The Unbelievable Gwenpool: Totally in Continuity

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.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool: Head of M.O.D.O.K.

by Christopher Hastings, Gurihiru, Irene Strychalski, and Rachelle Rosenberg
collects Gwenpool, The Unbelievable #5-10
original series: one | two | three | four | five [complete]
miniseries: Gwenpool Strikes Back

I’m already experiencing withdrawals from West Coast Avengers…so it’s time to catch up on Gwenpool!

Gwenpool is far more than a female Deadpool knockoff. She’s actually Gwen Poole, a member of our reality – and huge Marvel comics fan – who somehow plopped into the Marvel universe. Even though she’s also an amoral anti-hero vibe with more than her fair share of fourth-wall breaking, witty dialogue, her encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel universe is what sets her apart from DP – and what makes her self-aware humor all the more funny. Gwen takes shots at diluted storylines, censorship, and narrative tropes like ensuring characters don’t die by asking their names, therefore making them more important to the story.

The funny gets funnier when Gwenpool teams up with Miles Morales – there is nothing funnier than an exasperated Miles Morales. It’s fun to see Gwen completely fangirl over Miles (and his mom) and try to explain the Secret Wars storyline, much to Miles’ bewilderment. (When Gwen tells characters they’re in comic books, mentions publishers, etc, it’s not too dissimilar from the holodeck characters in TNG who can’t really process the information.)

The main story picks up soon after the first volume, as Gwenpool and her cadre of D-list villains (headed by Baltroc the Leaper, another great casting choice by Hastings) try to continue on the MODOK operation without MODOK himself. The narrative is pretty forgettable with sea creature aliens and a reformed Doombot (not even close to the greatness of his ‘cousin’ on Runaways); but not unlike Squirrel Girl and other comedy books, the fun is in Gwen’s shenanigans – including dressing a pig up in a Gwenpool costume to throw off the aliens – rather than the story itself.

Gwenpool might be a blond Marvel fangirl in a comedy title, but she’s not afraid to translate her amoral philosophy into gleeful and often reckless violence. Gwen justifies her ‘actions’ saying that because comic characters (regardless of how young or innocent they are) aren’t real, their “lives” don’t matter. It makes her an unpredictable wildcard, not to mention completely nihilistic in a universe generally about justice and optimism – especially because she (rightly) understands that as the star of her own book, she can’t die, and as a Marvel character, there are some lines she probably can’t cross even if she tries. It makes the whole thing even more absurd from a meta standpoint, and within the pages, makes you wonder what exactly Gwen was like back in our world (though Hastings has made a point to not reveal that at all). Not unlike Deadpool, Gwen is an infinitely more interesting character with a foil (Miles, Baltroc, Cedric) and it will be interesting to see who she meets next, given her circumstances at the end of the book.

Gurihiru’s art is simply delightful and their* anime style makes Gwen deceptively cute and innocent. However, penciller Sasaki draws hands super tiny which I’m sorry you won’t ever be able to unsee, but it’s true! I wish they had also drawn the first issue with the Miles team up, Strychalski’s style isn’t necessarily bad but it felt a little too “children’s story book” for that particular issue.

Gwenpool is a great breather in between different books, and I’m thrilled that she has a new solo title, called Gwenpool Strikes Back, post WCA.

*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 therefore changed the pronouns to gender neutral plural. My apologies for the error. See their website for more!

The Unbelievable Gwenpool: Believe It

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!