Spider-Gwen #7
Written By: Jason Latour
Art By: Bengal
Colorist: Rico Renzi
Letters By: Clayton Cowles
Release Date: 04/13/16
Price: $3.99
I’ve gotta be honest here guys the Spider Women event wasn’t off to a very strong start with Spider Women Alpha. In my opinion the story just didn’t grab me, the art was extremely lackluster, and the cliffhanger at the end was really predictable. Spider-Gwen is one of my favorite spider related titles so I was hoping that part two would be an improvement to this event and finally get the momentum going. Let’s find out if this issue gave Spider Women the push it needed or if it was another misstep in this otherwise promising event.
Plot
This issue mostly focused on Jessica interacting with Gwen and really seeing what her life both in and out of the costume is like and the kind of family she’s managed to build for herself, while also still playing the mentor figure role to Gwen. Meanwhile on Cindy’s side of things we see that she is obviously still coping with the fact that her family is still missing back on the marvel prime earth.. While Jessica sees this situation more negatively since she’s separated from her son and wants to get back to him as soon as possible, Cindy sees this turn of events as an opportunity to finally reconnect with her long lost family. Even if they are just an alternate reality version of them, little does Cindy know she’s in for quite a shock when it comes to her earth 65 family.
Story
When we last left our lovely spider ladies the earth 65 version of Silk stole Gwen’s dimensional teleportation watch leaving both Cindy and Jessica trapped on Gwen’s earth with no way of getting home. This leads to one of my biggest problems with story. The team spends the beginning of the issue bickering, well at least Gwen and Cindy do. Thankfully Jessica manages to keep a calm head and rally the team together. Unfortunately as soon as she manages to do this the team splits again when Cindy goes off in search of earth 65’s version of her family.
Gwen and Jessica decide to regroup at Gwen’s place. Jessica takes this opportunity to give Gwen advice. She tells her that she never really got the chance to have a childhood and Gwen should take some time to live her life and just go to band practice while she takes care of the team’s dimension problem. Jessica does a good job of playing the mentor role for Gwen here. Later in her attempt to fix their current situation finds an unlikely ally at a local playground. That ally is none other than earth 65’s version of Reed Richards. As to be expected the boy genius wasn’t really phased when he’s approached by our dimension hopping heroine. Reed agrees to help Jessica and not even a second later they end up surrounded by thugs. Luckily Gwen comes to the rescue and the three of them retreat back to the Stacy house.
Back at the Stacy house Jessica and Captain Stacy and Jessica have a nice heart to heart bonding over both being parents. George asks Jessica if she ever worries about if her son will turn out like her. She responds by reflecting on her own doubts about setting a good example for her son to live up to. George relates a lot to this. He talks about how when he first found out about Gwen being spider woman he didn’t know how to react to it until he realized that Gwen was just doing what she thought was right. Jess assures George that he is doing the best he can and that’s all any parent needs. She says that she has honestly learned to live with a little self doubt. It’s only natural for parents. The two of them share a laugh and toast to self doubt. Their conversation really shows how much both Jessica and George’s characters have come. The small character moments like these are what really helps Spider-Gwen shine as a series.
Unfortunately this bright spot was only short lived thanks to another lackluster cliffhanger. Cindy finally contacts Jessica telling her that Cindy’s earth 65 counterpart is the one responsible for attacking them and trapping Jessica and Cindy here. In the end Spider-Gwen #7 had a slow start, a strong middle, and yet another uninteresting ending to this chapter of the spider women event.
Art
Normally overall Spider-Gwen has some of the best art marvel has to offer. Spider-Gwen’s more stylized artwork is one of its defining traits separating it from other series on the shelves. Robbi Rodriguez’ absence is really felt here. It almost doesn’t feel like a Spider-Gwen book. Sure all the fun bright colors are there but a lot of the details just seemed off. Honestly it really took me out of the story. I’m not saying the art is bad. I just personally think that this art style doesn’t match the vibe of the Spider-Gwen series.
The Verdict
Sigh. I’m a huge spider family fan you guys and I was really excited for this event when it was first announced, but honestly in my opinion this event is 0 for 2. Granted this issue was an improvement story wise compared to Spider Women Alpha thanks to the more natural character interactions and moments, but sadly the story as a whole is rather generic and predictable. The art is nowhere as good as it usually is for the series. At times the difference in art was jarring, especially when it came to character design and details. In the end I would have to say that unless you’re a completest I recommended you skip this issue. Don’t mistake my harshness and criticism for hate guys. As I said several times Spider-Gwen is one of my favorite series on my pull, so I tend to hold the series to a higher standard. However we still have quite a way to go with this Spider Women event, so fingers crossed that as the story progresses it will improve. Optimism powers activate!!!!