 The hero who could have been you takes center stage in her own series. Everyone, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of a Week in Geekdom here on YouTube. Let's talk about a book that not a lot of people gave a second look at. Of course, I am talking about Gwentpool. Yes, welcome guys. I am very excited to talk about Gwentpool. I previously did a volume one on this series not too long ago. I'm going to say early 2017. After so long, I finally finished the series. And on the first video, I talked about the character at length and how she came about and all that stuff. And to summarize the whole thing, basically, she was a gag variant cover. And then people were kind of interested in the character and they gave her a shot in, I believe, Howard the Duck, the recent Marvel Now series. And yeah, she took the world by storm and had her own Marvel series lasting 25 issues, which is a huge accomplishment. When you think of characters like Mockingbird, her recent series, which I think only lasted like eight or nine issues and got canceled. You also had Silk. She had like a mini reboot of her own with two number one issues, Spider Gwent, etc, etc. But with the character of Gwentpool, you have a very interesting character, I should say, that not a lot of people were ready for. Yes, there is a ton of hate out there for the character for some reason. But I am trying to persuade you otherwise in this video. I don't know why I need to show all the traits. But yeah, there's volume one, two, and three, and four, and volume five of the series in really thin affordable trades that everybody can get. It's like nine or 10 bucks if you know where to look. And yeah, in our first video, I kept it spoiler free. I might spoil just a few tiny details on this series. But overall, I'll keep it spoiler free if you want to venture into Gwentpool. I'll link up the video review somewhere over here. But yeah, the character is pretty interesting. She is from the real world, similar to ours, and then she gets magically transported into the Marvel Universe. And it sounds like wish fulfillment, I guess, and some people might not like the idea because they're stuck with two things. One, the fact that she started out as a joke in a variant cover. And two, the fact that she is combining Gwent and Deadpool into, you know, forming Gwentpool. But that's actually her name. Gwendolyn pool, I guess, Gwentpool. So yeah, the book is the unbelievable Gwentpool. And it is a fun ride. It is really, really cool. The way Christopher Hastings, the writer, is able to utilize a character that otherwise would have been like a cheap throwaway, makes it into a smart, introspective look at what makes us unique. The character of Gwentpool is trying to find herself throughout the 25 issues. And I believe there's like this one shot Christmas special. The character is trying to find herself themes of self worth of finding yourself of doubt, fear, and trust. These are all examined in a pretty fun and unique way. Of course, there are some issues with the series, which I'll get to in a minute. But yeah, the character basically lands in the Marvel universe. And I hate to admit it, but she has one of the most powerful assets in the Marvel universe, which is knowledge of every single character out there from their real identities to their weaknesses. And she could exploit that if she wanted to. At first, she begins her career as a mercenary, similar to another famous merc with a mouth. And as the series progresses, and she befriends certain enemies like Badrock the Leaper, and then she goes into the Modoc organization and actually defeats Modoc himself and takes control of that organization through some serious hijinks. Yeah, the character keeps progressing and she realizes that she doesn't really want to be a supervillain or just a regular villain. She wants to do good. She's not an evil person. Now, one of the things I did not like about the first volume was the first issue, which really presented, and I'm just going to say it like this, in a presented the character in a very sleazy way, whereas later volumes presented her in a much more likeable and colorful, cheerful, optimistic style that I really appreciated and made the series feel more wholesome, if you will. Like here in the first volume, as you can see right there, the character just doesn't look right, in my opinion. It isn't until much later where Gudihidu, I think I said that right, steps in and really just gives it a very unique anime-inspired flair and just wit and charm that I really, really appreciated. This is one of my favorite scenes from the first book where Gwenpool is trying to get the attention of Jane Foster Thor, so this is what she comes up with. And just the expressions and the usage of color and, well, like I just said, the facial expressions and all that stuff really make it a unique read unlike most of the Marvel books. I really, really freaking enjoyed the art in this. It is bright and beautiful, except for that first issue where just weird as heck, man. Check out Modoc with his mohawk and just great overall fun in the first volume, as you can see. So at the end, Modoc is taken care of and she is the leader in volume two of the Modoc organization. As you can see, head of Modoc and she gets into further adventures. She meets Miles Morales, Spider-Man, and she's geeking out, of course, like anybody would with meeting your favorite comic book characters. In volume three, we also do get an epic team up between Ghost Rider and Kate Bishop Hawkeye. And this excellent crossover, which I will show you in a quick second with Deadpool himself, one of the highlights of this book. This is just fun. I don't want to repeat myself and spend the whole video just saying, oh, it's fun. It's a fun series. It really is. I know a lot of people are going to complain and I'll probably get a dislike out of some angry comic book fan that just does not approve of this character. But this is the type of story where you if you give it a shot, the characters will open up, the story will open up and you'll find something that you like, whether it be the art, the kooky characters, the insane plot, or even Gwenpool herself. In my case, I was a huge fan of the character and I really liked her usage of the fourth wall breaking because unlike Deadpool, he's still a comic book character. Whereas this hero or villain, if you will, she is her own unique specimen, if you will. And that is evident with her knowledge and the way she talks to the reader. And there is a lot of fourth wall breaking to the point where eventually the characters themselves break out of the comic book into the gutter space universe or something. It gets wild and crazy. Some