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Being a huge fan of the popular animated Spider-Man film from Sony Pictures Animation, “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” I wanted to explore one of the “Spider-People” that I had never been too familiar with: Gwen Stacy (Spider-Woman/Spider-Gwen). Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0, written by Jason Latour and illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez, offers a keen perspective on love, loss, and the tribulations of being Spider-Woman.
The Story
Beginning with a tragic recounting of the death of Gwen Stacy’s best friend, Peter Parker. Peter ended up becoming “The Lizard” on Gwen Stacy’s Earth, and Gwen has trouble focusing on many other things in her life, like her role as the drummer in her band: The Mary Janes.
This grief also floods into her performance as Spider-Woman since most of New York City, including her father, who also happens to be the police chief, sees Spider-Woman as the menace who took Peter’s life. With this heavy burden on her back, Gwen roams the streets as Spider-Woman, waiting for her gig with The Mary Janes to start and stopping a little crime on the way. Meanwhile, Matt Murdock, a lapdog of Kingpin on this Earth, and Rhino have a chat in a restaurant where Murdock requests Rhino to kill Gwen’s father on Kingpin’s behalf. Rhino accepts the offer and sets out to the same theater where The Mary Janes performs.
Gwen arrives at the venue late and swiftly changes out of her Spider-Suit when, suddenly, George Stacy is attacked by Rhino, to which Gwen leaps into her suit again to join in on the action. After a short battle, Gwen makes quick work of Rhino, saving her father’s life, but George is still not convinced Spider-Woman is a good person. Gwen finally decides to reveal her Spider-secret to her father, to which he is shocked and at a loss for words, and Gwen exits the scene, feeling more alone than ever.
Murdock’s Machinations
Not too long after, Vulture is hired by Murdock to deal with Spider-Woman, and he set out to find her. While Gwen was roaming the streets of New York, Vulture attacked her out of nowhere, and after a short battle, Gwen was incapacitated on a trash boat, with the voice and hallucinated body of Spider-Ham appearing to her to guide her. With her friends’ help, Gwen woke up in her friend’s apartment, recounting the events that just transpired.
She snuck out and searched for her dad. Meanwhile, Frank Castle was tasked by the police to be the new head of the Spider-Woman manhunt, interrogating not only Rhino but also Kingpin in prison to figure out what they want. Unsuccessful in their efforts, they leave Kingpin be after Murdock, who acts as Kingpin’s lawyer, tells Frank off. Gwen returned to her home and talked with her dad about everything she had been dealing with when all of a sudden, Vulture crashed into the home with a new target in mind: George Stacy.
Gwen swooped in and fought Vulture one more time, which ultimately ended in his defeat, but not without consequence. Having inhaled Vulture’s noxious fumes, she was in rough shape on the street and is met with The Punisher, who started fighting her. After a brief exchange of fists, The Punisher unmasked Gwen, leaving him wide open for a counterattack, which Gwen capitalized on, and she fled the scene. Feeling guilty about what had happened the night before, Gwen decided to visit Parker’s home to talk with Ben and May.
Reconciliation
To her surprise, after speaking with May, May doesn’t blame Spider-Woman for anything she was being accused of. In fact, May was rooting for Spider-Woman because she could see the true intentions of Spider-Woman, rather than what the media was trying to make everyone believe. Gwen, filled with many emotions, left the house and wanted to make up with The Mary Janes for wanting to leave the band. That night, at the venue, Gwen agreed to rejoin the band, learning that she should keep the friends she had close, but the venue was unfortunately crushed by Matt Murdock and The Black Cat, who end up fighting each other.
Spider-Woman joined in on the fight, helping to mediate the situation, and Murdock revealed that he was the one who was out for Gwen. Unhappy with this news, Gwen was seen leaving the venue after everything had settled, leaving Murdock with a smirk on his face.
The Substance
Latour’s Gwen Stacy in Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 gives readers a glimpse at what it’s like for a Spider-person to fall from fame. From hero to alleged vigilante, while also dealing with the loss of Peter, Gwen Stacy has trouble handling it all. Her very secluded nature prevents her from opening up to any of her friends or her father, which doesn’t aid her situation.
Writing Gwen like this was great because it highlights just how isolated she is in the seemingly cruel world she lives in until the right people talk some sense into her. Many of her feelings are things that we, the people, feel, which made Gwen a more relatable character. On top of writing a great protagonist, Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 also includes villains that are written really well. Matt Murdock was seemingly the villain of the story.
But really, he was following orders from Kingpin, giving his character a little more background and the possibility for a change of heart. With his witty, cold exterior, all Murdock seems to want to do is cut a deal, so there is a chance that he and Spider-Woman, an unlikely duo, might work together in the future.
The Minutiae
Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 has one of the best comic book art styles I’ve seen in a long time, combining a rough, sketch-like outline for characters and buildings while also incorporating flat, bold colors for the color palette. Each character is unique when it comes to their designs, using their surreal proportions to make each character design so different. One example, in particular, is Rhino. Rhino’s design in Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 fits so well with his character and name, having such rough, grey skin along with his large, muscular stature and the green-accented hair to top it off. No other character in the story looks remotely similar to Rhino, even when considering the different facial expressions and qualities.
The various Marvel characters that make an appearance in Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 caught me off guard (in a good way). I didn’t expect to see so many alternate versions of characters like Daredevil, Rhino, Punisher, Vulture, The Black Cat, Kingpin, or even Spider-Ham, going into the story so they were a really nice surprise. Compared to other renditions of these characters, the alternate versions are also quite amazing. Each has completely different designs and well-written backstories than what I’m used to.
Take Matt Murdock, for example; when first reading Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 and hearing his name dropped by Rhino, I was shocked to see that THE Matt Murdock, the Daredevil we all know and love, had been working directly under Kingpin in very nefarious activities. Even if most of their backstories had changed, seeing all of these characters come together was a great touch to the story as a whole.
The Verdict
Overall, Spider-Gwen: Vol. 0 has an engaging story with very memorable characters, and in my eyes, those make a great comic. Not only does it have a great story, but it is built upon the hardships of a teenager trying her best to cope with everything when all seems lost to her. I would definitely recommend this volume, especially if you are a fan of the “Spider-Verse” line of comics or alternate universes in general!
