Okay, Nadia Pym, Unstoppable Wasp #5 is the first true test of G.I.R.L., the group of precocious, young female scientists you’ve assembled. Should be simple enough for some of the world’s brightest to remove that bomb from your friend’s head, right? Is it good?
Writer: Jeremy Whitley
Artist: Elsa Charretier
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The Skinny
Only Nadia Pym would go all out to save the life of someone who just tried to kill her. Going so far as to disobey Jarvis’ order to wear a seat belt!
The call for help goes out, and all the teen tech-heads we’ve seen answer, but is even their combined brainpower enough? They slave through night, but morning breaks an unexpected ultimatum. With the puppet master revealed, TWO lives are now on the line.
The Lowdown
Nadia Pym is a true hero, in every sense of the word, but despite her self-sacrificing gambit at issue’s end, Unstoppable Wasp #5 is more about the team she’s assembled. This could have been a dynamic character mash-up like the first Avengers movie was, as we’ve already met these girls, but Jeremy Whitley writes them as mostly interchangeable. None of them really has a distinct voice, and the decisions by artist Elsa Charretier to load up on establishing shots and views of the backs of characters’ heads make it even more difficult to differentiate.
The plotting of the story is fine, although swerving chauffeur Jarvis is about all the action you’re going to get. Maybe that’s okay, because Charretier is able to compose a beautiful double-page spread that trades motion for the passage of time, with colorist Megan M. Wilson lending the assist with darker shades to signify nightfall.
The overall art in Unstoppable Wasp #5 is the smoothest and most “cartoon-y” of the series, a slight step toward the simplistic after the team hit the sweet spot in #4. Charretier still draws great clutter, though, and the design of the story’s real villain is still somehow quite chilling, despite the softer trappings.
The Upshot
Unstoppable Wasp #5 is something of a missed opportunity, as none of the new characters we’ve met in this series are able to stand out or even stand apart from the others. The book’s overall tone makes a slight return to optimism, as even when faced with cruel machinations and impossible choices, you still feel like G.I.R.L. will pull out the win. The art team shows off their best visual storytelling yet, so while the writing suffers in spots, the entirety of Unstoppable Wasp #5 is another pleasing entry in the series.
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