Gwenpool Strikes Back #2: Sex Sells?

The whole point of Gwen’s using her fourth-wall breaking powers to get her and Deadpool into the Fantastic Four’s basement is to get Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson something eye-catching to put on the cover, and they don’t disappoint. They catch all the emotions, from Sue’s outrage and Reeds confusion to Johnny’s smirk. The interior art by David Baldeon and colors by Aburtov does a similar job getting the nuance of emotion across, leading me to believe Gwen looking downright deranged at times is intentional.

Leah Williams provides an in your face humor that, for me, seems at times a bit much and off the mark, but leaves me feeling like that is the point (more on that later). These jokes range from surface jokes like Gwenpool sitting on the readers face and Mr. Fantastic wondering if trapping the two Pools inside of him is what it feels like to be pregnant to self-reflective addressing of Marvel’s never/barely aging characters and the inevitable writer trying to pair Deadpool and Gwenpool romantically.

Williams handles Deadpool the way I love to see him, equal parts chaos and heart, providing a voice of reason to Gwenpool’s plot but still pulling out his big guns when he realizes Gwen has been messing with his “special boy” (Spider-Man, last issue). Most importantly she writes the title character in way that makes me, a newbie to the world of Gwenpool, intrigued enough to consider grabbing some of her old series in trade.