who it is. Nick Fury is standing on the other side and he asks to come in. Jess jokes around and asks him for a password; Nick just looks at her and asks if she is kidding. Jess wants to know how he found her; he replies that she was registered under Sybil Dvorak. Jess asks what he is doing here since she thought he was staying underground but Fury interrupts telling her it's a war. Everything is different and now its time to take a side. What side do you want me on? Jess is surprised that its up to her to make the choice and Fury reminds her of course its up to her. The plans changed and the worlds gone to hell. Jess notices something off about Fury and blasts him in the back, Fury doesn't respond to the blast and keeps on talking about how they need to find Captain America's rebel gang before they make their next move. Fury then asks if she has spoken to Cap? Jess jokes around telling him sure; they had their regular Wednesday make-out session earlier that morning. Jess asks Fury about the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Maria Hill and if Fury wanted her to ask Maria if she liked him more than a friend. Fury is shocked that she knows that he is a Life Model Decoy of Fury and she knows that Commander Hill is operating it. She says that it's an improvement over the old models but they have to work on the smell. Fury smells like Havana at low tide, this robot smells like a tire on the factory floor. Jess continues telling Hill that if she wants to talk, she just needs to come to her and speak to her in person. Hill, talking through the robot, says she doesn't want to talk to her; she just wants some quick Intel and a reasonable doubt.

Doubt about what? Asks Jess. That you're a traitor replies Hill. Jess blasts the Fury robot to bits and soldiers storm her room. She tries to fight them off but is outnumbered and knocked out.

She wakes up on board a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, tied to a chair in a dim lit room. Commander Hill walks in congratulating her on being the very first traitor in the very first Super Hero war and how proud she must be and how proud her dead parents must be. Hill continues saying that they were Hydra agents too. Jess tries to protest saying this is an insane misunderstanding and she doesn't know what she has been told but stops when she notices Iron Man walk into the room. Hill explains that Tony Stark has filled her in on Jess's triple agent status and just so they're clear, the paperwork is going to be. When she stops and says OH MY GOD. changing the subject to Jess being an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and you only answering to Nick Fury even though he is no longer in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that she is committing an act of treason but on top of that, he told her to accept an offer from Hydra to betray S.H.I.E.L.D., Jess asks Tony how could he. Tony replies by telling her that they are at war, they have no need for her little games anymore and the only reason he put up with her is because Captain America believed in her and that she made her choices, she her made bed. An angry Jess asks I made my bed?! She starts to yell I sacrificed everything for you people! When the lights go out. Jess asks what's going on? Commander Hill asks for Iron Man but he doesn't reply. She asks another agent (via radio-headset I think) what is going on outside.

Hydra has attacked! They launched an E.M.P. and now the Helicarrier is crashing towards Rhode Island. A Hydra agent finds Jess in an interrogation room, Commander Hill starts firing at various Hydra agents telling them to GET THE %^$# OFF MY SHIP! The Hydra agents respond by shouting Hail Hydra! And they start firing, hitting Commander Hill and knocking her out. Various Hydra agents arrive to take Jess, she tells them no, an agent tells her that they must leave now, Jess tells them again no. They grab her and take her with them. While this happens, an Hydra agent walks up to Iron Man as he lies on the ground and informs him that his armour will probably save him from the colossal impact the Helicarrier is going to make on Rhode Island and when he can finally can stand up and see the horror around him, remember that you and your war are responsible for the damage. Hail Hydra!

Below on Rhode Island, bits of the Helicarrier fall and various people watch in awe. Hydra prepares their jet to leave. Commander Hill wakes up orders the guys in the Bridge (via radio-headset) to get the Anti-Gravity boosters up and running now.

On the bridge, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent orders someone to get the Anti-Gravity boosters up. Someone manages to get the Anti-Gravity Boosters running which causes everyone to fall over. Commander Hill asks if they crashed but as it turns out, the Helicarrier is just hovering above some buildings. Commander Hill asks what that was. Tony says it was an E.M.P. or something like it and that he might need a doctor. Commander Hill asks the Bridge for a casualty report. Find out where those fighter jets crashed and where Hydra took Jess.

Jess wakes up in a beautiful hut on a tropical island. A man welcomes her to Hydra Island and gives her some tea. He goes on to say how great it would have been if that Helicarrier had crashed and that they were so close. He hopes she appreciated that because it's a one-time trick for a special occasion and they'll be ready for it next time. Jess says she doesn't understand and asks Connelly why he did that and why is she here on Hydra Island? Connelly tells her its because the games changed, the players are changing and the Super Hero Civil War has changed everything. Its time to improvise a little and that means no more games, no more double crossings and to forget Fury because he isn't going to help and its time to think of Hydra's place in the fallout.

Jess asks if they did know she was with Fury? Connelly says that she thinks she was but now she knows she was being used. Jess asks why they didn't kill her; Connelly explains that they were getting things out of it as well and clearly she needed to reassure herself. her hero friends and Fury would turn their backs on her and they are not her friends. S.H.I.E.L.D. are nothing but a bunch of gangsters and he asks if Jess understands because he is running out of ways to show her. Jess wants to know what he wants from her because one minute Hydra wants to kill her and the next they want to rescue her. Connelly says this will shock her but he thinks the best move is for her to go the head of the table. Jess protests by saying that Madam Hydra sits there. Connelly says that Viper is a little unstable but many of the higher-ups believe Hydra has had a hard time keeping it together as has she. Therefore there Madam Hydra is not all together but you, Jessica were born Hydra and that means so much. You've been around the world and yet here you are. They need a new Madam Hydra and if she can get over herself she can finally embrace it. She is not a recruit, she is blood and that she was born Hydra. But wont Viper be a little, I don't know, upset when she hears the plan? Protests Jess. Connelly imagines so but that's the cost to be the boss. He's talking about a revolution and they have to get bloody.

