Gwenpool #1 Review

 

Writer: Cavan Scott

Artist: Stefano Nesi

Colorist: Matt Milla

Letterer: Ariana Maher

Cover Artists: Chad Hardin & Edgar Delgado; Godtail; Gurihiru; Greg Land & Edgar Delgado; Jeehyung Lee; Paco Medina & Morry Hollowell; Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg

Graphic Designer: Kat Walkington

Editors: Kaeden McGahey, Jordan D White & CB Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 14, 2025

 

Fin Fang Foom has rained destruction on Earth. After defeating the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, only Spider-Man, Kate Bishop, and Jeff remain. But neither Spider-Man’s thwipping, Hawkeye’s Bada Boom arrows, nor the land shark’s super cuteness can pierce the dragon's hide like one of Bard's arrows. Can anyone prevent the space dragon from cracking open the Earth and sucking its molten transmuted Tiamat core? Let's grab our swords, leap into Gwenpool #1, and see!

 

Story

Gwendolyn Pool was a Marvel superfan transported from our world to Earth-616. When no one else can help, Gwenpool appears. Like her pool-mate Wade Wilson, Gwen enjoys breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader. She also understands how people create comics. Like all the great heroes in Saturday Morning Cartoons, Gwen knows how to interact with the artist and flip the script. Such omnipotent power frightens Jeff, who scurries away on his super cute fins.

 

While Gwenpool arrives to save the day and form a new fantastic foursome, the mystery in Gwenpool #1 concerns another person. Once, she also went by the name Gwenpool. But she has disowned her former life and now bows before a shadowy controller. Whatever went wrong in her life, she no longer sees herself as a person. Instead, the woman only recognizes her assigned number. She is X-31, the latest in a long line of experimental living weapons.

 

 

 

The apocalypse in Cavan Scott's story pays homage to Gwen Stacy of Earth-65, the Ghost-Spider who struggles to wield world-ending power without destroying her intended beneficiaries. While sprinkling his story with nods to The Avengers and Terminator, Cavan Scott contrasts two similar but different people. Like Wolverine, one struggles to find any joy in life. The second, like Deadpool, seeks fun and diversion to endure the death and destruction she wields to make the world a better place. Although Cavan Scott’s story features Kate Bishop, Gwenpool #1 recalls Clint Barton's journey from world-saving Hawkeye into the sword-wielding Ronin. 

 

 

 

Art

Stefano Nesi transports readers to a shadowy murder room, where agents wearing night vision goggles pursue a lethal target. After completing her mission, X-31 glows, projecting a larger light image as she watches more targets appear on viewscreens. Smaller panels nestle around a two-page panorama of Spider-Man crawling from a crater while Fin Fang Foom bellows fire. The space dragon dominates another two-page spread that showcases the hopelessness of the situation. The tiny forms of Kate Bishop comforting a cowed Spider-Man form tiny figures of light before the giant silhouette of Fin Fang Foom burning like the sun.

 

Pinks and purples dominate the early scenes, while night vision goggles turn scenes green with agony. Purples, pinks, oranges, and yellows surround the giant green dragon bellowing yellow fire. After Gwenpool brings a lighter shade of pink to the party, the purple sky lightens. Grays, yellows, and even blue fills the air as Gwenpool interacts with her colleagues. But that doesn’t mean the danger is past, as Matt Milla lavishes attractive colors on an eye-opening meetup in Gwenpool #1.

 

 

 

Ariana Maher casts uppercase black letters into white and pink balloons and narrative boxes. The letters grow bold for inflection, enlarge for volume, and shrink for lowered voices like a tiny Gwenpool leaping from a panel into white space. Fin Fang Foom speaks into cloudy balloons, while sound effects help us hear gunshots, dragon fire, thunder, and a wailing land shark in Gwenpool #1. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

As Gwenpool #1 ponders how people and circumstances shape our characters, it reminds us how we can wake up one day and, like the Talking Heads, ask, “How did I get here?”

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.