Should probably preface this blog entry with a quick warning: I am a huge Spider-Gwen fan. I absolutely love this comic, in my opinion it is the best thing that either of the big two are publishing on a monthly basis, and I cannot say enough nice things about the comic book, the stories so far, the character or the creative team. Honestly, Robbi Rodriguez’s art and designs, Rico Renzi’s colouring, and especially Jason Latour’s writing, make this the best comic book out each month, and the only comic book every month that I absolutely HAVE to buy and read. So, it’s quite possible that I may be slightly biased in my review, but I think if you’ve followed the character from her beginnings until now then it’s impossible not to be. Spider-Gwen is the single best thing being published by Marvel today, and there are so many reasons for that.
I could do a whole blog entry just on the reasons (and sort of have in the past), but just to sum up what makes this comic better than everything else, this is not a comic that relies on ridiculous stories or shock value to entertain. It’s a comic which relies on the development of it’s characters, a thrilling overarching villain, a superb sub plot with George Stacy which has run throughout the series (and only seems to get more thrilling as we go along) and a character who doesn’t answer every challenge with her fists and with ridiculous fights but with genuinely compelling and different solutions to her problems. This is a character like Stan Lee’s Spider-Man used to be back in the day, a character with a fantastic supporting cast you genuinely care about and genuinely GOOD character who’ll go to the ends of the earth for the people in her life and to do the right thing. That second bit is so important to me, after being utterly heartbroken by Peter Parker over the years and the ridiculous choices the character has made, Gwen Stacy has completely revitalised my love of comic books and of superheroes in general.
With all of that said, let’s talk about the last arc…
Predators: So Far
If you’ve not been following along at home (and if so, you’re a fool, go buy the back issues… or at least buy the trade when it comes out), let’s quickly recap the story. Gwen started out this arc working for the Kingpin (Matt Murdock on this world), blackmailed into doing so in order to help her father, who’s been arrested for his part in the whole “hunt for Peter Parker’s murderer” thing, and protecting Spider-Woman. Murdock had a mission for Gwen, something that only Gwen could do: he charged her with hunting down and “saving” Harry Osborn (who, in a previous arc, had taken the Lizard formula devised by Peter Parker, which ultimately killed poor Peter). She could do this because the Lizard formula was developed, in part, from the same mysterious formula which originally gave Gwen her own powers. That’s a massive simplification, but it gets us to where we are. If you want to see all the detail, pick up the back issues and/or trades of the first few arcs, and trust me you’ll enjoy them.
In order to save Harry, Gwen has been shown that the formula which currently gives her back her powers (as she’s lost them in a previous arc) will also draw the formula that’s making Harry into the Lizard out of his blood. If that happens, the formula will become a version of the ooze substance which started all of this, as developed by S.I.L.K. and originally gave Gwen her powers. And Gwen is the only one who can do this because the substance is lethal to most, but due to her exposure she’s immune to its effects. That’s all good news for Gwen, save for the fact that Gwen isn’t the only one trying to find Harry. Murdock is as well, obviously, and he’s sent his Hand Ninjas on the task alongside Gwen. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is also after him, and they’ve sent two bounty hunters to hunt him down: this universes versions of Wolverine and Shadowcat. So, now not only does Gwen need to save Harry from what he’s done to himself, she also needs to stop him from being caught by the bounty hunters after him as well, all while blaming herself for Harry even being exposed to the formula in the first place, which came all because Peter died while fighting her (and Harry wanted revenge on behalf of his friend, which all happened in a previous arc. Seriously, this comic is awesome, go buy the trades).
In previous issues we’ve seen Gwen track down Harry in Madripoor, only to be confronted by both the bounty hunters and the Hand, and decide that rather than bring Harry in, she’d rather fight with Harry to help him find a cure himself, thus turning against the Hand, and being caught in the middle of an epic fight between them and Wolverine/Shadowcat. Last issue (well, issue #22, since issue #23 was a side issue focusing instead on the MaryJanes rather than the main story) we saw Harry finally lose control of the lizard within, completely changing into the uncontrollable monster and Gwen do the only thing she could do in order to save her friend, namely sacrificing the power-ups she’s been using to restore her powers in order to draw the mutation out of Harry. She needed to save her friend, and it was the only play she had left, to potentially risk her own life to save his, and in the process give Murdock exactly what he’d been waiting for.
