Radioactive Spider-Gwen #3 Review

Writer: Jason Latour / Artist: Robbi Rodriguez / Marvel Comics Going back and forth between Earth-65 and Earth-616 could have been aggravating, but Radioactive Spider-Gwen #3 does well keeping it rather simple: the story exposition happens in Spider-Gwen’s world while she rendezvous with Jessica Drew – Spider-Woman – over on Earth-616 for some introspection and character building. The downside of issue #3 is that means no action, no web-slinging, and not very fun, which is a bummer when it comes to a title like this one.

Gwen’s band, The Mary Janes – still in desperate need of character development – go on an annual cabin trip while Gwen herself is missing in action because she’s secretly in another Earth dimension seeking guidance from Jessica Drew. But the bulk of the issue is actually dedicated to Gwen’s father, Detective Stacy, as the police try to connect the dots between the good guys and the bad. And all plots point back to Peter Parker, who became the Lizard in Earth-65 and ended up getting killed, including a surprise return at the end telling us what familiar adventure to expect next. The constant references to Peter Parker are just on the cusp of being annoying at this point. On one hand it’s quite fair, as his death is obviously a significant and molding event in Gwen Stacy’s life, but it almost feels like it’s stealing away from the protagonist at the same time, having the most high-profile Marvel character referred to so often in a comic that belongs to someone…