Writer: Christopher Hastings; Artist: Myisha Haynes; Letterer: VC's Clayton Clowes; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Editor: Heather Antos; Supervising Editor: Jordan D. White; Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso; Cover Artist: Paulina Ganucheau
Gwenpool and Hawkeye are told a story of Asgardian dwarves and a gem they carved hundreds of years ago that could allow a soul to possess another being's body. The museum curator telling them the story asks if Hawkeye has been able to recover the meteor stolen from their exhibit, and Hawkeye tells her that the dwarves have used the ore to carve another gem. Gwen says that the gem, and her ghost friend Cecil who is trapped inside it, is locked in the Ghost Rider's trunk, but then realizes that since she read the comics she knows Ghost Rider's identity and where he goes to high school. They are unaware that another dwarf, working as a janitor in the museum, overhears their conversation.
At the school, specifically inside Ghost Rider's trunk, Cecil the ghost is speaking with Eli Morrow, the evil spirit that powers the car. Eli attempts to convince Cecil that he needs to possess Gwen's body in order to achieve vengeance, but Gwen arrives with a blindfolded Hawkeye and grabs the gem from the car. Robbie Reyes sees what's going on from a window and runs outside, just as a truck full of dwarves drive by and grab the gem from Gwen before speeding off. Robbie transforms into Ghost Rider and is convinced by Gwen to team up with her and Hawkeye to save Cecil. This leads to a chase through the city that ends at the docks, where the dwarves are preparing the ritual to place one of them inside the gem. To stop the heroes, they release the vessel they had chosen to possess, a giant purple monster hidden inside a crate at the dock. Cecil convinces Gwen to place the gem on the monster, allowing Cecil to take over its body and chase away the dwarves. Cecil is happy to have a body again, and he tells Ghost Rider that the spirit inside his car is "pretty friggin' evil, dude." Robbie agrees and drives away, leaving Gwen and Hawkeye to clean up the mess.
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| Huh, that's pretty clever, Gwen. |
THE ROADMAP
Robbie Reyes makes his next appearance in Marvel Legacy (2017) # 1.
CHAIN REACTION
Robbie Reyes' guest spot in The Unbelievable Gwenpool wraps up, and not a moment too soon.
I'm afraid that any goodwill that I had for this series after reading the last issue was all used up just a couple of pages into this one. There's really very little that's redeemable or even entertaining about this comic, and it boggles my mind that something like this passed the editorial quality control at Marvel. Don't misunderstand, I think Gwenpool as a concept is actually pretty clever, and the first part of this story in the previous issue had its moments. This one, though, is a fucking mess.
The story involving the dwarves from Asgard and their magical body-swapping meteorite is nearly incomprehensible and full of holes big enough to drive the Hell-Charger through. The dwarves mined this magical gem and gave it to a mortal Viking for reasons unknown, and were then imprisoned before they could use it themselves, right? They're big plan, which took them centuries to finally realize, was to put one of them into the body of a big purple Pekingese dog looking monster...why, exactly? The dwarves were willing to steal and murder to accomplish this, but at no point was there a reason given for any of it. With all of the flashbacks and obtuse storytelling techniques, I guess an explanation of the villains' goals was too much to include.
Gwenpool herself, who was a little bit charming in the previous issue, just comes off as annoying here. She accomplishes her goal of bringing her ghost friend back to life, sure, but as an ugly purple monster? Hawkeye and Ghost Rider appear in this story as afterthoughts, with their in-story reasons for being involved tossed in as unimportant details. None of the comedy that was there in part 1, like the dwarf calling the cops to report the heroes crashing their ritual, was present in this one. It's all grating and irritating halfhearted attempts at being funny, but none of the jokes actually land. Ghost Rider's characterization is at least handled decently, and the bit with Eli attempting to corrupt Cecil was the most interesting part of the comic.
All of these problems could have been given a pass, though, if the artwork had been able to sell either the action or the comedy in the script. Unfortunately, Myisha Haynes turns out some of the worst artwork I've seen in a Marvel comic in ages. The characters all look horrendously cartoonish, and even more problematic it all looks very amateurish. There's no sense of depth to the panels, the characters look like stickers that have been stuck randomly on the page with no real relation to one another. Ghost Rider, who at least looked decently on-model in the previous issue, clashes terribly with everything else that's going on here.
I've read this comic a couple of times now, between reviewing it for the podcast and now the blog, and I dislike it more and more each time. Gwenpool has a concept that I'm sure is able to carry the series most of the time, but this issue is a big fat facepalm of a comic book. Absolutely avoid it.
I'm afraid that any goodwill that I had for this series after reading the last issue was all used up just a couple of pages into this one. There's really very little that's redeemable or even entertaining about this comic, and it boggles my mind that something like this passed the editorial quality control at Marvel. Don't misunderstand, I think Gwenpool as a concept is actually pretty clever, and the first part of this story in the previous issue had its moments. This one, though, is a fucking mess.
The story involving the dwarves from Asgard and their magical body-swapping meteorite is nearly incomprehensible and full of holes big enough to drive the Hell-Charger through. The dwarves mined this magical gem and gave it to a mortal Viking for reasons unknown, and were then imprisoned before they could use it themselves, right? They're big plan, which took them centuries to finally realize, was to put one of them into the body of a big purple Pekingese dog looking monster...why, exactly? The dwarves were willing to steal and murder to accomplish this, but at no point was there a reason given for any of it. With all of the flashbacks and obtuse storytelling techniques, I guess an explanation of the villains' goals was too much to include.
Gwenpool herself, who was a little bit charming in the previous issue, just comes off as annoying here. She accomplishes her goal of bringing her ghost friend back to life, sure, but as an ugly purple monster? Hawkeye and Ghost Rider appear in this story as afterthoughts, with their in-story reasons for being involved tossed in as unimportant details. None of the comedy that was there in part 1, like the dwarf calling the cops to report the heroes crashing their ritual, was present in this one. It's all grating and irritating halfhearted attempts at being funny, but none of the jokes actually land. Ghost Rider's characterization is at least handled decently, and the bit with Eli attempting to corrupt Cecil was the most interesting part of the comic.
All of these problems could have been given a pass, though, if the artwork had been able to sell either the action or the comedy in the script. Unfortunately, Myisha Haynes turns out some of the worst artwork I've seen in a Marvel comic in ages. The characters all look horrendously cartoonish, and even more problematic it all looks very amateurish. There's no sense of depth to the panels, the characters look like stickers that have been stuck randomly on the page with no real relation to one another. Ghost Rider, who at least looked decently on-model in the previous issue, clashes terribly with everything else that's going on here.
I've read this comic a couple of times now, between reviewing it for the podcast and now the blog, and I dislike it more and more each time. Gwenpool has a concept that I'm sure is able to carry the series most of the time, but this issue is a big fat facepalm of a comic book. Absolutely avoid it.
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| That's all we ask of you, Mr. Reyes. |
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