The subplot with George Stacy has come along massively as well. In previous issues we’ve seen George languishing in jail, waiting for his day in court so he can finally speak his mind in front of the world and tell the truth – or at least his side of it – to clear his name. While that may be what George wants, it isn’t what the more powerful people involved want, and we’ve seen Matt Murdock scheming to ensure George Stacy’s silence by hiring Aleksei Sytsevich, aka The Rhino, to do his dirty work. Last issue ended with George being loaded into an ambulance as Jean DeWolff was too late to save him.
Issue #24: Predators Conclusion
This issue picks right up where we left Gwen in Madripoor, right on the verge of bonding with the symbiote that she’s drawn out of Harry by using the radiation from her power-ups. And that’s obviously what’s going to happen next, right? The symbiote can’t kill her due to the fact that she’s immune to the radioactivity, so where else is it going to go? Well, that’s one thing you’ve got to love about this comic – just because you think you know what’s going to happen doesn’t mean you know what’s going to happen! Where else could the symbiote go? Well, it wants to feed off of it’s host. It needs a host that can survive it. And what’s better than Gwen Stacy? Oh, right, what about that unkillable guy with adamantium laced bones who just happens to have been hunting down Harry Osborn? Yep, that’s right, the symbiote got drawn out of Harry, but rather than bond with Gwen it goes straight for Logan!
What is then born is an unstoppable killing machine, who speaks in the first-person plural. Logan has the symbiote in his head, and all those reasons he’s had to hold back from his true potential are suddenly gone. The symbiote-powered Logan makes a beeline straight for the cops who’ve shown up and rips them down without even breaking a sweat. But rather than linger on that image, we quickly change pace and head back to George Stacy, now lying in a hospital bed with Jean DeWolff by his side. The good news is George has survived his attack. The bad news is George is now in a coma, and the oh-so-reliable District Attorney (Foggy Nelson) is watching from outside his hospital room, while making sure to keep Matt Murdock up to date. Why isn’t Matt there? Because he’s also in Madripoor, searching for Gwen and finding the bag she left behind when all the trouble started, and in it her trans-dimensional transporter.
We cut back to the main story again and we find Gwen and Kitty trying to go up against a symbiote-powered Logan, and you just know that’s going to go badly for them, don’t you? In order to counter Shadowcat’s phasing ability however the symbiote-fuelled Logan pulls out his trump card, a device he’s used in the past to prevent her phasing, which generates a high-pitched sound which messes with her head and stops her from being able to use her powers. That, fortunately for all involved, horribly backfires because the incredible screeching sound has the desired effect on Kitty, but it also drives the symbiote insane, forcing it to break it’s bond with Logan. Gwen, able to still just about function, realises what’s happening to Kitty and disables the device, meaning Kitty is able to function again… but also meaning the symbiote stops being driven off. Logan flees, still bonded with the symbiote, and Kitty and Gwen come up with a plan to stop it once and for all.
They chase down Logan, and Kitty puts herself on the line, with both of them jumping into the symbiote-powered Logan and Kitty grabbing hold of Logan and phasing him out of the symbiote, freeing him and leaving the symbiote alone temporarily. And that was exactly what they wanted, because now that it’s free it enables Kitty and a recovering Logan to flee, and Gwen to hit the button again, enabling the device again and trying to kill the symbiote once and for all. Only… it doesn’t work. The symbiote isn’t even slightly hurt by the noise this time. Instead it heads straight for the only potential host left in the alleyway, as Kitty and Logan have fled – Gwen. But why didn’t it work? Well, as it begins bonding with Gwen, Matt Murdock shows up to tell us why. In the labs they used ultrasonic devices to control it. See, they used sound to disrupt the symbiotes bond with it’s host… only now there’s no host, so there’s nothing to disrupt. And to make matters worse, Matt is messing around with Gwen’s own phone while telling her thus, rubbing her failure in her face… but Gwen has a plan of her own.
