Review: Heroes Reborn - Night-Gwen #1 One-Shot

For a character that used to be best served as a highlight of Peter Parker’s failure and led very much into his guilt complex, Gwen Stacey has certainly come on leaps and bounds since her re-introduction into the land of the living. Spider-Gwen, Ghost Spider and even Gwen-pool and her role in the brilliant Into The Spider-verse movie, almost guaranteeing her appearance in the sequel prove how popular she is. Now, in the current DC type of heroes taking over the Marvel universe event. it makes a modicum of sense that yet another identity for Gwen is delivered in the form of Batgirl wannabe Night-Gwen!

By day, Doctor Gwendolyn Stacey serves the inpatient of the Ravencroft Institute (read Harleen Quinzel and Arkham Asylum respectively); by night she is the vigilante to Nighthawk’s hero known as Nightbird (read Batman and Batgirl respectively). Thrown in to the mix is Misty Knight who both hates vigilantes but is kind of dating Gwen. In addition there is a new bad guy in town that has ramifications from the original Marvel timeline.

Vita Ayala provides a book that I am sure DC would like to see as their Batgirl book. This isn’t the first time Marvel have out DC’d DC; Black Cat has pretty much had that title for a while. Ayala looks to mine the intentional “homage” that permeates the whole idea of the Squadron Supreme. Ayala creates a character in Gwen that is practically perfect and also manages to entwine some of the Parker relationship problems. The twist in the tale came as a surprise, which is no mean feat considering how many books I have read and how many books exist. Ayala’s dialogue works well, even if it is a tad wordy in places.

Farid Karami art has the look of Terry Dodson in places. Karami uses a mix of different panels to help progress the story along. This is vitally important as with this being a “new” character there has to be some history on show. With two time frame in play, things can get confusing. Karami does well with the double duty so to speak. The characters are well designed, Nightbird looks great in the various hero poses that Ayala asks for. The colors are provided Erick Arciniega who uses a dark scheme that continues the DC feel. Letters are provided by VC’s Cory Petit who provides a nice clear font which doesn’t hinder the action or the art. Great job!

I know that Heroes Reborn is coming across as a mixed bag for many people, the fact that there is seemingly no point to it all doesn’t help at all. If this big payoff is that the Heroes Return, then this little event serves as nothing but a long setup. With that said, Night-Gwen is clearly one of the better books from this event. As always, Marvel is continuing it’s strong female led books. With its mix of Steph Brown Batgirl vibe and the famous Parker style complications, I wouldn’t be disappointed to see this book continue.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Vita Ayala
Art by; Farid Karami
Colors by; Erick Arciniega
Letters by; VC’s Cory Petit
Published by; Marvel Entertainment

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