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