I'm pretty sure Gwenpool isn't Gwen Stacy. I think she's meant to be like some girl from the "real" world who winds up in comics. Her being named Gwen is to cash in on the popularity of the surprisingly successful Spider-Gwen.
The last I heard Gwenpool is based on Heather Antos.
In the comic canon "Gwenpool" is not actually Gwen Stacy, however it's basically Gwen Stacy.
There was a cosplayer who dressed up as "Spider-Gwen" before there was a Spider-Gwen and that was someone at Marvel saw the idea and decided to make a comic of it. It was a little bit of a hit and to celebrate the success, Marvel rolled out ~ 20 or so comics with variant covers with different "Gwen" versions (like a Gwen-Doctor Strange, Gwen-hulk, etc). The "Gwen" version of Deadpool became popular in cosplay circles to a point where Marvel decided to make a story about that. Once they started to make a few issues they moved away from it being Gwen Stacy (her name actually being "Gwen Poole") and when she took off her mask they had her look different and suspiciously like a bit of a self-insert of the comic's editor (Heather Antos) although that was not the plan going in.
So what made Manga different and age better than comic books? Haven't read comic books yet, but I'm surprised how different those two markets are, ignoring cultural differences. Are Japanese people just oldfags who read from very old media? Is it because they have better marketing? Is it because of the titties plastered in each panel? Is there any reason why Manga's are seemingly more diverse, memorable and accessible despite looking more trashy in general; like, I don't want to be caught reading a manga than a comic book? How did this divergence begin? Why did Comic market take a different fate than the Manga market? I'm not asking why they are different, but rather when and why did the markets become different.
Ignoring cultural differences is hard because they're important, but to boil it down to it's simplest elements I would say as much.
Manga is more creative and more free-form than Comics are. Both can be "tropey" and "samey" but Comics substantially more than Manga; primarily because comics are often written by different people at different times and are frequently written "by committee". Manga usually goes until it's "done" where as comics are a franchise that have been going on forever. I can't stress enough that there are
80 years worth of Superman and Batman comics.
It's a bit of a simplification but most major comics for the last
80 years have followed a formula of "a person with a good heart reluctantly has to use their extra-ordinary power to stop people from committing evil at some personal cost." - This is Superman, this is The Hulk, this is Iron Man, this is Spider Man, this is Captain America, this is any superhero that has a message of "with great power comes great responsibility" which is nearly all of them. Because Comics are franchises not much happens over time in them, Superman has similar problems now to the problems he had in 1950. Additionally, they all fight crime which takes place in modern cities so most superheroes are based out of some fictional version of a major city (or just a real version of it).
Manga has similar tropes, but not nearly as many fit into the same neat little box as comics nor is the trope as limiting. The Manga trope is a "a very young person (usually a boy) discovers or cultivates a power that propels them into an adventure" which is a little more vague. Some of those adventures take Manga characters through a ninja society (Naruto), through a spirit realm (Bleach), or through all kinds of different nonsense (Dragonball). Although there are hardships, most Manga protagonists are active participants in their adventures and typically enjoy the things they do instead being burdened with it like in Comics.
Manga has a much deeper sense of progression because the stories aren't meant to go on forever like in Comics. Naruto (a long series in it's own right) follows the titular character from boyhood to manhood, from fledgling ninja trainee to full on leader of the ninja clans. The "new" Naruto comic is centered around his son, Boruto having his own coming of age tale and will (likely) deal with living in the shadow of a great man. Dragonball has a similar progression; from a young Goku as an aspiring martial artist to a much older one training to become a demi-god. Though the series Goku also becomes a father (to Gohan) and a grandfather (to Pan). Vegeta goes through an arc as a villan, than an ally, then also becomes a father of his own.
Comics don't have a sense of progression or even a sense of cohesion because they're constantly changing and "retconning" (declaring that previous things didn't happen and aren't canon). Comic writers aren't able to solidify arcs or tell straight stories because they typically don't own the characters they write for. For example, did Superman die? No he came back. Did Batman kill the Joker? No, that was a side thing. Instead of dying did Gwen Stacy become a spider-man instead? Yeah, in a different universe though. There's so many time jumps, alternate dimensions, and side stories it's hard to keep track of what characters actually do and it's hard to be invested when cool things they've done could become meaningless at a later date. To get around this there are numbers of "dimensions" where these characters exist and variant characters are said to exist in other dimensions. Currently (and generally) comic writers aren't very good at writing which compounds the problem even worse. Here are some later additions to comic book stories.
- A version of Ironman (called Iron Heart) that centers around RiRi Williams, a young black teen who is capable of making a better Iron Man suit and is smarter than Tony Stark. She also has no character flaws.
- A version of The Hulk that centers around a Korean Hulk that is even smarter, younger, and handsomer than Bruce Banner. He also does not have an Anger problem and can turn into the Hulk at-will, eliminating any conflict created by having a hard-to-control power.
- A version of Thor where Thor is a female scientist (Jane Foster, if you've seen the Thor movies). Instead of being smart or scientific, Jane immediately becomes a "girly girl" who likes making out with boys and shutting down "mansplainers". I wish I was joking.
There are several version of these that Marvel is staring to walk back due to dismal sales, but the problem remains there is only so much you can do with one character. Even if there were avenues for growth with these nearly-century-old characters; Marvel doesn't appear to have anyone working there with talent to bring it to life.
Manga is also substantially more fun. Fun in Comics is limited to a few degress of "wacky" with the most "fun" character being Deadpool, who's power is that he is aware he is in a comic book and breaks the fourth wall. At one point Marvel though this was so funny they were running 5 Deadpool comics a month; running it into the ground at a record pace. There are, a few fun things here and there in Comics (one good example - there's a Japanese version of Spider-man that has a fucking megazord that shows up from time to time) but generally not fun.
Manga however can go completely
off the rails. The manga linked is about an over the top series of mahjong (think Japanese poker) battles with the main character being
an actual Japanese prime minister - not a metaphor it's the real fucking guy. Not only does it not stop there, but it only starts there. From that same manga here's
FUCKING GEORGE W BUSH (not to be confused with GEORGE H W BUSH). Putin shows up,
the pope shows up, SUPER SAIYIN ADOLF HITLER SHOWS UP.
I could probably write a lot more words on this, but I think I should stop here as it's already borderline :autism:.
