Radioactive Spider-Gwen #15 Review

Writer: Jason Latour / Artist: Robbi Rodriguez / Marvel Comics Radioactive Spider-Gwen is back to the main story – no filler, no Christmas standalone, just the finest Earth-65 has to offer with an added bonus of a callback character tied in from Spider-Women Omega, Superior Cindy Moon. You may recall her whupping Gwen Stacy’s ass and taking her powers in what might be the most disrespectful fight in her superhero career. Cindy – the evil Earth-65 version of the “Silk” Cindy Moon – took a punch from a temporarily confident Gwen and then laughed in her face and felt sorry for her complete inability to fight. (Note: If you didn’t see the fight in Spider-Women Omega or need background on what happened to Gwen’s powers, you can find that review here.) That was when it was most clearly revealed that Gwen might not be worth much without her powers, an ongoing insecurity of hers ever since. Gwen is currently powerless in secret, except for Earth-65’s crime lord, Matt Murdock, who not only knows about her powerless state and the limited power-ups she uses to compensate, but who also wants to keep Gwen in his pocket to manipulate at will. Gwen made that deal with the devil at the end of the previous arc and now Murdock is coming to cash in, with a little help from his part-time lover, Cindy. Yep, that same Cindy who beat Gwen’s ass and repossessed her powers. Spider-Gwen is clearly in dire straits.

The main conflict here is how Gwen will navigate being someone’s pawn. She has a need, …