Comic Review: Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019-) #3

Gwenpool Strikes Back (2019-) #3

Marvel Comics

Writer: Leah Williams

Artist: David Baldeon

The quest for relevance continues! Everyone’s favorite character in comics, Gwenpool, is trying to stay relevant to stay alive. So far she’s tried gaining spider-powers from Spider-Man, but that didn’t work. Then she broke into the home of the Fantastic Four to get real “friendly” with them, and by “friendly” I mean sex. Only to sell more issues of course. But that didn’t go according to plan either. So with two plans out the window, what’s next for Gwenpool?

Gwenpool Strikes Back #3 takes us to an island full of superheroes. Rather than a special swimsuit issue though, the heroes are there to fight each other in a battle royale. The orchestrator behind it all being Gwenpool of course.

I like this issue, I really do. I think the whole “I need to stay relevant and sell issues” is definitely a concept that fits Gwenpool. But if I can let my fanboy side take over for a second, the way this comic goes isn’t Gwenpool. Here she realizes that her comics sell better if she’s “bad” so she plans to fight the heroes. But the last arc of her solo series is all about her rejecting being “bad” regardless of if it’ll keep her around or not. It’s a little out of character for me, along with some of the dialogue from Gwenpool. 

On the other hand, I still really enjoy the art of David Baldeon. There’s a lot of energy to his work, especially in the few panels that have some action in the. We also see a lot of emotion and facial expressions of the characters. Mostly on Gwenpool, but the other heroes in this one as well. And when we see Gwen break the fourth wall and jump through panels, there’s usually some fun panels that play with the perspective. The coloring from Jesus Aburtov also really makes everything bright and “pop” in a way. Plus, this is an issue full of heroes in swimsuits, and it adds to the fun of it all.

I think, for the most part, Leah Williams gets the voice of Gwenpool right. But there are some parts that don’t fit at all. “LOL. Bish. Shut up.” is a line straight from this issue, and it doesn’t feel in character. Granted, Gwenpool is a teenage girl, and maybe that’s how they talk, but it’s something that threw me off a little. I still really like the idea of this miniseries though. Gwenpool is one of my favorite characters, and the idea for the story fits. Some of the execution isn’t landing for me, I guess. The art is good, that’s been consistent across these three issues so far. I still think people should read this issue, if only because who knows when we’ll get to see Marvel make another swimsuit special.