Spider-Gwen: Smash #[nn]

History

The series was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2023 and was written by Melissa Flores, whose prior Marvel work included Women of Marvel and whose character-driven approach had been established on Boom! Studios' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Art duties went to Enid Balám — whose previous Marvel credits included Kate Bishop: Hawkeye and Reptil — with inks by Elisabetta D'Amico, colors by Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and lettering split between Clayton Cowles (issue #1) and Ariana Maher (later issues). The main covers across the run were provided by David Nakayama, with a wide array of retailer-incentive and variant covers from artists including Peach Momoko, Elizabeth Torque, Kaare Andrews, and Terry Dodson. A scheduling irregularity affected the series' conclusion: the coda issue Giant-Size Spider-Gwen, which wraps up the Carnage/MJ subplot and introduces Orlando Octavius, was released one week before the final issue of Smash rather than after it.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Four-issue limited series (Spider-Gwen: Smash #1–4), published December 13, 2023 – March 13, 2024, with cover dates of February–May 2024.
• Written by Melissa Flores; art by Enid Balám; inks by Elisabetta D'Amico; colors by Fer Sifuentes-Sujo; editor Elizabeth (Ellie) Pyle.
• The fourth Spider-Gwen miniseries, following Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse and Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones, and a stand-alone sequel to the original Spider-Gwen ongoing (2015–2018).
• Issue #1 (December 13, 2023) introduces Earth-65 versions of Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Lila Cheney, and Natasha Romanoff as supporting cast in the Uncut Gems rock-band storyline.
• Issue #4 (March 13, 2024) features the first appearance of Mortis (Lois Brown, Earth-65) — Dazzler's estranged super-villain sister with offensive light-based powers — though League of Comic Geeks credits her first appearance to Giant-Size Spider-Gwen #1, released the same month (see Flagged).
• The series explicitly confirms MJ Watson/Carnage's romantic feelings for Gwen Stacy, resolving years of subtext from earlier Earth-65 storylines; MJ confesses her love in the Giant-Size coda before departing to join Natasha Romanoff's spy organization.
• The series functions as a direct narrative setup for Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider (ongoing, April 2024), in which Gwen permanently relocates to Earth-616 — with Smash #1 already seeding her existential uncertainty about belonging on Earth-65.
• Collected in a trade paperback (published August 28, 2024) that gathers issues #1–4; a separate Giant-Size Spider-Gwen #1 (also written by Flores, drawn by Alba Glez) serves as a coda and is included in the collected edition.

Cast · 2 characters

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