Warning: SPOILERS for Ghost-Spider #1
Ghost-Spider (formerly known as Spider-Gwen) may have one of the best looking suits in comics, but it has one truly disgusting secret–one that Spider-Man has finally explained in full thanks to her new series debut, Ghost-Spider #1.
If fans aren’t aware, Gwen’s suit isn’t just a uniform made from standard fabrics. It is actually a form of alien symbiote, but is different from the others Marvel fans know since it’s technically made up of symbiote spiders. Which means that it comes with all sorts of unexpected powers and abilities–and just as many secrets. So when Gwen recently started started suffering with some power loss or hammered abilities, she wasn’t sure how to diagnose or fix them. Now the brilliant Spider-Man has a theory: her suit is… hungry.
Yes, Spider-Gwen is, quite literally, starving her spider suit. Thanks to the arrival of Venom on film, the average comic fan know that a symbiote’s hunger is a force to be reckoned with. Now Gwen knows exactly why her powers have been less and less reliable (as her life has gotten more and more hectic). As Peter explains, her suit gets nutrients from what she eats, and when she isn’t eating enough, her suit gets hungry and underperforms as a result of being underfed.
Running around and fighting bad guys, swinging from building to building, and all that superhero stuff burns calories. Like a LOT of calories. Spider-Man points out to Gwen that not only is she not eating enough for her symbiote suit, she isn’t even eating enough for herself. But even more disgusting is what her spider suit craves. When Gwen jokes about buying it a pizza, Spider-Man points out that it likely wouldn’t enjoy that. Instead the symbiote is most efficiently nourished by cellulose. Lucky for Gwen, humans don’t actually digest cellulose. So instead of passing it, the symbiotes have been silently eating it for her. Then doing the best that it can on what little it has.
Symbiotes have a habit of doing whatever necessary to be the one in control over their host. Spider-Man warns Gwen that while she needs to take care of her suit, of her symbiote, she needs to be careful. At no point should she let the balance tip in the favor of her symbiote, or she just might lost control. And if she does, there is no telling what might happen. Can Gwen get her suit the nutrients it needs without crossing that boundary? And will it help solve her power issues? Find out in Ghost-Spider #2, on shelves September 25th!
Ghost-Spider #1 is available now at your local comic shop, or direct from Marvel Comics.
