Spider-Gwen: Portrait of an Isolated Vigilante

Like everyone else in the world, I fell in love with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when I saw it.  Miles Morales’ story began when I wasn’t reading comic books and, when I returned, it was one of the things I couldn’t wait to explore.  In fact, for the first year of my return to comic reading, it was his Spider-Man exploits alone I followed, wary of jumping back into Peter Parker’s world after having missed out on so much.  To see Miles take center stage in this movie was exciting!  But it wasn’t just Miles in the film.  My excitement to see his story unfold on the big screen was matched by my intrigue at seeing Gwen Stacy’s Spider-Woman.  I wasn’t halfway through my first viewing of the film before I knew I had to start reading Spider-Gwen for myself.

Spider-Man’s Modern-Day Frankenstein Tale – “Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy”

Alright, originally I intended this as a Halloween post.  I was going to finally read “Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy” and write about it, analyzing how Dan Slott expands the premise of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in a modern setting.  However, life and work got in the way and I just got around to finishing reading it the other day.  I contemplated saving it for next year but I’m impatient and it’s more fun to keep the spookiness alive anyway.  When I finally jumped into Dan Slott’s world of Spider-Man tales, I avoided this storyline.  I’d heard conflicting reports about it and wasn’t ready for something with that sort of “baggage” as I was meeting his Spidey for the first time.  What I found upon finally reading it was a haunting tale that left me more emotionally shaken than I could have expected.

Miles + Gwen = One CLASSIC Team-Up!

For Lent this year I’ve given up making sassy/snarky comments while driving.  I’m a pretty positive guy…but I can be an impatient driver.  Now, when I feel I’m about to say something in that vein, I offer a prayer for the other driver instead.  It’s a prayerful effort to cultivate loving-kindness in my own thoughts and deeds and put more positive energy out into the world.  In that spirit, I can be cranky about needless crossovers (*cough* Civil War II *cough*) so I wanted to write about the recent six-part “Sitting In A Tree” crossover between Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen.  I really enjoyed it!  In addition to showcasing two amazing spider-people, it reminded me how much fun a good, old fashioned team-up can be.  For all my complaining (which I stand behind!) about crossovers forged in the service of Mammon, I’m giving a little love to one that was worth the cover price of admission.