Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #6 Review

“Hello? Is that you, Crime? It’s me, Spider-Woman.”

Gwen continues her quest for her new normal, despite her killer headache. Will the Man-Wolf and Jackal let her live long enough to find it???

WRITER: Seanan McGuire

ARTIST: Takeshi Miyazawa

COLOR ARTIST: Ian Herring

LETTERER: VC’s Clayton Cowles

COVER ARTIST: Bengal

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Lauren Amaro & Danny Khazem

EDITOR: Devin Lewis

GWEN STACY created by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO

STORY: Gwen talks to her dad, trying to butter him up so she can get his blessing on charging money for odd-jobs she can do with her powers. On her way to Betty’s, she thwarts Bodega Bandit, despite a killer headache kicking in. Betty later helps her set up a website that will let people reach Spider-Woman for whatever work they need doing. Gwen actually attends band practice again, but some spiders stay behind. Upon leaving, she starts to put fliers up around town, but gets ambushed. A mysterious flash allows the perpetrators to get away and leaves Gwen mystified. With her headache persisting, she calls Harry to give her a ride home instead of risk web-slinging. As he drops her off, Harry asks Gwen out to dinner. Meanwhile, a man going by “Jackal” evaluates the footage taken during the sneak attack, passing on his observations to the Man-Wolf.

THOUGHTS: I’m not as wowed by Bengal’s cover as I was last month, but I still liked the howling silhouette of the Man-Wolf providing a classic Universal Studios horror vibe to the whole affair. It also gives a nod to the story inside, which I always appreciate.

Continuing the threads from last issue, Gwen continues her quest to establish her new norm, the next hurdle now being her dad. The Gwen/George dynamic and banter that McGuire provides is entertaining and a great insight into how their relationship works. George particularly excels at “Dad Talk” and Miyazawa gives him the appropriate “Dad Stare” when he knows Gwen is after something and not getting to the point. The relationship feels very authentic, particularly as George knows his daughter is an adult and while he may not be happy with her choices, he just wants her to be safe.

Betty also gets her character moments this issue as she helps Gwen out. My favorite of the bunch would be her express desire to not have Gwen as a roommate again given her status as a hero without a secret identity. I don’t blame her for not wanting to worry if she’ll be attacked as she tries to sleep and Gwen is pretty accommodating and understanding to that fact as well. It was nice to see Murderface get some screen time, too!

The issue was full of little details that I appreciated, be it the realism of Spider-Woman swinging away and everyone takes their camera phones out to capture the moment, The Mary Janes getting into their cars to go home post band practice and Gwen casually walks up the wall to leave, or the opening “then and now” parallels as Jonah condemned and praised Spider-Woman. Before I forget, the gang wearing half-moons was a nice touch, too.

Then there’s the matter of the headaches and the spiders. It seems like McGuire is hinting that these two things are connected as Gwen’s symbiote is stretching itself thin as it leaves a portion of itself behind, but for what reason? To stand by as sentries? It was easy to recall the Black Costume Saga and how Peter would wake up from a night’s sleep and still be tired. As long as McGuire doesn’t have the venom refer to Gwen as “the meat” I think we’ll be okay. He’s got me intrigued as to where this is going.

I also appreciated Gwen recognizing that she was too wiped to safely web herself home. It’s a sign of her maturity that she’s understanding her limits. It was also a good way to bring Harry back into the story. It’s looking more and more likely that he’s slowly trying to take things to the next level with Gwen. A key staple of Spider stories is how being a web-slinger affects one’s love life and Spider-Gwen hasn’t really touched on that too much, other than the Miles Morales crossover.

Speaking of characters named “Miles”, we finally get to see Earth-65’s version of The Jackal. It’s long overdue. He’s only around for one scene and we’ve yet to see if he takes on a costumed identity, but true to form, there is a fascination (possibly an obsession?) with Gwen Stacy. It’s yet to be revealed if he’s into cloning or has anything to do with John Jameson’s transformation into Man-Wolf, but I’m looking forward to seeing what this team does with him.

I’m continuing to like where this title is going. McGuire has a strong grasp on the cast and the title’s past continuity. Maybe Miyazawa doesn’t feel as “indie rock artist” as Rodriguez, but having a more manga tone works for me more than Kampe’s style. At the end of the story I find myself looking forward to the next installment which is a good thing!

MY GRADE: B

JAVI’S HUH?: O, Spider-Sense, where are you? As Gwen finds the tape recorder that sets up her ambush, her Spider-Sense should’ve gone off. It does later in the fight, but even if she ignored it, it should have buzzed before that lead pipe took a crack at her head. A sign of the venom symbiote messing with her?