It looms large in the story of all Gwens Stacy.  But, even with the help of a Venom symbiote, can Gwen Stacy survive… The Brooklyn Bridge?  Your Major Spoilers review of Spider-Gwen #31 awaits!

SPIDER-GWEN #31

Writer: Jason Latour
Artist: Robbi Rodriguez
Colorist: Rico Renzi
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Devin Lewis
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 25, 2018

Previously in Spider-Gwen: “Gwen’s on a one-way road into darkness.  If anyone can help her find her way back into the light…  It’s.  GWEN.  STACY.  But is the universe trying to save her, or does fate only hold one end for Gwen?

TRULY UNNERVING

Okay, so here’s the deal: The Gwen Stacy from a future of Earth-617 has traveled to Earth-65 where Spider-Gwen lives, somehow bringing Gwen’s future children with her.  In so doing, she has caught the attention of a pair of Watchers who are afraid her machinations might break the universe.  As for the actual Earth-65 Spider-Woman, she’s been saddled with both the alien symbiote called Venom and her alternate self (one who bears a strong resemblance to the Earth-616 Gwen, who fell from a bridge all those years ago.)  The Gwens head to Avengers Mansion on Earth-617 to confer with Tony Stark and Hank Pym about the “thin places” in the multiverse that allow for interdimensional travel.  Stark helps them to find one such place right in New York City:  A spot under the Brooklyn Bridge.  A spot that one would have to be traveling at high speed to pass through…  While future Gwen tries to convince the Watchers that changing the universe may not be a bad thing for the doomed Gwens of the worlds, Spider-Woman has to make a leap of faith.

“NO ONE HAD EVER JUMPED.”

I gotta say, this is a really weird issue, in all the right ways.  It’s weird to think about a multiversal coalition of doomed Gwens, but even weirder to realize that so many of them have the same tragic fate.  When Spider-Gwen makes it home and offers J. Jonah Jameson the story of his lifetime, it’s unclear if she is finally escaping her own tragedy or finally setting it in motion.  Adding to the tension is the art of Robbi Rodriguez, moody and full of piercing gazes (like this issue’s cover, which is still unnerving as hell) and helping to sell the idea that the symbiotes are living creatures much better than Ron Frenz did back in the day.  With this series winding down to what may be an ending (reports vary), it’s clear that LaTour is going out big, and I for one am happy to see Gwen getting an ending.  I’m not sure about how I feel about the whole “Council Of Stacys” part, but it’s one of those concepts of which the proof will be in how the story turns out…

BOTTOM LINE: I LIKE THIS ONE

Using the bridge as this issue does is a really resonant character moment for old-school nerds, and whatever is going one with Gwen is clearly going to be a big climactic moment.  Still, Spider-Gwen #31 makes me hope that it’s not the end and that rumors of her return with a new name are true, thanks to the strength of art and story, earning 4 out of 5 stars overall.  After all, Ghost Spider is a pretty cool name, right?

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