The girl formerly known as Gwen Poole was originally from a universe where superheroes were only comic book characters--sounds unbearably drab, right?--but ended up in the Marvel Universe. Believing it to be "fictional," Gwen got herself a costume, as befits a "main character," although in a misunderstanding she became known as Gwenpool. Her main ability is that by reading a lot of comics, she has a lot of secret knowledge, like the secret identities of most heroes; ironically, since she didn't read Deadpool, she didn't know much about him. This issue, Gwenpool teams up with Spider-Man Miles Morales: she recognizes him, and knows he was a refugee from another universe as well, the Ultimate Universe. For his part, Miles is not sure what this weird girl is on about, seemingly not remembering much of that. Still, Gwen knows from the back issues she read pre-new Secret Wars, that only "important" supporting characters for Miles made it to the Marvel U, including a plotline about a disgruntled student bomber.
Gwenpool and Spider-Man confront the bomber, with Gwenpool planning on shooting him in the face: to her, the bomber isn't "real," just a plot point. To Miles, the bomber might be a criminal, but deserves to live: he stops Gwen, knocking her out and webbing her up for the cops. Gwen threatens to spill his secret identity, but knows she can't go through with it. She is a little hurt Miles thinks she's crazy, though. Arrested and booked, she is later busted out of jail by her supporting cast, including Batroc; but as their disapproval piles on she laments "This isn't fun..."
I've only read a few issues of her title, but I've enjoyed the idea: I don't know if it wouldn't get old month-after-month, but I think she'd work great to show up for an issue or an annual in various books. I'm curious about her recent appearance in Champions, since I picture those kids as too-earnest goody-goodies, and Gwenpool as a good foil for them.
My girlfriend has a couple GwenPool issues she bought, so I read them. They're okay, but really she's redundant as fuck since Deadpool pretty much fills whatever role she's supposed to play, with the whole 4th wall thing and other stuff. So yeah, one-off appearances here or there would suit her just fine, but that's just me. I'm still getting that figure tho.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy her comic pretty well. I don't find her redundant because, for all that Deadpool sometimes knows he's in a comic, it's still real to him, whereas with Gwen, it's basically been just a game (that might be changing, judging by the most recent issue).
ReplyDeleteI like a lot of Chris Hastings' work though, so I may just be predisposed towards her based on that. I could see her being irritating to other people. I don't have much interest in reading any other writer's take on her.
Well we know she's got at least one big fan, ha ha. No I get you, and really that all boils down to one's own personal tastes. I feel she's both redundant and a shameless cash grab based on combing two popular comic characters at the moment, Gwen Stacy, or really Spider-Gwen, and Deadpool.
ReplyDeleteNow if she's written in fun and intelligent manner without coming off as insulting the reader's time and money, more power to her and her creative team.
I'm not hating on her, despite my own criticisms, (shit I'm still buying an action figure of her regardless of how I feel) I just don't see the point of her existing when you already have an established character that does and can do, what she does.
That being said, kudos to those who do like and support her by buying her merch, because in the larger scheme of things, she's a tiny piece of diversity from the norm that does desperately need to be supported so that Marvel will see that publishing more similar diverse and "indie" comics is worth it.
P.S. Goo, I have the same issues coming up with skits for my figures. Sometimes they unfold and write themselves in mind as I hold and buy them, others need some time to percolate.
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