Graphic Novel Review: The Unbelieveable Gwenpool: Believe It!

2015’s overnight internet sensation takes center stage in her own series! Gwen Poole used to be a comic book reader just like you... until she woke up in a world where the characters she read about seemed to be real! But that can’t be, right? This must all be fake, or a dream or something, right? And you know what that means... NO CONSEQUENCES! Could Gwenpool truly be Marvel’s least responsible and least role-modely character to date? She can if she tries!

(Panini Books)

Based on a one-joke variant cover for a recent Deadpool mini-series, Gwenpool was inspired by the recent success of the Spider-Gwen title (which actually features a character called Spider-Woman), and prompted an onslaught of cosplay appearances at various conventions over the summer.

In response to this public demand, she was brought into the Marvel Universe proper as an interdimensional refugee who somehow travelled from a reality where the heroes and villains of the MU were little more than comic book characters. With an in-depth knowledge of absolutely everyone’s backstory and secret identity, and an appreciation for the tropes and patterns of superhero comics, Gwen Poole realised that her only chance for survival was to make the transition from background character to major costumed player, and kitted out in a pink Hydra suit, was reinvented as the gun-toting, devil-may-care, weapon-for-hire Gwenpool.

This debut volume includes her initial appearances in recent issues of Howard the Duck’s title, but also her exploits as a reluctant henchman for the deadly M.O.D.O.K, and finds her preconceptions about life in the Marvel U shattered by events beyond her control.

Featuring guest appearances from Batroc the Leaper, Doctor Strange, the new female Thor and the Black Cat, this title takes post-modern self-awareness to a level even Deadpool has failed to reach. With more asides than the complete Shakespeare, an affectionate awareness of some of the more eccentric elements of superhero comics, and a character who seems to have been born fully rounded and with just the right personality to win over even the most cynical of readers, Gwenpool is possibly one of the most refreshing new series Marvel has produced in a very long time.