#Jeremy Whitley

[jeremywhitley]

It's ACE week, I'm still Demi, and Gwen is still Aro/Ace

ICYMI, it's Ace week! ICYMI, I am demisexual and therefore part of the ace spectrum. ICYMI, I made a comic with @bailierosenlund.bsky.social @wastedwings.bsky.social & @alannawrites.bsky.social about Gwenpool coming out as ace and aro and you can read it! https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/love-unlimited-gwenpool-interview-creative-team-marvel-unlimited

[luckydiorxoxo]

Icons

[arojenniferwalters]

Gwendylon "Gwen" Poole aka Gwenpool +aromantic for Aromantic Spectrum Visibility Day (August 25th, 2023)

[Love Unlimited Gwenpool #48/ Marvel's Voices Pride vol 3, 2023]

[avengerscompound]

Gwenpool

Love Unlimited Infinity Comic (2022) #43

[mediumsizetex]

Y'all, this comic is SO GREAT

[a-bucky-a-day]

| UNSTOPPABLE WASP (2018) #7

By Jeremy Whitley and Alti Firmansyah

[readtilyoudie]

My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic

[samasmith23]

I feel really bad for Nadia in this scene. Learning that your heroes are not infallible is always rough! Plus, Jeremy Whitley brilliantly lays the groundwork for Nadia’s later bout with bipolar disorder, and Janet’s words here are so powerful!

Also, I love the meta-commentary of how Nadia confirmed the truth about the time Hank Pym struck Janet via the Internet, since in real-life the Internet is primarily where Hank’s infamous reputation is the most talked about.

From The Unstoppable Wasp (2017) #8 by Jeremy Whitley, Ro Stein & Ted Brandt.

[haveyoureadthiscomic-poll]

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: My Little Pony: Classics Reimagined - The Unicorn of Odd #3

My Little Pony: Classics Reimagined - The Unicorn of Odd #3 preview. A farmer, a scarecrow, a tin woodsmare, and a lion walk into the woods… and decide to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Odd! #mlp #mylittlepony #comics #comicbooks

[lakecountylibrary]

Read like a librarian! Here's Kate's current TBR:

Mao (volume 12) written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi

Star Knights written and illustrated by Kay Davault

The Skull written and illustrated by Jon Klassen

The Dog Knight written by Jeremy Whitley illustrated by Bre Indigo

Dear Rosie written and illustrated by Meghan Boehman and Rachael Briner

Girl Juice written and illustrated by Benji Nate

Out There written and illustrated by Seaerra Miller

Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story written and illustrated by Sarah Myer

Squire & Knight written and illustrated by Scott Chantler

Unaccompanied: Stories of Brave Teenagers Seeking Asylum written and illustrated by Tracy White

Suee and the Strange White Light written by Ginger Ly and illustrated by Molly Park

The Sea in You written and illustrated by Jessi Sheron

Garvey's Choice written by Nikki Grimes illustrated by Theodore Taylor III

Ava's Demon: Book One: Reborn written and illustrated by Michelle Fus

Cosmoknights: Book Two written and illustrated by Hannah Templer

Bear written by Ben Queen illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton

See more of Kate's recs

[jeremywhitley]

Here we are, six weeks later...

HEY!

So, in case you haven’t heard, our six week run on Love Unlimited following Gwenpool wrapped up today and...

and as much as I did write all of this and it is extremely important to me, I feel I really need to make sure you all know that this didn’t start with me.

To be completely accurate, it started with Chris Hastings and crew for creating such an amazing and nuanced character out of what could have only ever been a high concept and a cover gag. Not that the cover gag wasn’t good, but the statue that is revealed from that piece of marble over the course of The Unbelievable Gwenpool is truly astonishing.

Then, of course, there’s you. An audience of fans with an incredible love and passion for a character who also saw a lot of the quirks and experiences that we as people on the asexual spectrum experience and talked about it online.

Which is where the incredible @alannawrites, my editor, comes in. Alanna had been looking for an opportunity to tell a story about being ace in Marvel comics. We had kind of skimmed around the edges during Unstoppable Wasp, but ultimately being a character who owed so much to a movie franchise, there were a lot of nerves there. Gwen was not only a great opportunity to tell a story of a person hyper aware that they are in a story struggling with the tropes that affect their actual life, it was a chance to bring about this story for a character a lot of the fandom already saw as ace. Obviously, not everybody, but still a lot.

So when editorial game to okay to tell this story, Alanna reached out to me - somebody she’d worked with but also specifically had just had their own little coming out as demisexual a little while back. I was thrilled by the idea and before long we brought on @bailiesartblog and Kelly and had a full creative team of people on the ace spectrum. This is easily the first time that’s ever been a thought.

For me it was important that it not just be a story of coming out, but that it be a Gwenpool story. A story of knowing how stories work, what tropes you can play with, trying to direct the story where you think it should go, and ultimately finding that the story just won’t comply. And for people who have experienced being on the ace spectrum or a lot of other marginalized genders and sexualities - that’s a very familiar problem.

Ultimately, it’s different from a lot of other Gwenpool stories because it’s not the world around her. She has 2-3 real working possibilities for romantic relationships in this story and one that is about to become a fully adult sexual relationship with a woman whom she really loves before it skips the tracks. Ultimately, it’s not a thing from the 616 that’s holding her back, it’s a thing she brought with her from the real world - her sexuality - and no matter how worthy you are, you can’t beat that with a hammer.

