Greater Power: Part 2

With every new issue of Spider-Gwen we get vibrant art with an interesting story to tell. Once again with few questions answered but far more unanswered.

There really isn’t anything here about Gwen’s personal life or with her band. I was hoping to see a glimpse of the The Mary Janes by now. Conflicts and questions that were started in #5 of Spider-Gwen before the first run ended due to Secret Wars still haven’t even been mentioned. Instead the story continues where we left of in #1 where Gwen was caught by Earth-65’s Captain America.

It’s really quite interesting to see Captain America in this new series. Not only is Captain America African-American like the ongoing Sam Wilson Captain America series, but this Captain America is female. We learn in a brief flashback that this Captain America is Samantha Wilson. As of late Marvel has really been upping the game with creating more female heroes and creating a more racially diverse set of characters. So it’s no wonder the Spider-Gwen series has many of these.

The fight between Spider-Woman and Captain America was quite enjoyable. Gwen is cracking jokes and pop culture references throughout history while Captain America remains silent and focused. It really felt like a classic comic book moment to me. I always enjoy the humor Spider-Man has brought to his fight scenes and seeing it in Spider-Gwen was really enjoyable for me. Though let’s remember that it was Gwen being distracted with her dialogue that lost her the battle. The art was quite vibrant, I like the smooth look with the touch of Captain America’s pants having the modern Military pixel camouflage texture. It’s a nice touch with a simple amount of texture. It’s really neat to see how Gwen as a new hero still has things to learn and improve. With the series continuing I hope we see that Gwen gets better and improves at multi tasking. Character development is one of best aspects to an ongoing series.

This issue also brought more to light with George Stacy’s determination to prove his daughter’s alto ego’s innocence. We see him talking with Ben Parker telling him that he’s so close to Peter’s killer. Ben is quite pleased to hear this, giving George quite the hug in gratitude. The colors in these scene were softer giving a more cozy home feeling to it while still taking part in the beautifully vibrant style of coloring. The inks weren’t too bold either yet still did a good job with it’s shading and texture. I always enjoy how well done the art is in this series.

The transitions in this comic are quite sudden which causes the timeline to be confusing. The jump between Gwen and her father’s side of the story was one thing, but with George’s side the changes were odd. First he’s with Ben Parker, and then his Police partner Jean DeWolff following evidence on the Spider-Woman case. By the way it is arranged I am guessing this takes place after George’s discussion with Ben.

There were some enjoyable jokes and references in this issue, George saying he didn’t want to be like one of those guys from Scooby-Doo before going down where the lizards were was awesome. Scooby-Doo has some nostalgia for me, Gwen’s “I Love Lucy” reference was fun as well. My favorite one? I won’t give that one away. Let’s just say it had to do with who Captain Stacy’s favorite.

Having the two sides merge in the end was a good move. Jean DeWolff now has more evidence for her case and now they are even closer to finding Peter’s true killers. Curt Connors is revealed to be one of the giant lizards found in #1. Captain America seems to have a change of heart after questioning the hooded vigilante and fighting to defend themselves from Connors as the Lizard. Good choice on the writer’s part. The art in this scene really added some intensity to the scene. The inks and colors combine helped add more to the story, it gave a really nice feel overall.

I thought having #2 end with Gwen returning Bodega Bandit’s pet was a cute idea. Though in #1 it was a dog and Gwen returns a hamster. Perhaps he has more than one pet? Either way it was a good way to end the issue.

As decent as this issue of Spider-Gwen was, I feel there is still room for improvement. I feel that since the series started the drag one plot line too long with little satisfaction of resolve. With each new issue only one or two smaller conflicts are resolved while there are some big ones that aren’t even mentioned.

Instead of making a longer story with one big plot and nothing else, I think this series should try to instead work with one main conflict that starts and ends in that one issue, making the whole thing a bit more episodic. The background of the story could still have things about the larger main plot. Sort of like how a lot of TV series start. There is one conflict in the each episode solved by the end, but still having elements to the larger plot. It’d be a good way to have that suspense that keeps the readers going and still have some satisfaction of a resolution. There is very little resolution which as someone studying to be a story creator bothers me. There is so much potential for Spider-Gwen and a lot of ground to cover and so far it feels rather messy. I hope as the story progresses this improves.