The Unbelievable GwenPool | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Ongoing series |
Genre | |
Publication date | June 2016 – April 2018 |
No. of issues | 26 |
Main character(s) | Gwenpool |
Creative team | |
Written by | Christopher Hastings |
Artist(s) |
|
Collected editions | |
Believe It | ISBN 1-302-90176-1 |
Head of M.O.D.O.K. | ISBN 1-302-90177-X |
Totally In Continuity | ISBN 1-302-90547-3 |
Beyond the Fourth Wall | ISBN 1-302-90548-1 |
Lost in the Plot | ISBN 1-302-91040-X |
The Unbelievable GwenPool, more commonly called Unbelievable Gwenpool, is a manga-influenced superhero-isekai comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring Gwen Poole as its main protagonist. Written by Christopher Hastings and primarily illustrated by Gurihiru, the series was a spin-off from the character's feature in a Howard the Duck comic, and was Gwenpool's first solo series. The series lasted 27 issues, #1–25, two holidays specials, and a special #0 that collected her intro material (including the first holiday special). The series ran from June 2016 to April 2018, and was followed by the spin-off webtoon series It's Jeff , published since 2021, with Gurihiru returning as the primary artists.
Gwenpool's first appearance was on a variant cover for Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars, and the character became a surprising hit among fans despite not appearing in an actual comic. [1] After receiving a holiday special one-shot and appearing as a secondary character in a Howard the Duck story, entitled "Ms. Poole if You're Nasty", Marvel announced the release of Unbelievable Gwenpool in December 2015, retaining the core creative team of Christopher Hastings and Gurihiru who had developed the Gwenpool holiday one-shot. [2] The series debuted in June 2016, and released a special #0 issue along with Unbelievable Gwenpool #2 that collected the character's Christmas and Howard the Duck adventures.
According to comic book review aggregator Comic Book Roundup, Unbelievable Gwenpool has an average review score of 8 out of 10, indicating generally favorable reviews. [3] Critics generally praised Hastings' writing (noting that he did not bog down the character in origin stories), and especially the art from Gurihiru. [4] [5]
Kinja's Observation Deck wrote favorably of the last issue, where Gwen Poole converses with other characters outside the fabric of reality in an effort to understand her actions, saying that the series finale demonstrated the "incredible power of comic books." [6]
According to trade publication ICv2, the first issue of Unbelievable Gwenpool was the 6th best-selling comic for April 2016, selling 100,852 units. [7]
Unbelievable Gwenpool won second place in the 2018 Gaiman Awards for the first two volumes of Unbelievable Gwenpool. [8]
Hulu aired a M.O.D.O.K. animated series, featuring the Mercenary Organization Dedicated Only to Killing introduced in The Unbelievable Gwenpool, with MODOK voiced by Patton Oswalt, who also co-wrote and executive produced the series with Jordan Blum. [9]
In 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: No Way Home , the initial spell Peter Parker attempts to have Doctor Strange cast to make the world forget he is Spider-Man, and the spell he ultimately later has Strange cast alongside the barriers of the multiverse to make his existence completely forgotten to the entire world, are respectively adapted from The Amazing Spider-Man storyline "One Moment in Time" and the Unbelievable Gwenpool storyline "Believe It", introduced as a spell Gwen has Strange cast to make her original world forget her existence; Strange additionally compliments Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of him in the original storyline. [10] [11]
In January 2024, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse production designer Patrick O'Keefe confirmed the film's pink hair-highlighted Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman to have been visually inspired by Gwen Poole (as illustrated by Gurihiru for Beyond the Fourth Wall ), with artist Peter Chan also basing the color palette of Gwen Stacy's bedroom off of Gwen Poole's hospital gown in the storyline. [12]
Gwendolyne Maxine "Gwen" Stacy was a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in those featuring Spider-Man. A college student and the daughter of George and Helen Stacy, she was the first romantic interest for Peter following his high school graduation before she was murdered by the Green Goblin. Her death has haunted Peter ever since, and stories published long afterwards indicate she still holds a special place in his heart. Gwen was posthumously subjected to numerous cloning experiments by her former professor Miles Warren, Peter's clone Ben Reilly, and an A.I. of Harry Osborn, the latter resulting in the creation of the Kindreds, and Ben briefly resurrecting Gwen in "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" (2016–2017), with the embodiment of Death herself confirming in Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider (2017–2018) that all clones Ben created of deceased people had their souls intact on being brought back, while clones of living people had unique souls of their own. In the alternate realities of Ultimate Marvel and Spider-Gwen, a still-living Gwen respectively becomes their universe's versions of Carnage and Spider-Woman.
Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #110. Doctor Strange serves as the Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Strange was introduced during the Silver Age of Comic Books in an attempt to bring a different kind of character and themes of mysticism to Marvel Comics.
