Payback: A (VERY) Late Review of Dark Web #1

 written by Zeb Wells

drawn by Adam Kubert

colored by Frank Martin

This is obviously a very late review, considering that I have already reviewed three subsequent chapters of the Spider-Man/X-Men crossover "Dark Web" but when I realized that the entire storyline would NOT end in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man but in an oversized bookend issue, I finally decided to go back and pick up the FIRST bookend, the one that started the whole thing, Dark Web #1, and I'm glad I did. For one thing, I finally have context for the events in The Amazing Spider-Man #15, like a seemingly primal Venom attacking Spider-Man, and the image of Ben Reilly aka Chasm standing over an unconscious Norman Osborn. 

Dark Web #1 (or Dark Web: Dusk) kicks off the ultimate clone team-up between Ben Reilly and Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblin Queen, to steal the souls/memories of their progenitors Peter Parker aka Spider-Man and Jean Grey. The issue kicks off with Ben having a nightmare about Peter Parker and Mary Jane basically taking away Ben's face and his very identity before shoving him into a store window as a faceless mannequin.  It then kicks into high gear very quickly as Madelyne directs the demons of Limbo to attack New York City, aided by Janine Godbe, now known as Hallow's Eve, Madelyne recruits a very reluctant Eddie Brock aka Venom, while Ben sets out to take down his very first target, none other than Norman Osborn.

I really appreciate this issue because it brings Ben Reilly and Norman Osborn together for the very first time since Osborn, freshly resurrected in the pages of 1996's Spider-Man #75, killed Ben, at the time seemingly for good.  For the first time since his resurrection, Ben finally gets to confront the man who sold him on a complete lie as to who he really was and then turned him into ashes.  This issue, especially the scene in which Ben Reilly really lets Osborn have it, was very cathartic for me.  Ben's abrupt and cruel fate in Spider-Man #75 well and truly left a bad taste in my mouth, one that lingered for twenty-six years, so seeing that injustice finally redressed was a form of satisfaction I never even knew that I needed.

It also helps that intermittent Spidey artist Adam Kubert draws this issue. I would have preferred art from John Romita Jr., who illustrated SM #75, to bring the whole Ben Reilly/Norman Osborn thing full circle, but Kubert's kinetic images are a good fit for Zeb Wells' fast-paced storytelling, even though the art does look a little rushed in a few pages.  The story, too, feels like it ends a tad abruptly, even though I know exactly what comes next.

Now that I'm all caught up, I'm ready for the final chapter of Dark Web.

8/10