Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1 // Review
Gwen lives in one world, but she’s been going to school in another. College is difficult for anyone. It’s a lot more difficult for her. And it’s about to get even more complicated in Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1. Writer Tim Seeley opens a weird 5-part action comedy with the aid of Jodi Nishijima and colorist Federico Blee. The strange complexities of an infinite multiverse begin to take on a twisted funhouse mirror effect in a whole new series that would seem almost impressively ambitious were it not treading in territory that has already been pretty well-trodden before in countless other superhero comics and movies.
Gwen went out for energy drinks for Mary Jane and the band when she ran into a costumed supervillain robbing a convenience center. She could pretty much avoid entanglement in stopping the crime, but since everyone knows that she’s Ghost-Spider, she kind of has to spring into action...which makes her late for her own concert. Mary Jane is upset with her. Her father is upset with her. She heads off to the mainstream Marvel Universe to get away from it all, only to be sucked into an alternate reality where she’s Thor. Evidently, there’s been some sort of an accident, and there are countless variants of her wreaking havoc on the multiverse.
Seeley’s a funny writer. There are some genuinely clever bits of comedy in the dialogue. The overall premise of the plot, though? It’s been done before. A lot. Seeley gives it a nice little psychological spin, though. Gwen is trying to escape herself...but now she has to confront a million different versions of herself to save the multiverse. Theoretically, it could be a really interesting psychodrama. The problem is that Seeley’s tone is a bit off...leaning WAY too far into light comedy to feel comfortable with the heavier end of its drama.
Nishijima and Blee do a pretty good job with the art. The comic end of the story comes across with a rubbery playfulness that’s reasonably enjoyable. The dramatic end of things is cute and endearing when it needs to be and respectably compelling the rest of the time. The problem is that there isn’t a clear distinction between the world that Gwen is swinging through. The backgrounds lack the kind of depth that would provide the atmosphere necessary to really deliver the playful insanity that Seeley is trying to capture.
The series is already 20% finished at the end of its first issue. There’s a pretty good chance that once the creative team is able to settle into the rhythm of the story, things will start to look a lot more coherent. As of the first issue, things haven’t quite found the right pulse or balance to make much of a coherent impact. There’s real potential in the premise, but Seeley, Nishijima, and Blee are going to have to work if they’re going to find it before it’s too late.
