Marvelous May – Ms. Marvel vs Spider-Gwen

Welcome back to Marvelous May! Sorry this is a little late, but I got maybe just a little distracted by the reveal of the new Pokémon yesterday. Also, I kinda donated my hair. Basically, you put your hair into a ponytail once it’s long enough to make an 8 inch ponytail, cut it off, and then mail it to have it and a few other ponytails converted into a wig for people that have had chemotherapy. And I felt so good after doing that, honestly, I think I might just do it again, although it’s going to take a LONG time to get it back to that length again… … …Anyway, Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, vs Gwen Stacy, AKA Spider-Woman!

This is actually a bout that I wish could’ve been saved for at least the semi-finals, if I can be 100% honest. And here’s why: We’re currently in the middle of a new age in Marvel. Regardless of why they chose to do so, whether it was out of a genuine desire to be more inclusive for the sake of new readers or out of wanting to make more money, the fact is that we’re seeing a lot more diversity in Marvel’s starring roles, and a lot of new heroes being pushed to the top. Admittedly, not all of these have been perfect attempts. I still think there have been some serious missteps with the new Thor books, for example, and while I appreciate Sam Wilson being pushed as a big deal and keeping the more traditional shield, the fact that we’ve got two Captains America is weird and I honestly don’t think anyone would REALLY be offended if Sam was referred to as Lieutenant America. But, for me, the two books that have really gotten this formula right are Ms. Marvel and Spider-Gwen. For me, these are the two who, when the old guard eventually hangs it up and calls it a day, will be the ones we look to as the heroes of our age.

I’ve gone on and on and on about what I like about Ms. Marvel in the past, so I’ll try to keep it brief here. Put bluntly, she is both a shining role model and heroine to all Muslim people in the real world, as well as someone that the average reader can identify with and love. She has trouble fitting in with both her family and her peers, she has a great sense of humour and wit, she likes a lot of geeky stuff, she writes fanfiction, she loves heroes, and she oftentimes makes mistakes that requires either quick thinking or the admission to her peers that she needs help to get out of. In a lot of ways, she’s the modern-day Peter Parker in that she’s immediately identifiable to the reader. Hopefully, though, when she eventually grows up, she actually acts like an adult, as opposed to the mainstream Peter Parker, who is a man-child, even after obtaining his own international business.

Speaking of being like Peter, though, Spider-Gwen works as a great alternate take on the mythology of Spider-Man. While this version of Gwen Stacy isn’t exactly like the one we knew way back when, she nonetheless is a great and likable character who finds herself in similar dilemmas to the mainstream Peter. She’s being pulled in a lot of different directions and is seen by some as an outlaw, and has to try to find out for herself what the right thing to do in each scenario presented is. And I love how her Peter is the Uncle Ben of her story: The one whose death ultimately taught her that with great power comes great responsibility. It was something that was done with Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man (which I don’t know why they dropped the Ultimate part of his name, even with the loss of his old universe, just to further keep his book distinct from Peter’s), but it’s done in a new way that honestly makes me wonder if things would’ve been any different in the mainstream universe if Peter WASN’T the one to get the spider bite.

 

But here’s the really big reason why this match means something to me personally: Currently, due to money constraints, G. Willow Wilson’s Ms. Marvel and Jason Latour’s Radioactive Spider-Gwen are the only two Marvel books I’m buying. Well, okay, I’m not actually buying either one right now, but that’s because I switched over to buying the trades when they come out. My point is, these are the only two properties by Marvel that are earning my money, not counting the movies (speaking of, Captain America Civil War was AMAZING, and I FAR prefer it to the event comic Civil War). So, should voting for this match end in a tie, I have no idea who to break the tie for. But hey, that’s all part of the excitement, am I right?

Anyway, time to begin voting! Make sure you get your votes in before May 17th, when we’ll learn who the winner of this match-up takes on in the semi-finals. Also, feel free to click the links below to learn more about these two heroines, and check back in tomorrow for the final match-up of the second round. Ja né!

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gwendolyne_Stacy_(Earth-65)

https://maryamjameela6.wordpress.com/2014/11/19/kamala-khan-is-the-greatest-thing-that-has-ever-happened-to-me/

https://ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/spider-gwen-is-back-and-its-everything-i-wanted/

Radioactive Spider-Gwen #6 Preview

Well, since I’m gonna be switching over to the trades, and I won’t be buying the Spider-Women crossover, I guess this will be the last issue of Spider-Gwen I personally buy in a while. It’s been one hell of a ride, though, so let’s close this out in a badass way: Spider-Gwen and Captain America vs the Green Goblin! Here’s the preview for Radioactive Spider-Gwen #6!

• THE FIRST ARC OF RADIOACTIVE SPIDER-GWEN REACHES ITS CONCLUSION!
• CAPTAIN AMERICA JOINS FORCES WITH SPIDER-GWEN AGAIN TO TAKE DOWN THE GREEN GOBLIN!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-6-marvel-comics-2016

Radioactive Spider-Gwen #5 Preview

Hoo boy, I had a feeling the situation with George was gonna turn ugly sooner or later. For now, though, I present the preview for Radioactive Spider-Gwen #5.

