Gwenpool Holiday Special #1
Written By: Charles Soule, Margaret Stohl, Gerry Dugan, Christopher Hastings
Art By: Langdon Foss, Juan Gedeon, Danilo S Beyruth, Gerihiru
Release Date: 12/9/15
Gwenpool started to become popular because of a few Marvel variants this year featuring the character. Fans voiced their opinion about liking her on social media and there have even been a few cosplayers dressing up like her at conventions.
Now the character is being featured in back up stories in Howard the Duck and received her own holiday special.
Plot Summary
The Gwenpool Holiday Special has a few stories that all tie into She Hulk’s holiday party.
In the main story She Hulk is celebrating the holidays by inviting a few friends to her building. Jen finds out from the owner that they have to sell the building. Some magic ensues and Jen invites all of her superhero friends to prove to the buyers that the building can make money.
In Jersey City Kamala is not happy with the holiday season. So Kamala becomes a Grinch, but in the end she feels it’s a good thing that her family celebrates the holidays in a different way. Captain Marvel and Kamala exchange gifts and head to Jen’s party.
The next story is with Deadpool and the Hawkeyes. They are celebrating Christmas by catching a pit pocketer who stole countless wallets from New Yorkers. The criminal wanted to buy gifts for his son. So, Deadpool and the Hawkeyes go toy shopping and then send the criminal to jail. The Hawkeyes are ready to go to Jen’s Christmas party, but Deadpool isn’t invited. They all go to a diner instead.
The last story is with the book’s namesake Gwenpool. Gwenpool is learning how to sword fight to kill one of the best swordsman. She does the job and then Howard the Duck sends an invite to her to come and join Jen’s party.
Story
The title of my review is “Did Gwenpool troll us?” and I think she kind of did. I bought this issue to learn more about Gwenpool and she wasn’t really in this issue. She has a small story in the end that was cute, but not really worth her being the namesake of this book. This was really more of a She Hulk book.
If you liked Soule’s run on She Hulk then overall I think you will like the book. It is really a continuation of that series and it’s a treat for those fans. I just wish they advertised this book to tell us that this was a She Hulk book. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of Soule’s run on She Hulk, but I liked that her story connected with all the others. It was better than having four separate stories. But I am still confused for the reasoning behind the party. She invited all these people to show the buyers that the building is popular, but that is not showing the buyers that the building is making money. The building is still going to be in a dilemma after the holidays.
The Hawkeye and Deadpool story I felt was the strongest. I liked Duggan’s Hawkeye and Deadpool mini series and this story was a continuation of that series. I really love Kate, Clint, and Deadpool’s chemistry, and hope we see more of their interaction next year.
The Ms Marvel story was pretty good. It really played well with the themes of what is currently going on in the Ms Marvel series. Especially Kamala’s relationship with Bruno being strained because of Kamala’s superhero life.
Art
This book had a number of different artists, which made sense because there were a number of different stories in this holiday special.
In the main She Hulk story I really didn’t like the artwork. It was not the same artist from Soule’s She Hulk series, which would have made more sense to have for this story. I didn’t like the facial expressions for certain characters. It always looked like every character was making a pucker face. For a book with so many heroes in one story I wish there was more detail because there were some panels where you could hardly tell which hero was who.
I also wasn’t a fan of the artwork in the Ms Marvel story, which made me like the story less. The artwork needed more detail. There were some panels where the artist didn’t draw eyes, they were just little lines on people’s faces. I also think the inker could have done a better job on outlining the faces. The colors were great, but there was lack of detail everywhere else.
For the Hawkeye and Deadpool story I really liked the artwork because they used the same artist as the mini series. The art showed some good physical comedy, which is needed in a Deadpool story like this.
The best artwork was for the story I wanted more from Gwenpool. I really liked the cartoony and clear artwork. The action looked great and the physical comedy was on point and even better than the Deadpool story. Facial expression were very important for this character and I think the artist did a great job with that.
Verdict
This is a pretty pricy book (5.99) so you may want to spend your money wisely for this issue. If you are expecting a whole issue with Gwenpool then you may be really disappointed, but if you are a fan of Soule’s She Hulk run then this may be a great early Christmas gift.