Spider-Gwen #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Latour gets in one last issue before his mandatory "Secret Wars" hiatus, and it's a doozy.

The main event of this issue is the Black Cat emerging from the shadows to challenge Daredevil.  This Black Cat is the daughter of a French cat-burglar that encouraged her to look past the riches and steal items that meant something to people.  Unfortunately, he went a step too far when he stole the first dollar that the Kingpin ever made, and it appears that the job that secured Matt's role as the Kingpin's right-hand man was killing Felicia's father in front of her.  Felicia lures Matt into public by inviting her to one of her shows, and he knowingly takes the bait in the hopes of finally securing the dollar.

The only part that doesn't make sense to me here is that Felicia invites the Mary Janes to replace her at the last minute.  Felicia is apparently an ex-member of the band that became more successful on her own, and, although Glory is reluctant to take up her offer, Mary Jane sees the opportunity.  At first I thought that she intended for the girls to become the targets instead of her...but then she jumps on stage in front of them to taunt Murdoch by burning the dollar.  I still don't get it, even after re-reading it.

But, whatever.  It seems possible that Felicia did it just to taunt Mary Jane along with Daredevil, and I'm just going to go with that explanation.  After all, it fades into the background given the awesomeness of the fight that follows.  Felicia's henchmen (dressed as cartoonish black cats, prompting Betty to comment that Felicia is living her own Hanna-Barbera cartoon) take on the Hand (who suddenly appear in that way that they do).  Gwen changes into Spider-Woman and tries to convince Felicia not to rise to Murdoch's provocations.  Gwen knocks out Felicia before she can get herself killed, and she has a creepy interaction with Murdoch where Latour implies that he knows her identity.  (If he does know it, it's because of his powers, and Gwen is unaware that he would know.)

Along those lines, Jean DeWolff appears at the Stacy homestead to warn Arthur to watch his back, possibly because she, too, knows the truth through Castle.  (She also gets in a peck on the cheek, on the heels of Arthur monologuing that his wife is dead.  Interesting.)

At any rate, we have a lot happening here.  This issue really brings Felicia and, most importantly, Matt from the shadows, and it feels like we're past the introductory phase of this series at this point.  The stage is set and the players have been introduced.  I can't wait to see where we go from here.

*** (three of five stars)

Spider-Gwen #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've never read Ultimate Spider-Man, but I think that I have a better understanding of the allure of the Ultimate Universe as a result of this series (just in time for it to be destroyed).

Latour continues to use Peter's origin story as inspiration for Gwen's own story, as we hit a number of familiar steps in this issue.  But, he's also taking advantage of the opportunity to depart from "canon" where it works for the story.  The most obvious examples of that are putting the story in a modern time frame and getting to re-imagine certain characters.  (I feel like we're getting to know Uncle Ben for the first time, since Latour isn't treating him like a saint that has to teach Peter a lesson in every appearance.)  Regarding the latter, it means that he also gets a chance to make Gwen's relationship with these characters different from Peter's relationship with them.  Here, he corrects one of the most problematic parts of Spidey's original history:  Aunt May's dislike of Spider-Man.

At the end of last issue, it felt like Latour was going to beat the well trod path of having Aunt May hate Spider-Woman.  After all, she had even more reason to hate her than the original Aunt May did Spider-Man:  whereas "our" May didn't know that Peter (and, by extension, Spider-Man) was indirectly responsible for Uncle Ben's death, Gwen's May certainly knows that Spider-Woman was involved in Peter's.  But, Latour doesn't make May as simple as that.  In an amazing seven-page (!) conversation, May makes it clear that she blamed Spider-Woman for Peter's death immediately after it happened because she needed to blame someone and JJJ, Jr. was sticking a microphone in her face.  Latour uses the scrapbook of clippings of Spider-Woman that she and Peter kept as a vehicle for May to have continued to pay attention to Spider-Woman.  This attention allows her to realize that Spider-Woman was actually helping people.  It's a beautifully crafted scene, particularly because Latour also works in May commenting on Peter not being "well" for a long time.  May makes it clear that Peter wasn't just imitating Gwen because he was tired of ridicule and wanted to escape into a fantasy; he had actually crossed the line into mental-health issues that compelled him to do what he did.  (Latour really makes it seem like Peter would've been the villain of the story if he had survived, and it's a shame that the story itself precludes the possibility of us getting to see that.)  Moreover, May encourages Gwen not to hide in her grief, sending her (thankfully) into the arms of the Mary Janes.  It all sounds too easy and convenient, but Latour really makes it feel like the logical outcome of the conversation that they have here.  Moreover, in terms of Spider-Man's mythos, it corrects, in a way, May's portrayal as a hysterical widow, turning her into a grieving woman with complicated emotions (or, in other words, a human).