• Captain George Stacy has always been a big force in Spider-Gwen’s life.
• But knowing that his daughter is the Spider-hero swinging around the city has taken its toll on him. Can he come to grips with the knowledge?
• Can she handle her police captain father if he can’t?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-5-marvel-comics-2016

Radioactive Spider-Gwen #4 Preview

Radioactive Spider-Gwen #4 preview. ‘Nuff said. lol

• GWEN TAKES ON THE GOBLINS!
• ‘Nuff said.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-4-marvel-comics-2016

Spider-Gwen Lyrics (AKA Gwen Stacy: The Insert-Cool-Sounding-Adjective-Here Spider-Woman)

 

Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen,
Does it better than Spider-Men.
Spins a web, to and fro,
Nothing like this white widow.
Look out!
Here comes the Spider-Gwen!

Is she strong? Listen bud,
She’s got radioactive blood.
It’s a gift and a curse,
Spinning out of Spider-Verse.
Hey, there!
There goes the Spider-Gwen!

In the chill of night,
At the scene of a crime,
Like a streak of light,
She arrives just in time!

Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen,
Friendly neighborhood Spider-Gwen. 
There is nothing you must fear,
Insert-Cool-Adjective-Here.
To her, life is a great big bang up.
Wherever there’s a hang up,
You’ll find the Spider-Gwen!

Spider-Gwen #5 and Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1 Previews

Carol Corps… … …erm… …Gwen Aggregation, unite! It’s time for early looks at this week’s comics, starting with Spider-Gwen #5!

• Still haunted by the death of her world’s young Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy pays a visit to the two people who knew him best.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-5-marvel-comics-2015

Next up, take a drive down the highway to the danger zone with Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1!

• Atten-Hut! These ladies are the best of the best–and will take you down if you threaten their Captain.
• Welcome to Hala Field, where being a part of the elite Carol Corps, requires guts, guile and a whole lot of grit. So put on your uniform and get ready for a high-flying Captain Marvel series years in the making.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/captain-marvel-the-carol-corps-1-marvel-comics-2015

Spider-Gwen #4 Preview

Whoops! Almost let this one slip past! 😛 Oh well, here’s the preview for tomorrow’s Spider-Gwen #4!

• Learn what really happened the day that Peter Parker died! Gwen comes face to face with Ben and May Parker!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-4-marvel-comics-2015

Spider-Gwen #3 Preview

Well, it’s that time again. Let’s take an early look at Spider-Gwen #3, as it seems things only continue to become more difficult for poor Gwen Stacy.

• Police Lieutenant Frank Castle is not a man to be trifled with.

• His new assignment? GET SPIDER-GWEN. ‘Nuff said.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/spider-gwen-3-marvel-comics-2015

Spider-Gwen Announced – THANK YOU, MARVEL! :’D + News On Upcoming Wonder Woman Books + The Difference Between Marvel & DC

No, your eyes do NOT deceive you, Marvel has in fact listened to the fans and decided to give the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman her own book. Apparently, it’ll be launching in February, under the name Spider-Gwen. Now, the name of the book is a little weird, but I’m guessing it’s because they already have a Spider-Woman book coming out, and unless they name it ‘Gwen Stacy: The Insert-Cool-Sounding-Adjective-Here Spider-Woman’, it’s gonna confuse people (actually, I think that would be the most awesomely hilarious name for a book EVER). So, I don’t mind the name.

What’s hilarious about this is that this news broke at the same time as myself and a group of my friends on Twitter were ranting about a cover advertised for an upcoming Wonder Woman book, as drawn by David Finch, where she looks…well, look.

…Yeah, pretty dumb, huh? And really shows why the Finchs are probably people that shouldn’t be doing Wonder Woman, because they don’t get the character. Although, on the flip side, check out the cover for the upcoming Wonder Woman ’77 book, drawn by Nicola Scott.

Pretty frakking epic. Really shows the difference between DC and Marvel. DC has these AMAZING digital first books that people love, and they take ZERO advantage of them, instead pushing the bleak as all heck New 52 books. Marvel sees that something sells well, they go “Hey, we’ve got a new product that sells great! So, let’s roll with it!” And maybe it won’t do as well as they hope, but the point is they’re giving it a try. They’re giving Silk a shot too. So we’ll have, on the Marvel side of things, female led books like Storm, Captain Marvel, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, Adjectiveless X-Men, Squirrel Girl (…no, seriously, it’s happening, lol), and so many more. In DC’s main line, their female led books are Supergirl (has been kind of a confusing mess lately), Batgirl (new team doing the book does awesome work in my opinion, but I’ve noticed that reaction to the new book is pretty divisive online), Gotham Academy (looks cool, but not my cup of tea), Harley Quinn (ruined Poison Ivy in the New 52, has an upcoming drug-scented book), Batwoman (was forced out of getting married and turned into a vampire anti-hero), and Wonder Woman (see above image, and the God awful relationship with Superman). Meanwhile, they have a HUGE roster of women they could push in their books! Aside from the ones I mentioned already, they have Raven, Wonder Girl, Troia, Stargirl, Spoiler, Bluebird, Poison Ivy, Mera, Aquawoman, Jesse Quick, Jade, Huntress, Power Girl, Fury, Equinox, the list goes on and on! And yeah, some of them are in books currently, but they’re hardly marketed by DC. They don’t know how to market their products, unless said product is involved with Batman, and they don’t know how to get people pumped for new stuff.

