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monsieuroverlord · 1 year

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Spoilers for latest Marvel Love Unlimited Infinity Comic #43 - #48

I heard they had Gwenpool come out as aroace and I wanted to wait until the whole thing came out before reacting to it.

Now it’s all out, so here we go!

Pros:

-- art is stellar, the composition lends itself very well to an infinity comic. expressions are expressive and on-point -- suits itself well for Gwenpool

-- Gwenpool definitely has baby-ace vibes. (will explain more under the cut)

-- narrative voice is more on the light-hearted side in the beginning. It seems like the intent is to not take it so seriously at first

-- Julie Power is an absolute sweetheart here, incredibly understanding and doesn’t blame Gwen at all for being asexual

-- final 2 issues (#47 and #48) are definitely the strongest in terms of narration and introducing the reader to asexual/aromantic orientations

Cons:

-- not that I need this to be an exposition on all the nuances of asexuality, but some things could’ve been worded A LOT better or expanded upon

-- I know Gwenpool is supposed to have reality-shaping powers, but some of her actions are a bit too manipulative for my taste (more under the cut)

Spoilers (warning, it gets LONG):

Issue #43 Summary: Gwen stages a meet-cute with Wither (from New X-Men) by purposely bumping into him. She’s getting into the “forbidden romance” trope, like Rogue and Gambit, because she thinks he can’t touch her. They start gardening together, and turns out he actually has control of his power, so the idealized romance in her head is ruined.

Issue #44 Summary: Gwen has a new plan. Create love triangle between her, Wither, and Elixir. She purposefully woos both of them (kissing each) to create tension and perhaps a fight between them. Her plan is foiled when they refuse to fight and talk it out instead, solidifying their friendship. Gwen feels terrible about even putting them in this situation in the first place. She leaves, immediately gets into trouble, and is promptly saved by Julie Power of the Power Pack, getting butterflies in her stomach.

Issue #45 Summary: Gwen and Julie go on a proper date at a diner. They have nice chat about Gwen’s reality shifting powers and how she feels about them. Julie talks about her current dating life and why she’s currently single and went back to college. Gwen realizes that maybe because she dropped out of High School, she never had that “moving forward in life” experience. She thought she might be bisexual, but never really acted on it. Then she realizes she won’t impress Julie by being an unemployed drop-out. She makes an excuse to go to the bathroom. switches reality around to get her High School diploma and enroll herself in college. Julie asks her out, and after some awkwardness, Gwen agrees.

Issue #46 Summary: It opens with Julie and Gwen having a heart-to-heart talk about the pressure of life expectations. Gwen compliments Julie, saying some stuff she “truly means this time” instead of manipulation like Wither, Elixir, and even Quinten Quire (from the West Coast Avengers days) They kiss, and Gwen reassures herself that she’s doing all the things she’s supposed to! She’s doing a relationship properly. There’s a sequence of them dating -- Gwen is taking college class in game design, Julie gets a pixie cut, it’s all very domestic and non-problematic. There’s even super hero shenanigans thrown in the mix, where Julie and Gwen work well as a team together. Gwen reassures herself that everything will be fine as long as she keeps the butterflies going and that if she tries hard enough, she can make it work. Julie wants to take things a step further (as consenting young adults often do in the romance genre) and Gwen tries to convince herself that she definitely wants this. Except, she doesn’t want to have sex. The issue ends with her bursting into tears and telling Julie to stop.

Issue #47 Summary: The issue opens with Gwen coming cleaning about her High School experience -- the solid group of friends that she had, and how she ended up feeling left behind as they all started dating and she just “didn’t get it.” Depressed, she dropped out of high school and just kind of drifted. Julie is a supportive, listening ear, and reassures Gwen that she can handle being told “no” if Gwen isn’t ready. Gwen states that she just wanted to make Julie happy and they hug. Julie asks if Gwen actually wanted to kiss her closest friend, Alice, and Gwen reveals she doesn’t WANT to kiss anyone. A little irked by this, Julie asks why didn’t Gwen just say something? Gwen says she like Julie in her way, so she figured it can’t be so bad. It’s romance! like in the movies! Gwen admits that maybe if she just kept pursuing it, even faking some stuff, she’d make Julie happy and all would be well. Julie disagrees. That kind of connection is very important to her, and she deserves to be fulfilled. Gwen says she knows and that she just wanted to make Julie happy. Julie interrupts, stating that Gwen deserves to be fulfilled too, and suggests that Gwen may be asexual. Which Gwen hadn’t considered.

Issue #48 Summary -- the conclusion: This issues opens with some great visual references to classic comic book covers and pop culture. Julie snaps Gwen out of her spiral. There’s the classic asexual comparison to a protozoa (’cause they reproduce asexually, and that’s the classic American education introduction to asexuality as a concept). Julie, being the bisexual icon that she is, takes Gwen to the college Pride Club and introduces her to their ace rep. Ronnie, the rep, is demisexual and gives Gwen the run-down of the basics. Gwen gets very excited when she learns its a spectrum. There’s an overview of the romantic attractions (I personally would’ve like to see more explanation of that, but i digress) Gwen goes on to explain that she understands “sexy” as a concept, but doesn’t really get it and expresses her desire for a queerplatonic relationship. There is a brief mention of “some aces like sex, some don’t” and Gwen breaks up with Julie. Gwen meets a group of aces, they have a fun chat. Gwen borrows a pair of flags for the avatar icon pic. The end.

My Thoughts:

Like I said, art was solid and flowed really well. Very good for a digital comic book setting. not really any thoughts there.

Issues #43 to #45 were okay, but i felt was a little shallow for the set-up.

