Issue 19, in which Gwen learns some unsettling things about herself.Previous >>153453225
This page will actually be Teddy's last appearance until the end. There was a plot involving him that Hastings intended but because of the cancellation it never happened. We only get the very end of it in the final issue.
I like the pink outline while Gwen is in the white space. Reminds me of Digimon Adventure Our War Game.
>>153497743That the heady, meta trippiness of this whole arc comes off so well is pretty amazing considering Gurihiru don't speak English and have someone translate scripts for them. I think it's a testament to them that they were able to pull it off in spite of the language gap.
>>153497782
That's it for today. Next time, Gwen vs. Gwen.
Evil Gwen my beloved.
>>153497842Sounds like a Marvel Concept
>>153498039This would have been around he time of shit like Civil War II so it's definitely intentional.
>>153497610>ripped pages showing the ad on the cover and the next pageNice detail
>>153497620MILF Sarah!
>>153497648Poor Teddy, dragged along against his will to the equivalent of hell and he has nothing to show for it. No powers, no knowledge, nothing.Guy deserves better.
which way, anon? gwen (base) or gwen (evil)?both are good imo but evil's got such a cool fucking look
>>153501300I always assumed Teddy COULD develop the same powers as Gwen could, he has the exact same origin as she does there's no reason he couldn't
>>153501581Base is cutest Gwen, I can't into evil women
>>153502062Sure, but half of it I assume is Gwen's capability to to view the world as just a comic book. The very same perspective that makes her such a danger is what allows her powers to work as smoothly as they do.Everything we've seen about Teddy just emphasizes how grounded he is. So barring a complete mental break, I don't see him ever pulling it off.
>>153497610I wonder if the trade has a different version of this page.
>>153497648>>153497842I think it makes sense for Miles to be the one to tell Gwen off here, as the moment with her nearly shooting his classmate comes off as possibly the worst thing she's done since arriving in Marvel and it's well before she's considered 'evil'. Gwen's dealt with a lot of consequences but someone being so raw in telling her off about how she's been acting, and how it builds the foundation for her future, is crucial for this juncture.>>153497782I also really love the visual effects of Gwen's powers. The tears as though the comic pages themselves are being ripped, how 'gutter space' when she's emersed in it has no borders, the sheer chaos of her trying to navigate all the pages of what her future could be based on how she acts is especially great with all the Gwens falling through it here >>153497729 is my favorite, like she's tumbling further into madness which fits the arc
>>153497878Thanks for the story time OP. This one does a lot for showing off Gwen's new powerset, gutter-space and panel breaking is very cool conceptually and visually. I like how she naturally develops into using them over the course of this arc so far with breaking the illusion of being in the comic and it especially shows how dangerous they can be to prompt the future squad to put this plan together. Far more dangerous than her powers though is how far the worst aspects of her personality can go - I think my favorite part of this is Miles breaking down how Gwen's evil acts in the future aren't some sudden flip on her personality, just taking it to extremes with no more sense of a threshold. I really like Gwen's shock and disbelief she could really do it, like she can't imagine her letting herself get that far gone, but the last few issues has shown she has problems with losing herself to her bad habits. It's poignant that Unbelievable has spent a lot of time setting up that Gwen is her own worst enemy, and it's no more apparent or literal than her ultimate big bad being her own future self coming in.
Sexo with big gwen
>>153497868>Finally get a costume with pants>Turn evilTough break Gwen
Gwen but she's a sexy, mean Kelly Bundy type
>>153497620Sarah becoming Sorceress Supreme is pretty coolI also like how Gwen takes the situation more seriously based on her presence, it's a nice sign of their friendship
>>153508189It turns out the exposed legs were keeping her good.
Issue 20, where Gwen quite literally faces her future.
>>153512929>>153512950Now there's a woman who'd get along with Prime as he used to be.
Next time, Gwen tries to be a hero.
>>153513042Wonder why she didn't just use the Demonic GPS to find Teddy as well. Or, you know, have Teddy find them.
>>153512908The true final boss of Marvel: the editors
>>153513886He might already be deadIf he was found last Christmas by the future heroes, a lot could have happened between then and now
>>153512929I don't expect it to ever be revealed, but I'm very curious who this friend she tried to save was
>>153517615It's a hypothetical future that doesn't exist anymore so it's not important but just pretend it was Mega Tony or something.
I'll be honest: I kinda don't like Gwen just having these powers. The rest of the comic up until this point was generally more about her kinda being put in her place. Like aside from the inherent buff she got from being the comic's main character, she constantly had to deal with >No Gwen, living here and getting up to antics isn't fun for the actual people in this reality>No Gwen, this character being a joke to the readers doesn't mean he'll be in this worldand that just being an isekai'd teenager meant she had jack shit to work with.Now she gets to hop out of reality, and yeah there's some fun quirks and limitations that later issues will get into, but it's too strong of a power and too quick of a jump from her old position. Feels like it could've been a lot more of an arc. I kinda would've liked one where Gwen realizes she needs a buff, so she goes on this big adventure trying to get caught up in Terrigen Mists or seeing if she has the X-Gene or trying to proc powers a dozen different ways, only to realize that she's been sorta just "cutting to scene" as part of the exploration, and that she can now exploit that to get these reality jumps
>>153518802I quite enjoy Gwen's powers but I will agree there is a certain charm lost from the early days where her only 'power' was plot armor and genre savviness. There was more inherit danger in her being a normal, powerless girl who thinks she knows everything there is and constantly being shown the error of her assuming ways. Gwen without powers is equally enjoyable to me as Gwen with them.That said I do think the 4th wall powers are great and ultimately I think I prefer her having them to not - they just come off as such a natural part of her character as an outside observer to the comic universe. They are extremely creative / visually satisfying and as upcoming issues will show aren't TOO broken either and come with various limitations to keep things interesting.
