Gwen Stacy is one of those sacred characters of Marvel Comics’ history, with her role relatively solidified for better or worse. She was such a formidable love interest for Peter Parker way back in the day, before tragically dying just to spur his journey forward. We’ve seen alternate takes on the character with the recent super-hit that is “Spider-Gwen”, but never any revival of her in the main universe. This latest series seems to attempt to add something to her personal mythos and flesh out her history pre-Spider-Man. But is this a story that needed to be told?
Written by Christos Gage
Illustrated by Todd Nauck
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by Joe CaramagnaThe First of Gwen Stacy’s AMAZING Adventures! Gwen and Peter may not have met until AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #31, but that doesn’t mean Gwen’s life began on that page. Learn the never-before told origin of Gwen Stacy, top of her class, daughter of the Police Captain and, as her friend Harry Osborn calls her, “The Beauty Queen of Standard High.” But she’s way more than you even know! Gwen’s got a science brain, a nose for trouble and a no-quit attitude that always gets her in trouble. In the early Marvel Universe, that’s a recipe for disaster. Don’t miss Gwen, Captain Stacy, Harry and Norman Osborn, Crimemaster, Wilson Fisk, Jean DeWolff, Yuri Wantanabe and even Spider-Man!
Gage does some solid work at updating the Marvel high schooler experience here for a modern audience. Gwen is introduced from the get-go as a character that wants to excel in as many things as she can, especially as she bursts onto the scene as running for class president. She’s not completely preppy or innocent, however, as Gage shows her dealing with some unsavory boys promptly and without hesitation. The scene is a little on the nose, but the exaggeration does really make the audience empathize with how it can feel to have those leering eyes on you at all times. Gage does also characterize her well as someone who is comfortable living on the fringes. With her Dad being one of the more decorated cops in his area, Gwen is at home around the precinct and greets everyone like a friend, even helping him in one of his cases. The last part does feel a little far-fetched, but when you’re invested in the narrative, you can’t help but cheer Gwen on.
That being said, by about halfway through the issue Gwen appears to be shafted as the protagonist somewhat in favor of her dad, Captain George Stacy. Most of the discourse in this issue is through George working on a case, in which he is shot and set up to be framed as the instigator and person who shot first. The discourse does bring in the undisputably best street-level Spidey villains, the Enforcers, and Gage does lean heavily into their old-timey Brooklyn-esque language and mobster behavior. The page-long sequence of The Ox knocking a vending machine above Gwen is similarly great at balancing cheese and suspense, which I appreciate. And, in all honesty, it does work well as an instigating plot point for Gwen to make the decision to take action, with a second-last page shift that you can’t help but cheer her on for. It just feels like Gwen is snubbed of a lot of the action in her own number-one issue and delegated to doting girlfriend and daughter status, even if Gage might be saving up her badassery for later issues.
Todd Nauck approaches this book like a mainline Marvel superhero book, for better or worse. The comic feels very much like an early-2000s house-style book, almost to the point where it feels like it’s emulating the tone of Mark Bagley on early “Ultimate Spider-Man”. It’s that expressive but ultimately geared for action kind of feel, where everyone looks like they’re about to move outside the panel and look like they’ve been perfectly poised for the shot they’re in. This gives the whole book a slick superhero sheen that does definitely work for some panels. The opening page is positioned nicely to give Gwen a real opening spectacle feel that appropriately fits the running for president theme. From this point on, she feels a little pin-up-esque throughout the rest of the issue, cycling only through a few emotions that feel very plastic and put on each time. The shot between her and her hospitalized father feels cheapened because of this, especially with the shot of her laughing through tears.
Continued belowThe environments, at least, feel busy and exciting and right at home within the outside-your-window Marvel universe. Nauck is an old hand at working with these kinds of settings, so we do get a very lived-in feel to the whole book. I love the opening panel that shows all the disinterested students at Gwen’s speech, each couple feels like they have something interesting going on which amounts to an appropriate amount of chaos. Each shot of the outside of the school feels perfect too, with the right amount of wire fences and high-rising concrete buildings that it almost feels like white noise, but really completes the whole inner-city scene. The police precinct also looks great because of this attention to detail, especially George’s desk. There are stacks of files and papers everywhere, as well as a whiteboard that’s been scratched at with marker to help detail out the crime scene. Nauck does nail how much busy-ness needs to be in each scene to make it feel legitimate.
Rosenberg does a solid job on colors, bringing that glowy, succeeding-high-schooler vibrancy to every page. The lighting on the first page gives that feeling the strongest with the brightness shining in from a side angle as if to indicate a brighter new day is ahead. We also get that luminous feeling throughout the scenes where Gwen is cooking for her Dad at home, to cleverly avoid her looking like she’s doing it for any negative reasons. The night scenes with George on his raid also look just as exciting but for the opposite reasons: Rosenberg uses a lot of blues and aqua to make it feel like a scene straight out of CSI. The negative backgrounds can be a little distracting at times, however, since Rosenberg opts to put color gradients in them that can feel a little detracting from the art rather than just a solid color.
“Gwen Stacy” is a fun look at one of the most infamous “Spider-Man” character’s history. Gage does a solid job of adapting what makes this character great for a modern audience, though tends to distract the focus with other characters that steal her spotlight. Nauck also feels a little dated and unsuited for this type of work, but does a great job on the environments, setting, and general feel of Marvel’s New York. Overall, this was a fun start to a side-story but lacking a lot of staying power.
Final Score: 6.5 – “Gwen Stacy” #1 is a fun debut, but lacks the kind of polish that would elevate this to greater heights.
