Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Jodi Nishijima
Colorist: Juan Fernandez
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 15, 2022
Reviewer: Lukke Sweet
Gwen Stacy is fighting with herself about what to do. A common struggle turned literal as she argues about how to fix the timeline with four copies of herself. Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3 by Tim Seeley picks up with the Gwens having escaped the 1950s with two new additions and rejoin Spider-Zero outside of time. As they try to figure out what’s going on, who Finale is, and why they are hunting the Gwens, they find an anomaly in 1983, which is, of course, another Gwen: Iron Gwen.
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The Story
Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3 finally starts to show off how the actions of Finale and the Gwens are affecting Earth-65. Issue two took place in the 1950s where readers were introduced to Howard Stark and Norman Osborn as children witnessing the battle between the Gwens and Finale’s goons. Seeley pulls the Gwens into 1983 where they find themselves watching a demonstration for OSS – Tech, a.k.a. Osborn-Stark-Stacy Technology. Toni Stacy, Howard’s adopted daughter, is introduced as the newest Gwen on the block, as she wears the Iron G.W.E.N. suit.
With each new Gwen, Seeley strips out another aspect of Gwen Stacy’s character, this time her intelligence and nerdy side. It has been a fascinating deep dive into Gwen’s character and what makes her tick. Seeley’s handling of creating the different Gwen Personas is very reminiscent of psychotherapy techniques based off of the Internal Family Systems Model which is a framework where people are made up of multiple subpersonalities that have their own viewpoints and opinions, all led by the Self. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Main-Gwen as the Gwens learn to communicate and work together.
The Art
Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3 had a small shake-up on the art team as Juan Fernandez replaced Federico Blee as the colorist. Fernandez steps in and handles the colors extremely well and managed to bring the same depth and tone to the story through the chosen color palette.
Meanwhile, Jodi Nishijimi remains strong as the artist in this book. Each panel is beautifully drawn and creates the perfect setting for the story as it jumps throughout the timeline.
Final Thoughts
Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #3 by Tim Seeley is a great center issue for this mini-series. Seeley has started to answer questions about the Big Bad of the series, Finale, as well as showing how the Gwens are starting to influence and change the timeline of Earth-65. Nishijima and Fernandez make a spectacular art team as they bring this book to life in every panel through spot-on pencils and colors. Overall, this is a solid midpoint for the series and paves the way for a great conclusion.