This time around I thought I'd shine a little 'spotlight' on the first
Spider-Woman,
Jessica Drew and her family. The best part about doing these little projects is it gives me the chance to read and discover new facets of the Marvel Universe. In delving into the family history of Jessica Drew, I discovered that her mother and father (
Meriem and
Jonathan Drew) are deeply entrenched in other areas of Marvel lore.
Jessica first obtains her powers as a result of exposure to radiation when she was a child living with her parents on
Wundagore Mountain. The reason her parents were there? Jonathan Drew was a scientist specializing in arthropods who partnered with the man who would become the
High Evolutionary. Together, they moved to the nation of
Transia onto land inherited by Meriem Drew from her maternal Uncle and, after discovering a vast deposit of Uranium, build a futuristic scientific laboratory to further their research. When Jessica is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, she is placed into cryogenic stasis and injected with a serum derived from Jonathan's spider research.
Oh, and then Meriem is killed by a Werewolf (who just so happens to be the father of
Jack Russell) and Jonathan eventually becomes possessed by the sorcerer
Magnus due to exposure to the
Elder God Chthon before later becoming involved with a group called the
Pyrotechnics who brainwashed and later killed him on the orders of a Congressmen. So yeah, pretty well connected, and that's not even mentioning Jessica's connection to the
Puppet Master. Seriously, look into it.
On the MC2 side of things, it appears that following a loss of her powers, Jessica pursued her private investigator career before marrying an old boyfriend (apparently
Gerald 'Jerry' Hunt, a
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent she encountered early in her costumed days). Two years later, Jess gave birth to her son
Gerald 'Gerry' Drew who was soon diagnosed with a rare and apparently fatal blood disease. Hunt blamed Jessica for Gerry's condition and abandoned his family but Jessica never gave up on her son, using her own father's old research to recreate the process that saved her I hopes of saving Gerry.
The process was painful and long, so to distract Gerry, Jessica would entertain him with stories of various heroes including Spider-Man, who would become Gerry's favourite. Gerry emerged from the treatment with spider-powers and become obsessed with replicating his hero Spider-Man. Despite giving him superhuman abilities, the process had not cured him of his blood disease and Gerry was still, in fact, dying.
A few tidbits that don't really fit anywhere: Jessica's mother's name is spelt various different ways including Meriem, Merriam and Miriam, sometimes in the same story. I've gone with Meriem for the family tree, as that is the original spelling from
Spider-Woman #1. Also, you may have noticed I mention that Meriem inherited land from her maternal Uncle, despite not including him in the Family Tree above. I am aware. Curiously, there is a slight discrepancy regarding the timeline of events surrounding when Jerry Hunt abandoned his family, as he is seen in a recounting of Gerry's treatment, but absent in another telling. Considering both are told by people who either weren't present (Julia Carpenter) or were too young to remember (Gerry himself), it's unclear whether Jerry left before or after his son began the experimental treatment.
Spider-Girl #42 gives Gerry his full first name of Gerald and also mentions that his surname was legally changed after his mother divorced his father. So, Gerry was formerly
Gerald Hunt, after his father.
Until I find a more succinct and streamlined method of pawing through Marvel Minutia, I remain
frogoat
