Spider-Gwen Returns With New First Issue And Variant Covers

Fanghawk

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Spider-Gwen Returns With New First Issue And Variant Covers

Marvel Comics' Spider-Gwen returns in October with a new first issue and even more variant covers.

It's been firmly established by this point that fans can't get enough of Spider-Gwen. After being introduced <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/138097-Marvel-Announces-Spider-Gwen-for-February-2015>as a minor character in 2014's Spider-Verse event, she exploded in popularity, got <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>her own spin-off book, and was <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-cosplay-closet/57405-Spider-Gwen-Superheroine-Cosplay-In-Your-Everyday-Wardrobe>quickly embraced by the cosplay community. Not even the universal upheaval of Secret Wars can keep her down: Once the dust settles in October, Spider-Gwen will return with a new first issue and full suite of variant covers.

In case you've completely missed Spider-Gwen's origin, here's a quick recap - she hails from a parallel universe where Gwen Stacey was bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker. The new first issue returns Gwen to her home Earth, where she'll have a host of threats to deal with - like Matt Murdock, Kingpin of Crime. Or Frank Castle, Captain of the NYPD. On top of that, Gwen has to find the scientist who recreated Parker's Lizard formula, and runs into Harry and Normal Osborn along the way. But I'm sure that will turn out just fine.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>Just like before, Spider-Gwen is rolling out a ton of variant covers to celebrate the new first issue. Outside of the obligatory-but-always-adorable Skottie Young cover, there's a Jack Kirby-styled Monster variant, Hip Hop-inspired art, and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142068-Marvel-Comics-Will-Put-Cosplay-Artists-On-Variant-Covers#&gid=gallery_4571&pid=1>the cosplay cover revealed last month. Batman: The Animated Series fans will even notice a Bruce Timm Spider-Gwen cover.

Why do we even do standard covers for these books anymore? Artists clearly want to run wild with it. You can see for yourself when Spider-Gwen's new first issue arrives on Oct. 14, 2015.

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kenu12345

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Pretty cool, but why does she have that stupid as fak hoodie ?.? Makes absolutely zero sense
 

anthony87

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So like....does she actually refer to herself as Spider-Gwen?

Seems like a bad way to keep your identity secret if so.
 

RoBi3.0

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She is referred to as Spider-woman in the comics. Since there is already a comic series called spider woman using that title for her comic would be a terrible way to make this new book unique and to keep from confusing people.

Also the hood is cool looking. Costumes rarely make functional sense anyway.
 

Nazrel

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anthony87 said:
So like....does she actually refer to herself as Spider-Gwen?

Seems like a bad way to keep your identity secret if so.
She calls herself spider woman, the branding is Spider Gwen.
 

Jake Martinez

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How is this character Gwen Stacy other than in name? The only thing that seems remotely interesting about this book so far is that they are going the "What if?" route by making Daredevil into the Kingpin and Parker into the Lizard and the Punisher into the police chief. Personally I think the Parker as Lizard thing might work, but the other two... well, whatever I guess.

This really seems like it should be a limited series or something, like 6 or 12 issues with a definitive end to a story arc that explores the alternate world. I'm just not that interested in the main character...
 

votemarvel

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Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.

I'm a big alternate universe fan but I can't help but feel Marvel wanted her to be popular, yet haven't reeally given a reason for that other than she is Gwen Stacy.
 

Scarim Coral

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Why do I get a feeling at some point in the future, she will get a came in some Spider-man game or cartoon?
 

Jake Martinez

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votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.

I'm a big alternate universe fan but I can't help but feel Marvel wanted her to be popular, yet haven't reeally given a reason for that other than she is Gwen Stacy.
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets. Last month it was outsold by Silk, a character who was introduced by Dan Slott as more or less as a busty asian onahole for Peter Parker (some wish fulfillment there Danny-boy?? HMM???)

My personal feelings on this is that there is some degree of pandering on behalf of publishers to create stories/characters that will get them press at various news outlets and hopefully drive sales/orders. I certainly don't feel like they are focusing on GOOD characters and stories...
 

Nazrel

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Jake Martinez said:
votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.

I'm a big alternate universe fan but I can't help but feel Marvel wanted her to be popular, yet haven't reeally given a reason for that other than she is Gwen Stacy.
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets. Last month it was outsold by Silk, a character who was introduced by Dan Slott as more or less as a busty asian onahole for Peter Parker (some wish fulfillment there Danny-boy?? HMM???)

