Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones #1-5

Spider-Gwen: Shadow Clones

Rate this book
Collects Shadow Clones (2023) #1-5. Ghost-Spider faces her own clone saga! Gwen Stacy comes face to face with some of the deadliest Spider-Man villains of all - including Doctor Octopus, Sandman and the Vulture! But wait - why do they all look like Gwen?! And what do these hybrid clones all want with the original? Luckily, with Reed Richards' help, Gwen is about to get some answers! Unluckily, the clones just keep on coming! Even worse, a mastermind is lurking in the shadows, just waiting to strike! But who could hate Gwen Stacy - all Gwen Stacys - this much? And how will their quest for vengeance threaten the entire Multiverse? Don't miss this pivotal chapter in the ever-surprising life of Ghost-Spider!

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2023

8 people are currently reading
76 people want to read

About the author

Emily Kim

52 books9 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
32 (14%)
4 stars
62 (27%)
3 stars
99 (44%)
2 stars
27 (12%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for Jim Ef.
440 reviews105 followers
April 12, 2024
5.2/10

Spider-Gwen fights a bunch of her clones created by the villain of this story ( which i genuinely forgot her name or the way she looks ). That's pretty much it.

I won't say this is bad but it's very bland. There are some nice moments when Gwen is talking with the clones and i didn't got bored.

Gwen is an interesting character with a great costume that has a lot of potential, but they have to put her in better stories ( look at the Spider-Verse movies .
Profile Image for Anna  Quilter.
1,691 reviews53 followers
October 31, 2024
Obviously Marvel likes to cram a lot of Spider Gwen's in their books and this is no exception.

Love the art...and the story has its moments..it hovers just out of all ages range..with some violence and slightly scary stuff.

Though Spider Gwen needs to settle down and and get some evolving continuity and her own title.
Profile Image for Caleb Kovalenko.
121 reviews
August 24, 2023
I'm starting to feel like Marvel doesn't care what stories they tell with Gwen, even though she already had great character arcs in previous runs. Please get a writer who actually cares about the character and make sure it actually fits to tell the story after everything she went through.
Profile Image for Ellamia:).
46 reviews
February 1, 2025
I enjoyed this one, I thought the ending was really wholesome and cute.
Profile Image for sunkissedmiranda.
265 reviews16 followers
August 17, 2023
1/5 Stars.

This book was bad. Not just "eh, not really my thing" bad. It was "oh my god what absolute GARBAGE did my eyes just read and is there a way for my to travel back in time to stop myself from reading it" bad.

Unfortunately, the writer does not know Earth-65 Gwen Stacy. She apparently has no idea what happened in her previous runs. She does not know that Glory Grant is her best friend on the Mary Janes, not Mary Jane herself. She does not know that Gwen used to kick Flash's ass whenever he tried to bully Peter or Harry. She does not know Gwen Stacy took down the LITERAL KINGPIN. She does not know she went to JAIL FOR A YEAR.

Now, how do *I* know this? Because the writer of this book states (through Gwen's own mouth) Gwen Stacy is not confident. Gwen Stacy has trouble talking to boys. Gwen Stacy STILL doesn't know who she is and what she wants to be. And I'm flabbergasted. I'm appalled.

Into the Gwenverse wasn't good, but it was better than this garbage. The fact that we got this book RIGHT AFTER ITG shows the Spider-Gwen writers have either run out of ideas or have no idea what to do with Earth-65 because they lack innovation or creativity. They don't know what to do with Gwen other than show us alternate versions of what she could have been. This shit is so meta and I'm literally so fed up with it. These themes continue to be hammered into Spider-Gwen's storyline but they just continue to get worse AND WORSE. The original Spider-Gwen run did it better and MacGuire's first Ghost-Spider run did it pretty well, too. Everything else has watered the themes down and, consequently, watered down Gwen's personality, too. She doesn't feel like a real person anymore - she's just some bumbling cutesy mess that needs clones of herself to "learn" how to be confident or remember she's not alone (when she had already learned those lessons in her original runs).

Also, the villain is garbage and the way she creates the clones is garbage, especially when the machine can somehow tell when blood spilled on the ground that's been sitting there for HOURS is from a source that is currently alive (because, apparently, the machine doesn't work on a whole ass dead body, a lifetime of journals, and years of video recordings. okay).

Anyway done talking about this. Save your time or reread the original run of Spider-Gwen if you want more Gwen Stacy in your life. This just flat out sucked.
Profile Image for Chris Lemmerman.
Author 7 books124 followers
October 15, 2023
Clones! Everybody loves clones! Especially Spider-Man-related characters! Cloooones!

The idea here is sound. Gwen faces off against clones of herself crossed with Sinister Six members. Some are good, some are evil, all are fun. I think the problem lies in the fact that the actual villain of the piece is some faceless character we've never seen before; even if her motivation makes sense, she still feels like an Aha! moment that doesn't land, unfortunately.

The artwork's neat, Kei Zama gives each Gwen a distinctive look and feel, and you can tell from their body language how new they are to their strange bodies.

