Issue(s): Spider-Woman #13, Spider-Woman #14, Spider-Woman #15
Cover Date: Apr 79
Title: "Suddenly... the Shroud!" / "Cults and robbers" / "Into the heart of darkness!"
Credits:
Mark Gruenwald - Writer
Carmine Infantino - Penciler
Alan Gordon - Inker

Review/plot:
Jessica Drew finally gets a job, getting hired as a secretary at a kind of psychological workshop that she also participates in, hoping to understand why people have such bad reactions to her.

The business is called "Hatros".

The office is attacked by agents of a Kali worshiping death cult. The Shroud shows up, since his origin is rooted in Kali as well...

...and he disavows what this cult is up to (we'll later learn that the cult has been taken over by Nekra, but she's still behind-the-scenes for this arc, until a teaser at the end).

Shroud now has the ability to summon darkness. When it's first mentioned, it almost sounds like it's a result of having been hit by the Red Skull's hypno-ray at the end of his Super-Villain Team-Up appearance.

But he later learns that it was part of his original power set that he just didn't learn about.

He also makes the point that, being blind, it's not exactly obvious to him when he's generating darkness.

Shroud's darkness power will later be tied in to the Darkforce energy that several other characters can also tap into, but it's not called that here.

Shroud and Spider-Woman team-up...

...and it's clear that he's being set up as a replacement for Jerry Hunt as well, which is somewhat annoying. He even shows up at her place while she's getting out of the shower. Stalker! (Of course, he's blind).

While i'm happy to see Jerry pushed out of the picture, Spider-Woman shouldn't need an immediate romantic replacement. Nor does she need another super-powered partner replacing Magnus, who leaves during this arc as well.

SHIELD assigns Jerry to work with good old Laura Brown, who i would never have expected to see again, to investigate the Kali cult as well. Laura's reaction to Hunt is quite comical, kind of like the prom queen getting assigned the class nerd as a lab partner.

Jessica meets Lindsay McCabe at the Hatros clinic. Lindsay will be a supporting character throughout the rest of Spider-Woman's series. Unlike most women, Lindsay seems unaffected by Spider-Woman's aura. If the guy in issue #10 wasn't affected because he was gay, is Lindsay gay as well?

There's a cool scene while Spider-Woman is doing some undercover investigation work on the Cult, and she takes advantage of her immunity of poisons to impress a room of thugs at a seedy bar by drinking six whiskeys in succession.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Lindsay McCabe. Shroud gets Darkforce powers.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Jerry offers Spider-Woman a chance to join SHIELD, which she declines on the grounds that she got her fill of espionage when she was forced to work for Hydra in Marvel Spotlight #32.
  
• Looking for job again, Jessica remembers the trouble she had trying to get one in Spider-Woman #1.
  
• The Shroud first appeared in Super-Villain Team-Up #5, and hung around until Super-Villain Team-Up #12.
  
• As Matthew notes in the comments, two SHIELD agents are said to have gone missing investigating the cult before Jerry Hunt and Laura Brown get involved. They are Margaret Huff, who appeared in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #14, and Jeffrey Cochren, who appeared in a couple of Captain America issues starting with Captain America #188. No footnotes.
  
• During their investigation, Spider-Woman takes Shroud to a SHIELD base she'd been to previously with Jerry Hunt in Spider-Woman #7.
  
• In the SHIELD base, Spider-Woman considers erasing her history with Hydra. A footnote again references Marvel Spotlight #32, but also lists Marvel Two-In-One #30-32 this time.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The workshop thing is a reference to EST, a now-discredited type of therapy popularized in the late 1970s.

Under the Historical Significance, shouldn't it be listed "Shroud gains Darkforce powers"?

Thanks Michael. I've added some notes about that.

This is a good start at creating a new status quo. Jessica finally gets a job. New supporting cast members are introduced. And a new villain is introduced along with the others he's done - Gruenwald is trying to build a new rogues gallery.

Ultimately though, it doesn't pull together. There is no "magic" here. Despite a good visual and interesting powers, Spider-Woman is lacking something as a protagonist.

The panels with Jerry Huny are strange. It seems that the scene exists to keep readers informed on Jerry so he could be brought into the book later. Instead, I think these are the last shots we have of him for years until he starts cameo appearances at SHIELD. If you don't plan on using him, it'd be better to simply have left things at his last appearance. I wonder if Gruenwald intended to use him, but got back responses that indicated

I can't recall if they're ever shown on panel in this arc, and I don't think their fate is a happy one, but it might be worth noting that the field agents mentioned in #13 as having vanished while investigating the cult are Margaret Huff, who made her only prior appearance in NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #14, and "Jeffrey" Cochren, who was apparently demoted after (or perhaps as a result of) the events in CAPTAIN AMERICA #188-191.

Thanks Matthew. I've added references for them.