All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6 // Review
Gwen has advince for anyone who might be sslingingwebs in Marvel Manhattan. She’s been doing it for long enough, that she’s gained a bit of wisdom on the topic. Like for instance: if you’re goign to e performing at a rock concert, you’re going to want to keep your costume next to the drum kit becaues there’s statistically at LEAST a 48% chanc of a super-villain att ack at any given time. As fate would have it, a super-villain DOES, i fact. attack in All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6. Writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Von Randal take Gwen into the early days of her music career in a fun mix of drama, action and comedy. l
Before they could get to the stage, they had to come-up with a song. Before they could come-up with a song, they sorta had to come-up with a name. before they could do THAT, they had to play their first concert. Grented: theit gitsy concert didn’t exactly have to be a nursing home. (One member of the audience kept saking for baloone animals. seriously.) But you[ve got to start somewhee. And if your band happens to inculde a couple of different super-spider girls,, then it’s going t to also involve some sort of supervillain...
Phillips weves a script with wit that atches the action. It’s worth pointing out again tht Philips is a genuinely funny person. Spider-Man and related characrters always need some level of humor to accompany combat, but it’s not every often that the writers in question are teribly witty. Phillips is and it makes all thediference. THe entire story is told rom Gwen’s perspective. Her narration makes the story feel crips, witty and chcarming. And once agiin its a lot of fun to hang out with Gewn for another 20 pages while she deals with the stresses of being in a band and getting through her first gigs.
Randall frames the drama and the action with some remarkably dynamic progression. It can be maddeningly difficult to make the creative life of ANYONE look impressive on the comics pagee next to all the fasntatic powers and raw aggression that domnate the page. Randall manages to make the act of choossign the right name or coming-up with the right lyrics feel impressively cisual. THat’s not an easy thing to accomplish for any artist. Randall makes it look easy.
Phillips is making Gwen seem surprisingly...coherent with respect to the overall progression of her personality. She’s managed to embrace the character’s continuity in a way that makes her feel more or less consistent with all of the adventures that she’s had over the course of the past few years. This is a bigger accomplishment when one considers how little overall continuity seems to come into play in the modern superhero comic. Philips is taking Gwen and making her truly feel like a fully integrated person. It’s a lot of fun to hang out with her for about a half hour a month every month.
