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Wednesday 18 April 2018

The Unbelievable Gwenpool, Volume 5: Lost in the Plot Review (Christopher Hastings, Gurihiru)


The Unbelievable Gwenpool has been one of my favourite Marvel titles of the last couple years. It’s an original, playful, imaginative, creative, and really fun read - essentially an anomaly for superhero comics! So it’s disappointing that the final book is crap.

Gwen decides to prove her worth as a hero by using her meta comic book powers to defeat Doom once and for all, then decides to be a villain by robbing a sky casino with Batroc, and then it’s over in a jumbled mess of forgettable gubbinz. Hmm. 

It’s probably for the best that the series got wrapped up as it doesn’t seem like writer Christopher Hastings really knew where to take it after the novel meta hi-jinks of the last book. Neither the Doom or the heist storylines were at all interesting. And I absolutely hate the post-Secret Wars Doom who’s trying to be a good guy - he’s the best villain, let him be the baddie we love to hate instead of some lame contrived hero! 

What I don’t understand is why Gwen’s all hung up on her series ending. She’s a Marvel fan so how can she not be aware of the reboots and relaunches that Marvel constantly do? Sure, this run is ending, but she’ll be back again sooner or later, including her co-stars, either in a new series or as part of a team book or whatever. Just seemed like a weird moment of inconsistency in the character’s self-awareness. 

I liked a couple of scenes where Gwen uses her meta-powers to escape Doom’s cell and helps Batroc break into a safe which were clever, and Gurihiru’s art on the last couple issues was top-notch. Generally though I found Lost in the Plot to be a very weak and boring finale to an otherwise quality series. Oh well - until next time Gwen, you daffy lady!

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