Nicely Tying Up Loose Ends: A Review of Devil's Reign

 written by Chip Zdarsky

drawn by Marco Checchetto

colored by Marcio Menyz

Anyone who has read this blog for the last four years or so knows how little love I have for Chip Zdarsky's run on Daredevil, which kicked off in 2018 with Marco Checchetto on art duties, in which he has had Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, do some pretty crazy things like commit manslaughter, get into a fistfight with a police officer, sleep with a mobster's wife, all things that, if I'm perfectly frank, I feel Matt Murdock would never do, no matter how screwed up he is. A lot of these "shockers" bothered me because it felt a lot like Zdarsky was basically writing a lot of these things for their shock value rather than any real narrative benefit. 

Now, the "Devil's Reign" miniseries, written by Zdarsky and drawn by Checchetto, actually goes a pretty long way towards making amends for his mischaracterization of Matt during his run on the book. In it, the long-running saga of Wilson Fisk serving as Mayor of New York City, which was first introduced by Zdarsky's writing predecessor Charles Soule, finally comes to a head. Heroes clash with villains, and Fisk attempts to weaponize the mind-control powers of Zebediah Killgrave, aka the Purple Man, in a way that has never been done before.  Long-running story threads, like the fate of Mike Murdock, a magical "clone" conjured up by the Asgardian Norn stones (also during Soule's tenure) and his relationship with Butch, Fisk's illegitimate son, are also tied up in pretty definitive fashion.  There's a nice mix of old and new in the proceedings, and of course, having a whole bunch of superheroes punching a whole bunch of supervillians never hurt things any.

I've enjoyed Marco Checchetto's art on this book, and while I still preferred his older work on Daredevil with Mark Waid, which I felt had cleaner linework, he definitely does this "event" justice, maintaining a consistent standard of quality all throughout, and notably finishing the entire story both more or less time and without any other artist alternating with him, a rarity in comics nowadays.

The story threatens to bring about another Superhero Registration Act, also known as the legislation which brought about "Civil War," and its notably grim ending but without spoiling anything (at least not specifically) I can say I was really pleasantly surprised by the direction this story took. It's solidly-structured, clean storytelling, the kind I haven't seen too often in this era of multi-part epics and sprawling crossover events.  I know "Devil's Reign" has its own crossover elements that are mentioned every now and again in the main story, but it stands pretty well on its own as a piece of standalone narrative.

I also genuinely appreciate the fact that, even as Zdarsky opened a new chapter in Matt Murdock's life, he took the opportunity presented by this event to put a period on a lot of ongoing plot threads that, to be frank, had somewhat overstayed their welcome.  Even though he's still at the helm of the book for the series relaunch in a couple of months (along with Checchetto), I dare say I'm looking foward to his work this time.

9/10

The Fate of Ben Reilly and Beyond: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #93 (Spoiler Alert)

written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Patrick Gleason

colored by Bryan Valenza

And thus arrived the moment I had been anticipating with both excitement and dread for the last nine months: the ultimate fate of Ben Reilly.

Ben Reilly, having lost a whole chunk of his memories due to the tampering of Beyond, who basically lobotomized Ben when it became clear he was no longer on board with their corporate mandate, is a man on a mission; to recover who he is. He will let no one stand in his way, not even the person to whom the memories actually belong: Peter Parker.  Their confrontation takes place at Beyond's HQ, which, upon the order of Maxine Danger, is currently being scrubbed clean of any trace of the Spider-Man program with a dangerous chemical now flowing through the complex.  It's a heck of a showdown, and only one Spider-man will emerge from it. 

Marvel were quite transparent going in that this Ben Reilly story was going to be a finite storyline rather than the status quo shakeup that the 1990s Clone Saga was originally envisioned to be, and as a result I really wondered how this was going to end.  Some comics news outlets have spoiled the outcome, but I won't. It is an ending quite fitting for a character as tragic as Ben Reilly is, and it genuinely feels like something that's been given a lot of thought, which is especially gratifying since, following his resurrection in "The Clone Conspiracy" it really didn't feel like Marvel knew what the heck they were doing with the character.  Without giving too much away, the solution they've found here feels, more than anything they've tried before, like they're really giving Ben a distinct identity, and I'm really interested to see how long they can keep this up. So yeah, minor spoiler, he doesn't die, but what happens to him is arguably far more intriguing. 

