Lowe, a fan of Way's prior comics work, had previously approached Way about an X-Men annual series which ultimately never materialized.

Enamored by the idea that he could do whatever he wanted without fear of being burdened by any prior continuity, Way ultimately agreed to the offer and began working with comic artist Jake Wyatt on his new creation.

[2] Way "took the basic concepts of Spider-Man and then (...) looked deeper into it" while conceptualizing Peni, recalling in a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, "I thought about the radioactive spider: 'What if it was more than just a bite?

"[2] According to Way, SP//dr "is comprised of three vital components: a pilot, a machine, and a radioactive sentient spider acting as one half of the brain that makes it all work.

[5][6][7][8] As an easter egg, the main characters of Evangelion; Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Soryu, and Kaworu Nagisa, make cameo appearances as Peni's classmates in her premiere issue, along with Simon from Gurren Lagann and Kei from Dirty Pair.

Five years later, a more solemn and matured 14-year-old[11] Peni battles her universe's version of Mysterio – an obsessed fanboy of hers, while listening to music to help her focus.

Peni eventually teams up with "D" (her universe's version of Daredevil) – who had known her father, and tells her that she is "too young" to feel "tired" as she says she is – though noting he felt her father's use of SP//dr caused it so that "even through the machine, you could feel a sadness, like something was missing from him", although seeming "pretty cool" – to battle a group of criminals given up by Mysterio (a fan of the various numerous "Gene-Pop" magazines about Peni) before being approached by Spider-Ham and Old Man Spider to join the Spider-Army to fight the Inheritors.

At home, Peni tries to talk to Ben and May about being special, but she has worries get pushed aside which causes her to be annoyed and expresses her feelings of sadness towards the fact she isn't acknowledged as she should be.

Peni returns in End of the Spider-Verse operating her larger SP//dr mecha, alongside Takuya Yamashiro and his mech, Leopardon.

[13] Later, this SP//dr was one of the many heroes Cable brought back in time to kill Thanos as a baby in Cosmic Ghost Rider so that their dystopian future didn't come to pass.

It follows Peni as she tries to be a regular teenager, trying to fit with the cool kids, while facing the responsibility of being a hero against various enemies such as Atomic Lizard or Mecha D.O.O.M.

4 as one of several alternate reality Spider-Men that the villainous Wolf Spider took hostage to siphon their powers before the "prime" Spider-Man, Kid Arachnid, and Spider-Woman arrive to save them.