Been There, Done That — Reviewing ‘Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider’ #3

Superhero stories in comic books tend to return to classic formats or storylines quite often, for better or for worse. It all depends on the character, the creatives, and the chosen storyline.

With Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #3, the chosen ‘classic’ type of storyline being referenced is overall fine, but also kind of tiresome and out of place in the current situation. Ah homage of sorts from Stephanie Phillips, Federica Mancin, Paolo Villanelli, Matt Milla, and Ariana Maher.

One of the issues with this story arc overall is, there are far too many question marks floating around. Not enough actual foundation and reason for things to be what they are. Gwen is stuck in 616 for a mystery reason. The retired villain turned gang leader Black Tarantula wants to take her down for some reason. Chameleon is hired and is back to just pretending to be people to ruin their reputations or lives…again, for some reason.

It just feels…silly.

I appreciate what Phillips is attempting here but Gwen being away from her unique universe and supporting cast already makes the book feel hollow. Now we have fake Ghost-Spider robbing stores, snatching ice cream cones, doing childish graffiti and other ridiculous things. If I’m remembering correctly this is something that the villain has done to Spider-Man numerous times, both in and outside of comic books. Just feels very out of place, and random, since we’re given no real details to the why.

Also, Gwen suddenly has some mysterious exploding power that has to be figured out. Just a bigger and bigger pile of questions, three issues in, with no possible answers.

There is only so long that people can wait with a monthly format of entertainment.

Even as classic redux as things are, there is still a fun energy that Mancin brings artistically. Everything feels very rough, chaotic, and fluid in the best ways possible. Spider-characters are bouncing balls of energy that are all over the place, and the best art really mimics that. It also comes with a light, airy, fun energy that can help even the most familiar stories feel a bit new and different.

Similarly, the colors that Milla employs boost all of that and more. Keeping things very toned down in most cases, creating authentic feeling cityscapes, before kicking everything up to eleven. Superpowers, costumes, and other elements feel just as outlandish as they should while also feeling perfectly natural.

There is quite a noticeable difference when Villanelli takes over for the final pages. It still has a very rough feeling, but things are very much darker and dirtier in a sense. Very gritty and tough to the touch. What is happening to Chameleon, Gwen’s blast is causing rapid morphing, is very much body horror and the artwork and colors radiate that energy.

Around all the plot repeats, there are still plenty of emotional and character developing beats. Maher makes them flow across the page in word form, giving the various caption boxes and dialogue bubbles a visual punch. Colorful, energetic, bold, and full of tricks all fit as descriptors for what we find on the page with all letter content.

Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #3 is now available from Marvel Comics.