The real reward here, however, is Patrick Gleason's glorious art, which bookends the entire saga, and which we get for thirty-plus glorious pages.  I really love how this guy's art style has evolved over the last couple years since he first came on board to draw Spidey's adventures for Nick Spencer. He's absolutely firing on all cylinders here.  It's rare that a comic book adorned with a cover by Arthur Adams but drawn by someone else has even better art on the inside, so when it actually happens, it's especially gratifying.  I would really, really love to see this guy illustrate an entire Spider-Man story arc. Six issues, no fill-in artists. Please, at some point, make it happen, Marvel. 

I'm really happy to see Zeb Wells, who's been around for a long time but has been rather unheralded as a writer, finally get his due as one of the better Spider-writers out there. He's not quite one of my favorites but he's definitely written his share of memorable stories, and I'm genuinely looking forward to his reboot of the book with John Romita Jr.  

9/10

 

Rating the "Beyond" Spin-Offs of "The Amazing Spider-Man:" Good Reads or Wastes of Ink and Paper?

 

written by Jed MacKay, Geoffrey Thorne, Zeb Wells, and Cody Ziglar

 drawn by Elonora Carlini, Jan Bazaldua, Jim Towe, Luigi Zagaria, Bruno Oliveira, Fran Galan and Mark Bagley 

Having written about eighteen of the nineteen issues of the "Beyond" saga that has featured in "The Amazing Spider-Man" for the last five months, and just before I write my review of its conclusion in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #93, I would like to share my thoughts on three of the four "Beyond" tie-ins that I bought, which were numbered as #78.BEY, #88.BEY and #92.BEY. There was one issue featuring Doc Ock and Aunt May, but I missed that one. They all spin out of events from the main book, but it's not really necessary to read them to understand what's going on in the main title. There is one reunion I liked quite a bit, though. 

The first of these side stories features the Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, also known as the Daughters of the Dragon, who on the surface work for Beyond as Ben Reilly's support team, but who, when asked to perform an errand for Beyond to retrieve some missing tech, report to their true employer.   

The second issue I have narrates how one-time Prowler Hobie Brown came to lead a reunion of the original Slingers, a bunch of young heroes who assumed a quartet of abandoned superhero identities that Spider-Man assumed sometime in the 1990s when he was on the run.  This time, though, the Slingers work for Beyond.  

Finally, and most gratifyingly, the last issue features a Nextwave reunion of sorts as Monica recruits her former teammate Aaron Stack, aka Machine Man, to help her kick Beyond's ass.  Chaos ensues. 

During Nick Spencer's run, I found all of the "adjacent" issues that ran alongside the main story irritating as they really cluttered the narrative and well, made collecting more expensive than it needed to be.  These issues  show that Marvel has learned from that as they only came out every few months and contained what were pretty much "done-in-one" stories which were pretty well made and entertaining in their own right. They weren't anything particularly special, but I did get a genuine kick out the Nextwave quasi-reunion.

7/10  

"Beyond" Salvation: Reviewing the Last Few Issues of the "Beyond" Saga in "The Amazing Spider-Man."

 written by Jed MacKay, Patrick Gleason, Kelly Thompson, Zeb Wells

drawn by Carlos Gomez, Mark Bagley, Sara Pichelli, Michael Dowling 

With "Beyond" just having concluded and a brand new era for Spider-Man just around the corner, I thought I'd give a quick look back at the story that Marvel's brain trust came up with to lead us to this moment; a five-month story featuring Spider-Clone Ben Reilly and culminating with his chilling fate.  I've already reviewed the first twelve issues, and now I'll focus on the next half-dozen. The finale in issue #93 will get its own review.

Basically, after having found out that Beyond has been playing him for a fool, Ben Reilly's world starts to unravel, and when he turns to Dr. Ashley Kafka (or the clone of the late Ashley Kafka) for help, Beyond takes action against them both. Dr. Kafka is in for a frightening transformation, while Ben is in for a hell of a fight against more of the horrors squirreled away in Beyond's headquarters. Meanwhile, Peter manages to to slowly but surely get back in shape with the help not only of his actual nurse but some very special "therapists," the Black Cat and Captain America. 

