Robbi Rodriguez, co-creator of the Spider-Gwen comics, announced last year that he would be leaving not only the series, but likely the business as well. At the time it was thought that he would do so following the Gwenom arc; however, we now know otherwise. A statement from Rodriguez himself during Ultimate Spin podcast goes “I guess this is the exclusive news I can tell you guys, is that I’ll actually be sticking around for one more arc after Gwenom.” So hold off on those farewell montages for a while longer. We don’t even have a set date or issue number yet, after all.
While Rodriguez might be retiring, we’re not sure about Spider-Gwen‘s other mastermind, Jason Latour. Will he remain to work on Spider-Gwen alongside a new artist, or does this new to-be final arc herald the end of the series? Barring any confirmation from the creators, readers might have to look for clues in the books themselves. It’s still pretty early to guess – the Gwenom arc just started with the latest issue, after all.
Currently, in issue #25, Gwen is bonded with the Venom symbiote and becomes Gwenom. The creators have said outright that this won’t just be some temporary thing that will go away eventually – it will have permanent repercussions even if Gwen manages to separate. The situation is weirdly ironic to Rodriguez’s planned split.
Perhaps Gwen and Venom will un-unite just like the creators. Or maybe the bonding will be permanent as a representation of their shared ownership of the series. Either way, the current arc would have been a meaningful place at which to leave off. It’s hard to see what this is going to build up to, but with one creator leaving and Gwen fused with Venom, it will certainly be the end of something.
Spider-Gwen #26 releases November 29.