My personal feelings on this is that there is some degree of pandering on behalf of publishers to create stories/characters that will get them press at various news outlets and hopefully drive sales/orders. I certainly don't feel like they are focusing on GOOD characters and stories...
Ms. Marvel tends to rank in the top 10 in digital sales, and the volume 1 Ms. Marvel Trade paperback remains in the top 100 best sellers on Amazon.ca and is the highest ranked of all the marvel trade paperbacks on that list.

The sale of individual issues is no longer a valid metric for the measurement of the success of a comic.
 

Jake Martinez

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Nazrel said:
Jake Martinez said:
votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.

I'm a big alternate universe fan but I can't help but feel Marvel wanted her to be popular, yet haven't reeally given a reason for that other than she is Gwen Stacy.
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets. Last month it was outsold by Silk, a character who was introduced by Dan Slott as more or less as a busty asian onahole for Peter Parker (some wish fulfillment there Danny-boy?? HMM???)

My personal feelings on this is that there is some degree of pandering on behalf of publishers to create stories/characters that will get them press at various news outlets and hopefully drive sales/orders. I certainly don't feel like they are focusing on GOOD characters and stories...
Ms. Marvel tends to rank in the top 10 in digital sales, and the volume 1 Ms. Marvel Trade paperback remains in the top 100 best sellers on Amazon.ca and is the highest ranked of all the marvel trade paperbacks on that list.

The sale of individual issues is no longer a valid metric for the measurement of the success of a comic.
Yeah no, retail issue sales are still higher than digital by far and even if they weren't, it'd still be an indicator of relative popularity unless you want to pretend that people who buy Ms. Marvel ONLY BUY IT ONLINE. Not every comic book is purchasable online as well, so top 10 there doesn't mean as much since some titles (most of them actually) will be missing from digital distribution.

I dunno, I'm not saying it's a bad book, or that it's not selling. I'm just saying that it gets a lot of press but sells about average... and less than some stuff that is objectively garbage. Take that for what you will.
 

Something Amyss

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kenu12345 said:
Pretty cool, but why does she have that stupid as fak hoodie ?.? Makes absolutely zero sense
Honestly, it looks cool, so I'm a fan.

anthony87 said:
So like....does she actually refer to herself as Spider-Gwen?

Seems like a bad way to keep your identity secret if so.
I dunno, I bet in New York there are a lot of Gwens.

>.>

Spider-Gwen was likely just a way to distinguish her from the other 35 characters named Spider-Woman, though.
 

Zelderahn

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The design of this character alone is what drove me to check who it was, and put down money to finally subscribe to a comic for the first time in more than a decade.

This particular blend of elseworld 'what-if' storyline hits me very profoundly, and with the lively/colorful art style of the comic runners.. let's just say I've been waiting for Secret wars to end so I can get back to this, bloody road-block events.

The fact that it sold well enough to warrant a continuation of this particular reality makes me so darn happy.
 

Fanghawk

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votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.
Jake Martinez said:
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets.
It's popular enough to have a second first issue <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>on the exact same year as the first and roll out even more variant covers. It's unlikely Marvel would dump so many resources into this if it wasn't earning (a) lots of money or (b) lots of goodwill.

Plus her appearance issue from Edge of Spider-Verse sold out, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>so there's that.

"It's a rare character that gets the public outcry that Spider-Gwen got," Senior Editor Nick Lowe said back in October. "From the sell-out of Gwen's first appearance to the groundswell on Twitter we're excited to bring more Spider-Gwen into the world with the creators who started it all!"
 

kenu12345

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Something Amyss said:
kenu12345 said:
Pretty cool, but why does she have that stupid as fak hoodie ?.? Makes absolutely zero sense
Honestly, it looks cool, so I'm a fan.

anthony87 said:
So like....does she actually refer to herself as Spider-Gwen?

Seems like a bad way to keep your identity secret if so.
I dunno, I bet in New York there are a lot of Gwens.

>.>

Spider-Gwen was likely just a way to distinguish her from the other 35 characters named Spider-Woman, though.
I don't know, maybe the less practicality makes it less cool with me. I am just imagining her doing acrobatics and that hoodie gets caught on a lamp post
 

Nazrel

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Jake Martinez said:
Nazrel said:
Jake Martinez said:
votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.

I'm a big alternate universe fan but I can't help but feel Marvel wanted her to be popular, yet haven't reeally given a reason for that other than she is Gwen Stacy.
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets. Last month it was outsold by Silk, a character who was introduced by Dan Slott as more or less as a busty asian onahole for Peter Parker (some wish fulfillment there Danny-boy?? HMM???)

