John Byrne wrote: (A sidebar to this -- Archie really did intend for Jessica Drew to be an evolved Spider, courtesy of the High Evolutionary. It was this that scuttled Chris and Dave's plans to have Wolverine turn out to be a wolverine, via the same source. That was what they were setting up in the scene in 99{?} in which Logan reads as both a mutant and not a mutant.)

Ah, another excuse to print scenes from one of my favorite issues ever (it was 98, JB.  99 was the one with the reversed plates).

Here's that first inkling:

And here's where we (along with Banshee and Marvel Girl) learn for the first time that gloves do not make the man:

As for Spider-woman?  Didn't really work for me.  Can't like everything, I guess.