Radioactive Spider-Gwen #8 Review

Writer: Jason Latour / Artist: Bengal / Marvel Comics [quote_simple] “It’s the stroke of midnight, Gwendarella… and your chariot is a pumpkin again.”[/quote_simple] From the opening cover we knew where Radioactive Spider-Gwen intended to go, following the footsteps of the age-old superhero plot where the powerful hero becomes powerless, a reminder of their mortality and the plight of the average human, the feeling that keeps them humble. As a colleague recently mentioned, it’s a plot all heroes need. We have to see how they deal with the pressure, and their willingness to keep it all in perspective. The only question was whether Gwen would dump the suit willingly, if have it taken away.

Radioactive Spider-Gwen brings us back to the 616 where Gwen and Cindy square off against Cindy’s Earth-65 counterpart, a long awaited battle to reveal just how strong an enemy the two are up against. Why only two of them? Where’s Spider-Woman? Basically the two youngins are doing the “keeping this from you so you can lead a normal life” thing, akin to “keeping this from you to keep you safe,” which are two of the most overvalued rationales that heroes use to make decisions. It’s the superhero equivalent of running upstairs in a horror film – you’re actually only being selfish by getting in over your head and you should probably just stop lying. As it turns out, there’s even more to the connection between the two Cindy’s than meets the eye and, as any good twist does, their connection changes…