Ghost-Spider #3 // Review
Gwen Stacy has begun to settle into college life. Naturally, she’s going to be a bit busy. She might find her way between the panels to head off to class and study and such. Writer Seanan McGuire takes the opportunity to move some of the focus over to her antagonists in the third issue of Ghost-Spider. Takeshi Miyazawa captures the distinct culture of university life in the Marvel Universe’s New York with a clever eye for drama in an issue colored by Ian Herring. McGuire’s broader plans for Gwen get pulled a bit more into focus in another thoroughly satisfying issue.
Gwen has made a friend. (Sort of.) She and Benji Jones are both exchange students, so they’ve got that in common. Benji’s from Australia. Gwen’s from a different dimension. Gwen’s taking classes far from home to allow her to focus in anonymity. Benji’s involved in extracurriculars. Which include spying on Gwen for a mysterious professor who is known by some as The Jackal. There’s the possibility of great power if Benji does her job well (a shiny green vile of power in fact). Still, there’s also the responsibility of doing so without knowing WHY she’s being asked to violate the trust of a new friend.
McGuire’s characteristic wit is launched in the direction of mystery as Gwen and Benji are brought into a collision that is ultimately brought together in action and conflict between Ghost-Spider and an antagonist in the mold of traditional spider-villains. McGuire isn’t reinventing anything here. Ghost-Spider’s adventures both in and out of the mask are cleverly patterned after the stories that Ditko's Spider-Man in the 1960s. The delicate mix of personal life-versus-life behind the mask is brought to the page with a deep respect for the very unique personality of Gwen Stacy. It’s nothing new, but McGuire makes it feel fresh as Gwen’s personality is so very engaging.
Miyazawa is given the unenviable task of opening the issue in casual college mode. The superhero milieu doesn’t settle-in until well into the chapter. Miyazawa provides the college with campus drama a respectably nuanced impression on the page. It’s all so very, very normal-looking. Still, there’s suggestion of the Marvel Universe in and around the corners of the panels to give the impression that this campus exists in Marvel Manhattan. It’s a subtle impression of the fantastic that gradually overcomes the issue when Gwen dons the mask, and the Ghost-Spider end of the story begins to materialize.
The danger now rests on both sides of the dimensional commute for Gwen. She’s got problems back home. She’s got problems at college. She’s got problems in and out of the mask. Peter Parker rarely had to deal with this sort of thing when he was in college. It’s very reassuring to see Gwen so effectively juggling everything that McGuire is throwing at her.