Jess responds by saying that during her dark times. (And there have been many.) . there is one thing about Hydra. That connection. Her family being a part of all this. Her mother and father, its in there somewhere, part of her soul. Connelly tells her that's exactly what he thought. Jess continues that 4 or 5 times in her life, she has had the honor, no, the privilege of being on a Hydra base and not blowing it to and everyone on it straight to hell.

Jess grabs Connelly by the tie and smashes his teacup in his face. She throws him to the ground and blasts him. She starts to strangle and punch him in the face when she notices some Hydra guards. She blasts them and jumps on top of one and asks if he could point her towards the island power generator or the fuel reserves. Either one would be fine.

Minutes later Jess gets in a speedboat and drives away from the island as it blows up.

Jess arrives at a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house. Captain America notices her; he asks her how she knew about the safe house? Jess tells him she was looking for Fury and that she has been looking all over the country. Cap tells her he isn't there. Jess asks if this is the Resistance. Cap tells her that they are going to fight back. Jess breaks down in tears asking if they will take her, she has nowhere else to go. Please?

Review: I originally brought this because I was kind of curious about Spider-Woman and as a sort of try-before-you-buy for the new Spider-Woman series coming out after Civil War. Oh, and the art was pretty. I don't read New Avengers and the only things I've read with her in it is Runaways and House of M. She seems like a cool character from what I've read and Bendis seems to write her pretty well.

This issue was great. It had humour, drama, action, adventure, great twists and explosions. Did I mention the art was very pretty? Oliver Coipel is great. They should put him on this title permanently after Civil War.

Speaking of Civil War. Does anyone else think this is a witch-hunt? I'm still against the registration act and Tony Stark is a butt-tart. Its obvious he doesn't like Jess but at the start of this issue, Jess seems to be in a bit of a grey area because of her triple agent status. She has no idea what to do and is in the middle of it all. It's only when Commander Hill and Iron Man bring her in and tell her that she has practically made her bed that she then picks a side. She doesn't want to be in that position she is currently in anymore. When Hydra rescues her and asks her to become the next Madam Hydra, she beats the crap out of Connelly and blows up Hydra Island. She chooses Cap's side because she has nowhere else to go and Iron Man and Commander Hill haven't shown her anything to make her want to side with them. They treated her like crap when they captured her. Hopefully we'll see her pop up in future issues of Civil War then.

Now over to Iron Man, he seems like a bully in all of this. He comes off as forceful and heartless in all the tie-ins I've seen. He has turned against friends for his vision of the "greater good". It's like he is trying to help make a better world but he seems to over look the fact that he is making so many other heroes miserable and easy targets for the villains that want them dead.

Review by RachelGrey Thanks!
After two misses, Bendis lands a hit! This issue was heads and tails above the last two Disassembled stories. We open to see more of each hero’s reaction to what’s going on. While Cap tries to draw and focus for the battles ahead and Luke worries about his family, Jessica simply drinks. I find this very fitting. Jessica, as this issue shows, is really by herself. It shows her as being very human and trying to wash her problems away in a way many people who are alone do. We also see Iron Man hit new lows. He flat out betrays Jess and tells Maria Hill everything about her triple agent status. Iron Man actually has some credit here since Jessica couldn’t be completely trusted, but it still makes Tony out as the “villain” of Civil War. As for Hill, she continues her rein as a royal jerk. I will say some of her dialogue seemed off from previous appearances. The language seemed more lax and informal. And I just had to grin when HYDRA shot her.

We also get some expansion on Jessica’s HYDRA status. She cuts all ties and blows the base, and the mysterious Connelly, up in smokes. Connelly was obviously in charge of liaison duties between HYDRA high-ups and Jessica (as well as Yelena Belova), but he was still a slimeball. I’m not sad at all to see him go, and in quite a brutal way. Although, I will admit it is possible he survived since we never saw a body after Jess’ beating. The ending is also good, with a very alone Jessica searching for Nick Fury, since Fury is the only one she feels she still has on her side. She fails in that, but stumbles upon Cap and the resistance and breaks down and begs for them to take her. You really feel Jess is totally alone and doesn’t know what to do. Great execution.

House of M partner Oliver Coipel returns again for this issue and boy does it look great. It is a step up from the Annual’s art with only one inker (Mark Morales) and one colorist (Jose Villarrubia). This makes the art feel very uniform and constant and doesn’t break up or distract the story. As I said wit the Annual, while the coloring isn’t as great as the lush House of M coloring, I still find it works really well with Coipel’s style and the story here. Some paneling can be problematic, such as Jessica’s last stand against the capekillers, but overall, the art is pleasing and logical. It again saddens me that Coipel will be on Thor with JMS and not a book I want to read. I wonder if its any coincidence that two of the better stories (this and the annual) in this book, which has been plagues with mediocrity, have come from the team of Bendis and Coipel? I personally think not.

I was not a big fan of the last two-parter featuring Spider-Woman back in issues #14 and 15. Those two issues were mainly background. They had a lot of facts, but it was very textbook. Actually, only the first issue was since the second issue only really referenced Jessica at the very end. But this issue was just great. It’s my second favorite issue, behind the Annual, but remember, the Annual had 48 pages to work with. We have a nice story with plenty of action and Jessica’s own plotline is moved forward in a much more interesting way than before. Really, it shows Bendis does have some understanding of this character and all pushing he’s made of Jessica isn’t for nothing. This issue has made me the most interested in Spider-Woman that I’ve ever been. And that’s saying something for someone who’s never really been that interested in her. It makes me think that giving her a solo series after Civil War may not be such a terrible idea. With any luck, the quality level of this issue will follow over to the last two remaining issues.