Advance Review: Spider-Gwen: Gwen Verse #1

I am not sure which is worse, expectation with a promise of so much or the actual having. Case in point; after the huge success of Into the Spider-Verse and the popularity of Ghost Spider a Gwen Verse book written by fan favourite Tim Seeley sounds perfect. That’s the expectation part.

Gwen Stacey should have a perfect life. She has her Dad, MJ and the band, and in a world without any real big bads, she is the de facto Spider-Queen of New York city. So why is everyone giving her a hard time? If its no MJ looking to the past its her Dad who hates Gwen’s university via the the multi-verse. So when a multi-verse hoping hero wants to grab some “fresh air”, where better to go than the mulit-verse. Of course best laid plans and all that send Gwen into alternative universes and alternative versions of herself!

Tim Seeley is a writer who has worked on a number of DC books along with his own indie work. A diverse writer with a diverse skill set. Here, Seeley gets to have a lot more fun in a light-hearted way than you may expect from a former Batman contributor. Sure, there is angst to be found, after all it wouldn’t be any spider book if there wasn’t any guilt to go around. It’s hard to keep a track on Gwen at times; is she still a newbie or is she the experienced heroine? This question is probably going to get asked throughout this run given the amount of Gwen’s we are going to run into.

The art is supplied by Jodi Nishijima who adopts a kind of western manga confluence. The humour quota is high, especially in the opening act; Nishijima does well with this aspect before things get really bonkers! As you’d expect, with the multitude of Gwen’s there are a number of different designs for and knowing nods to other heroes. Some of the designs are fun, though to be honest, I think I saw plenty of these during the last Secret Wars events on Battleworld. If you like chaos then the art will suit your needs. Nishijama uses heavy inks which are required to compete with the colors from Federico Blee who goes for bold and dark, often to the exclusivity of the background. Letters are supplied by VC’s Ariana Maher who uses an easy going, spaced out font act as some sort of anchor amidst the crazy. Finally, there are a raft of covers it’s buyers choice, though I am confused about how alternative Gwen’s body shape changes on the main David Nakayama.

When this book was originally scheduled, I was intrigued enough to thinking about adding this to my order, such is the pull of Spider Gwen. I even bought the Gwen Devil’s Reign cover. Upon reading the book, I can safely say that this book isn’t really aimed at me, which is fair enough. Can you have too much Gwen; I fear we are about to find out!

Writing- 3 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Colors – 3 Stars

Overall – 3 Stars

Written by; Tim Seeley
Art by; Jodi Nishijama
Colors by; Federico Blee
Letters by; VC’s Ariana Maher
Published by;Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network