Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6 Review

 

Writer: Stephanie Phillips

Artists: Paolo Villanelli

Colorist: Matt Milla

Letterer: Ariana Maher

Cover Artists: Mark Brooks & Audrey Mok

Design & Production: Carlos Lao

Editors: MR Daniel, Jordan D White, Nick Lowe & C B Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 2, 2024

 

Gwen Stacy’s compassion for Chameleon won her a fan. But the way they hide their identities behind masks and aliases makes the relationship weird. At least Chameleon told Gwen who was gunning for her. Chameleon may have tarnished her hero image, but if Gwen takes out Black Tarantula, perhaps the police will stop hunting her. Can Gwen adopt a new strategy and get her life on Earth-616 back on track? Let's thwip into Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6 and find out!

 

Story

Fabian finds Gwen enchanting. Black Tarantula's son plays her game while “bumping” into her in Bear Coffee. Perhaps she connects the dots between the man clad in black leather who wanted to buy her a coffee and the man before her who makes the same offer. Perhaps not. But a social life can wait. After she foiled his bank heist, Black Tarantula sent Chameleon to deal with New York's latest spider hero. Gwen needs to send Black Tarantula back to Rykers before he sends someone else after her. But villains lurk in the shadows. Perhaps she should take a leaf out of their book.

 

Gaining respect from the criminal fraternity gives Gwen the confidence to descend into the shadows in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6. But questioning people in a bar is a skill that doesn’t come naturally. Gwen can disguise her appearance. Still, she lacks the subtlety to get the answers she seeks. Jessica Jones intervenes when Gwen's questions in the Low Life bar raise the villains' threat level. While Jessica admires Gwen’s willingness to try new things, she encourages Gwen to play to her strengths. Their heart-to-heart over pizza helps Gwen relax and envision what life could bring once she gets over this bump in the road. But then, Ouroborus of the Time Variance Authority and Silk also know the soothing power of pizza.

 

Gwen has a lot on her plate (aside from a slice of pepperoni). She wields a strange power she is only learning to understand and control. Her superpowers should have made her a hero. Instead, they have made her hunted, feared, and hated on two worlds. Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6 gives Gwen a moment to pause and reflect on the hero she wants to be. But she doesn't have long. Black Tarantula won't back down. And even as Gwen makes a new friend, she seems destined to lose another.

 

 

 

Art

Descend the stairs from the sidewalk and venture inside the Low Life, where a flatscreen nestles among the shelves of bottles behind the bar. More TVs hover at the periphery of the pipe-adorned ceiling, surrounding the patrons with the latest news, weather, and sports. Gwen ventures into the bar clad in a black trench coat. With her white hoodie pulled over her head and a green scarf further obscuring her face, Gwen pulls a wad of green notes from her pocket. The burly bartender in a white tank top appears less than impressed by a secretive, overdressed customer who doesn't order a drink. Shadows fall blue and purple on the patrons as they gather around Gwen in the dimly lit bar. Yet white flares behind Jessica as she steps through the orange door.

 

Gwen’s gray laptop blends with the window frame in the colorful Bear Coffee. The peach and gold sign on the street draws customers inside Bear Coffee’s grand reopening. Pink, purple, and peach balloons mingle among green potted plants and tan loveseats. More balloons cluster near the pink and purple pennants adorning the ceiling. In his gray clothes and trench coat, Fabian seems more attuned to Jessica Jones’ shadowy vibe than Gwen’s usual green, blue, and yellow casual attire. But even though Gwen seems better suited to a colorful, vibrant world, she is testing a new life in the shadows in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6.

 

As Paolo Villanelli and Matt Milla populate inviting settings with compelling characters, Ariana Maher thwips uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons with long white arrows and places rouge words in white narrative boxes outlined with turquoise. The text grows bold for intonation and enlarges for raised voices. Sound effects accompany a colorful bar brawl and herald an emerging arachnid threat amid pages steeped in blue, purple, and pink. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

When Gwen begins a new career in the shadows, she makes a new friend and discovers a web of protection in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #6.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

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

Ranger Academy #10 Review

 

Writer: Maria Ingrande Mora

Artist: Jo Mi-Gyeong

Colorist: Joana Lafuente

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Designer: Madison Goyette

Editors: Kenzie Rzonca, Allyson Gronowitz, Bryce Carlson & Matt Gagnon

Special Thanks: Dafna Pleban, Tayla Reo, Linda Lee & Ed Lane

Cover Artists: Miguel Mercado, Jo Mi-Gyeong & Audrey Mok

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $3.99

Release Date: September 4, 2024

 

