by Christopher Hastings, Gurihiru, Danilo Beyruth & Travis Bonvillain
collects Gwenpool, The Unbelievable #0-4
original series: volumes one | two | three | four | five [complete]
miniseries: Gwenpool Strikes Back
In the world of superheroes, a lot of characters have weird, convoluted origin stories – but Gwenpool might take the cake for most unexpected creation overall! In 2015, Marvel did a special variant cover series imagining Gwen Stacy as different characters, following the success of Spider-Gwen. The Gwen/Deadpool “Gwenpool” variant cover was such a hit with fans and cosplayers that Chris Hastings was tasked with giving her a back story, and Gwenpool eventually got a one shot comic with Howard the Duck, and then her own ongoing series.
In a brilliant move, Hastings imagined Gwenpool with the same fourth wall breaking and nonchalant attitude similar to Deadpool, but also completely different – because Gwen is from our world. That’s right – she knows she’s in a world of comic book characters, so she doesn’t give a hoot about shooting people up! (At least, maybe she wouldn’t if she had any superpowers or weapons training!)
This first arc of Gwenpool is a hilarious adventure, featuring such B-list villains as Baltroc and MODOK – but it really works. Hastings wisely veers away from a traditional origin story (and Gwen even mentions it in her pink thought bubbles), so we get to know Gwen much more organically from her choices and personality, which is a great combination of DGAF snark and solving the problems she creates through a series of mishaps…until she tragically realizes, comic book world or not, her actions do have consequences. (And knowing everyone’s secret identity is an unexpected superpower on its own!)
This is my first time reading a comic book with Gurihiru’s art and it’s absolutely fantastic – their* anime style allows for some great over the top scenes but it never feels too cartoony or saccharine, not unlike Kris Anka’s work. They draw an unbelievable Thor. My only issue with it – and I’m very sorry, you won’t be able to unsee it – is that Gurihiru draws very tiny hands. (Check out the last panel in the picture above to see what I’m talking about.) Regardless I liked their art far more than Danilo Beyruth, who illustrated Gwenpool’s one-shot #0 issue – don’t think I could have done a whole trade by him.
It was refreshing to see Gwen have an impressive encyclopedic knowledge of comic book characters, making her a nerd in our world – but she doesn’t act like a typical fangirl. She realizes that in order to be relevant in the Marvel universe (and maybe make some cash along the way), she needs a suit and a mission – and perhaps surprisingly, she isn’t afraid of violence or killing people, fictional or otherwise. It’s ultimately better for the story to skip over Gwen’s origin – staying in that place would have made her story feel like glorified fanfiction – but at times, Gwen’s mishaps, successes, and ease surrounding herself with firearms does feel like a bit of a stretch. At least she reacts in a way every warm blooded human attracted to men should react upon meeting Dr Strange:
Thankfully, things become a little more grounded when Gwen is visited by Dr Strange, and while we still don’t find out exactly how Gwen hopped universes (to be fair, it’s not necessary), we still get some more emotional grounding of the character as she realizes she’s never going home. Strange’s comments that the Marvel world is indeed real, and leaves “footprints” on our own reality, is one that’s been done before but also smartly leaves room for Hastings to have a lot of fun here: Gwenpool’s Marvel Universe doesn’t have to look at all like Marvel titles next to it on the shelves, because it’s not a mirror image. I hope in a future arc, Gwen’s insider knowledge actually proves to be fake in some hilarious way.
(Unfortunately, it seems just as easy to get a boatload of guns in Marvel’s America as it is in our own.)
In the past, female superheroes were often regulated as the “girl” versions of male counterparts (Batgirl, Supergirl, Hawkgirl) – but thankfully Hastings and Gurihuru make Gwenpool her own character along with highlighting some very funny B-list villains who fit perfectly with the tone of the book. Looking forward to the next one.
*I recently learned that Gurihuru is the name of an artist duo rather than a proper name: pencils and inks by Sasaki and coloring by Kawano. I changed the pronouns to gender neutral plural. My apologies for the error. See their website for more!
Reading Art 