Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Von Randal & Paolo Villanelli
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover Artists: Mark Brooks & Kris Anka
Design & Production: Carlos Lao
Editors: Kaeden McGahey, Jordan D White & CB Cebulski
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 2, 2025
When King Loki abandoned the world he created, Monster Loki saw an opportunity to help others. He took the throne but left the ruins to remind them of their past. Spider-Gwen used the Cosmic Cube's energy to travel to the world King Loki created. She watched as Monster Loki greeted King Loki as a brother. Monster Loki explained his belief that they have grown beyond the monsters King Loki created. Sadly, King Loki doesn’t take kindly to usurpers. And any monstrous variant who thinks they’re as good as King Loki deserves to die.
Spider-Gwen began her interstellar adventure with Loki in the New York subway. When Ouroborus traces Gwen’s cosmic cube energy to King Loki’s world, the Time Variance Authority field agent discovers her cradling not Fabian LaMuerto, but Hulk Loki’s dying body. Can Gwen use her Cosmic Cube energy to resurrect Fabian and the monster who dared call King Loki his brother? And will King Loki answer any more of Gwen’s 1,293 questions? Let’s put on our symbiote space suits, thwip into Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #15 and see!
Story
When Spider-Gwen saw King Loki pursuing the Cosmic Cube, she prevented him from capturing it. But when she touched the artifact, it bonded with her. Gwen couldn't control the immense energy she wielded. It ruined her low-key superhero life playing drums in the Mary Janes and foiling the Bodega Bandit.
Ouroborus rescued Gwen from the apocalypse devouring Earth-65 and hid her on Earth-616. He asked her to lie low, but that wasn’t going to happen. Every time she used her abilities to help others, Gwen drew villains into her web. Eventually, Fabian died protecting her. At her lowest ebb, King Loki offered to relieve Gwen of the power she never meant to wield.
In Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #15, the other monsters King Loki created find Spider-Gwen standing beside their fallen leader. Even though King Loki's scepter rests in Monster Loki's body, they can't blame their creator. So Theodore and the others seek vengeance on the unwanted visitor to their world. Even if King Loki killed Monster Loki, it must be the outsider’s fault.
Gwen opens this journey into vengeance by contemplating the merits of a great story. As Stephanie Phillips pits Gwen, OB, and superpowered guest stars against King Loki’s monstrous creations, she asks how we frame the story of our own lives. Do we regard ourselves as pawns or kings? Are we the masters of our fate, or do we let others dictate our paths?
Art
Von Randal opens this final issue by revisiting key moments from the series. Then Spider-Gwen thwips across the barren world, battling the enraged monsters that King Loki created. Directions lines accompany fraught action as doorways appear, and familiar heroes emerge in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #15.
Matt Milla lavishes a loaded palette as intense conflict knocks fangs from jaws and kicks rocks into the air. A luminous glow surrounds King Loki as he ponders his next attack. The green magic banishes the blue star fields as King Loki unleashes the next volley in his psychological campaign. The energy strands and green waves he unleashes evoke Loki’s decision to bring order to chaos in the Disney+ TV series. Then blue replaces green, as Spider-Gwen realizes that she’s already fought this battle, in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #15.
Ariana Maher thwips uppercase black letters into white and green dialogue balloons with long white arrows. She outlines narrative boxes with green and blue. The text grows bold for intonation, enlarges for raised voices, and shrinks for distant voices. Pink punctuation marks visualize Gwen’s conflicting thoughts. Sound effects enliven a fistfight, demonstrate the power of Vibranium, and awaken us to Gwen's fate in Paolo Villanelli’s detailed epilogue. Thanks to Marvel for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Like gazing into a mirror as she dresses for a gig, Gwen Stacy studies her choices and contemplates a change. After saving the life of a corrupt judge, Gwen must decide how best to dispense judgment on a criminal, and where she belongs, in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #15.
Rating 9/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
No comments:
Post a Comment