Spider-Gwen--Ghost Spider #13 // Review
Gwen is hanging out with the being known as Phoenix. Phoenix is one of the most powerful beings in the whole of the universe. But seeing as how the phoenix is a fire from its own ashes, she kind of reached a point at which she’s in kind of a compromised position. Phoenix is drawn to ashes and destruction. So things aren’t going so well for her in Spider-Gwen--Ghost Spider #13. Writer Stephanie Phillips continues to bring Gwen into contact with the cosmic in a story brought to page and panel by artist Paolo Villanelli and colorist Matt Milla.
The Phoenix prompts Gwen to call her by her first name: Jean. Gwen isn’t exactly comfortable with that. However, there's a hell of a lot that she's learning to live with that she's not entirely comfortable with. So things are going to get kind of weird. And there really isn't much that she's going to be able to do about that. She's on a distant, crumbling space utopia formerly powered by psychic energy. And even if she were to travel at the speed of light (which is, of course, impossible) it would still take her thousands of years to get home. So yeah: it’s understandable that she’s going to feel uncomfortable.
It's not easy to bring a web slinger into contact with the cosmic. It can be very difficult to make that happen in a way that allows the hero to still feel heroic while also being in way over his or her head. Phillips does a good job of balancing everything and making sure that it's all going to fit together. It all fits together quite well on a whole bunch of different levels. The central drama and the central interpersonal emotional grounding of the story maintains its throughout. And that's very important in maintaining the central appeal of Gwen.
Villanelli and Milla work together quite well. The sketchiness of the artists line work wouldn't necessarily have the kind of impact it does were it not for Milla’s radiance and depth. The color really sells the power of the imagery in a way that would be difficult without it. The power at work in the course of the issue could feel very nebulous under the wrong circumstances. Mila does a really good job of framing it as an amplification of the emotion that's already there. So it works really well as a result.
The action and questions seems to be reaching is climax. It's nice to see a crossover like this. It's fun to see how this sort of thing develops. However, it can only happen so often and with so much intensity before it sees to be the center of what makes Marvel web swinger as big a deal as she is. it's hard to pull her this far out of the usual webslinging milieu without compromising the central heart of the series on some level. Phillips is going a good job of keeping it all grounded, though.