If it's not clear from this review, I continue to think Latour is just doing an amazing job here.  Moreover, Rodriguez continues to kill it.  The splash page with the images from Aunt May's scrapbook imposed on Gwen's face?  Amazeballs.  Every issue, my anticipation for the next one grows.

**** (four of five stars)

Spider-Gwen #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing.  I just love this series.

Latour continues to make Gwen's origin story recognizable as a version of Peter's origin story, but tweaks it in key ways so that it feels fresh and unique.  First, Gwen has an advantage that Peter didn't have, namely the fact that her police-officer father raised her with a certain set of crime-fighting skills; as she reminds him here, he taught her how to spot a tail when she was eight-years-old.  But, Gwen's first outings as Spider-Woman are proving to be more disastrous than even Peter's first adventures were.  By the end of this issue, Peter's death weighs on her like Uncle Ben's death did on Peter, plus the Kingpin still wants her dead and the Punisher and the Vulture likely know her identity.  It's not good.  I have to wonder how Latour is going to handle the secret-identity issue, since it seems unlikely that he's going to strip her of her ability to be "Gwen" so soon.

But, one constant seems like it's going to remain:  Aunt May.  The Parkers apparently live on the same block as the Stacys, and Uncle Ben comes to rescue Captain Stacy after the Vulture doused their house with fumes when he was trying to shake down George over his connection to Spider-Woman.  (The Kingpin is using the Vulture to get to Gwen, as we learned last issue.)  He tells George that May Parker is the woman to get a man on his feet, and we see Gwen sitting in Peter's room at the same time.  I like the idea of May as Gwen's confidante, if we're going that way.  Of course, she's going to have to explain that she didn't kill her nephew first.

Looking at the issue itself, I have to say, Latour and Rodriguez deliver possibly the best fight scenes in the business.  Latour gives Gwen such a distinct voice when she's fighting, full of bravado and slang.  We've all gotten used to Peter's wise-cracking that it's hard to see it as separate from his normal personality, but Latour makes it clear that Spider-Woman has a different voice than Gwen does.  Moreover, Rodriguez is just a marvel of infusing a fight scene with kinetic energy.  From Gwen's screaming Spider-Sense signaling the start of the fight to her swinging her father's bowling trophies like they're bola whips, you feel the movement as you're reading it.

They also don't neglect reminding us that Gwen is struggling here.  Rodriguez makes her borrowed clothing from last issue prominent, reminding us that she's barely had time to rest since this series started.  (It reminds me of the opening arc of the first volume of "Spider-Man 2099" in that sense.)  Plus, Latour has her rant against the adults coming after her:  the "jack-booted fascists," "loudmouth newspaper jerks," and "bald-headed old creeps with wrinkly yellow bathtub toes."  It probably makes her miss just dealing with Mary Jane.

Again, everything here is great, and I hope that it stays that way for a long time.

***** (five of five stars)

Spider-Gwen #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

OMG, Spider-Ham serving as Gwen's Jiminy Cricket?  Possibly the greatest effing thing to happen to comic books...like...ever.  Matt Murdoch serving as the Kingpin's lawyer?  Possibly the second greatest effing thing to happen to comic books...like...ever.  All in one issue, to boot!