There’ll be lots of time to talk about this later, but along with her actually saying the words and waving the flags above, one of the sequences that’s most important to me is the opening sequence of issue 6

This is the problem sometimes with being story tellers. When you think you know the story, realizing you’re not who you thought you are can feel like maybe you’re a villain. Maybe you’re a monster. Maybe you don’t belong here.

Some people on the internet seem to have decided to misinterpret this sequence as us comparing being asexual to being a monster, when very clearly that’s Gwen doing it. I’m just going to assume they’ve never had the experience of struggling to understand themselves and where they fit. Sounds fake, but whatever.

I love this FF story. I love Ben Grimm. I love this cover and that was why I gave my art team the truly unenviable task of recreating it. Like, I don’t know if you’ve been there, but I certainly have and I’d wager that most of us have at some point.

But perhaps the most important image in this scene is the next one:

Julie sees her friend, her girlfriend, the person that she cares about spiraling and literally yoinks her right out of the frame.

And sits her down and talks to her about it. And listens to her about it. And when she starts asking questions that Julie can’t answer, she finds Gwen somebody who can.

And that is an incredible gift to give to someone. And yeah, maybe we should all do that for each other, but man is it hard. Julie for one is in a multi-month relationship with this girl that just told her that not only was she lying about being ready to have sex with her, but that she didn’t actually like kissing her and has been faking enjoying some aspects of their relationship. You wanna think you would still be there for this person, but that’s a lot to handle and it takes a lot to be the person Julie is in this moment. But, personally, I love Julie Power and I think she’s the kinda person to stick with it.

And ultimately I think this scene is so important to me because I hope this book is our opportunity to be Julie Power to somebody reading this story. I hope someone who is going through a hard time or struggling with how to define themselves will find this story and it can be the hands that pull them out of the cover of Fantastic Four 51 when they need it. Maybe that’s a lot to hope for a comic, but it’s really the ambition I think the team went into this comic with. We want to tell a story about an aroace character coming to terms with who they are and learning to accept and be comfortable with it, but ultimately we hope this story gets to someone out there when they need it and makes the difference.

Well, this has gone really long and I’m sure there will be other things I wanna say about it later, but until then take care of yourselves and hopefully you’ll get the chance to be someone’s Julie Power.

P.S. - Julie, you’re amazing and I’m sure we will find a romance for you that works out eventually. Sorry that we’ve collectively now put you through three breakups.

[smashpages]

The Cold Ever After (Titan Comics, February 2024) preview pages by Jeremy Whitley and Megan Huang

[newx-menfan]

Marvel Infinity Comics Love Unlimited #43

*Spoilers*

The issue starts with Gwenpool on Krakoa, instigating her own “meet-cute” with recently revived Wither, while talking about Romance Tropes. (Basically think about it like if every Mindy Kaling show was a comic book plotline…. 😂🤣)

They get to talking about plants (Gwen remembered he was into Gardening and Art from NXM!) and they plan to meet up for dinner so Kevin can help her with her garden!

(For people who don’t know- Gwenpool is a character used to parody and commentate on Comic book Tropes- she’s essentially a real person who has been sucked into the comic verse…)

We find out Gwen has “main character syndrome” and has decided what she really needs to up her recognition is a love interest…and apparently Gwen is also a hardcore NXM fan and LOVES Wither! (So do we Gwen…so do we!)

Gwen tries to look into the future via the web/breaking the fourth wall and sees various web info on COVID and on herself…mainly negative commentary on how she’s a derivative copy of Deadpool (we do LOVE you on TUMBLR Gwen!!); also we find out Gwen has been in the Marvel verse for 8 years now…and is kind of still bitter about her book getting cancelled (understandable!)!

We find out Gwen was also a huge Rogue/Gambit shipper growing up (honestly…same…just don’t read the most recent comic book Gwen! 😂🤣🤣)and wants to copy the will they/won’t they- “we can never touch” tension…

In between plant innuendos at dinner- Wither touches Gwens hand…and we discover Kevin now has full control of his powers, much to Gwen’s chagrin…

(Does this mean Wither and Selene aren’t “together” anymore??)

((As much as Gwen complains the relationship is super BORING now…STILL better than Kid Omega during WCA! 😂🤣🤣…))

Gwen decides what she needs to spice this up is a love triangle…and who BETTER than Wither’s PRIOR rival….Elixir?!!

Review:

This whole comic is just a KICK honestly! Jeremy Whitley did an AMAZING job!!

The jokes are great (LOVED the “One More Day” call out especially!), it’s well researched, and in the same vein as “Spider-Man and the X-Men”! 

It’s basically a NXM must read!!

Honestly…It was really hard choosing which panels to feature in the review… it’s THAT amazing!

The only downside is the art…which is pretty meh…but all things considered- it’s just a fun issue!

Super excited for the next one to come out- honestly this kind of content makes me want to get a Marvel Unlimited account! 

Gwen really SHOULD interact with the X-Men MORE!!

Predictions:

Gwen totally forgot the biggest hiccup to this plan…Wallflower! 😂🤣🤣

Really hope we get more NXM cameos…maybe Gwen will try to get in on the Surge/Prodigy/Speed drama next!! 😂🤣🤣

[enbeemagical]

tonight's DND drawing: a (partial) redraw of this panel from Princeless volume #7 by @jeremywhitley

[roesolo]

Graphic Novels catchup!

I fell a bit behind from reviews between life and the fact that I have trouble turning anything down (it’s really hard to Read All the Books! no matter how much one wants to), but I am giving it a college try. So here’s a catchup of some graphic novels that are already out, but that you may not have been able to check out yet.   The Blue Stars: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem, by Kekla…