The Chameleon is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and is the first antagonist of the superhero Peter Parker / Spider-Man. He is a master of disguises who is known for his ability to impersonate virtually anybody. The character is also the half-brother of Kraven the Hunter. This relationship helped evolve him as a major villain compared to his original depiction of being just a solo villain in the original issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. He has also been a member of the Sinister Six and the Sinister Twelve at various points in his history.
The Walrus is a comedic supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the enemy of Spider-Man and Frog-Man.
Georges Batroc the Leaper is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #75, 1966. He is a mercenary and a master of the French form of kick-boxing known as savate, commonly depicted as an adversary of Captain America, and a mentor of Gwen Poole. Batroc's name derives from the word batrachia, a classification of amphibians that includes frogs, which also plays on the stereotype of calling French people frogs.
Gurihiru, also credited as Illustrator Unit Gurihiru and Gurihiru Studios, is a Japanese illustration duo, consisting of Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano. Both originating from Sapporo, Japan, they are currently based in Saitama, mainly working as artists for American comics.
Hawkeye is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, Bishop first appeared in Young Avengers #1. She is the third character and first female to take the Hawkeye name, after Clint Barton of the Avengers and Wyatt McDonald of the Squadron Supreme. Her costume appearance is patterned on the first Hawkeye and Mockingbird.
Skottie Young is an American comic book artist, children's book illustrator and writer. He is best known for his work with various Marvel Comics characters, his comic book adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books with Eric Shanower, his I Hate Fairyland comic book series, and a series of novels with Neil Gaiman, Fortunately, the Milk.
The Doombots are fictional robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
MODOK is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #93. The first MODOK is George Tarleton, a former employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), an arms-dealing organization specializing in futuristic weaponry, who undergoes substantial mutagenic medical experimentation originally designed to increase his intelligence. While successful, the experiments result in him developing a freakishly overdeveloped head and a stunted body, causing the character's signature look and use of a hoverchair for mobility. After the experiments, he kills his creators and takes control of A.I.M. Following Tarleton being changed back to normal, a MODOK clone is created to replace him which dubs himself MODOK Superior, becoming the enemy of Gwenpool.
Spider-Man is a superhero and the second predominant Spider-Man to appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, created in 2011 by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli, along with input by Marvel's then-editor-in-chief Axel Alonso. Born as a modern reimagining of the popular character, Miles Morales debuted in Ultimate Comics: Fallout #4. Originally from the alternate Ultimate Marvel Universe Earth-1610 before being retconned to the main Marvel Universe Earth-616, he was bitten by a model spider that was specially and genetically engineered by Oscorp Industries biochemist, Dr. Conrad Marcus, who used the Oz Formula at the behest of Norman Osborn to create "enhanced spiders" in an attempt to duplicate the abilities of the original Spider-Man of the Earth-1610 Ultimate Universe.
Christopher Hastings is an American comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja as well as writing for The Unbelievable GwenPool and the Adventure Time comics.
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Gwenpool is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A girl from the real world transported to the Marvel Universe, Marvel initially produced two stories featuring Gwenpool as a character, created by Christopher Hastings, Heather Antos and Jordan D. White: first appearing a backup story in Howard the Duck, and a one-shot Gwenpool Holiday Special, illustrated by Gurihiru. Following the publication of the one-shot, an ongoing series titled The Unbelievable Gwenpool by the same creative team was announced, primarily illustrated by Gurihiru, which started in April 2016 and concluded in April 2018. The Unbelievable Gwenpool #0, collecting Gwen's appearances from Howard the Duck and the first Gwenpool Holiday Special, was later released, as well as the limited series Gwenpool Strikes Back. In West Coast Avengers, Gwen is depicted as the owner of Jeff the Baby Land Shark, appearing alongside him in the spin-off series It's Jeff from its second season onwards. The nemesis of the supervillain MODOK, Gwen faces off against him in The Unbelievable Gwenpool, West Coast Avengers, and MODOK: Head Games.
Chelli Lona Aphra, or simply Doctor Aphra, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Created by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Salvador Larroca, and editors Jordan D. White and Heather Antos, she first appeared in Marvel Comics' 2015 Darth Vader Canon comic book series. Aphra became a breakout character, and began appearing in her own ongoing spin-off comic series, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, from 2016 to 2019, before relaunching in 2020. Aphra is the first original Star Wars character not from the films to lead a Canon comic series.
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Jeff the Land Shark is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Daniele di Nicuolo, the character first appeared in West Coast Avengers vol. 3 #6, but was not named and formally introduced until issue #7. Jeff is the pet landshark of the superheroes Gwen Poole and Kate Bishop, and has also been cared for by Wade Wilson and Elsa Bloodstone.