MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: GWENOM VS. CARNAGE #2 REVIEW

GIRL-POWER ALIVE AND STRONG THIS 2021

The new year is starting strong, with powerful women taking over the Spidey brand. But first off, I would just like to personally welcome my new readers, and thank the Crawlspace family for welcoming me warmly with this chance and opportunity to contribute to this awesome page. I’ll definitely dedicate time and effort on a weekly basis to bring you the latest news and reviews on Spider-Woman and the various Spider-Man mini-series.

What better way to begin my stint here as a Crawlspace staff member than to dive right in with you guys as we experience “King in Black” together? Let’s DO this!

In the RED CORNER…

TITLE: King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #2

STORY BY: Seanan McGuire

ART BY: Flaviano

COVER BY: Ken Lashley, Carmen Nunez Carnero, Clayton Crain,

David Nakayama, Flaviano, J. Scott Campbell

GWEN STACY VS. MARY JANE WATSON!

STORY:

As a fan of combat sports, “Gwenom vs. Carnage” is just the kind of title that has me sold even before reading any kind of preview or synopsis. I’ve always been a sucker for a good ol’ fashioned showdown between two powerhouses. But what makes this series significant is the stakes are extremely high, because aside from an epic confrontation of massive proportions, in the background is the growing threat of an alien takeover by Knull, the god of symbiotes, and his all-out assault on our poor, planet Earth. The future looks bleak for our heroes, as Knull practically holds sway over the entire symbiote race. Fortunately, for Gwen, she’s not exactly from around ‘our’ neighborhood, so she is still relatively in control of herself, if not the entire alien-invasion situation.

PROS:

• In issue #2, Seanan McGuire and his artists Flaviano and Ig Guara, along with the rest of the book’s superstar team, throw that sense of control right out the window by having MJ, now covered in ‘evil symbiote’, crashing the party, to Gwen’s dismay. The chaos and conflict is palpable. As a reader, you can feel it, smell it, hear it, taste it, see it and sense it in the air automatically.
• The contrast in styles is striking, right away, where you have Carnage as the bigger, more aggressive combatant. And throughout the initial clash, as expected, Gwen attempts to reason out with her old friend MJ, with little progress. The struggle is engaging and relatable.
• Their history together since sixth grade, as described by Gwen, does not hold a flame to what Carnage blames her for… the death of Peter, their group’s kidnapping, and generally making ‘the world a worse place’ for everybody. Deep feels over here, for sure…

CONS:

• Without ruining too much of the action-packed fight, the frustrating point in this conversation between the two fighters is Gwen wondering if all this pent-up anger is something MJ has been feeling all along, or if it is just the symbiote bringing out all that nastiness. There is simply too much misplaced internal and interactional turmoil happening here, folks.
• Yes, the deeper we get, the juicier this whole conflict becomes, and we’re just two issues in… but my problem is that obviously the major concern here and reason behind all the rage is the symbiote. Now is not really the time to ponder on the deeper meaning of life when your life is literally on the line.
• What follows is Gwen locking horns with Knull himself, trying once again to free her good friend MJ from his control, to seemingly little or no avail. This book admittedly had well-defined action, quick and snappy dialogue, but perhaps everything happened just a tad too fast.

GRADE:

There is just enough emotional investment packed into one issue to make it a must-read. With that, I’ll give two webby thumbs up for this installment. And I’m definitely looking forward to the next chapter.

FINAL SCORE: A