The Unstoppable Wasp 1: Unstoppable!

Comic Info

Unstoppable Wasp (1) #1 Variant

Reprints Unstoppable Wasp (1) #1-4 and All-New, All-Different Avengers #14 (November 2016-June 2017).  Nadia is trying to adjust to life in the United States.  An escapee from the Russian Red Room, Nadia learns that female scientists aren’t encouraged in the United States and sets out to change that.  With her new group G.I.R.L., Nadia is tapping the newest and brightest women in science to grow and change the world…but sometimes she has to be a superhero.

Written by Jeremy Whitley, The Unstoppable Wasp Volume 1:  Unstoppable! is a Marvel Comics collection.  Spinning out of All-New, All-Different Avengers, the collection features art by Elsa Charretier.  Also included in the volume is All-New, All-Different Avengers #14 (November 2016) by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert.  The issues in the volume were also reprinted in The Unstoppable Wasp:  G.I.R.L. Power.

Marvel realized they had an image problem.  Not only were many of their heroes white, 20-40 something males, they were very few women or minorities in a changing comic book market and changing world.  The All-New, All-Different Avengers was an attempt to kind of change that look while providing superheroes that had ties to the original “classic” heroes…and Nadia is one of the results.

The collection presents a fun, empowering story, but it does suffer from the problem of quick turnaround.  Marvel spun the series off All-New, All-Different Avengers when the series was having traction issues, but it also made this collection too short.  As someone who hadn’t read too much of All-New, All-Different Avengers, I felt that the Nadia character barely has a chance to develop in these four issues and then it ends with little resolution.  Marvel probably knew that the series was going to be relaunched or should have had a plan to collect all eight issues of the series without putting out two collections…and at least give readers a complete story.

Unstoppable Wasp (1) #2 Variant

The other weird aspect of the collection is that the inclusion of All-New, All-Different Avengers #14 is good because it sets up the relationship between Jan, Nadia, and Jarvis, but it is in the wrong place.  It would have been nice to start out this collection with the issue (which is even referenced in the Unstoppable Wasp issues).  I realize that the collection wanted to dive into the Nadia storyline, but the “bonus” issue feels like it is part of the storyline that the reader needs to know before reading the Unstoppable Wasp issues.

Nadia seems like she has a lot of personality.  I like the character and think she has potential for being fun, but the collection also demonstrates a problem.  While Nadia’s personality is different than Moon Girl (who has her own series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), it sometimes feels that Marvel’s aim to diversify the comics misses the mark because diversifying simply means making smart female characters…and they don’t necessarily know what to do with them once they do.  While Moon Girl has demonstrated an interesting past and development, Nadia seems a little more aimless and in desperate need of her own personality and character (especially since Janet is still the Wasp as well).  I am interested to see where the character goes, but I do need it go somewhere…and I hope Nadia sets herself apart.  The Unstoppable Wasp 1:  Unstoppable! is followed by The Unstoppable Wasp 2:  Agents of G.I.R.L.