issues though tend to dwell a little bit too much on the whole mercenary thing and the fighting and whatnot and it doesn't grow beyond that. But other stories, which are featured in the third volume, really as well as for the fourth and fifth, really examine the character of Gwenpool in a very interesting way. And this might be some slight spoilers just in case. Right over here she ends up meeting an evil version of herself where basically this alternate reality where, you know, she's trying to do good but at the end of the day her knowledge it's troublesome and it's flat out annoying. She basically has the entire Marvel universe by the grasp of her hand and she could do a lot of dangerous things with it. Now when this future version comes into the present, it starts this whole dilemma of Gwen realizing that she wanted to be a hero all along and was trying to escape her realistic life with her brother and parents and all that stuff. And you do get to see her life outside the Marvel universe and that was extremely compelling and somewhat relatable. I am pretty sure audiences can find similarities with how the character grows up with their own life and stuff. I think Hastings did a really good job of humanizing and grounding the character in a believable sort of way. The issue which I'm talking about, and if you've read the series you might already know where I'm headed, where we see her real life and the way she interacts with the comic book world but still being on the real earth if you will, is pretty freaking brilliant. I love how she's using panels and dialogue boxes and captions and all that stuff in very creative and interesting ways and it really deconstructs the purpose and the utility of a comic book panel. Just let me try and show you without spoiling much. Like you see stuff like this where the character, you know, she lost her hoodie and I don't know if you can see down below right here, she grabs it from a fellow modoc worker, sort of this grunt that she dressed up as Gwen Poole in earlier issues and yeah, out of panel she grabs the hoodie and stuff like that where she interacts with the comic book world and alters their reality basically. Here we have this cool example of the characters just escaping a hairy situation but just leaving flat out leaving the comic book. It was something else man. I really enjoyed the fact that this book is the stuff that happens underneath what everybody else is reading and it's doing its own thing. You don't need to know about events or crossovers or marveled history. The book is very self-explanatory and it finds its own footing by doing its own thing. It didn't get bogged down at all. If I were to fault it for something it would be the Ghost Rider trio issues where Gwen Poole teams up with Hawkeye. That to me was the weakest part because it was a little bit frenetic and I think the character stands best on her own without so many guest characters and stuff because at the end of the series there are a lot of cameos and guest appearances where the character realizes that you are who you are and that is the most important lesson I guess that a comic book can teach the new generation and if you don't like that message I can't do anything for you just the idea that you're trying to either be good or bad and you're trying to change who you are because you're afraid of what might happen and you got to meet these expectations or stuff like that where you just got to look back and say no I am who I am and that defines me and moves me along into the future if you will and I guess that's the main that's one of the main themes in the Gwen Poole series also this is some slight spoilers but one of my favorite moments in the whole series comes just right at the end in this very endearing moment between the character of Gwen Poole and Badrock where she knows what's happening of course everybody else thinks she's crazy because she's talking about comic books and whatever and she says like it sucks that this book is going to get cancelled and who knows what might happen to these side characters because other writers might not use the version that was seen in this book and write it completely different and that is pretty much true if you've read a lot of comic books it happens all the time so I thought it was pretty smart I also loved to wrap things up I've talked on for way too long at the end of the book the character faces this existential crisis because she knows she's about to get cancelled and she needs a future version of herself and creates sort of this time loop if you will where both versions are talking and it is some of the most interesting panels and artwork that I really enjoyed some of the dialogue just basically reaffirms my themes for this book when you refuse to turn you knew you were giving up your future and you knew and you knew it in a real and concrete way that other heroes never get the opportunity to you came here with the belief that none of the people here mattered because they weren't real and you've come all the way to giving up everything to not hurt them you did become a hero Gwen and that'll buy you some kind of future around these parts even if it isn't in the pages of the unbelievable Gwenpool volume one a little bit spoiler-ish but it's okay you don't just live here you're in games toys guest stars and other titles fanfic roleplay twitter accounts someday one of these fans might get a pro gig and remember to stick you in some of the new in some new version of the Great Lake Avengers and just the idea like I mentioned that these themes and characters they don't die they keep moving forward and eventually somebody will do something else I thought it was really smart on Hastings part to conclude a series that was very meta and self-referential and just to end it on a high note about the comic book industry as a whole and cancellations of books and feeling sad that the story's over don't feel sad because if the ending was great it's better than just going on and on and on and on having a definitive ending or a strong point for this character to conclude his arc and to me that makes it pretty worthwhile I don't know I've rambled on for way too long about Gwenpool it's a fantastic underrated series please look past the gag and try to see it for what it is it is a cute funny title that could it lasted for 25 issues and just brought a lot of heart and an otherwise bleak and interesting world of comic books what do you think of Gwenpool let me know down below as always you can follow me on your favorite social media platform just type if we can geek them and I am there for you I will catch all of you on our next episode so I think on that part I think I think on that part I think