Gwen Stacy is an interesting girl in the Spider-Universe. Every comic fan knows the famous story of how Spiderman tried to save her and as a result snapped her neck. Since Marvels reboot, there has been no neck snaps, thank god. As fans we can’t handle that again, and Gwen has become a more prevalent character. Gwen has broken out as a character with the events that have transpired in her solo story in the Spider-Verse. The solo story of Gwen was well written and illustrated, as was the first issue of Spider-Gwen, but it is too early to tell how this comic will fair in the Marvel Universe.
The story is built upon events that have transpired in Spider-Verse. As a result, the police and the city of New York view Gwen as a vigilant. Her father, the police chief, is put into the position of pursuing his daughter who he is aware of is Spider-Women; a vigilant or a hero. One thing leads to another and the Vulture shows up and begins to terrorize New York. This presents an opportunity for both Gwen and her father to allow Gwen to transition from being viewed as a vigilant type criminal to being a super hero. The plan includes having Gwen apprehend the Vulture and hand him over to the police to gain trust with the police and the people of New York. It’s a simple plan for everybody except the Vulture who does not want to be caught.
Gwen and the Vulture engage with one another. This fight scene created mixed feelings. Initially, Gwen gains the upper hand by shooting webs into the eyes of her opponent, which shows her experience as a superhero. In making this decision she shows that she can be independent and is operating without having somebody watch her back. The fight progresses and the Vulture and Gwen are evenly matched. This is fine as the fight is highly entertaining from an artistic point of view and in comics if the fight was one sided it would be boring. After a few panels of an even back and forth fight the problems start to occur. The big problem is the lack of judgment that Gwen has. Gwen keeps going higher and higher and increasing the pace of the fight with the Vulture. Now both of them are in the air and he makes a simple quick motion with his talons and she begins to fall. Minutes ago she had made a veteran super hero choice that showed that she has an understanding of how to fight, yet a few minutes later she is making rookie mistakes. With that rookie mistake she is falling to her death. In the comic’s defense it ends there so I would assume that she saves herself or that somebody will save her. It’s the veteran and rookie contradiction that as a reader makes me question her ability as a hero, even as a strong female hero that has similar powers to other characters like Cindy Moon and Peter Parker. She has similar powers to Spider-Man and the Silk and is making both rookie and veteran moves as a hero. The comic is a real toss up on how well it will play out, as there are some great qualities and some rough spots.
Spider-Gwen Volume 1 which has taken the comic world by storm can be purchased here.
