Gwen has her hands full. She’s fighting Vulture, Rhino, Sandman, Kraven, and Doctor Octopus. All at the same time. Only some of them are native to her particular end of the Marvel Universe. A few of them are from a parallel universe. It looks dangerous, but the narration is confident that she will easily defeat all of them. It helps that her name is on the front cover of the book as writer Emily Kim opens the first issue of Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones. Artist Kei Zama brings the action and the drama to the page. Atmosphere fuses with the story courtesy of colorist Triona Farrell.

Gwen is late to her shift at The Smoothie Shack. It’s okay, though--all is fine. She even manages to head out for a date after work. Before she can go out to dinner, there’s some criminal activity, and she has to head out. Even that’s okay:  her date knows that she’s a superhero and understands what she has to do. She’s swinging home when her spider-sense hits her like a hammer. Looking over, she sees the familiar appendages of Doctor Octopus...only it’s not Otto Octavius--it’s her: it’s Gwen. Now Spider-Gwen is up against...Gwen Ock.

Kim explores some of the familiar aspects of Gwen’s life and tilts them in a new direction that breathes a bit of new life into them without completely reinventing the title character. Kim plays with expectations brought about by some of the basic elements of Gwen’s life. Spider-Gwen runs into a weird variation of herself and expects it to be someone from an alternate timeline. What Gwen Ock actually is ends up being a lot more complicated than that. Prior to that, a traditional superhero-supervillain battle flips in an instant and turns into an investigation into something strange. 

Zama’s scratchy hatching feels strikingly characteristic of someone who would have grown up reading manga in Japan. It’s interesting to see Spider-Gwen given a fully Japanese look. Some of the anatomy might look a little stiff, angular, and awkward in places, but the overall impact of the action hits the page with some dynamic tension, and there are some wonderfully impressive perspective shots as Gwen swings around a very familiar Marvel Manhattan. The dramatic end of Zama’s visuals is a little hampered by the manga-inspired style. It can all feel a bit flat, but Farrell DOES manage to add some mood and atmosphere to the proceedings that lend some aesthetic depth.

Emily Kim tilts the usual Spider-Gwen tropes just enough to advance them in a new direction without trying to plunge Gwen in a completely different direction. Progression is really important for the modern superhero, but too much evolution may alienate those readers who have been hanging out with the web-slinger for many years. Kim seems to respect what Gwen has been through before while forging ahead with a whole new problem for the hero. 

Grade: B