As mentioned previously, they did a decent job with setting up Gwen’s baby ace vibes. Initially, she follows a very formulaic approach to romance, feeling like that’s what she SUPPOSED to do, that’s part of becoming an adult, that’s what people expect, that's what happens in movies, comic books, general entertainment, etc. Using her knowledge and her favorite tropes, she pursues that in her way. It does play on the trope stereotypes really well in a humorous manner.

However, the execution was a little sketchy at times. I mean, especially with issue #44, she PURPOSEFULLY tried to cause a fight between a couple of friends. She intentionally manipulated a situation for her own goals. I mean, I can related to her reasoning/feelings a bit, but her actions don’t vibe with me.

Same with issue #45, she intentionally manipulates reality to make herself more desirable to Julie Power. At least this round, she’s a bit more honest with her feelings, but again she’s using her powers for her own selfish goals.

I do also get the impression that especially the first couple issues are not intended to be super serious, playing off a couple of tropes, some reality-bending shenanigans ensue, no-real-long-term-harm-done-so-we-can-laugh-about-it-type nonsense. But also, with intended goal and conclusion, I just don’t feel it sets up asexuality in the best light at times.

Like I said, the narration is VERY strong. I do relate heavily to the expectations that Gwen puts on herself and WHY she wants to pursue her fairytale romance. The narration sets up the whole “feeling a certain way without understanding why” thing very well. There’s even a comment on Gwen thinking she was just bisexual at first.

It also illustrates the internal struggle of “maybe if I try hard enough, the feelings will come later” type thing. Something I certainly before I knew what asexuality was. I mean, I used to force myself to have crushes even though i didn’t really get it. And I’ve been on dates with people I get along with. But I sure as hell didn’t play mind games with people in order to accomplish the romance expectations I set for myself. Like I said, I DO relate to Gwen’s internal dialogue and I think it sets up her blossoming exploration of her own sexuality, but some things could be improved upon.

(apologies if I’m harping too much on this, gaslighting and manipulation are a bit of a sore spot for me. and “feeling bad” about it just isn’t enough for me)

Reality-bending powers definitely lend itself to the moral dilemma/ethics exploration really well, so you have to be real careful with the kind of story you want to tell. I don’t expect every character to be morally pure and I do feel that Gwen may have thought she had the best of intentions -- as in, if she sets it just right, her partner will be happy and it’ll all work out in the end. But, I can’t help but feel like it COULD be read as asexuals are manipulative and unfeeling people, you know?

Though I do understand it in terms of “doing what you can to make it work for others” type of thing. Like, she WANTS Julie to be happy, so she’s doing what she can to make herself the best partner she can be, even at the cost of her own feelings, comfort, and happiness. It’s certainly better than the fiasco with Wither and Elixir.

Issue #46 is where it really ramps up the asexuality reveal. A lot of narration centers around Gwen basically trying to convince herself that she’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to do, so everything is all good! Then it comes to a head when she doesn’t actually want to have sex. Which likely means that Gwen is on the sex-repulsed side of things

Which I mean, great, nothing wrong with that, but like me, not all asexuals are repulsed by sex and the whole “aces just hate sex” thing tends to be an over-simplifying trope in a lot of media, so I have mixed feelings on using that as Gwen’s “breaking point.” We don’t get to the nuances of asexuality vs. aromanticism until the conclusion.

However, I do realize that sex repulsion is a relatively common experience among aces, especially aroaces. Don’t get get me wrong, I do think the depiction is accurate as hell, especially for one first discovering themselves as a sex-pulsed aroace.

Issue #48 does a great job in reiterating the common stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding asexuality. For example, protozoa and asexual reproduction. and that being asexual means you’ll “be sad and alone forever.” To a questioning person, I think it really serves as a great intro into what asexuality actually is and alleviating common fears that the person may have heard before. Very well executed.

One small thing I have a gripe with, is referring to allosexuals as “people who seem to let their hormones determine who they spend their lives with.”

I mean, I get in terms of the way I don’t really get crushes the way an allosexual does, but its VERY VERY oversimplified. As a biromantic, I’ve had different kinds of crushes -- very rarely, and definitely more of the romantic kind when it happens (don’t even get me started on squishes). But also, it the LGBTQ+ community, there is already a lot of discrimination from both external forces and internal forces. I do see this as very tongue-in-cheek personally, but I expect this to be misinterpreted a bit. (I’ve already seen some circles of Twitter being a little ornery about it.)

But at the same time, I get it. There’s only so much you can do with limited space, and I personally see this intended as a cheeky and very joke-y reference to sexual attraction IN GENERAL as a foreign concept.

In general, Julie Power is a superstar here. The epitome of bi-ace solidarity. I don’t like the fact she had broken up with her partner off-panel in order to serve the story here, but she is characterized as a sheer powerhouse of selfless understanding and being true to yourself.

But I would’ve liked to see an apology to Elixir and Wither. Not that she has to apologize for being asexual, but she really manipulated the situation and intentionally tried to set them up to hate each other for a fantasy situation.

Anyway, these are just my own thoughts as a biromantic ace myself. I first learned the term asexuality at a sex-ed/BDSM mixer in college when I was nineteen, so I been through the struggle, lmao.

Obviously, media is never perfect, and I am optimistic this is (hopefully) a step in the right direction for ace representation. Despite my concerns, I’m happy for the increasing representation and I hope more nuances and more asexual character stories can be told moving forward.

I do think overall, it’s a very well done story and introduces asexuality in a relatively easy-to-grasp light. The set-up could’ve been done a bit better, but the conclusion was very satisfying. I do think all of the pros outweigh the cons here.

And I hope Gwen’s story can be expanded on more in the future -- I get that there’s only so much you can tell with a limited number of issues and I hope we can expand upon it in the future.

If you’ve read this far, thanks and here’s the photo dump:

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