My personal feelings on this is that there is some degree of pandering on behalf of publishers to create stories/characters that will get them press at various news outlets and hopefully drive sales/orders. I certainly don't feel like they are focusing on GOOD characters and stories...
Ms. Marvel tends to rank in the top 10 in digital sales, and the volume 1 Ms. Marvel Trade paperback remains in the top 100 best sellers on Amazon.ca and is the highest ranked of all the marvel trade paperbacks on that list.

The sale of individual issues is no longer a valid metric for the measurement of the success of a comic.
Yeah no, retail issue sales are still higher than digital by far and even if they weren't, it'd still be an indicator of relative popularity unless you want to pretend that people who buy Ms. Marvel ONLY BUY IT ONLINE. Not every comic book is purchasable online as well, so top 10 there doesn't mean as much since some titles (most of them actually) will be missing from digital distribution.

I dunno, I'm not saying it's a bad book, or that it's not selling. I'm just saying that it gets a lot of press but sells about average... and less than some stuff that is objectively garbage. Take that for what you will.
You've ignored the whole trade paperback part of the argument. Comichron has it's Vol 1 sales debuting at #1 last October and it hadn't fallen below #50 since, (well August has the paperback at 74 but the hardcover's at 44).

Though Comichron reports the wholesale sales of comics which does not necessarily reflect the retail sales of the book. (I'm not sure if they even report the direct physical subscriptions from marvel.)

Also the majority of marvel books new releases are immediately available as digital comics, they have a contract with Comixology.

It's not that I love Ms. Marvel, I think it's just an okay book; it's that I think your basis for evaluation is flawed.

Ms. Marvel is one of the ones they're aiming for new readers who may not subscribe to the anachronistic notion of buying a long box, picking up back boards, and then going to the tedious effort picking an insubstantial 20 pages each month at a comic store, of a flimsy comic you need back boards for, when they can A. Buy a more substantive and sturdy book they can just put on their shelf, that's readily available at their average book store or amazon, or B. Cheaply and conveniently acquire digital issues.
 

Jake Martinez

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Nazrel said:
It's not that I love Ms. Marvel, I think it's just an okay book; it's that I think your basis for evaluation is flawed.
I don't see how you can say that at all. If you look at the retail orders, it stands to reason that they would be ordered in terms of popularity from MOST POPULAR to LEAST POPULAR. Ms. Marvel falls in the bottom middle of that list every single month.

This has got to be the most objective way of determining a characters popularity. Nothing you've provided really runs counter to anything I've said. Just because a trade paperback sells well only means that there were a lot of people who wanted to buy the trade paperback, it has nothing to do with how popular the material is relative to other titles since not every title would have had a trade paperback released at the same time.

Surely this should be common sense, right?
 

Jake Martinez

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Fanghawk said:
votemarvel said:
Is she a massive fan favourite though? The only people I see starting discussions about her are Marvel and news outlets.
Jake Martinez said:
Hey, I wonder about this stuff all the time as well. Supposedly Ms.Marvel is a huge fan favorite too, but her books consistently sell towards the bottom of the "middle of the rung". Which is amazing considering the huge amount of press the book gets.
It's popular enough to have a second first issue <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>on the exact same year as the first and roll out even more variant covers. It's unlikely Marvel would dump so many resources into this if it wasn't earning (a) lots of money or (b) lots of goodwill.

Plus her appearance issue from Edge of Spider-Verse sold out, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139707-Spider-Gwen-Gets-Spider-Powers-In-Marvel-Comics-Ongoing-Series#&gid=gallery_3775&pid=1>so there's that.

"It's a rare character that gets the public outcry that Spider-Gwen got," Senior Editor Nick Lowe said back in October. "From the sell-out of Gwen's first appearance to the groundswell on Twitter we're excited to bring more Spider-Gwen into the world with the creators who started it all!"

Isn't what you posted kind of the reason why we are dubious? A couple of issues selling out is interesting. Seeing how this actual book does will be more interesting.

A press release from Nick Lowe and coverage by the Escapist sort of makes us go, "Oh hey - that's interesting" but for different reasons. I realize it might be frustrating for some people, but many of us are highly skeptical about the nature of press releases and the press. They have this tendency to distort and lie you see...

To put it succinctly: Everything you linked more or less could be viewed as an advertisement. Wouldn't it stand to reason that with that much advertising, stuff MIGHT sell better. At least so long as it's still being advertised heavily.
 

RealRT

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Oh, hey, look, everybody's favorite Spider-Gwen! I sitll can't give less of a fuck about her!