Put Your Hulk Into It — Reviewing ‘Spider-Gwen: Smash’ #2

Band tours aren’t all glitz and glamour. Sometimes it’s strained relationships, undercover work, secret stalkers, magical Pixies, and Hulk smashes. Well, it is if you’re the Mary Janes and you’re playing backup to the superstar Dazzler.

Break out the instruments and jam along with Spider-Gwen: Smash #2 from Melissa Flores, Enid Balám, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, Elisabetta D’Amico, and Ariana Maher.

Things are rough for Gwen and those around her, as reflected in the artwork. Balám brings a specific stylized, exaggerated visual flavor to the page. Many of the settings and spaces have a firmer, solid feeling to them, providing the visual anchor of realness. This allows for the floating almost liquid-like movement of all of the characters on the page. D’Amico’s inks bring more of the heavier feeling into play, enhancing the depth and dense nature of the work.

Some of that heavier feeling bleeds into Sifuentes-Sujo’s colors. Darker shadowy tones swirl around giving atmosphere to this harder story. Many of the superhero/powerful moments are where the more vibrant colors come into play. Splashes of green, pink, and more are splayed across the pages reminding us how fantastical the world of these characters truly can be. Another great beat is how the lighting/color scheme shifts with each space or time of day allowing them to feel concurrently unique and realistic.

Superhero stories done the Marvel way are about bringing the heroics but also the human aspect in spades. Flores has the right mindset and voice for that style of storytelling, giving plenty of space to the feelings and struggles of Gwen and everyone around her. Others have done work to build out Earth-65 and the characters within it, but Flores homes in on the characters so well that no other reading is required to be here. Everyone is fully fleshed out with motives, desires, and emotional highs or lows.

It’s done in a compelling way that makes us want to stick around and find out why Dazzler’s crew is turning on her in violent ways. Just who is this mystery person setting it all in motion, looking like exactly the type of creepy one expects from a stalker.

Distinct voices complete the feeling of these being fleshed-out beings. One of the best to do that is Maher, who brings her talent to so many books and we love to see it. All the right energy is infused into each letter, personality ringing out, flowing around the page in the best ways possible. Spider characters are free and agile, bounding all around in a graceful way, and the lettering matches this. Bubbles/font shifting as needed to bring some of the fun loud energy necessary.

Spider-Gwen: Smash #2 is now available from Marvel Comics.