Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Pere Perez
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 4, 2019

It’s time for another Acts of Evil Annual which is the only thing that can explain an Annual issue coming hot of a new #1 issue of Ghost-Spider! I haven’t been a fan of any of the Acts of Evil issues so far, but there is always hope that one of these will eventually hit. Is this the one? Let’s find out…

Vita Ayala starts by getting readers up to speed on Gwen’s current situation in a nice and concise way, though if she doesn’t want any #SpiderProblems, maybe she should wait until she gets back to the old 65 before putting her super-suit on.

Oh well, it’s a bit too late as she gets taken away to Murderworld to play a little game with a deadbeat Arcade who must have gone out for a pack of smokes…or got caught up in a little thing called “The Hunted”.

While this whole thing is set up for Peter, Gwen can’t let innocents get hurt so she plays along and immediately gets attacked by the Lizard. We then get an overly long scene filled with nonsense exposition about whether or not the Lizard is real, a robot, a robot with feelings, something else…until Gwen takes him down and moves on…to more bad guys. The problem I had right away with this whole setup is that while the concept seems fun, the way it’s presented is far from it.

Things pick up a bit when we get a Punisher and a Daredevil robot and while it’s action-packed, Gwen is not interesting as she fills us in on what she thinks of Frank and Matt and the art doesn’t let it shine. The choreography is choppy, jumping too quickly between attacks without giving a great sense of what is happening.

Again, things look they are making a turn for the better when Gwen gets to a robot Spider-Man and has to save… well, I will just say it’s someone very close to Gwen…kind of. Again, the cool factor dips a ton as the whole setup is used to let Gwen overthink things and jump to conclusions of what the 616 thinks of her and everyone in it.

The issue ends with Gwen being the hero after telling us why she is a hero and then leaving Murderworld to go do the thing she said she wouldn’t and shouldn’t do at the beginning of the issue. I’m sure that will be looked at as character progression, but like almost everything in this issue, it didn’t ring true.

This wasn’t the worst issue, especially among the Acts of Evil ones. It wasn’t good either and just kind of is there for anyone who has to get more Ghost-Spider between issues of her new solo series. For all the rest of us, this can be skipped completely.

Final Thoughts:

Another “Acts of Evil” miss that’s mostly harmless, but can be skipped by everyone but the few Ghost-Spider completionists. The setup promises some fun, but there is little to be had and the art wasn’t good enough to recommend on its own. I’d give this one a pass and just stick to the new solo series if you need a Ghost-Spider fix.

5.8/10