“Is…that what this world thinks of Gwen Stacy? As nothing more than a victim? Nothing more than an inciting incident for a man in a mask?”
The Acts of Evil have fallen upon Ghost-Spider…accidentally. Oh, how will she survive an absent death trap not built with her in mind?
Vita Ayala WROTE IT
Pere Perez DREW IT
Rachelle Rosenberg COLORED IT
VC’s Clayton Cowles LETTERED IT
Ema Lupacchino & David Curiel DID THE COVER
John Tyler Christopher DID THE VARIANT
Anthony Gambino DESIGNER
Danny Khazem EDITOR
GWEN STACY created by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO
STORY: Gwen’s class wraps up at the ESU of Earth-616 and some classmates invite her out to join their study group and she declines, citing “stuff to take care of”. She really has nothing and goes out web-slinging as Ghost-Spider until she accidentally triggers a trap Arcade left for the Peter Parker Spider-Man. In order to save the girl, she must go into Murder World and defeat robotic doppelgangers of Spider-Man’s friends and foes. She gets to the end of the gauntlet and finds robot Spider-Man trapping the girl that needs rescuing-a robot effigy of the deceased 616 Gwen Stacy. Ghost-Spider conquers robot Spidey, “saves” the synthetic Gwen, and decides she needs to enjoy life and spend time with people. She then joins her classmates at Stews ‘n’ Sammies for food and fellowship. 
THOUGHTS: Well, one issue in and we have our first annual for the new volume chronicling the continuing adventures of the haunting Ghost-Spider. While a great representation of the events depicted within, the cover doesn’t do anything for me (much like the issue, but more on that in a second). It’s not bad, just kinda…there for me. I usually like Lupacchino’s work, too.
As we turn the page, we find Gwen trying to live out her life as normally as possible on Earth-616. I get the whole concept of being on a different world to have some semblance of a private life, but switching to Ghost-Spider negates that as she’s going to attract attention, and not the welcomed kind. I don’t think her sense of responsibility will allow her to sit crime out and her fighting crime in costume is only going to start a different Rogue’s Gallery for her. It’s a super-hero fact.
Case in point, Ghost-Spider accidentally triggers a death trap that has been pre-recorded and abandoned by Arcade for “Acts of Evil”, presumably a sequel to “Acts of Vengeance” from the ’90s, one that I haven’t bothered to pay attention to. Knowing it’s meant for Peter, Gwen goes in because a life is in danger, but she quickly finds out her opponents are automatons. 
The scenario-going through a roster of villains to save someone-immediately brought to mind comparisons with Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. While that issue is an instant classic, this feels derivative and lacking depth. Peter went villain to villain, with the story unfolding at a steady pace, allowing each moment to shine. After fighting Lizard, Gwen winds up doing a montage of the remaining baddies. No Ditko splash pages here for each foe.
What’s even worse is that it lacks the pathos it could have. While fighting the “Lizard”, Gwen knows it’s not her Peter, so while she thinks of the Earth-65 Lizard, it doesn’t mean as much to her. This impact gets lessened when she realizes it’s a robot. So, when she runs across these machine versions of Rhino, Green Goblin, Kraven, and Vulture, she really has no connection to them. They’re 1) fakes 2) not her versions. We get some mention of the Earth-65 counterparts when she confronts Punisher and Daredevil, but smashing them apart lacks catharsis because this fight was never meant for her.
When she finally reaches the end to find the damsel in distress is a simulacrum of the 616 Gwen Stacy, Ayala tries to give it some punch by having Gwen think this world only sees her deceased counterpart as a victim. The story tries to be introspective about it, but it feels we covered this theme a bit when Gwen met the Gwen of Earth-617 in “The Life of Gwen Stacy” arc. Furthermore, why is she trying to rescue what she clearly knows is a robot of someone who is dead anyways?
Gwen defeats “Spidey”, thereby saving “Gwen” and a holographic recording of Arcade says she’s free to go out the way she came in…and that she could have left at any time. So, this entire fight was pointless other than it made Gwen realize she needs to have people in her life and have downtime…a lesson she has learned already. 
I just felt underwhelmed by this whole story. The art is fairly decent. Perez has some good compositions at times, but I wasn’t blown away or energized by it. The whole issue feels like something that wasn’t meant for Gwen and I’ve yet to be sold on this whole Gwen-of-Two-Worlds setup. C’mon, Marvel. Give me something to prove this new status-quo is worth it.
MY GRADE: C-
JAVI’S HUH?: Again, why is Gwen trying to save a ROBOT duplicate of a DEAD version of herself? It’s eyes are glowing for Pete’s sake! It’s NOT ALIVE!
Why does Gwen feel so isolated? She recently had a big gig, has practiced with The Mary Janes, and just started school. She’s been very active in both worlds!
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This sounds … like empty calories. The opening motive makes sense, but why continue once you know Spider-Man and Gwen are both robots? Unless you feel obliged to make sure no one else wanders into this thing?
Maybe this story would have had some kick if Arcade was watching, and feels more and more let-down as Gwen plows through these machines in an entirely workmanlike way. Like, the whole thing’s stinger is psychological. But she feels no attachment to these critters, she’s just dismantling what amounts to a forgotten land-mine.
They could have even tied it into “Hunted” — that Arcade had wasted so much money on expensive, ineffective projects like this, he had to take Kraven’s contract.