Not bad, but held back a little. The Jackal's not in this clone saga, but it might have worked better if he was.
Profile Image for Adam Fisher.
3,607 reviews24 followers
January 2, 2024
A very unique spin on a very familiar superhero story...
While fighting Earth-616's Sinister Six on Earth-65, Gwen causes collateral damage, but is praised for saving the city. Unbeknownst to her, the damage destroyed the life of Dr. Lyla Bennett: destroyed her research and lab, killed her husband, and disfigured her. Lyla was studying genetics and had figured out a way to send whole personalities and memories into a cloned body, potentially allowing someone to live forever. Combine cloning, Gwen and villains DNA, and a vendetta, and you get Gwen clones with the same powerset as the Sinister Six.
Overall, a really fun story. Familiar, but also well written and executed enough to be entertaining.
Recommend.
Profile Image for Ross.
1,547 reviews
September 19, 2023
Spider-Gwen...Ghost Spider..Gwen Stacy...

Marvel knows her by a different name:
CASH COW!

This story is bad. The art style is anime influenced, but shakey and uneven. The story makes HUGE leaps in logic. The more they write about Spider-Gwen's universe, the more I don't ....ever want a story set there again. That universe is just badly written. I'd argue that most of Spider-Gwen's stories are badly thought out.

Is it the writers fault because they aren't giving it strong legs to stand on, or is Marvel to blame because they designed a shakey history/premise?

Either way, this is a hard pass. Find someone who can make something engaging to the whole of her fanbase. Please.
Profile Image for Rhys Causon.
987 reviews2 followers
July 31, 2025
Once again, I’ve found that dipping into a Spider-Gwen story is enjoyable and this seemed to have fun with its own premise more than some comic stories I’ve read.

Especially because when it comes to cloning stories and Spider-Man characters they usually don’t end up being good in my opinion. I would much rather have multiverse characters than clones but these Gwen Stacy clones were different enough from the Ghost Spider that it helped move the story along quickly rather than have it get bogged down in details and exposition.
Profile Image for FrontalNerdaty .
480 reviews9 followers
December 3, 2023
The concept of this story (lots of Gwen clones) did not interest me and I wrote it off as Marvel trying to keep Gwen relevant with pointless mini series BUT I was mostly wrong. The story … works. It’s set in Gwen’s world and helps give her some of her own villains/ builds her rogue gallery up.

As always the art is a little inconsistent with plenty of artist swaps but their styles mostly compliment each other so it works.

3/5
Profile Image for Sohxpie .
357 reviews
February 6, 2025
I was initially a little concerned that this was just going to be Gwen-verse but with villains. And it is, a little. Luckily the story is different enough that it does feel more like a continuation of Gwen-verse, and not just because of the references back to it. Overall, it's an enjoyable story. As always, the artwork is on point, I especially loved looking at the art at the back, some of the pictures there are really cool.
Profile Image for yana.
129 reviews
October 24, 2023
3.5ish
I liked the writing, the Gwen interactions, and some of the art. Other parts of the art were weird as all hell, like Gwen had those tiny plastic hands people use in memes... and the faces had nonsensical profile proportions. Love the colours though. The villain is both cliche and convincingly disturbing.
Profile Image for viv reads whatever.
209 reviews
August 16, 2024
Gwen: “And if they get hurt? Because of me?"

Gwen Ock: “Then you keep going. Because that’s the price you pay as Ghost-Spider. But if anyone can handle it, it’s Gwen Stacy.


What a fantastic read! I enjoyed this way more than Gwenverse. This one had a great set up for future Gwen stories.
Profile Image for Scott.
Author 13 books24 followers
November 7, 2025
After Gwenverse, it was pleasing that all the clones didn't die at the end. The artwork was interesting. Gwen looks really haggard throughout. I think the look was modeled more on Romita's version than previously, which makes sense since she's older and in college now, but she just looks really weary from the beginning with no real explanation.
Profile Image for Christine.
284 reviews3 followers
February 3, 2024
I'll read an ensemble book with Spider-Gwen and like it. Then, I'll read a solo book and I'm disappointed every time. I don't know if she's just not a good solo character or if writers don't know how to write her. I think she's being squandered as a character.
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,060 followers
February 14, 2024
Bring in the clones because everything needs to be derivative. Gwen gets crossed with each member of the Sinister Six. It's all really bland. So is the art. Getting real tired of bad Spider books from Marvel. Maybe slow down and work on quality over quantity.
Profile Image for Alyce Caswell.
Author 18 books21 followers
May 13, 2024
Once again, Gwen has to team up with the versions of herself. Sigh. Please, can we have a different type of story for Gwen? Anything but this? I'm so over it. BUT - the clones were an interesting attempt to freshen up the same old story and despite myself I did enjoy parts of this TPB.
Profile Image for Paul DePaola.
92 reviews4 followers
November 10, 2023
A decent story with a good message and some fun characters, makes a good companion to the previous story with Gwen and her Heroic versions
Profile Image for Samantha.
452 reviews4 followers
January 8, 2024
Basically the same as the hero Gwens, just the Sinister Six Gwens now...
Profile Image for Diamond Feit.
84 reviews
May 28, 2024
Not bad but it feels hollow when compared to the previous tale of Gwen meeting alternate heroic versions of herself.
Profile Image for Emma.
1,687 reviews9 followers
December 30, 2024
2.5 stars. The storyline was really good and the colours looked great but I just wasn't vibing with the art style. I feel it would have been much more enjoyable with a different artist.
8 reviews
September 28, 2025
I had low expectations for this and was pleasantly surprised! First comic I’ve finished in 1 sitting
Profile Image for Iain.
48 reviews1 follower
June 29, 2024
Absolutely not a four star book but I had more fun with this one than the last couple miniseries
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.