For the entirety of this arc I've found myself impressed at how tight the storytelling has felt. Even though this arc goes through four different writers in the course of six issues, I can't help but be impressed at how focused they remain, and how each writer's voice feels consistent with the last.  It's ironic considering how scatterbrained Nick Spencer's storytelling felt during his sprawling "Sins Past" saga. 

What's genuinely compelling about this relatively compact saga is how it really brings into focus the problem Ben Reilly faces, not just in the world he lives in but, in a more "meta" sense, as a character who, since his resurrection, Marvel really don't know how to handle. When Dan Slott brought him back as a bad guy over five years ago, fans of the second clone saga cheered, but when a new series featuring him living in Las Vegas (and written by no less than Peter David) failed to take off, Marvel were left with the problem of what exactly to do with him. Killing him off again wasn't really an option, but neither was making him Spider-Man 2.0, especially since there are already two Spider-Men running around, each one different enough from the other to justify his separate existence. Ben Reilly, however despite being "grunged up" and given a bad guy's baggage, was always still just a Peter clone.

"Beyond" is leading up to something distinct, literally erasing Ben's cloned memories as Peter Parker and leading him someplace he's never been before, and it's interesting to read. 

On the art front, Sara Pichelli and Michael Dowling are joined by Spider-Man legend Mark Bagley and Carlos Gomez, so it's decent, but without Patrick Gleason around the visual flair from the first six issues feels distinctly absent.  I've said this before and I'll saying it again; I am grateful that the next rotating art team on this book are set to consist (so far) of legendary artists John Romita Jr. and Ed McGuinness, because that's a team that I know can deliver the goods.

7.5/10

The Continued Tribulations of Ben Reilly: A (Belated) Review of "Beyond" (Chapters Seven to Twelve)

 written by Saladin Ahmed, Patrick Gleason, Cody Ziglar and Zeb Wells

drawn by Ze Gomez, Gleason, Paco Medina, and Michael Dowling

With the "Beyond" era of "The Amazing Spider-Man" having just concluded with issue #93 (or #894, depending on how one counts) I thought it worth looking back at the last thirteen or so issues that have comprised the latest saga of the infamous Spider-Clone, Ben Reilly. Here's a review of five of the six issues that basically formed the "middle" of the Beyond saga. I had already previously reviewed issue #82, so that won't feature here.

With the combined talents of Saladin Ahmed, Patrick Gleason, Cody Ziglar and Zeb Well, and artists Carlos Gomez, Gleason, Paco Medina and Michael Dowling, telling Ben's story, it can't help but be compelling. 

Over the course of these issues, Ben has a run-in with the *other* other Spider-Man, Miles Morales, as Beyond tries to have him enforce their ownership of the "Spider-Man" brand. Peter tries (and fails) to get back into Spidey-swinging action in an entertaining one-off written AND drawn by Patrick Gleason (more on him later), and Ben has a run-in with Otto Octavius, who built the Parker Foundation that Beyond bought at the beginning of this run, and who tells Ben quite a few of the secrets that Beyond has been keeping from him, revelations that shake Ben to his very core. 

Considering how awful it was to wade through Nick Spencer's bloated run with multiple artists, which resulted in an extremely disjointed storytelling experience, I'm really surprised at how this new "brain trust" managed to keep things together for this long.  There's a real cohesiveness to the narrative, especially considering that the writers never lose track of the main story thread, which is how Ben Reilly is on a collision course with disaster.

As good as I find the writing, though, the art is a bit more cluttered to look at, especially considering how Gleason's single issue in this story absolutely stands out. I really, really would have preferred to see more of Gleason's work throughout this whole series; he and Sara Pichelli are the only real A-list artists in this entire roster, though I'm sure some people will make a case for Mark Bagley.  I'm really, really glad to know that John Romita Jr. will be coming back to these pages soon, because there is really something to be said for real consistency in artwork. The first six issues managed a more or less consistent visual style with Gleason, Pichelli and to a lesser extent, Michael Dowling splitting up the art chores, but here the quality of the art varies kind of widely.

Anyway, this six-issue arc still managed to be an engaging read.

7/10