Comic Review: The Unbelievable Gwenpool, Vol. 1: Believe It

Published: November 29th, 2016
Written by: Christopher Hastings
Art by: Gurihiru

Marvel Comics, 152 Pages

Review:

In a time when Marvel books haven’t been very good, I wasn’t anticipating enjoying this. In fact, I put off reading it for awhile, as it seemed to be just another aimless attempt at gender swapping a character and also a soulless attempt at trying to piggyback off of the success of the Spider-Gwen series. I assumed, as I’m sure many people have, that this was yet another version of Gwen Stacy pushed into the role of a popular Marvel hero. Well, it isn’t. Sure, the name and the look are obviously trying to capitalize off of the contemporary Gwen Stacy shtick but this character is actually a girl named Gwen Poole and she is from the real world… our real world.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Spider-Gwen for the most part and have reviewed all of the books, as they’ve been released. She is a better example of Marvel taking a character of the opposite sex and pushing her into a role that was originally a male’s. But since I have always adored Gwen Stacy, I thought the idea of her having powers was badass. Plus, the art and her costume design was incredible.

Gwenpool, on the other hand, and let’s be honest, looks hokey and cheesy and like it’s more of a manga than an American comic book. While I like some manga, I’ve never been a massive fan of the style. But it works here because it truly fits the tone of what Gwenpool is.

Point blank, this is one of the funniest comics I have ever read. Marvel’s humor in the modern era just doesn’t work for me, as it is full of Millennial dialogue, randomness and absurdity. Maybe being a Gen-Xer means that I’m now in an older demographic than the people that comics are written for but from what I can tell, most comics are still sold to Gen-Xers. And maybe this is why these Millennial styled books sit on shelves and most people don’t want them.

Gwenpool sets itself apart in that it is goofy but it really feels like it’s taking its stylistic and narrative cues from the manga style its art seems to be an homage to.

Sillyness aside, this is a well written story arc for any genre. I love that the origin of the character is just dismissed and this thing just gets going. What we do know is that Gwen Poole is from the real world, like our real world. She knows everything about everyone in the Marvel universe, as she is an avid comic book fan from our reality.

This story sees her forced into working for the villain M.O.D.O.K. She also has run-ins with other famous Marvel characters: Doctor Strange, the modern female Thor, the modern Ms. Marvel, Black Cat and Howard the Duck. She also receives some combat training from the villain Batroc.

This was just an enjoyable and a refreshing experience and I shouldn’t have slept on it. But now that I’ve given it an honest chance, I’m certainly going to pick up volume 2 at some point.

Rating: 7.5/10
Pairs well with: Other Gwenpool releases and Spider-Gwen for some obvious similarities.

Comic Review: Venomverse

Published: January 9th, 2018
Written by: Cullen Bunn
Art by: Iban Coello

Marvel Comics, 128 Pages

Review:

In preparation for the new Venom series that recently started, I wanted to check out some of the more modern Venom stories out there. Venomverse came highly recommended from a guy at one of my comic book shops. I figured that I’d give it a read, as the premise sounded interesting.

In a nutshell, after stomping a mudhole in Jack O’Lantern’s bum, Venom is zapped away to a different dimension where all the Marvel characters have symbiotes. So what you get is Venomized versions of Captain America, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Deadpool, Mary Jane Watson, Black Panther, Rocket Raccoon and everyone else in-between. They are fighting a war against the Poisons, who are tiny aliens that absorb the symbiote heroes and villains into their own bodies and become perfect killing machines: the apex predators of the universe. Doctor Strange has been pulling all symbiote heroes and villains into the “Venomverse” dimension in an effort to turn the tide in the war.

Man, if you are a fan of Venom, this is just a really cool and fun book to read. Seriously, I absolutely loved this. I mean, Rocket Raccoon with a Venom symbiote? C’mon, man! All this thing needed was Spider-Ham and Howard the Duck in it too.

The story is really good but I barely even cared about the setup because any reason to have a Marvel Universe full of Venoms is just an awesome time. These stories don’t work so well in the regular Marvel dimension but in this Venomverse pocket of existence, things just seem to flow naturally. Plus, the Poisons were just a really cool idea and added something more to the story than just having a symbiote war for the sake of having a symbiote war.

Granted, I felt that this ended a bit anticlimactically but you also get a post credits scene just like the Marvel movies, which I thought was a neat twist. And that ending sets up the potential for the Poisons to expand into other universes and dimensions.

This was just a damn good book and pretty refreshing and entertaining, as Marvel has produced a lot of duds lately.

Rating: 9.75/10
Pairs well with: Any of the great Eddie Brock Venom stories. But for more recent stuff, the new Venom series and the Venom, Inc. story arc from recent issues of The Amazing Spider-Man.