Clone Conspiracy Rundown pt 4

Ah, Spider-Gwen.

I really haven't talked about her, have I?

Well, I think it's clear to anyone with even a casual glance of my page that I am a fan of Mary Jane's character.  And I never really understood the appeal of the original Gwen Stacey.  To me, a lot of the interest in her character was derived from the efforts to build up her character to be greater than she actually was in order to highlight the tragedy of her death.  She really wasn't a real standout character.  Not one that was all that different than the traditional Silver Aged girlfriend, like Jane Foster, or Karen Page, or Liz Allen or Betty Brant before her.  The radical change in her character from outright shrew to weeping willow just shows that there was not much there for her character beyond just what the story needed her to be.  It's rough to say and even rougher to hear, but really the most important thing that Gwen ever did was die. 

But, I can also understand wanting to revisit that time period and explore it a little more.  And to build up Gwen's character in order to make her more than "The girl who died."  The problem I have with this sort of approach is that a select group of people seemed to believe that the modern additions to Gwen's character were present all along.  That she was always the scientific equal to Peter, rather than having one class with him in college, and stating she had no interest in science.  That she was always as fun and as witty and as charismatic as Emma Stone's portrayal of her, rather than the character that had to steal elements from other characters like MJ- like her hair or her love for dancing- in order to be more appealing.  Or that she was a well rounded and interesting character overall, who's time was cut far too short due to "editorial influence," rather than a character no one knew what to do with and wasn't that popular in the first place. 

But, Gwen still had a resurgence in popularity in the last few years, due in no small part to Emma Stone's performance in the Webb ASM movies.  And I can understand wanting to capitalize on that, hence the "Spider-Gwen" tie in to Spider-Verse.  However, while the response for her debut was strong, I think that Marvel really over-estimated just how much fan interest there was in Spider-Gwen.  It was notable, for sure.  But it seemed a lot of the interest was about the aesthetics.  Her costume was really neat!  And it was easy to photoshop Taylor Swift's face onto Spider-Gwen's body and have a similar look.  Her writer certainly seemed passionate about the series, which seemed to help.  And she did make a considerable impact. 

However, I don't think she was "Giver her two ongoings at the same time" popular.  I don't think that she needed to be pushed across the board, appearing in numerous titles and promoted more than even characters like Jessica Drew or Miguel O' Hara.  I think Marvel sort of over-estimated fan interest in her.  Or, they knew that she was going to be a flash in the pan, and decided to milk it till the calf ran dry.  Not that isn't to say that she actually didn't have some relevance to the Clone Conspiracy.  Actually, I think her part in it is one of the more clever elements of the series.  But, I couldn't miss up the chance to mock the character a little.

That, and touching base on the low sales that a lot of the Spider-Man books have been experiencing lately.  Like Web Warriors, which was to tie into Clone Conspiracy, but got cancelled before it got a chance.  Or Prowler, which was launched to tie into Clone Conspiracy, but barely sold 30,000 units it's first issue- and that was after three printings- and quickly dropped afterwards, before being stealth-cancelled by issue #6 (And keep in mind that Clone Conspiracy was a five issue mini series!) Which just goes to show that the Spider-Man books overall need a boost in the arm.