But anyway, I just wanna thank Marvel Comics, Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, and everyone else involved in Spider-Gwen for bringing this to us. Lemme know your own thoughts on this upcoming book, and we’ll see how awesome this gets when it hits in February. Ja né!

The Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman Book Needs Its Own Series

You’ll notice that, on this past Wednesday, I did not review Edge of Spider-Verse #2. For those that don’t follow the current Spider-Man comics, Spider-Verse is an upcoming event where Spider-Men from alternate realities are being hunted down and killed, and so a large group of them are being gathered to fight this threat to them and figure out why they specifically are being targeted. And, I’ll admit, it’s an interesting story. The problem is, while there are limited side-stories that tell more of what’s happening from other perspectives, the majority of it seems to be told in Amazing Spider-Man (PASS), and a resurrected Superior Spider-Man (ULTRA PASS). However, one issue of the prologue to the event, Edge of Spider-Verse, got everyone’s attention, as it focused on an alternate reality version of Gwen Stacy (whose tragic death in the comics was recently relived in the movie Amazing Spider-Man 2) being the one the spider bit in that version of events.

Now, why didn’t I review it? Well, before you ask, of COURSE I bought it. Gwen Stacy is awesome, and seemingly even more-so in this book, as she’s shown to be highly skilled in parkour (which goes GREAT with spider powers) and has a love of music (which is seen when she uses her drumming on some poor bastard, lol). Also, I love the twist on the classic Spider-Man mythos, where her acting irresponsibly with her powers leads often-bullied Peter Parker to become that universe’s version of The Lizard before dying, thus being the death that teaches Gwen the “With great power comes great responsibility” lesson (and these aren’t technically spoilers, since all that is in the first few pages as told in an interestingly done montage). So, why didn’t I review it? Because going in, I KNEW this was gonna be a book that I’d have NOTHING unique to say about, and looking at some of the other reviews, I was right. This isn’t even me slapping myself down, either. This is just a fact, on account of everyone and their dog having something to say about this book. Yeah, it’s one of THOSE ones, that’s so good or so unique or just comes out at the right time that everyone’s talking about it. And what’s the one thing that’s being agreed upon the most? That this character NEEDS her own book when Spider-Verse is over.

Of course, if you’ll allow me a moment to play devil’s advocate, on the one hand, I can understand where Marvel might be concerned that the presence of multiple ongoing books (not events, but ongoing) focused on alternate reality versions of Spider-Man might make the stories seem less interesting, as part of the novelty of Miles Morales (and the Ultimate Peter Parker before him) is that he’s a Spider-Man from another universe. And yeah, I know her name is Spider-Woman, but there’s a very clear difference between Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of the mainstream universe, and Gwen in this book clearly has more in common with the former. So, if she had her own book, we would then have 616 Peter Parker, 1610 Miles Morales, and whatever number this version of Gwen Stacy gets. Still, I feel that there is enough uniqueness to each of them that they can all have their own books and not feel like retellings of each other.

And frankly, I would LOVE to see what they did with the rest of the supporting cast. Like, we see in this book that Gwen’s dad is still a Captain on the force, and I already mentioned what happens with Peter Parker, but in addition to that, Mary Jane is the lead of her own band with Gwen as the drummer, J. Jonah Jameson is leading this rally against Spider-Woman (don’t know if he’s still the head of the Bugle or not), and Matt Murdock is actually WORKING for the Kingpin. But what about the rest? Maybe Aunt May and Uncle Ben could be supporting characters that help Gwen out, with her feeling conflicting guilt over that due to Peter’s death, and they could possibly set up certain male characters (or female, if they feel like doing that) as love interests.

And then there’s the villains, and oh man, what they could do with the villains. Since it’s an alternate universe, they could pretty much get away with anything. Like, Doc Ock’s tentacles could be actual octopus tentacles, or Rhino could be an actual mutated rhinoceros, or Matt Murdock could be a villainous Daredevil that pushes Spider-Woman’s skills to their limit, or Electro could get his powers by being bitten by a lightning bug while drinking Red Bull. lol Okay, maybe not that last one, but really, alternate universe, they can pretty much do as they please.

But yeah, those are my thoughts on Edge of Spider-Verse #2 and the Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman in general. So, if you wanted a review, in short, I thought the book was great, and it left me with a craving for MUCH more, which is always a good thing. Big ups to Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez (who I swear to God has a name that makes me think he’s a superhero, lol), Rico Renzi (him too), and everyone else who helped work on this, and let’s hope that, if enough people say the same thing, that Marvel gives us what we want. Ja né!