Spider-Gwen #4

Writer – Jaston Latour
Artist – Robbi Rodriguez
Colorus – Rico Renzi

After the death of Peter Parker, Gwen, or more accurately Spider-Woman, was blamed for it and ever since she has carried the guilt of it with her. After the last few issues of having to confront her father, trying to balance her personal life with that of being Spider-Woman and trying to avoid getting killed by either the Vulture, the cops or somebody else, Gwen gets a little downtime. This issue sees Gwen have a little chat with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and though they are not really her aunt or uncle they are as close to the real thing as can be. The conversation with Aunt May is a revealing one as she tells Gwen in no small way that she does not feel as if Spider-Woman is to blame for Peter’s death and that the press is painting her as something she is not. Jason Latour has been doing a great job with the book and Gwen has become one of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel Universe at the moment, or at least alternate universe that is. This was a good character-building issue and we get to see a little bit into how Gwen feels, of how she is having a hard time in letting go of Peter and that she might not ever be able to for without Peter and what happened to him, she might not be the hero that she is today. She does get a bit of peace of mind thanks to May Parker and that leads into the end of the book where she finally reunites with her friends and with the band and finally gets a bit of happiness after a few issues of trouble and turmoil. Things are not all sunshine and roses though as somebody makes a return to the book and the man means business which in the long run, is not going to be a good thing for our heroine. If you have not realized already, Spider-Gwen has great writing, great art and great everything and is definitely worth your hard-earned money.

4 out of 5

Descender #3

Writer – Jeff Lemire
Artist – Dustin Nguyen

After the events of last issue, Tim-21 is dying, or at least whatever it is that robots do when they go offline. As he starts fading from this reality, his being takes a journey where he discovers the souls of every other lost robot to which they ask for his help. Luckily Doctor Quan arrives and after going through the Driller robot with some help from the crew, he manages to bring Tim-21 back which leads into a bigger mystery for the book. Jeff Lemire along with his partner in crime Dustin Nguyen have been crafting a modern science-fiction epic and while it might only be a few issues in, it has been nothing short of excellent. The characters are realized perfectly on the page by Nguyen and Lemire has been bringing them to life with his solid story and deft dialogue. With shades of I, Robot, the book has been exploring who and what robots are, at first very sparingly until now where Lemire is suggesting that they have a soul or at least something unquantifiable. Certainly there is something going on with Tim-21 and if that means that he has a soul or if it is something else completely still remains to be seen, but it will be very interesting to find out. As much as this book has become about Tim-21, it is still very much about Doctor Quan as well as he is essentially, the father of robotics in this universe. His story has been touched upon but there is obviously more to be revealed and just how it all ties into what is going on with the Harvesters and with Tim-21 is another road that Lemire and Nguyen mean for us to travel. As it is, the book is a must-read and the further you make it in to the series, the more you want to keep going.

4.5 out of 5