She snatches the phone out of his hand using a web-line and puts the MaryJanes song “Face It Tiger” on full blast. It doesn’t disrupt the symbiote’s bonding with her, but it allows her to maintain control over herself and over the symbiote. Gwen remains in control, and she grabs Murdock dead to rights, with no trump cards left to play. Matt is a graceful loser as well, congratulating her on her success… only he’s not quite beaten yet. He uses the stolen transportation tech to show Gwen her father lying in a hospital bed, and seeing that Gwen rushes through the portal to be with her father, worried about his safety first and foremost, and breaking her phone in the process. As she then cries at her father’s bedside the symbiote bond with her, creating our very own version of Venom (Gwenom, as she’s been dubbed), and immediately going psycho on the cops who rush in when they see a black-suited version of Spider-Woman standing over George Stacy’s bedside. She’s about to go psycho on Jean DeWolff as well until Jean points out that this isn’t the way that she can help George Stacy… and she agrees. Her final words, to end the comic…
“You’re right. We can’t help him. But when we find whoever did this… WE WILL HURT THEM!”
And she breaks out of the hospital window, and into the night, consumed by the symbiote, and now a twisted, black-suited version of herself, and off to presumably find whoever hurt her father and dish out a serious case of justice on them. Aleksei Sytsevich better be very, very afraid, and so should poor Foggy Nelson and especially Matt Murdock when the black-suited Spider-Woman – GWENOM – finds him again.
The Comic As A Whole
This was a phenomenal final chapter of “Predators”. I’ve enjoyed this whole arc, and the build-up to “Gwenom”, immensely. We all knew where we were going to end up after all, but the journey here was what entertained me. Yes, we knew we’d end up with Gwen bonded with the ooze-based symbiote from the very introduction of it into the comic. We knew we were getting our own version of one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes. And they could have just thrown that out there, but they didn’t. They took us on a journey to get there. And they got us there in a way that feels so huge for the character as well. Her whole story so far has been about protecting the people in her life. The subplot with her father has been driven by that the whole time, her desire to protect him enough to sell out and join with Murdock, and her father’s desire to face up to his “crimes” so he can stand up on the witness stand, clear his name but more importantly clear HER name as well, clear the name of “Spider-Woman”, who he knows did absolutely nothing wrong and is in no way responsible for the things she’s been accused of. So to tie her becoming “Gwenom” into that was just superb story telling in my opinion, and makes the ending all the more satisfying.
Not only did it achieve that – and tie the main story and the subplot together beautifully – but it made us wait for what we were waiting for as well. Along the way we were introduced to “Mr Murderhands” – a name I laughed out loud at when I first read it, but one that has weirdly grown on me – aka Logan aka Wolverine (since Gwen refused to call him by his other nickname), and Shadowcat (and who doesn’t love any excuse to introduce Kitty into the universe? I loved the version of her in Ultimate Spider-Man, and yet this kick-ass bounty hunting version is awesome enough that I’m really hoping she shows up again). And we were even given a detour from the “sure thing” moment as the venom symbiote gathered behind Gwen to then see it bond with Wolverine instead, in a moment that just made pure SENSE when you think about it, given that the symbiote wants to feed off its host, and what better person to feed off of than someone who’s “cursed” so as not to be able to die? Now that I think about it, it would almost have been insulting if the symbiote DIDN’T go straight for Logan, wouldn’t it? But the way it was built up in issue #22 meant that we all thought we knew where we were going, only to enjoy a little detour and make for a much better conclusion to the story.
I’ve got to say that I love these two new characters as well, and how they’re just like the versions we know but also not. Latour has a wonderful way of doing that with the characters he’s introduced so far from the standard Marvel universe. They’re clearly inspired by and tributes to the normal Marvel characters, but they’ve each got their own twists and differences that make them completely unique for this universe. I much prefer the way he’s approached the characterisation of everyone he’s introduced so far – ESPECIALLY Captain America – to the approach taken in the Ultimate Marvel universe, where they were basically the same but a little bit different. These characters are instead complete reimaginings of the characters we know and love, like Gwen herself is. They don’t obey the standard rules associated with the Marvel universe, which means that we also don’t have any guarantee that Logan and Kitty are both going to survive this appearance or any appearances they make in the future. Much like we also didn’t know whether Harry would survive. Sure, we hoped he would – and he did, since I feel like there’s so much more to do with him yet – but there was certainly no guarantee of it.
