At last month’s San Diego Comic Con, Marvel announced a new Spider-Gwen miniseries from the creative team of writer Melissa Flores and artist Enid Balám. At the time the series was titled Spider-Gwen: On Tour, but Marvel has had second thoughts about that subtitle, and late yesterday the publisher unveiled a new title for the series: Spider-Gwen: Smash. Marvel also unveiled a new variant cover for the first issue of the series from superstar artist Peach Momoko.
Here’s Marvel’s description for Spider-Gwen: Smash:
One of the Spider-Verse’s biggest stars, Gwen Stacy, the super hero known as Ghost-Spider, will return to her native dimension for an action-packed music tour gone wrong! On the road, Gwen and fans alike will meet awesome new Earth-65 versions of popular heroes including music legends Dazzler and Lila Cheney, encounter deadly new villains, and more!
The Mary Janes are off on a four-city tour as the opening act to one of Earth-65’s biggest rock bands! Gwen has promised the band that this big break will be all about the music. No web-slinging, just drums. But when a mysterious assassin targets the headliner, Gwen begins to wonder how she got this gig in the first place.
In a statement accompanying the title change and new variant cover, writer Melissa Flores expressed her enthusiasm at expanding Gwen’s little corner of the Spider-Verse:
“I am having the time of my life writing this limited series!” Flores shared. “Getting to explore Gwen Stacy’s musical side as she goes on tour with the Mary Janes in her home dimension is a utter delight. Not only will the limits of Spider-Gwen’s aka Ghost-Spider’s powers be tested against some unexpected new enemies, but so will her relationships. There isn’t an escape portal to another world when things get uncomfortable inside a tour bus!”
So why the title change? It sure sounds like Gwen and friends are still going to be on-tour in the new series. And the word “Smash” is pretty loaded in the Marvel Universe as being associated with a certain gamma-irradiated goliath. Maybe The Mary Janes are going to meet the Earth-65 version of The Incredible Hulk in this series, and the new title is a cheeky teaser for that meeting. Only time will tell.
Feel free to speculate on the title change in the comments, and check out the new variant cover by Peach Momoko, as well as another variant by Elizabeth Torque, below. Spider-Gwen: Smash #1 (of 4) is due out in stores and digitally on Wednesday, December 14th.
