There's a new girl in town and she's ready to do whatever the hell it is that she does. Gwen Poole (Gwenpool) is a new super heroine that was introduced earlier this year and to celebrate, I have put it upon myself to read issues #0-4 and will be posting my thoughts on each issue, starting with issue #0. During this article I will be discussing who exactly Gwenpool is, how I discovered this series, some minor thoughts about the plot, and more. This will also begin what I hope to be a great start to my career of posting here as a writer on Movie Plot. This is only to express my experience with this series and try to get others involved in following it.
Gwenpool is a story of a girl who's real name is Gwen Poole and was first introduced in the series Howard the Duck Vol 6 #1 (January 2016). Her story is about how she lived in the same universe as the reader, where she would spend most of her time reading comic books till one day she woke up in the MARVEL universe. At first she believes that just because she is in a comic book she can do whatever she wants with no consequences, that is until things start to get a little out of hand. Also, she lacks any form of super power besides the knowledge of every single person in the MARVEL universe. The only way Gwenpool can make any money in this world is by becoming a mercenary, but one of the missions that she takes on seems to be way too challenging for our new heroine. During this mission she successfully kills one of M.O.D.O.K.'s henchmen and as a result M.O.D.O.K. forces her to become the new tank of his crew.
When I first discovered this series, I did not actually know anything about it at all. There was a Black Friday sale going on at Books a Million, where shoppers were allowed to buy 2 graphic novels and/or manga and get 1 free. Of course a book store this huge made gave me a lot of options, but female comic book heroes just happen to catch my interest. Most people think that comic book characters tend to dress rather sexually and offend the female audience, but personally the costume is not the reason why I pick a comic; rather, I prefer the story of the character. In fact, I am not really sure why I even picked Gwenpool, besides the fact that it just made me curious why Gwen Stacy from Spiderman would even be a part of the Deadpool genre. Even more to my surprise was that just by reading the back of the graphic novel I could see that this story was really interesting, because it felt odd that MARVEL would tackle such a fan fiction-like feeling of bringing a reader into the universe. And it's not even Gwen Stacy, but instead a new character named Gwen Poole.
My mind was wondering what would happen, what is Gwenpool truly about, why is she a regular person from my world, how will this fan fiction-like plot take effect in the MARVEL universe? The store intercom comes on, and I can tell by the employee's voice that he is aggravated at me for making him wait to the close just because I was drowning in thoughts over this book. Panic fills me and I pick one other graphic novel, after that I rush to my girlfriend to hurry and decide on a manga, we then run to the cash register, pay for our books, and leave. Once in the car I bounce up and down like a little kid as I reread the summary and enjoy the beautiful, retro, comedic art style on the cover.
Finally, when I get home, my first thought is that I have to read this graphic novel, so I grab a Big Red, sit on the couch, and just read. The issues the graphic novel version includes are #0-4, which is about 5 issues. During the first few pages it seems a bit weird, boring, and somewhat of a copy/paste Deadpool knockoff. During issue #0, Gwenpool is seen toying with the plans of Black Cat trying to buy some vaccine for a illness and she ends up jumping off a roof on a motorcycle and landing in a truck filled with ducks, successfully stealing the medicine and selling it to Hydra. Black Cat becomes angry and blackmails Howard the Duck into getting this vaccine back from Gwenpool. After Black Cat leaves, the scene then cuts to Gwenpool hiding under Howard's desk and him wondering why "..., there's a lot of nice desks in this town to hide under. Why mine?" (Hastings). Her answer was that she thought Black Cat would just happen to ask Howard the Duck for help.
My guess is that maybe she found out Black Cat blackmailed Howard by showing a picture of him breaking into her house during Howard the Duck #1. Since Gwenpool is from our world it must be that she read the issue before being transported to his world, yet it is also mentioned the she did kill Black Cat's previous detective by shooting him in the middle of the park. So Gwenpool may have set this up as a plan to clear her name and get Black Cat off her trail. Now this is where I start to see who Gwen Poole really is, as she tends to be very exited and confused right now, as if trying to find her own place in her new world.
Now that she and Howard are in the room alone together after Black Cat's leave, she aims two pistols at his head, and he then tries to run away in horror. While this is going on, Howard ask her basically why she is doing all this, to which Gwenpool replies with "..., I haven't been a superhero very long," (Hastings). Howard then tries to tell her that just because she is wearing a super suit does not make her a hero. He then informers her the harsh reality oh her actions "... you are acting like this is fictional, so please let me assure you that it is all. Very. Real. To me," (Hasting). Gwenpool realizes that she is wrong, and to make up for her actions she offers to help Howard get the cure for some sickness back from Hydra and fool Black Cat.
With that being the conclusion and cliffhanger for the first issue, it seems that things are finally starting to settle in on how this world truly is real and that hopefully Gwenpool will start taking things more seriously and realize that her actions do have consequences. What started off as a boring read turns into a fun, new, and wacky experience, yet it also feels really taboo in a way just knowing that this character is possibly meant to represent the lack of feelings people can have when they are in a new place. Gwen Poole knew these characters through comics she has read and when in that world she treats it as if it were not real. Only when someone forces her to look at the situation and tells her that what she is doing is in fact real and not fiction does she start to behave differently. I can't wait to share my opinion of Issue #1 in the post, thank you for reading.
Sources:
GURIHIRU and Beyruth, Danilo. Gwenpool, The Unbelievable Vol. 0 (Trade Paperback). May 04, 2016.
Fandom. MARVEL Database, http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Gwen_Poole_(Earth-TRN565). Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
MARVEL. Gwen Pool, 2016, #0,http://marvel.com/comics/issue/58995/gwenpool_2016_1. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
Hastings, Chris. Gwenpool The Unbelievable: Believe it #1. MARVEL World Wide Inc, 2016.