All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider #2 – The Core’s Gone Ghost

All-New Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #2 opens strong and finishes with a tense cliffhanger that, if caught out of context, would leave you thinking the character was entering a tale as emotionally dark and effective as some of Marvel’s best. However, a lack of real meat or dependable cohesion between the script and art team has left this story hollow at the core. Phillips’ continues to write Gwen with an emotional susceptibility she never quite used to fall victim to, and makes no attempt to explore the psychological complexity of where she’s at in life after a series of morally questionable mistakes that have led her to this point. It’s the kind of emo edge dulled by the lack of more thoughtful scripting.

That being said, there is still something tangibly delicious about its vapid attempt to tell a story bathed in shadow. The intertwining level of character drama here is promising. With her closest friend on her deathbed and a monster on the loose, Gwen is now faced with a relationship moving faster than she can handle, as tragedy forces a sudden meeting between her father and Fabian. The two form a dynamic that is immediately charming and layered, showcasing both the best and worst of their characters. It’s a level of three-dimensional connection I wish we got more of with Gwen and her relationships thus far, but the story moves at such a quick clip that any conflict has to be swept under the rug immediately, without being given the room to fester.

The art team, while seemingly out of touch with what Phillips is leaving out of dialogue that could help elevate this book, has a level of style that oozes off the page with fluidity. Their perspective work is top-notch and their layouts seamless, even if the panels themselves tend to get busy with an excess of scratchy linework. There is an excellent pace to the developments of this issue that keeps you locked in, flipping pages as the overarching plot leaves you temporarily invested in Tantrum’s motivations. The only downside to this is that the page space that could’ve been devoted to building the pathos behind the book’s core conflict is replaced by the action.