Spider-Gwen is about as iconic as any other Marvel character, and she’s only existed since 2014! Now appearing in Spider-Gwen: Smash (as written by Melissa Flores), the character is also getting the Giant-Size treatment on March 6.
The issue helps celebrate 50 years of Giant-Size titles, and as part of that tradition, Flores and artist Alba Glez set out to tell a story featuring especially groundbreaking moments. In Giant-Size Spider-Gwen, Gwen has found some balance in her home dimension of Earth-65 — until the remnants of the Carnage symbiote resurface in her bandmate, Mary Jane. Enter interested parties like Orlando Octavius, the adopted son of Dr. Octopus, who adds to a gauntlet of new and terrifying villains in this oversized spectacular!
To gain some insights into this supersized Spider-Verse story, I asked Flores a bevy of questions. That includes how she crafts villains, what’s different about writing a Giant-Size title, and introducing an Earth-65 version of Mortis, Dazzler’s obscure villainous sister! Plus, don’t miss an exclusive preview of the one-shot below!
AIPT: To start, Giant-Size Spider-Gwen takes us back to Earth-65. What makes writing in this universe so fun?
Melissa Flores: I think, honestly, it’s the sheer real estate of the world! There is a lot of world-building in Earth-65, but compared to other worlds like 616, it’s such a blank slate. The opportunity to take existing characters and twist them, warp them, or shape them to a new world is such an amazing treat that doesn’t come along very often.
It’s the best of both worlds, honestly. I get to take the amazing stories and narratives that have come before me, like Carnage and Em Jay, and use them to propel the story and characters forward in Gwen’s world to a completely new direction that it completely my own.
AIPT: This one-shot has plenty of villains from Earth-65, Mysterio, and Orlando Octavius. Which villain has been the most fun to write?
MF: I have such a soft spot for Orlando. He’s a completely original character, but as soon as I put him down on the page, I knew exactly who he was and what he wanted. He’s morally gray, ambitious, who both loves and abhors his roots and not against using his late father’s name to get everything he feels he deserves. He’s a different take on Doc Ock that I feel can only exist in this world.
AIPT: Have you found it different to tackle a Giant-Size issue versus a normal-sized issue?
MF: Yes, only because this was a one-shot, as opposed to a miniseries. But I’m so thankful I was given the one-shot because I was able to treat it as a natural sequel to the mini-series and develop one of the biggest twists that come from it!
I’m so thankful to my giant-sized editor, Martin, for embracing the concept so whole-heartedly and letting me play.
AIPT: Mary Jane goes Carnage mode in this one-shot, do you have a sense of how she’s a different kind of Carnage versus Cletus?
MF: The most obvious one is that Cletus is a legitimate killer, Mary Jane just has rage issues and a whole lot of bottled emotion that Carnage is taking advantage of. She’s not out to kill anyone. She doesn’t want to hurt her friends, and she doesn’t want to be responsible for what Carnage does, so there’s an extreme battle of wills going on within her that she has been ignoring up until this point, that she has to deal with now.
Mary Jane has decided to stop letting stuff happen to her, and take charge of her own destiny. In a way, that’s what gives her a lot more common ground with Gwen.
AIPT: And then we have Orlando Octavius — like father like son?
MF: Yes, and no. I think Orlando, who was adopted as a young boy, was already very much shaped by his past before he met his father, but Otto has definitely left an impression on him. Though Otto truly loved his son, in this world, he was a successful Nobel-Prize winning scientist, and for him, science came first. There’s some resentment there from Orlando, and also a pathological need to be better than his father ever was, even if he’s not necessarily as smart. But what he lacks in brains, he makes up for in cunning and ambition!
AIPT: Can you talk a little about the design of Doc Ock, what was it like fleshing it out with artist Alba Glez?
MF: Alba is absolutely amazing! I gave her a brief description of the character, from his shiny shoes and handsome Latino face and glasses, and she did the rest. I fell in love as soon as I saw him. It was a beautiful combination of writing him as I saw him in the script, and letting Alba work her amazing magic for the rest. He’s truly my new crush. I hope we can see him again soon.
AIPT: What made you want to introduce an Earth-65 version of Mortis, Dazzler’s obscure villainous sister?
MF: I first featured Mortis in the Spider-Gwen: Smash miniseries, but didn’t get the opportunity to showcase her to her best potential. I love her as much as I love Dazzler; they’re two sides of the same coin. To be able to explore her a bit more in this one-shot and flesh out her potential as a villain in Earth-65 was a treat I made sure not to pass up.
AIPT: Ghost-Spider has been around for only 8 or 9 years yet is arguably more popular than most new Spider-Verse characters, why do you think that is?
MF: I don’t think it’s an accident. Gwen’s backstory, and the twist in how she originated, is so strong on its own – it hits hard and is one that we can all relate to, but when you add to it the power of Spider-Man and Peter Parker twist, it becomes something much more powerful. The original run by Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez was a beautiful epic that set up this new world and complicated character perfectly. It brought her to life in such a real way.
There’s also the incredible suit design. It’s iconic and complements the character perfectly.
And you can’t discount the idea that little girls, who also loved Peter Parker, got to see a world where a woman becomes the Spider. That hit incredibly hard for them. I still get girls come up to me in the comic book store telling me how much the character means to them. I cherish it every time it happens.
Check out an exclusive preview of the one-shot below!
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