Spider-Woman #13
Spider-Woman #13 is the pivotal opening chapter of the 'Hatros Institute' arc that defines Mark Gruenwald's tenure on the title: it plants Jessica Drew in a civilian job as a receptionist — a grounded, character-first premise unusual for Bronze Age Marvel — while simultaneously delivering the first appearance of the Hatros Institute disguise of Nekra, one of the series' most consequential long-game villain reveals. The issue also provides the most detailed in-continuity retelling of the Shroud's origin to that point, consolidating his back-story from Super-Villain Team-Up and giving the character new momentum as a co-star across the issues that follow. For collectors of early Gruenwald work, it stands as exhibit A of his continuity-conscious, psychologically attentive approach to superhero storytelling, themes he would later bring to Captain America and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
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Gruenwald took over Spider-Woman with issue #9, stepping in when Marv Wolfman departed after only eight issues, and he brought his assistant-editor's encyclopedic continuity instincts to the scripting chair while penciler Carmine Infantino — already a fixture on the series — remained on board. Roger Stern served as the issue's credited editor, with Jim Salicrup as assistant editor and Jim Shooter as consulting editor-in-chief, an unusually top-heavy editorial stack that reflects how closely Marvel was watching its animated-series tie-in property. The published cover is by Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod, while a rejected Carmine Infantino cover for the same issue is documented and has circulated among collectors. Gruenwald, who by his own colleagues' recollections was deeply invested in the title, was reportedly upset when he was later removed from the book after twelve issues of his run.
Trivia · 9 facts
- Title and story: 'Suddenly…the Shroud!' — Spider-Woman (vol. 1) #13, cover-dated April 1979, released January 2, 1979.
- Creative team: Written by Mark Gruenwald; pencils by Carmine Infantino; inks by Al Gordon; colors by Barry Grossman (credited as Ben Sean); letters by John Costanza; cover by Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod.
- Editorial credits: Roger Stern (editor), Jim Salicrup (assistant editor), Jim Shooter (consulting editor-in-chief).
- First appearance (disguise): Adrienne Hatros — the alias Nekra Sinclair uses to run the Hatros Institute for Emotional Research, introduced here for the first time.
- First appearance: Barth Bukowski, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, makes his debut in this issue.
- Origin retold: The Shroud (Maximillian Coleridge) — originally created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe in Super-Villain Team-Up #5 (April 1976) — receives an extended in-story origin recap covering his Cult of Kali training, his battle with Doctor Doom, his rescue from space by Captain America, and his newly manifest darkness powers.
- Character development: Jessica Drew lands a receptionist job at the Hatros Institute after struggling with job hunting, her pheromones causing involuntary fear and repulsion in those she meets — a Gruenwald-era theme central to the arc.
- Supporting cast shift: Magnus departs for Las Vegas in this issue, a departure that becomes a long-running mystery seeded across the Gruenwald run and not resolved until Spider-Woman #50.
- Reprinted in: Essential Spider-Woman vol. 1 (Marvel, 2005); Marvel Masterworks: Spider-Woman vol. 2 (Marvel, 2015); as well as multiple international editions including Juniorpress (Netherlands, 1982), Editions Lug Nova #44 (France, 1981), Novedades (Mexico, 1982), and Condor (Germany, 1985).
Cast · 25 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Jessica joins a therapy group, not knowing that they are far more than they appear to be.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).