"Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice":

 

            The following is a review of “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” as presented in Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            On Earth-65, teenager Gwen Stacy was bitten by a mutated spider. The bite transformed her, granting her amazing powers: a precognitive awareness of danger, adhesive fingertips and toes, and the proportional speed and strength of a spider. She uses those powers to fight supervillains as Spider-Woman and keep the multiverse safe.

            When she first got her powers, she tested them out wrestling to make money. She learned right from wrong when Ben Parker stopped a thief from robbing the box office. But it was the death of Peter Parker that turned her into a true hero. She has fought a myriad of villains over the years, some rather forgettable, like the Koala Kommander, teamed up with Captain America, joined and left the band the Mary Janes several times, and met Spider-Heroes from many other universes.

            Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 and Laura Kinney/Wolverine of Earth-616 woke up one morning to find their consciousnesses had been swapped. Gwen had to travel to Earth-616 to team up with Wolverine to solve the mystery of how their bodies were swapped, or their consciousnesses would deteriorate and leave them both mindless.

            After a battle against on Earth-616 against a villain, Gwen had her powers stolen. She needed to take a serum to use her powers, and the serum only granted them temporarily. Police detective Frank Castle had previously discovered Gwen’s secret identity as Spider-Woman. He teamed up with Kraven the Hunter to try to capture Spider-Woman. To that end, he sent dangerous animals after former police captain and Gwen’s father George Stacy at his house. During the fight, Gwen’s power injector was destroyed, and Kraven was able to steal the serum. Super genius Reed Richards was able to repair and enhance the device for Gwen. Gwen battled Castle again, and at the end of the fight, George Stacy turned himself in to the NYPD for aiding and abetting Spider-Woman. Following this, out of desperation, Gwen made a deal with the Kingpin of Crime, Matt Murdock: she would serve him as Spider-Woman in exchange for him to serve as her father’s lawyer.

            On Halloween, the Mary Janes went to the abandoned Cursed Carnival of Mysterio. As it turned out, Mysterio still haunted the carnival and forced the Mary Janes to face some of their greatest fears through the powers of his illusions.

            For Thanksgiving, Gwen invited the Spider-Woman of Earth-616, Jessica Drew, her partner Roger Gocking/Porcupine, and Jessica’s infant son Gerry over for dinner.

            The Kingpin brokered a deal with Cindy Moon, the imprisoned former director of the evil agency S.I.L.K. and manufacturer of Gwen’s spider-power-up serum, granting the Kingpin access to a continuous supply of the serum.

            On Earth-616, Miles Morales/Spider-Man’s father went on a mission for the peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D. into Earth-65 but went missing. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill sent Miles to Earth-65 to find and rescue his father. Miles teamed up with Gwen, where Miles found this reality’s version of his father, who was actually a mob boss. Much more dimension hopping was involved over this caper, including where Gwen travelled to a future world where she and Miles were married with children. At the end of the adventure, Miles and Gwen felt a romantic attraction, but chose not to pursue it.

            Elsa Brock discovered an isotope for the serum that transformed Gwen’s friends Peter Parker and Harry Osborn into the Lizards that would essentially be a cure for Harry, but would also give Gwen her powers back. Gwen reluctantly accepted the mission and the symbiote. Harry’s location had been tracked to the island of Madripoor. However, Gwen wasn’t the only person interested in locating Harry. S.H.I.E.L.D. had also sent out two agents, Logan/Wolverine and Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat to locate Harry and bring him in. However, Wolverine and Shadowcat weren’t sharing the same mission and conflict broke out between the two. After the fallout of the mission, Gwen returned home to find out her father was in a coma after being attacked in prison. This caused the symbiote to overreact and created the birth of Gwenom.

            Okay, so I do have to say, I was slightly disappointed with this book. Last week I reviewed “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Edge of Spider-Verse” which precedes this book. I stated multiple times in that review that Earth-65 is “unique,” and that’s one of the things I love most about Spider-Gwen. I never know what to expect. But some of the changes were a little too unwelcome. In every other reality, George Stacy dies, so having a reality where he’s still alive is very unusual, especially with him in such a huge capacity supporting role. But him quitting the police force is just so out of character. Doing anything to protect Gwen isn’t, of course, but going to jail was a bit extreme. Frank Castle teaming up with Kraven the Hunter was also out of character. Gwen selling her soul to the Kingpin was extremely out of character, almost to the point of unbelievability. I could never see a Spider-Hero actually making a lasting deal with the Kingpin, even if the Kingpin is Matt Murdock. And the whole book with Gwen not naturally having her spider powers and getting them through artificial means just didn’t work for me. On top of that, the Miles/Gwen multiverse crossover just wasn’t as appealing to me as the Spider-Women crossover. This one was a little sloppy, with too many universes visited, and it was also a little stale having Miles’ father turning out to be a villain on Earth-65, just like Cindy Moon-65 was a villain. It just seemed a little too cliché at the point, like if you have a Spider-Gwen crossover someone heroic on Earth-616 has to be a villain on Earth-65. My biggest issue, however, was the art. I just did not like the artwork in Spider-Gwen at all. “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Edge of Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Weapon of Choice” shared some artists, and in my prior review I said the stylized artwork didn’t appeal to me. Once again this was true. I mean no offense to the artists, but in the most case, this just wasn’t my kind of artwork. I appreciate what the artists were attempting to do, but for me, it just didn’t work.

            Okay, so let’s talk about accessibility before we go any further. Honestly, if you didn’t read “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Edge of Spider-Verse” you definitely should not read this book. This is a direct continuation and if you didn’t read the previous volume, it will be extremely difficult to pick up on the story. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not easy. Also, you should know a bit about Miles Morales since the crossover is really not self-explanatory for the “Spider-Man” series of the time period. I don’t feel that this is a starter Marvel graphic novel. What I mean is if you’ve never read a Marvel comic before and are looking for a place to start, this is not it.

            Okay, I’ve gone on long enough, you probably want to hear just how good I thought this book was, giving it a numeric score. If you’ve read any of my reviews before, you know how this works, but for you newbs, I’ll explain. I score on a scale of one to ten. One means this is a terrible book, do not by any means read this. Ten means this book is one of the best books you’ll ever read, go out of your way to read it. My regulars know I’m a pretty harsh scorer, I don’t just go around giving tens, and you can tell by now this book does not get a ten from me. I have to take everything into account, the story and the artwork when I give my score, so, all cards on the table, I score this book as… drumroll please… six. To me the book was mediocre story wise, and the art just didn’t do it for me.

            Next, I’ll tell you if I recommend this book or not. In all honesty, I don’t generally recommend it, but if you are a Spider-Gwen fan, I would say you should give it a read, especially if you’re newer to Ghost-Spider and want to read the earlier stories, this does fill in a lot. I would just say you have to read “Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider: Edge of Spider-Verse” in the Modern Era Epic Collection format first or you’ll have a difficult time picking it up. Other than that, I think you might enjoy it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t read it, especially if you’ve read this review and have met all my prerequisites and are interested in reading it, because I say in that case you totally should read this book, but if you don’t meet the prerequisites or are on the fence, I wouldn’t tell you to rush out and read it.

            Well, I feel as if I’ve gone on long enough. I really don’t want to bore you any further. So, I say to you if you’re reading this at this point, you are THE BEST, I appreciate you! I can also tell you to expect more content sometime in the next couple of weeks, so I really hope you’ll come back for that, and I will say that until then, Tim Cubbin… out!