I really have no idea how Latour covers so much ground so seamlessly in this issue.  First, Spider-Ham appears as a result of Gwen suffering from some sort of brain injury when the Vulture dropped her at the end of last issue.  (Actually, it wasn't the dropping that caused the injury; it was her smashing into a garbage barge after she was dropped.)  In his role as Gwen's concussion-induced conscience, Spider-Ham pushes her not only to get her personal life in order by reconciling with the Mary Janes, but also to accept that her "professional life" isn't going to bring back Peter, encouraging her not to be out there alone.  Latour really uses him to great effect to show us how isolated and lonely Gwen is at this point.

Meanwhile, Captain Stacy has to cover for Gwen when a cop finds her bag and phone at the crime scene, forcing him to confront how far he's willing to go to protect her.  But, he comes to realize why he would need to protect her after he sees Frank Castle, the new lead of the Spider-Woman task force, threaten to kill Kingpin in prison when he refuses to divulge information about the hit on Stacy.  Moreover, we have a stone-cold Murdoch beating the Vulture for "stealing" the Kingpin's kill, since Spider-Woman refused his offer of help in "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2, and Jean DeWolff returning from some sort of mysterious absence.  Honestly, these characters are much more interesting here than they ever were in the prime Marvel Universe.

Finally, we have fun.  Spider-Ham is generally just awesome; the conversation about his form of cannibalism involving him eating not a corn dog but Porky Pig because he's a cartoon was really a highlight of the month for me.  Plus, you have the postersI mean, how could you not be happy here?  Again, Latour manages to run us through this gauntlet without missing a beat.  In fact, he does a great job of showing how dizzying it all is for Gwen.  At some point, sure, we're going to need a quiet moment to get a better sense of our setting, but, right now, I'm willing to ride the ride that Latour has built. 

***** (five of five stars)

Spider-Gwen #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

As I mentioned in my review of "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2, Jason Latour and I don't have a great track record.  But, we're not here to rehash the past.  I loved "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2 just as much as everyone else did, and I was honestly thrilled that Marvel realized what a chord Spider-Gwen struck with the fans and green-lit this book.  I'm also thrilled to say that this first issue didn't disappoint.  Not at all.

First, Latour uses a number of recognizable characters to draw us into the story.  In "Edge of Spider-Verse" #2, we were introduced to this universe's versions of Glory Grant, Matt Murdock, the Rhino, Captain Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson (among others).  Latour continues introducing analogue characters in this issue, though not in a way that feels overly cute.  Ben Grimm is a police officer trying to keep some kids from vandalizing a billboard advertising a reward for turning in Spider-Gwen (for killing Peter Parker); one of those kids is Hobie Brown.  Grimm becomes a victim of the Vulture, driven by his ego (as he is in our universe) to confront Gwen, because he's jealous of the attention that she gets.  Meanwhile, mayoral advisor Foggy Nelson tells Captain Stacy that he's been replaced by Frank Castle on the Spider-Gwen task force, since the mayor questions his commitment after he claimed that Spider-Gwen saved his life.  Meanwhile, Castle is torturing the Rhino in his prison cell to get the name of the guy who hired him to kill Stacy.  These developments would all be reasonable and exciting without this universe's analogues driving them; the fact that they are said analogues, acting in ways true to their counterparts, makes it more fun.  Obviously, this series, just like all alternate-universe series, can't run on these moments alone, but, as I said, the story that Latour tells stands on its own.

Plus, Latour begins to develop Gwen's supporting cast.  It's not all about superheroes and super-villains; Latour makes you just as invested in whether or not the Mary Janes are going to disband.  (Perish the thought!)  Latour also manages to make it all sound young and fresh without overdoing it (as Fletcher and Stewart did in the firs tissue or two of their run on 'Batgirl").  It's actually a fun read.  (The comment about "Jim and the Holograms" made me LOL, even though referring to a 20-year old cartoon show is probably the opposite of young.)  Latour makes it clear that we've got some darkness ahead, but, for now, he's making it clear that Gwen maybe, just maybe is having a good time out there.

*** (three of five stars)