Dubbed all-new, all-deadly, Gwenpool is a comic that challenges its title character in an unexpected way. Gwenpool has always been the ultimate fourth wall-breaking lunatic outpacing Deadpool by a mile, but what if a shadow of herself challenged that in the opposite direction? What direction is that? Ultra dark, moody, and violent, of course!
I didn’t know what to expect from Gwenpool, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Teased as a story that would raise Gwen Stacy from the dead, it does that, but doesn’t forget how fun Gwenpool needs to be. The root of why this comic works is thanks to writer Cavan Scott who nails the attitude of Gwenpool right off the bat and has a killer hook to mix things up for the character as well.
The story opens on a covert ops team getting dusted by a dark and violent Gwenpool. Something’s definitely up, but we dive into an adventure involving Spider-Man versus Fing Fang Foom before we can make sense of it. Enter Gwenpool, who uses the comic gutters to take on the Godzilla wannabe while making references to being in a comic.
Ouch!
Credit: Marvel
Scott does a great job with dialogue and ramping up the story. By the end of the issue it’s clear Gwenpool will be truly challenged in this story and may even have to drop the smiling charm to win.
Stefano Nesi really explores the space with some epic double-page layouts and a great sense of scale. When the evil Gwenpool is doing her thing, she’s ultra violent, which juxtaposes well with Gwenpool doing her smiley fight thing.
My only gripes are minimal. The ending and big reveal didn’t mean much to me, yet Gwenpool can’t believe it. Maybe it’s because the identity of evil Gwenpool has no context, or maybe the reveal was lost on me given the fourth-wall breaking hijinks already taking place. The other gripe is that someone’s art can feel a little inefficient in drawing your eye across the page.
Gwenpool is a wild, chaotic ride that perfectly captures the character’s fourth-wall-breaking chaos while introducing a compelling dark twist. Cavan Scott’s sharp writing and Stefano Nesi’s dynamic artwork make this a fun, unpredictable adventure, though the big reveal may leave some readers puzzled.
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