The Headmaster told Sage that her father had killed another junior ranger. Head Archivist Nika was friends with her father and Zilan. Nika knows Rhianth pursued Zilan into the Green Dormitory but doesn’t know how Zilan died. Perhaps Rhianth won't tell his friend what happened, but Sage wants to learn the truth behind the shuttle accident that killed Tula's sister and closed the Green Dorm. Can Sage pierce this conspiracy of silence, get Tula reinstated, and prove that it's okay to be a Green Power Ranger? Let's grab our Power Coins, leap into Ranger Academy #10, and see!

 

Story

The Ranger Academy teaches the value of high ethical standards. Yet, it abounds with well-intentioned saboteurs. Sage’s fellow First Years organize a diversion at the Training Grounds. Mathis uses her digital mischief to deactivate the Loading Bay sensors, and Head Archivist Nika leaves the shuttle keys on his desk. Even Lindy breaks school regulations and stows away on Mathis and Sage’s shuttle. Now they’re heading to Vaela, where Sage must apologize to her dad for abandoning him without leaving a note.

 

Mathis is frightened of Sage's dad, but they have more important things to worry about in Ranger Academy #10. The last time Mathis and Tula traveled here, they crashed in the rainy planetoid's low gravity. Worse, Mathis only gets radio silence from Ranger Academy. At least after they land the shuttle, Mathis reunites with Tula. Their friend visited Sage's scary dad instead of returning home. Rhianth is expecting them. And boy, does he have a story to tell!

 

Rhianth explains the mystery surrounding the shuttle accident that killed Tula’s sister and why Ranger Academy closed the Green Dormitory. Her father's tale gives Shay much to process. Tula finds Sage in her treehouse. Mathis isn't far behind. They're concerned about Sage. But Mathis also worries about what may happen at Ranger Academy in their absence.

 

Maria Ingrande Mora's story resounds with the benefits of acceptance and mutual support. Ranger Academy #10 also reminds us how fear isolates and paralyzes us. Sage and her friends must convince the school administrators to forsake fear to defeat Dark Specter. Ironically, Lindy is the first to act. The First Year Cadet is as sensitive as an empath and the only member of her class who can't morph. But she won't let that stop her from taking risks and doing what she believes is right.

 

Art

As the shuttle descends through Vaela’s thick cloud layer, Lindy molds herself against Sage’s side. Sage’s muscles are tense as she cringes while strapped to her chair. Despite Mathis' determined expression, the shuttle clips the trees before it slides to a stop in the mud. As Mathis, Sage, and Lindy emerge, Lindy presses her hands to her face. Her arms drop, and she smiles when a golden bird with long tail feathers flies overhead. Then she interposes herself between Mathis, Sage, and the approaching shadows. Tula appears in a rain jacket, her hands on her hips, as a flock of goatlike animals rush in, and little Nugget leaps up to embrace Sage.

 

Joana Lafuente paints the ground maroon, and the distant trees merge with the blue sky. When sunlight pierces the clouds, Jo Mi-Gyeong's eggshell rock formations turn from gray to brown, and the land beneath them from blue to yellow. An orange and brown structure rises in the epicenter of one such crater that suggests the planet's crust formed bubbles as it cooled. Rhianth waits before his chapel-like home. As he presses Sage against his orange-red shirt, her reddish-brown mop appears brown in the cloud cover, the tousled ends show more blue-green than ever, and the green pack Sage wears declares her choices.

 

Ed Dukeshire fills the pages of Ranger Academy #10 with large black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons, shares Sage's thoughts in green narrative boxes, and Rhianth’s story in white narrative boxes. Sound effects enhance a rough shuttle landing, Mathis respecting Sage and Tula’s need for privacy, and an explosion that isn’t thunder. Thanks to Boom! Studios and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Sage cast fear aside when she stowed away aboard Mathis and Tula’s shuttle. Yet she insulated herself from friends and shied away from her destiny at Ranger Academy. In a take-charge endeavor, Sage returns home to learn the truth about herself. What her father reveals has repercussions for Sage and could pave the way forward for her school’s fearful administration in Ranger Academy #10.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.