Spider-Gwen (Vol. 2) #25 Review

“Wait. THIS is Spider-Woman? What happened? Was she bitten by Wampire?!”

No, Rhino, Gwen wasn’t bitten by “wampire”, she’s been infected with Venom! What role does The Punisher have to play in Murdock’s drama?

WRITER: Jason Latour

INTERIOR & COVER ARTIST: Robbi Rodriguez

COLOR ARTIST: Rico Renzi

LETTERER: VC’s Clayton Cowles

VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez (based on art from The Amazing Spider-Man #316 by Todd McFarlane) [lenticular]; Mike McKone & Rachelle Rosenberg [headshot]; Chip Zdarsky [how to draw]; John Tyler Christopher [trading card]

TITLE PAGE: Rico Renzi, Robbi Rodriguez, & Anthony Gambino

HANDBOOK ENTRY PRODUCTION: Joe Frontirre

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Kathleen Wisneski

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Devin Lewis

EDITOR: Nick Lowe

STORY: On Yancy Street, Frank Castle finds Hobie spray painting an image of Spider-Woman. In Hell’s Kitchen Gwenom attacks The Enforcers in a bar, looking for Rhino. Meanwhile, The Mary Janes are putting up missing person flyers, looking for Gwen. Rhino is having drinks with Murdock while Otomo goes to tell Gwenom where The Rhino is.  Gwenom goes to Jack’s, but it’s an ambush with Murdock pulling the strings. The Punisher arrives and executes The Rhino, in front of Gwenom and the police. May and Ben resolve to find Gwen. Gwen sits alone, realizing she has to get the suit off her.

THOUGHTS: The main cover is very 80’s neon infused, reminding me a bit of the Teen Titans Go! episode, “The Night Begins to Shine”. Maybe a bit of Thor Ragnarok, too. It definitely stands out on the shelf with the bold coloring. The Legacy lenticular cover art is a nice homage, but it’s hard to compete with the original McFarlane art, especially as Gwenom lacks the menace of Venom. Venom is a hulking monster with blood dripping from his hands, Gwenom is more diminutive, with swirly spikes. Maybe it’s that I’m 29 years older than when Venom first appeared or that Venom has been overexposed, but Gwenom doesn’t come off as frightening.

The story kicks off in a very familiar place, Yancy Street, paralleling the opening of Vol. 1, #1. Hobie has definitely stepped up his art game when it comes to depicting Spider-Woman in spray paint, though his optimism for Gwen’s heroism seems to be in short supply.

Not only is this issue wearing the Marvel Legacy branding, but it happens to be the 25th issue of this volume as well. As such, we get the obligatory “what’s happened so far” recap, this time in the form of a two page spread by Rodriguez. I love the headshots of Spider-Woman as she spins around through her own flashback, providing a sense of dizziness and then balancing it out with her being still and overcome by the Venom as she finds her father. Well done!

Obviously, we get to see a lot more of the “Gwenom” design in this issue. It’s more of a nebulous suit than the traditional early Eddie Brock version. Not that Eddie’s suit didn’t morph and change, but Gwen’s suit feels more alive and is constantly in a state of motion as Venom, compared to Eddie who was more “stable” once he reached the Venom look. As for the little details, I did spot the patch of white atop the back of Gwen’s hand, like the web shooters on the 616 version and the soles of her shoes have gone from Sky Blue to “Venom-tongue Red”. Overall, I’m a fan of the design. They did a good job mashing up the two aesthetics as only the team behind Spider-Gwen could. You can bet I’ll be trying to track down the Funko Pop when it gets released!

I appreciated Latour using the thought boxes throughout the story to emphasize the duality of Gwen’s thoughts. Although it’s the symbiote providing the other voice in her head, it reminded me of how DeMatteis used the technique in Fearful Symmetry to let us in to Peter’s conscious and subconscious thoughts. Renzi provides an assist in giving the thoughts different colors.

Making their appearances this issue are The Mary Janes along with Gwen’s sometime employer, Mr. Albie. It was interesting to see “Emm Jay” downplay Gwen as Spider-Woman. It gave us insight into her, showing that she understands what people are feeling towards Gwen’s now monstrous alter-ego. She’s not the self-centered diva you’d think, genuinely concerned for her friend. Mr. Albie agrees to let the girls know if he sees Gwen, but not until he notifies the police, concerned for his business. I’m surprised we didn’t see Bodega Bandit in this scene, just so we checked in with more supporting characters.

It was a nice touch naming the bar on Yancy Street, “Jack’s”, presumably after Jack Kirby. Also, you’ve gotta appreciate Venom’s line, “But I thought you were a big man, Fancy Dan.” For those of you who don’t recall, The Big Man was the boss of The Enforcers, of which Fancy Dan was a member of, all the way back in The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #10!

Matt Murdock may be going by The Kingpin in this book, but he continues to put the “devil” in Daredevil. His Machiavellian machinations wind up with Venom, Rhino, Punisher, and the police all in one location for a battle royale. Speaking of living up to nom de guerres, The Punisher executes The Rhino in front of the police, stealing Gwen’s vengeance from her. It was a surprising development as not only has the Rhino been around since Spider-Gwen’s first appearance, but Castle has been at odds with Stacy since pretty much the beginning, too. Him “helping” her out saves her from making the hard choice and maybe helps her stave off the symbiote getting more of an emotional foothold on her. I’m eager to see Punisher turn his Stark gauntlet Murdock’s way. It should be quite the throw down!

Rounding out our cast appearances this issue are May and Ben Parker. Latour did a great job filling out this landmark issue with the various supporting characters. I’m still not used to seeing a Ben Parker that isn’t 1) dead 2) the avuncular uncle. It’s refreshing to have a proactive Aunt May, too, one who’s willing to help and we don’t have to worry about her dying from shock. It seems pretty clear she’s in on Gwen’s identity, but I wanna see how Ben handles the eventual revelation if we go down that road.

The somber ending was a great way to close out this issue, with a brooding Gwen making the realization she has to get the suit off her. It felt very classic Spidey to me. I loved the credits page at the end of the story, using the cover to issue #1, but having it be “Gwenom” assuming the now iconic pose. The character profile that follows clearly has her named Venom with an “a.k.a. ‘Gwenom'” for us readers. Finally, the Legacy recap is penciled by classic Spidey artist Mark Bagley. His style is more traditional than Rodriguez’s flair, but his three pages are gorgeous to look at, giving a different flavor to the history we’ve seen before.

I’d say “Gwenom” is off to a good start. While this issue didn’t quite hit it out of the park for me as #24, it was still very well done, checking in on our regulars and complicating things further for Gwen. Murdock is a great villain and Gwen’s Venom has a lot of great conflict to explore. This arc holds a lot of promise!

MY GRADE: A-

JAVI’S HUH?: So this is the first Legacy issue, but I thought part of the point of the branding was to go back to the original numbering, so shouldn’t this be #30? Guess we only fudge numbers for milestones…