Comic Book Review - The Unbelievable Gwenpool vol. 1

Hello Enthusiasts,

With all of the serious material out there, be it TV shows, movies, games, or books, it can sometimes be nice to enjoy something for the laughs and lighthearted nature. It was with this attitude that I hopped into the first volume of The Unbelievable Gwenpool by Christopher Hastings. There will, of course, be spoilers below.

So, what could the story for this kind of title possibly be? Well, to start out, this Gwen is not that Gwen, a point that she does make in this comic. No, this Gwen is just someone who loves comics and has spent years of her life reading marvel titles. She is wildly familiar with a number of different characters, both the main ones and some of the unknown ones. But one day she gets sucked into a comic and becomes part of the marvel universe. She immediately realizes that she needs to get a costume, as standard folks are likely to get killed or held hostage in this universe. She soon decides that this must be her comic book, so she should be able to get out of most scenarios and survive most things, and decides to take on mercenary work from there. Along the way she needs to find a way to fit into this insane universe and fight off some of the worst beings in the marvel universe, all while making some friends too. It's actually a very clever premise that is well executed, something that I have come to expect from Christopher Hastings (for anyone who didn't read my glowing review of The adventures of Doctor McNinja, you can find that here).

The humor in this comic is almost always spot on, with Gwen getting herself into all kinds of trouble as she stumbles her way through her own comic. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me throughout the volume. The artwork is also very well done, capturing a variety of emotions from characters and really popping off the page. Gwen herself is also a very fleshed out character, despite spending so much time goofing off during the story. She obviously feels isolated and out of place sometimes, and knows that she is trying to get by in a world that is inhabited by supernatural beings. There are threats that she doesn't exactly take seriously because she sees so many heroes deal with them, only to find that it is much more difficult than it looks.

In terms of complaints, they are few and far between. I'm not crazy about the design of her costume, though it is serviceable for the story.  It also seems like more characters should believe her about what happened to her considering the world that they live in. It's fine to say that half the planet were actually Skrulls in Secret Invasion and that there are LITERAL GODS that live in Asgard and travel to Earth, but not that someone is from a different reality where their world is comics? I mean, they know that there is a multiverse. Again, some small things, but not too much to come down on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I think if you want a fun, goofy story, a tale of a misplaced comic book lover in the world of Marvel can be a perfect fit. There are imperfections, but they don't take enough away from this one to take away a solid recommend. I look forward to volume two, as well as reading Hastings' next project, Deadpool: Secret Agent Deadpool. 

I give the first volume of The Unbelievable Gwenpool an 8 out of 10.

Sincerely,

The Bored Enthusiast