So...looks like The Storm Siblings seem to be time displaced. Despite it being 4 years since they got kidnapped they assume they've only been gone for a day or two, which indicates that they either got shunted forward in time or were put in stasis shortly after President Doom got a hold of them. And of course the first thing Johnny worries about is that his followers must be so thirsty! Never change, Johnny. On the other hand Sue, as always, seems to be a bit more sensible and snaps at Johnny to focus on what matters and reacts with appropriate disbelief at the time gap.
Also, we get a glimpse on the background of the Storm Siblings and they're basically MCU Trish Walker with a bit more tragedy. Their dad was convicted of multiple murders and their mom, a physician, lost clout in her circles. So she started pimping out her kids on social media because she was so used to the 'lifestyle she was accustomed to'. She essentially turned her kids to (as the story refers to them) 'influencer gold' and they've become shallow enough that, right after their dad's trial, the first thing they do is take a selfie and tweet 'NO PAROLE FOR POPS!' while smiling. Yikes.
The last page has Gwen do a bike rescue then drop by the police station. And I will never get tired of just how casual the cops are to Gwen's presence now. One cop just greets her and asks if her dad is expecting her to drop in, so they're not even pretending that what she's doing is illegal now or that they shouldn't be so lax with her. They basically just roll with it. Guess being the daughter of a police captain really gives you more leeway.
On an artstyle note looks like the artist from last volume - Ig Guara - is sticking around for at least this issue. I actually kinda like this guy over Miyazawa. The characters seem 'fuller' here than they were in the past issues.
Art of Spider-Verse Gwen by Robbi Rodriguez:
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Ultimately that'll be up to the artists - but I don't think they will. Other media - the IDW comics, Marvel Rising - has gone with a different look, longer with pink ends. It's just as likely that they'd end up porting that look to the main version of Ghost-Spider.
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We’ll see but out of those 3 incarnations her itsv one seems to be the most popular to the wider audience. I find with what ever look they choose for her. I actually prefer her with longer hair and the pink highlights have grown on me but I do also like the look from itsv idk I’m kinda torn right now lol.
Read Ghost Spider 7:
spoilers:end of spoilers
Two things we get - first the Storms just teleported to Times Square with no explanation and second they most definitely do have powers. When Johnny spills scalding hot coffee on his wrist he has to pretend to be surprised, the paparazzis hassling the Storms are knocked away by an invisible force while Sue smirks cockily and, most damningly, when Gwen tries to save a woman in an alley being mugged a stream of fire shoots over the muggers and distracts them before Gwen actually shoots her web.
Gwen herself even knows it has something to do with Johnny Storm given her familiarity with the 616 Fantastic 4. This does indicate hint that at the very least Johnny has some heroism given that he saves a woman and doesn’t stick around to claim credit despite his juvenile personality and constant worries about his instagram influence. Either that or its one big fakeout and it was another firestarter or it was just a test run or something. Who knows, especially given the Ghost Spider 10 Outlawed cover.
Other characters like Mary Storm and the Maker show up for a new arc setup, so apparently we’re just ditching Jackal and Manwolf for now despite all that setup. Oh well, I won’t complain about more Earth-65 expansion. Maker’s planning something, though in a bit of an odd twist he says that this world’s Reed Richards isn’t dangerus but ‘you might be’ are while looking at a screen with Sue, Johnny and their mom. Winder which of them specifically he’s referring to?
And oh yeah, Mary Storm is basically MCU Dorothy Walker. First thing she does when her kids who’ve bene gone for half a decade come back? Leak their location to the paparazzi and then deflect when Sue asks her if she told them where they were. Note she does this all while saying she was SO worried about them and then trying to commiserate with George by saying that he’s the father of ‘that dreadful spider-girl’ and how her running around in spandex fighting crimes is so bad of her. Rich coming from the woman who pimped out her kids and turned them into social media whores.
Anyway Issue ends with Sue and Johnny planning their big comeback, likely something to do with their powers. Superpowered influences would probably be really valuable considering the lack of Gifted in this verse. If nothing else I totally wanna see Johnny mack it to Gwen. 50-50 shot she either doesn’t realize she’s being flirted with or she gets annoyed and huffy.
On a side note one quirk of Gwen’s character stuck out to me - when Gwen and her dad discuss the Storms’ reappearance Gwen says Sue was ‘her hero’, to which her dad rolls his eyes since Sue was just ‘someone who pictures of herself wearing clothes she didn’t pay for’. And he’s got a point. Given Gwen’s character its bizarre she says she admired a social media influencer who, from what we’ve seen, didn’t do anything like charity or raising awareness to gather such admiration.
It’s like when one issue of Spider-Man stated Peter had an active World of Warcraft account. You expect me to believe that the guy who can barely pay rent and has no free time is into monthly subscription grindfest MMO’s? They’re just throwaway lines but it doesn’t make much sense given what we know.
Regardless this issue, despite being modtly setup, is nice. Maguire seems to do better when she sticks to Earth-65 and isn’t writing Mary Jane. Here we have more expansion onto the lore of Gwen’s home dimension, which she sorely needs,
Last edited by eratas123; 02-19-2020 at 08:10 AM.
spoilers:end of spoilers
Something I found curious about the issue is that Maker wants to bring back Earth-1610/The Ultimate Universe, but technically that Earth, or at least a rebooted version of it*, has already returned as it appeared at the end of Spider-Men 2. Guess he doesn't know it's sort of back? Also, considering there's a good possibility Earth-65 Sue and Johnny Storm may not be on the side of the angels and may turn out to be bad guys (probably working for Earth-65 Doctor Doom if I had to guess), then if they join up with Maker we'll be one member short of a potentially evil version of the Fantastic Four.
* - I say rebooted Ultimate Universe because there's clearly some changes that happened to the Ultimate Universe when it returned. Ironheart is now in the Ultimates, Ultimate Jessica Drew is back to being Spider-Woman, the resurrected Peter Parker is back to being Spider-Man with Miles gone, etc. I'm guessing that might be a result of Ultimate End, and the Ultimate universe gaining traits/aspects from and merging a bit with the leftover of the original pre-2015!Secret Wars Earth-616.
^spoilers:end of spoilers
Ironheart is actually one of the few Champions that can be ported to the Ultimate Universe without major changes. All she needs is something to happen to Iron Man so that she can replace him. She's with the Ultimates because the Champs don't exist, because:
Miles, as you say, is gone, having moved to 616. That, by the way, is definitely why Peter returned as Spider-Man. He'd already been resurrected before Secret Wars.
Kamala's Ultimate counterpart is probably dead, as Galactus destroyed New Jersey in Cataclysm.
Amadeus's Ultimate counterpart doesn't have his powers.
Neither would Sam, the Nova Corps don't exist.
Vision was female and destroyed, so Viv can't exist.
Hank didn't have a previous wife before Janet, so Nadia can't exist.
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Sucks that there isn't a Spider-Gwen omnibus, I don't know much about her and that'd make it easier to jump in.