by Christopher Hastings, Myisha Haynes, Gurihiru, Alti Firmansyah, Rachelle Rosenberg
collects Gwenpool #11-15 + Holiday Special
volume reviews: one | two | three | four| five [complete]
miniseries: Gwenpool Strikes Back
Unbelievable Gwenpool used to be my palette cleanser between books, but no longer! This volume was an unbelievable waste of time.
Gwen’s stories used to be on the fluffier and wackier side, but they still made sense and served a greater purpose: to flesh out Gwenpool’s understanding of herself in a comic book universe, her “powers,” and the limits of her recklessness. But here, the one-off adventures feel aimless, uninspired, and uninteresting. Gwen goes to a town to take care of a vampire, and then she and her MODOK gang are caught in a DnD-type dungeon hosted by a villain who jumped right out of a mid-90’s video game.
In my review of volume two, I mentioned that Gwen works better with a foil – her chemistry with Miles Morales was off the charts. But she’s clearly outgrown her makeshift team. She does get one brief scene with Deadpool, the other uber-violent, fourth wall breaking Marvel antihero. They trade a few good barbs, but the team up is far too short, and doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion.
Usually series regular artist team Gurihiru is the saving grace when Gwenpool’s story is lacking. But they’re only on part of one issue – Gwen notices when the art changes, which is cute, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that the other artists are absolutely terrible. Possibly the worst I’ve seen out of Marvel. Haynes’ inconsistent and sloppy faces, Gumby-esque bodies, and thick cartoonish borders were just so bad. Firmansyah was moderately better but not enough to save it. Rosenberg’s colors are flat and dull, which doesn’t help at all. Not even an issue with MY GIRL KATE BISHOP could get me to finish this, the art was so bad.
Didn’t make it through the holiday special, either. A ghost Hitler was basically all I needed to see from that issue to be like NOPE.
Ugh. If this is “totally in continuity” I’m done with this Gwenpool series. I’ll be skipping right to Gwenpool Strikes Back, jumping after West Coast Avengers, and hoping it’s marginally better than this one.
OK people, this is the third negative review in a row. Here’s hoping the next one is good.
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