Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: america, christopher hastings, gabby rivera, gurihiru, HRL, joe quinones, marvel 2018 solicits, Marvel Comics, The Unbelievable Gwenpool

No Gwenpool or America From Marvel in March 2018 – Cancelled?

Well, the Marvel March 2018 solicits are out, and it looks like a pair of casualties have been stealthily surfaced: America and The Unbelievable Gwenpool.

Neither title is listed in the solicits for March 2018 by Marvel. Since Marvel has made a habit of not broadcasting when a book is slated to end, when a book is slated to end (see Spider Woman), or even when the book was intended to be a limited series in the first place (see Spirits of Vengeance), we have to crack the Marvel enigma code to figure out when a book's clock is about to be punched. In other words, we check the solicits to see if the book is still listed. This time, America and Gwenpool have showed up KIA.

My love for America Chavez and her book are notorious by this point. As such, I think the cancellation of her title is a bit of a tragedy. She's a strong and endearing character. Her stories have been existential and interesting. Plus, she is a gay POC, which you don't often get from the Big Two. Gabby Rivera and Joe Quinones did an exemplary job with this series, and it will be very sad to see it go. It would be great to see America show up in a series or film.

I've never been a fan of The Unbelievable Gwenpool myself, but I know some people whose opinions I respect who dug it. The not-Gwen-Stacy-but-totally-Gwen-Stacy series was an upbeat and humorous romp intended to satire superheroes in the vein of Deadpool. It was quite popular for a while, so the cancellation is definitely a surprise. It wouldn't shock me if they shift the character into Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos's Champions. The Unbelievable Gwenpool was primarily handled by creators Christopher Hastings and Gurihiru.

So those are the two newest casualties in the war of sales and bankable merchandise/movie appearances. It definitely doesn't have great optics given that they were female-led series, but Marvel has banked enough credit in that department with the likes of Captain Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Gwen, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Ms. Marvel, and the still female-led Thor and Iron Man that they can come out of this not looking too bad. Iceman is the only other solo title with an LGBTQ-lead that comes to mind though, so they should probably start thinking about that.

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