Webs Of Confusion — Reviewing ‘Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider’ #2

Superheroes are no strangers to lies and deceptions, both with their often secret personal lives but also with their rogues. One classic Spider-Rogue in particular has made deception their entire persona.

Gwen Stacy, the Ghost Spider, isn’t having the best time dealing with a variety of deceptions now that she’s in the 616 universe. Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #2 digs her hole a bit deeper thanks to Stephanie Phillips, Federica Mancin, Matt Milla, and Ariana Maher.

This series kicked off with an interesting look at leaving everything (and everyone) behind while adapting to a new world. Showing Gwen really trying to figure out how to live in a world where her counterpart is dead, and she can’t tell anyone she is there. She can’t even be a hero. Not that such a thing lasted that long.

It was clear a confrontation between Gwen and the other Spider-Heroes, her friends, was inevitable. Phillips doesn’t waste time, kicking things off with that very moment. While I’m glad it wasn’t stretched out, something feels off with the whole thing. How the characters interact almost feels stilted a bit and happening to get that whole thing out. Even the pizza moment from Silk just sort of fell a bit flat.

Even the Chameleon reveal, which wasn’t much of a big surprise, just feels there. The whole money thing and chaining up the guy, the grandiose way of talking, and even the silly deceptions with Kraven in the last issue and Spider-Man in this one don’t hit. A huge part of why is that everything doesn’t seemingly have any actual concrete reasons that we know of yet.

From Gwen being here, why she can’t tell, what OB is worried about, why Chameleon wants to copy her, who and what the foes are meant to be, and everything else. It’s just a series of events with Gwen there. Without her friends and family and unique world around her to add spice, the story is lacking any sort of heat or grounding.

My first issue review was different because the bits with Gwen struggling and the life stuff gave some foundation. Here, it’s just scenes that sort of spill over one another and nothing to anchor.

I still really enjoy that particular energy that Mancin brings to a book. Some rough fluid stylings that feel a bit funky, in a good way. Spider characters are all bounding energy that can’t be contained and because they often aren’t fighters or trained in any way, they move so differently than everyone else. It’s almost chaotic in quality, and when an artist can capture that it’s all the better for a book.

Each space that is visited has great weight and detail, giving a grounding effect. Letting the world have some familiarity and reliability for placing our characters in the thick of things. Allowing the panels to then move around, slipping and sliding, much like the characters themselves. Eschewing standard types on many pages to capture the right feeling. Slipping in some whimsical energy alongside some exaggeration when it comes to proportions and placement.

Certain types of hero books tend to have particular looks to them. Often those with any of the Spider heroes find that middle space between bright lightness or heavier darkness. All that hope and quippy energy versus the pain and suffering that often finds them. Milla mixes those quite well with the chosen color palette. Costumes, some location bits, and other elements are allowed to be more colorful and stand out at times. Against more neutral-colored backdrops and heavier inked and shadowy elements that are sprinkled throughout.

A lot of emotions and beats have to be reached here. We feel them on the page thanks to the artwork, always bringing that great expressive mask trick which is just the best. We hear it too and feel it even more thanks to what Maher always brings with lettering. Colors, boldness, shifting bubbles, and other visual tricks that take a bunch of standard words and add something extra. Making sure volume, tone, and intent are nothing but clear to the reader as we devour these words. Placing them smoothly in the best way to really maximize their relationship to the rest of the artwork.

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