>>153519894>That said I do think the 4th wall powers are great and ultimately I think I prefer her having them to not - they just come off as such a natural part of her character as an outside observer to the comic universe. They are extremely creative / visually satisfying and as upcoming issues will show aren't TOO broken either and come with various limitations to keep things interesting.Yeah, as I mentioned, I feel very much the same. Gwen's powerset is pretty much a perfect set for her, both conceptually and as a character, and as we both say, there's good and fun limitations to how it works so it's not like it's a broken power. It's solely just that it's just too quick of a jump up to the next level. She just needed a bit more of a transition from all the lessons she's had to learn about taking things seriously and accepting that she's vulnerable, to actually being a metahuman, flexing her status a bit, and being able to take things less seriously again especially since she backslides a bit and treats the world as just a book a little bit with her upcoming bid for relevance. Granted, I can't be too hard on it, since there's no doubt that a lot of this comes from the book getting canceled and what not. Can't exactly spend some time having Gwen slowly arc out and earning her powers before moving on to the new status quo when the remaining number of issues can now be counted on one hand.
>>153520145The backsliding is Leah being a shitty writer who didn't understand the character she was writing and/or writers doing the character editorial wanted and not what Hastings wrote. It's annoying given the point of this issue and the series' ending and then Strikes Back immediately has her acting the complete opposite to the point where she might as well have never learned a lesson.>powersI wonder how much of that comes down to when Hastings learned the book was cancelled. If he knew largely around this time he might have had to rush through things that would have otherwise taken longer.
>>153520849>The backsliding is Leah being a shitty writer who didn't understand the character she was writingMore referring to her actions in the upcoming issues
>>153512929The disturbing thing about Evil Gwen's philosophy here is that, at its core, it's not unjustifiable. As really as they are in-story, from our side these ARE just all fictional characters and settings, made and controlled on the whims of 'real' people. Her arguments that her actions do no significant lasting damage, at least to the major players, and that nothing she does really matters and she should just have fun with it is a suitably dark tangent from Gwen's own outlook early on. It hits even harder years later knowing how often we've had characters die and resurrect, entire concepts/arcs thrown out, and retcon after retcon through the sheer nature of the business that it can really feel like nothing matters in this universe than what you make of it.>>153512974This right here is the climax of not only the arc, but of Unbelievable as a whole. Everything after this point feels like falling action after Gwen finally recognizes what her selfish, heedless tendencies can lead to and decides that, even if her future self is right and nothing here is 'real', that doesn't mean they don't matter. It's such a great moment because it's not only Gwen just committing to not be a total bitch, it's here she shows she's able to truly care about things other than herself. Her past showed she has had problems caring about things she deems unimportant - school, jobs, her boring mundane life. She threw it away for a chance at a more exciting life, but that indifference kept with her and resulted in a selfish personality, her fun often coming at the expense of others. It was only through experiencing what her choices did to others firsthand she started to gain empathy for them and now, even when presented with a compelling case that this world wants her to continue to not care about what happens to these fictional characters, she still chooses their happiness over her own and literally overcomes the worst aspects of herself.
>>153513068Thank you for the storytime OP. Absolutely love this finale, Beyond the 4th Wall is a magnificent segment delving into Gwen's character, expanding on her backstory/motivations/flaws/abilities and tops it all off with an emotional finish. Evil Future Gwen is great to read for the short panel time she has, the way she acts/sounds definitely comes off as the sort of cocky figure Gwen always wanted to be, but with the competence to back it up. I enjoy the tug-o-war for Gwen's soul in the midpart, after realizing killing her isn't going to work and they need to convince her to change her path, and how overwhelming it all feels for Gwen in this moment where she has so little control over what's happening and yet has the most important decision to make. Evil Gwen's arguments, particularly when she pulls the same stunt on Gwen as she herself did on Batroc, while twisted and lacking in any morality are not without their points to someone who is fully aware this entire world is fictional, I particularly like how she points out every time Gwen thought she was doing the right thing the story punished her for it. And despite all that, Gwen still commits to making the most selfless decision she's made since she came to Marvel and willingly gives up a long-lasting, sustainable future to spare her beloved capes any unnecessary pain and misery.It's a heartfelt but pyrrhic victory as she loses Teddy and the certainty of her future though. Her seeking out Sarah for comfort was touching, I like how close she's grown to her MODOK friends despite being far from the A-list celebrity heroes she initially sought, and like how it makes a point of her making amends with Miles after an extremely bad first impression to really show she's committing to changing how she acts. Looking forward to the final stretch this week.
>>153521944>the sheer nature of the business that it can really feel like nothing matters in this universeThat's why I typically don't read capeshit, it feels like the world's most frustrating improv session. I read a few runs I think are interesting and just don't bother with the rest.
>>153517916Could be Cecil and finally giving him a real body ended poorly just like when she revived him as a ghost
>>153520145As you mentioned, the book being cut short may be the reason she obtained the powers more quickly, but I think in terms of pacing it still feels about right for when she would be obtaining them. She was already starting to improve her outlook on things not long before, she'd pretty much cleared her accounts with her friends and her family felt like a plot thread that couldn't be left dangling for too much longer
>>153512782GWEN, NO. DON'T BECOME THIS SUPER COOL AND STRONG SUPER VILLAIN, DON'T DO ALL THESE SICK MOVES!
