Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1 Review

 

Writer: Stephanie Phillips

Artist: Federica Mancin

Colorist: Matt Milla

Letterer: Ariana Maher

Cover Artists: Nolan Woodard, Mark Brooks, Jenny Frison, David Lopen, Ernanda Souza & Pablo Villalobos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 22, 2024

 

Gwen Stacy calls Earth-65 home. She plays drums in a band, gets along with her father, and moonlights as Spider-Woman or Ghost-Spider. So why is she on Earth-616, forbidden to use her powers, and pretending to be Lisa Rogers? Let's thwip into Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1 and find out!

 

Story

Gwen faced an apocalyptic future. She raced past destroyed buildings, pursued by a flock of angry birds. Then OB opened a time-space portal and pulled her inside.

 

Ouroborus, or OB for short, works for the Time Variance Authority. He couldn’t convince Mobius of her importance, so he ignored his supervisor’s decision and saved Gwen anyway. OB wants her to lay low in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1. But Gwen can't help it. Her symbiote spider-suit craves action. So, like an itch she shouldn’t scratch, Gwen gives in to temptation.

 

First, it's when she sees people threatened. Next, she goes looking for opportunities to help others. But getting seen has its consequences. Soon, people come looking for her. And they're not inviting her to play drums in their band.

 

 

 

Mysteries pervade Stephanie Phillips’ story in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1. What caused the devastation on Earth-65? Why is OB risking his job to place Gwen on Earth-616? Most of all, why does the death of her counterpart on Earth-616 haunt Gwen?

 

OB plucked Gwen Stacy from where she belonged and asked her to hide in plain sight. Untethered from her home, she yearns to fit in and belong. But OB warns Gwen that people will die if she continues to use the suit to help others. Like a pebble dropped in a pond, the ripples will travel through space-time. Could her good intentions bring about his worst fears?

 

With great power comes great responsibility. But is fear of potential consequences sufficient reason not to help people? 

 

 

 

Art

A banker stares at her application. Gwen sits across from him, dressed in a white jacket. A blue cap shelters her face. Then, people scatter papers, freeze, and collapse as masked gunmen enter. At least they're not wearing the faces of former presidents!

 

Hiding behind the banker’s desk, electricity crackles along Gwen’s left arm. Her white hoodie gives way to reddish pink with blue webbing. Masked thieves and Ghost Spider blur amid a flurry of movement. Gunmen crash into each other, and dust rises from the floor as Gwen perches atop a desk. Then Gwen thwips over street traffic and away from the bank as pedestrians cheer, gaze up, and send photos of the webbed wonder across the world wide web.

 

 

 

Matt Milla applies a loaded palette of soft and appealing colors to Federica Mancin’s dynamic art in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1. OB's green shirt reflects the turquoise walls of Gwen's apartment. A poster of a fiercely blue sky and a tropical beach taped to a wall allures. Gwen sits on a pink blanket atop the white mattress on the hardwood floor. Her blonde hair glows while sunlight casts a green shadow across her sparsely furnished apartment. Then, black seeps across OB's shirt, and lavender falls upon Gwen as the TVA agent realizes the difficulty of her situation.

 

Ariana Maher thwips uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons with long white arrows and reddish pink words into white narrative boxes outlined with turquoise. A Ka-Chak sounds from a rifle pointed at a bank clerk. A pink Thwip spills across a gunman clad in black. A siren floats on the breeze caused by blurring automobiles and flies past Gwen's fluttering hair. A red Fwwp signals encroaching weakness as Gwen heeds her symbiote suit's desires and ignores OB's in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1.

 

Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Despite the TVA's orders to lie low, Gwen makes headlines and becomes the target of a savage killer in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.