Nadia’s recruiting mission goes on hold as she races to find an answer to Ying’s Red Room problems. It seems her neck has been implanted with an explosive device, and if she doesn’t bring Nadia back, the outcome will be, well, not so good. Can she save her best friend from the clutches of the Red Room and from blowing her top? Is Amanda Waller working for Marvel now? Let’s find out.
Priorities, Jarvis
The issue opens with Jarvis driving Nadia and Ying madly through the city streets. He seems to be more stressed about Nadia’s seat belt being buckled than about the explosive device in Ying’s head. Meanwhile, Nadia is calling every G.I.R.L. recruit she’s talked to in the previous four issues (except for Moon Girl, but she’s got other things going on).
Once everyone’s buckled in safely, Jarvis really starts driving. Panels with Nadia and Ying being thrown around the backseat are juxtaposed with each G.I.R.L. recruit scrambling to answer the call. Jarvis gets to the Pym house moments before Taina and her sister. The rest trickle in while Ying struggles with humor by telling everyone she’s an assassin in a “fun” way by joking that she’ll have to kill them, har har (We didn’t say she was good at it). Coffee and chai are passed around and the G.I.R.L. team is underway.
G.I.R.L.s in Action
Nadia illustrates their back story using the chalkboard, and after a few more jokes (in bad taste) the team begins frantically working on solutions. What follows is quite possibly one of the most impressive two-page spreads from recent memory. There is so much going on that we had to stop for awhile just to take it all in. In two pages, several hours of brainstorming, and tinkering (and face-stuffing) take place before one by one, tired and exhausted, the girls all drop off to sleep. All that in two pages. We’re still looking at it to get all the fun details.
In the morning the doorbell rings, and Jarvis answers. It’s friendly neighborhood lawyer Matt Murdoch ready to take Nadia to her citizenship hearing. Unfortunately for Matt, Nadia never thinks about herself if someone else is in need. She won’t go with him until Ying’s bomb trouble is solved.
Before Matt can wrap his head around this situation, all the phones in the house start ringing. Super weird, right? It’s Nadia’s “Mother”, the mysterious leader of the Red Room. She’s come to bargain for Nadia’s return, and if Nadia refuses, well, BOOM.
Of course, Nadia being Nadia, she doesn’t hesitate. She suits up in her Wasp gear and gets ready to turn herself in. She will buy the G.I.R.L. team time to fix Ying’s head while she stalls Mother. Ying protests, but to no avail. If Nadia doesn’t make it, she’s sure the G.I.R.L.s will carry on her legacy without her. Could we love her more? No. No, we could not.
Oh, that last page is so chilling. Why do we have to wait a month to find out what happens?
Continued Excellence
The Unstoppable Wasp continues its streak of being awesome. Just when it might be in danger of being too sweet and silly, it brings on the heavy. Whitley and company know what they are doing. It’s been fun watching Nadia put her team together. Last month we started to get a sense of Nadia’s past, and the regret she feels at having to use violence. This week we get more details about her and Ying’s past trauma. It’s amazing that after what Nadia has been through that she is still as good as she is. She truly is an inspiration.
The artwork this month is stepping things up big time. Charretier’s pencilwork is really showing us what she can do, from the cute and fun, to action, to the truly grotesque. (For real, that last page gave us goosebumps). Likewise the colorwork with its deliberate sublety is too good to ignore. We especially liked the panels where Ying jokingly threatens the team, and the background is bathed in crimson.
Oh yes, one more thing. That two-page spread is just phenomenal. We had to mention it twice (once for each page).
Next month, Nadia faces off with Mother while her team rushes to fix Ying. Can the G.I.R.L. lab pull it off? We can’t wait to find out.
Fandomentals rating: 8/10 cups of chai
The Unstoppable Wasp #5 Credits
Writer: Jeremy Whitley
Artist: Elsa Charretier
Color Artist: Megan M. Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
