Gwen Is Pushed To The Breaking Point In Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #8

Gwen’s been trying to put her life back together, but with every step forward, she takes two steps back. She’s juggling troubles in both her super hero and personal lives, but fortunately, she’s got a great support system with family and friends. Harry Osborn has been by her side through thick and thin and wants to help her get to the bottom of these debilitating headaches that have wreaked havoc on her powers lately. They decide to pay Dr. Elsa Brock a visit to see if it has to do with Gwen’s symbiote…only to find out that the doctor is missing and no one seems to have any record she was ever there.

Despite all these problems, Gwen is still pretty upbeat. She’s not going to let this stuff keep her down. Artist Takeshi Miyazawa captures that vibe perfectly. Gwen has this scrappy, can-do attitude, even when she’s up against something big and bad.
This makes her aggressive fight with a few street thugs all the more shocking. It’s like her headaches have cut into something deeper, more carnal and she’s lashing out at these criminals. Miyazawa has a great panel at the beginning of this fight where Gwen’s hood breaks up, almost like teeth in a large mouth, surrounding her face in shadow. It makes the eyes in her mask look rather menacing.

Letterer Clayton Cowles gets in on this too by changing Gwen’s otherwise normal word balloons to a deep pink / purple color, signifying a change in her voice as well. It all adds together to make for a suddenly frightening turn for a character that’s usually so bright and bubbly.
The action really takes off with the backgrounds from colorist Ian Herring. He’s used this effect in previous issues and it’s just as effective here. The background is washed out and replaced with a bright color, like a yellow or purple. This immediately heightens the tension of the scene as we were dealing with quieter colors like blues and greys before this. Your eye is instantly drawn to these panels as they pop off the page.

Gwen makes note of this, but again, doesn’t let it get her down. She’s got a gig with the Mary Janes to get to, after all. I love how Miyazawa depicts the symbiote changing Gwen’s clothes. It spirals out of her in these slightly creepy tendrils to swap out her outfits in a flash. Gwen’s facial expression doesn’t change at all. This is just a normal thing for her.

You can practically feel the collective weight of all these trials and tribulations weighing Gwen down. It’s no wonder she was so hard on those thugs. Writer Seanan McGuire mixes the perils of super hero life with the everyday troubles of being a young person in this easily relatable way. We are being Gwen 100%. This makes the plans the mysterious Man-Wolf has been putting together in the shadows all the more unsettling. She’s completely unaware that there’s someone actively plotting against her. Things get pretty heated by the end of this issue, pushing Gwen to the limit both personally and professionally. Man, this is a great book.
Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #8 from Marvel Comics is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.