Murdock continues to go from strength to strength as a villain too. Whenever you think he’s about to get caught he finds a new way to prove he’s actually three steps ahead of you. He’s constantly pulling the strings and constantly pulling the rug out from our lovely little heroine, and that doesn’t look like it’s about to stop any time soon. For the entire series so far he’s been lurking in the background, the big bad with his scheming and his manipulations, and all he’s done in this arc is make himself even more powerful. Now the question is what ELSE does he have in store now that he’s unleashed “Gwenom” onto the world? How does he plan to control that? Or does he even plan to control her? You get the feeling with Murdock that he’s always thinking a few moves ahead, and he even says in this issue that Gwen is playing checkers and he’s playing chess. It feels like it as well.
My final thought on this issue has to be on the design of “Gwenom”. I freaking LOVE this design! The hood turning into the jaw/teeth is just an incredible look, and the panel where she’s got Jean DeWolff pinned against the wall may be one of my favourite ever in Robbi’s superb work on this comic, topped only by that final panel of the fully consumed Gwen smashing through the window in the black suit with the “tongue” trailing behind her. This is an amazing look, and it feels a lot more “fluid” than the normal version of Venom, which gives it a creepier look, while also being similar enough – even down to the white “spider” style logo from the original Venom on her back as she turns away from Jean – to the original to give us chills. I’ve seen so many fan-versions of what this might look like that I was a little worried that when we got here we’d just get a black version of the Spider-Gwen outfit, which I’ll admit would have been quite cool, but instead we’ve gotten a creepier version than I could possibly have hoped for. The black mask inside the “mouth” of the hood is just a great look, and one that I’m crazily excited to see if cosplayers end up trying to replicate. Seriously, if/when I go to a major comics convention I am DEFINITELY going as Spider-Gwen, but now my second choice is Gwenom!
What Happens Next?
Gwen smashed away from DeWolff with the promise of finding out who hurt her father – err, I mean Captain Stacy, because that Spider-Woman definitely isn’t his daughter. Nope. Don’t listen to that Mary Jane, she’s insane – and I’m seriously excited about that as a possibility for the next arc. I’ve been purposefully avoiding reading the synopsises that Marvel have released for the next few issues in case I accidentally spoiled this comic for myself, so now that this comic is read and behind us I can look at the future issues and squeal in excitement about where we’re going to go. If she IS going hunting then the confrontation between Gwenom and Aleksei Sytsevich could be fantastic. Can I just call him Rhino now that he’s beginning to embrace that nickname? I know he’s not the Rhino that we’re all used to from the Spider-Man comics, due to the fact that he doesn’t have the suit with the horn etc., but this version is actually superior to the traditional B-list villain in every possible way, including his motivations. That means I’m a little hesitant to embrace the “Rhino” name as it has a “B-list” taste to it.
When she gets through with him as well, and she finds out what triggered his little visit to George in the first place, what happens then? How psycho is she likely to be driven by this? How much is she going to be consumed by the symbiote? And what’s going to set her on the path to getting rid of it? I’m hoping for a return of Kitty Pryde and the device that Logan used against her. That would be a very fun way to see the symbiote drove off and/or weakened. At the same time I’m also hoping that Gwen herself is the one who comes up with the way to get rid of it, because I feel like it would be extra satisfying to see her overcome by it and then in turn overcome it and break free of it. It would also be a major breakthrough for her as a character if we’re shown that the symbiote feeds of her guilt over everything that’s happened and that she’s able to overcome that guilt in order to overcome the symbiote.
