Things hit close to home.

Creative Staff:
Story: Jason Latour
Art: Robbi Rodriguez

What They Say:
Police Lieutenant Frank Castle is not a man to be trifled with. His new assignment? Get Spider-Gwen. ‘Nuff said.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get to the third installment of the series, it’s amusing that the cover look ahead to the next installment talks about a bold new direction. Shouldn’t that be there from the get go? I know, I know, we had to deal with spinning out of the Spider-Verse material before we can get to the story proper, much like we did in a sense with the other Spider-Woman book and the mess that became Spider-Man 2099. With Spider-Gwen, we’re certainly in a position to see a change to the status quo based on this issue and what it does, though part of it just leaves you wondering how much reality has sunk in for some of these characters in the understanding of what the real world is like now.

For Gwen, a lot of what she’s struggling with has to do with her father and her sense of responsibility. He’s naturally protective, even more so because of his own work, and he simply doesn’t want her doing any of this. It’s a nice change from early Spider-man books where he did everything without Aunt May knowing. Here, he’s a target in his own right and sees his life and hers as double threatened because of what she’s doing. But she’s also plagued by the reality of responsibility, especially after holding Peter in her arms as he died, and refuses to let that go because she doesn’t want to be responsible for someone else dying. She’s also a bit stronger in a sense as she’s making it clear to her father that she’s not a kid and that she’s intent on doing all of this, which has her with a firmer backbone than we’re used to in this particular “family” of titles in how characters deal with parents and relatives.

Naturally, as difficult as their talk is, it has to get sidelined for a real fight as Toomes has gone after Stacey himself because of how he’s been saved, rather than following Gwen since she is smart enough to avoid being tailed. This has Stacey out of commission for most of the book and allows it to be a rough fight between Toomes and Gwen, since he has plenty of tech at his disposal and uses it to throw her off balance. It’s not a fantastic fight, and it all still feels forced to some degree, but with him fearful of the Kingpin now, he at least has some motivation. Where it takes a curious turn is amid the aftermath of the fight in the gas, Castle shows up intent on taking her down single handedly. The two have a decent enough fight, and she rebels against him in a pretty strong way, but we also get her hood yanked back. Obviously he doesn’t know who she really is, but the shock that it’s a girl throws him off and she takes advantage of that confusion. How that impacts things going forward could be interesting, but I’m also curious to see what’s really up with his body armor as a cop that has a skull on it lightly. I mean, it’s obvious what it is, but should it really be on a cop’s body armor without it being an issue?

In Summary:
As much fun as I’ve had with Spider-Gwen so far, I’m definitely hope that it’s about to clearly define itself and where it wants to go. Inhabiting its own world and working from there gives it a lot of freedom, but I’m also fearful of what Secret Wars will potentially do to reorganize the series in some way before it can really find itself. This installment provides for some good stuff with Gwen in regards to the stands she wants to take and it makes her a compelling character because there’s no whining about it, but rather just an insistence that this is the right thing to do. We see some good material for her here, but it’s made convoluted by Toome’s activity – a character who is not compelling at all – and the uncertainty of what Castle represents both in terms of character and action. The book is finding its way to be sure as it deals with having pieces revealed elsewhere and not introducing it slowly and steadily here.

Grade: B

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 1st, 2015
MSRP: $3.99