We start with a mediocre range of 6 with the <b>Hydra</b> team affiliation (TA). I am not a big fan of this TA, but it is a very cheap one that gives Jessica a potential +2 to her Attack Value, so it's definitely not a bad thing (nor is it as lame as the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA).

(Hydra TA: When one of your characters makes a ranged combat attack, you may modify its attack value by +1 for each friendly member of this team that is adjacent to the attacker and has a line of fire to the target.)

Clearly she is made to be more of a ranged attacker. Or is she? Her first click of life is very good, sporting a very nice damage of 3, Super Strength (SS) with a respectable attack value, and charge. Wait, charge? Then she must be built for close combat. No not really. The charge is really wasted here, as you really want to keep her as a ranged combatant. Her SS will let you pick up a heavy object and throw it for a fine 3+2 damage though, and her high defense of 17 makes her difficult to hit.

You should definitely push her if you can to get into her 2nd and 3rd clicks of life, where she sports Mind Control (MC) and 2 damage with Ranged Combat Expert (RCE). Her attack is still decent, and hitting for 2+2 damage with RCE is very powerful (especially for a 65 point figure). And there are endless things you can do with MC -- one of my finest Heroclix moments was taking control of an enemy Iron Man, and then pummeling his medic with it. If you are playing a Hydra team, then all the better, as it helps for either of these abilities. MC and RCE with 2 damage makes me a little annoyed though, because both abilities are so good. Being able to do 4 damage is most impressive, and MC is just one of the most fun abilities to have available. This is a minor quibble though, as it just gives you more strategic options, which is always important in this game.

Her 4th click of life is clearly her weakest, as she picks up Leap/Climb (L/C) for the rest of her dial, and loses RCE. Still though, this is where things become interesting, as she can use L/C to flee at any time to get become a ranged attacker again, or perhaps to get another heavy object somewhere and come back into close combat.

This leads us to the last 3 clicks of life, which is very impressive in it's own right. Her attack values and defense values are pretty pathetic, but once again that Hydra ability can help with that. She gains 2 clicks of Incapacitate, one of my favorite abilities (and thankfully also works in close combat). Incapacitate is the great equalizer in my opinion -- it can bring any Hulk or Thor to it's knees. And if you prefer to do some damage up close, her last 2 clicks has Close Combat Expert, letting you deal 1+2 damage, which is exceptional this late in the dial.

And for her last trick she ends with Pulse Wave, a very powerful blast that can give your opponents a real surprise. Too bad her attack value is a pitiful 6, but this late in the game it's probably good enough to deal some damage.

I really like Jessica Drew. She has just smattering of powers to let her be a pain in the butt while in close combat, but has a whole slew of powers to make her a formidable ranged attacker. She has a number of overlapping abilities, which gives you lots of strategic options -- and this is always nice to have in the ever-changing battlefield.

Oh, and don't think I forgot about her full dial of Combat Reflexes. This works very well on Jessica, because she is very much built for ranged combat. So if someone gets close and hits her, she can just roll away and make ranged attack on your turn. I like Combat Reflexes on the right character, and this is definitely the right character.

Combat Reflexes: (optional): This character suffers knockback from any attack from which it takes damage. Knockback damage dealt to this character is reduced to 0.

While I would love to give this figure a perfect rating, but I am just a bit concerned with the drop in values in her mid and late dial. Still though, for 65 points I think this is a great secondary attacker.

4.5 out of 5 stars (a great ranged attacker with lots of options)

--The Le

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