All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10 // Review
Gwen’s not having a good night. She’s killed someone. It was an accident. And now she’s having some serious issues. She’s broken-into Norman Osborn’s place and taken his old costume. Now she’s entered a remarkably dark place. The sinister Mysterio has a front row seat for the debut of Gwen-Goblin. Gwen moves into some pretty dark spaces in All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10. Writer Stephanie Phillips is joined by artist Paolo Villanelli and colorist Matt Milla. Phillips and company dive into some remarkably dark territory for the young crime fighter as she veers-off into anti-hero territory.
She tried to save the city. She wanted to be the physician that the diseased city needed. Doctors don’t try to save the good symptoms of any disease. They try to eliminate them altogether. The mob boss known as Hammerhead is a disease. He’s been bringing a large number of arms into New York. He’s been trying to start a gang war so that he can become the new kingpin. Now someone is dead because of it. A man’s neck snapped at the end of her web and now she has to live with that the only way she knows how.
Phillips is exploring a darker path for Gwen than writer Gerry Conway did back in 1973 when the original Gwen died with a snapped neck at the end of Spider-Man’s web. It’s an interesting parallel that suggests something altogether darker for her that might just be possible as things progress. There really IS a possibility of Gwen going in a darker direction semi-permanently. It’s not going to happen, of course, but Phillips makes it all feel real enough. With Phillips’ script, it really DOES feel like Gwen could become something darker. From Gwen to Spider-Gwen to Ghost-Spider to Gwen Goblin. It could even end-up as a whole new title.
Villanelli explores the emotional horror with looks of sheer terror on the faces of Gwen Goblin’s targets. The twisted joy and delight she taes in terrorizing them feels particularly dark given what a nice person she’s been leading-up to the recent tragedy. There’s a powerful sense of kinetic motion in and around the shadows of the dark Manhattan night that she’s patrolling. All of this is quite compelling, but there’s something at least somewhat missing in the artist’s rendering of arch-villain Mysterio. It’s kind of a ridiculous costume that Ditko designed back in the 1960s...and it’s really, really difficult to stage it in a way that feels anywhere near as menacing as it could.
Gwen-Goblin ISN’T going to be a whole new title, but the transformation that writer Seanan McGuire suggested back in 2018 comes to life with interesting depth and potential. Phillips plays with the trippy warping of traditional lore in a way that feels remarkably fresh and interesting. Phillips has put Gwen through one hell of a lot in the course of her time with Ghost-Spider. The journey for writer and character continues to feel remarkably sophisticated as Phillips delves into darker territory.