That said, I’m also kind of hoping it’s Murdock who gets it off her. Peter lost the symbiote by getting Reed Richards to help her. Well, Gwen has her own version of Reed but I don’t think the kid (yes, Reed is just a kid in this universe) is in any real position to help her. And if it IS Murdock who gets what he wants, then we get to find out WHY he wants it. What possible plans could our beloved Kingpin have for this creature that he’s gone to so much trouble to acquire? Or is it not HIS plan that he’s enacting? We know that he was meeting with Cindy Moon. Maybe it’s HER plan that he’s working on, and if it is then what did the mastermind behind S.I.L.K. have in store? Also, how awesome is it that Silk may become more famous as the bad-guy in Spider-Gwen than as the hero she was meant to be in Spider-Man? I just kinda love how that worked out. I’m not crazy about the way the character has been portrayed so far in her own comic, so I actually quite like the idea that her legacy is to become one of the best Spider-Gwen villains instead, which has a comedic value to it when you think how little Gwen liked the good version too!
The other major question we’ve got to ask is once Gwen is rid of the symbiote, where is it going to go? Who is it going to bond with? There are a few possibilities, some of which I’d love to explore in a future blog entry. One of them is Mary Jane, which would be incredible to see MJ as the relentless villain of the piece – and she’s so self-absorbed that as long as the symbiote complimented her a few times she’d be completely ok with the murdering it would do – since the MJ and Gwen characters have such a strong history in the Spider-Man mythos as it is, and it’s always been kind of weird how the party-girl character that MJ was in the old days when Stan Lee wrote her became so much more like Gwen Stacy after Gwen died in order for her to become the loving wife that we all remember MJ being (and if you’re reading this and you DON’T remember MJ as the loving wife then seriously, you should NOT have started reading Spider-Man in the post Brand New Day world. For shame. The old comics with MJ are way better).
Another person I’d like to see with the symbiote is Harry, because I’d love to see Gwen versus Harry again, not least of all so we can explore more of their past and their relationship with Peter (which I’d also love to see explored if Spider-Gwen got a mini-series focusing on her past, or even a second series… c’mon Marvel, make that happen!!). But my favourite idea, which hasn’t even been HINTED as a possibility but would be amazing, would be if the symbiote found Peter Parker’s grave, resurrected Peter (we’ve seen it happen in the “What If” storyline “What If… Spider-Man: The Other”, so it could be possible that the symbiotes can bring back the dead), and inhabited that body, giving Gwen not only a compelling villain but also one that, if she WERE to kill him, would return Peter to the dead again. Can you even imagine that choice? In order to beat the bad guy she has to kill the guy she was blamed for killing in the first place? That would seriously play off her past, and perhaps in a strange way help her move forward from that guilt.
I’m throwing these ideas out there because I love the character, I love her universe, and I seriously want to see more of it. I’m also reaffirming my idea for a series of Spider-Gwen mini-series focusing on the stuff we HAVEN’T gotten to see, including what she first did when she got her powers, more of her history with Peter and Harry (and confirmation of whether or not Peter and her had a romantic relationship or were just friends), and so much more. Yes, part of the appeal of the character is in just IMAGINING that history, but something tells me Latour could make it absolutely thrilling to actually be able to read it. And I have faith that wherever Spider-Gwen goes next, whatever story we get with Gwenom, will be like nothing I could have imagined, and will be entertaining as hell, because “Predators” sure was, and that was just the lead-in to the Gwenom story. Please oh please let Robbi continue working on Spider-Gwen forever. And please oh please oh please never let Jason Latour even THINK about leaving this comic, because it would be a tragedy of epic proportions (but if Robbi does leave, I want Mark Bagley to take over. I would cry tears of joy for weeks if I could see Spider-Gwen drawn by Bagley, I really would).
That’s my recap, and thoughts, on Spider-Gwen #24. Go buy it now. Support this comic. Support Gwen as a TRUE HERO (unlike that damn Peter). And if you want to talk about Spider-Gwen then feel free to message me on Twitter (@AlexisEbdon) or Facebook (facebook.com/ajebdon) and believe me, I’ll be more than happy to talk your ear off about her and give you a thousand reasons why you should read every comic and enjoy every moment.
Happy Comic Book Wednesday, my friends!