written by Zeb Wells
penciled by Ed McGuinness
inked by Cliff Rathburn
colored by Marcio Menyz
After taking down Venom last issue, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man finds himself confronted with the author of all his current misery, Ben Reilly, aka Chasm, and inevitable fisticuffs ensue. What Peter doesn't know, however, is that Ben has an ace up his sleeve that almost guarantees him victory in this fight. Meanwhile, the Goblin Queen continues to put her plan into motion, aided by Hallow's Eve.
It is a continuing pleasure to see Ed McGuinness's artwork adoring this book, which is as good here as it has ever been. He has an extraordinary eye for action sequences and his character work is pretty much second to none. With all due respect to Patrick Gleason, who illustrated the last throwdown between Peter Parker and Ben Reilly a little under a year ago in fine style, Ed's work here is really exceptional.
All that said, I am really not a fan of how Marvel is continuing to tarnish Ben Reilly as a character. This story actually has him attempting to gaslight Peter when narrating his own version of how the Beyond Saga ended, which is played partly for laughs but is also clearly intended to push him further into villain territory. I genuinely regret missing out on Dark Web #1, where Ben finally dished out some much-deserved payback to Norman Osborn for, well, killing him, but I'm really not keen on where I think this story is going for Ben.
Is this really the best Marvel can do with character, i.e. make him a villain or an also-ran hero, like he was in the short-lived, Peter David-written series based on Las Vegas? I have to wonder why they even brought him back in the first place if all they could do was this weird ping-pong act with him. Teaming him up with Madelyne Pryor, a character who was similarly treated by Marvel editorial, was an interesting move, but doesn't really feel like it'll be all that rewarding in the long term. I dearly hope he doesn't end up a pile of dust in Peter's hands again. He deserves better.
If I may venture a suggestion, why can't they set up Ben up as a character based overseas? Having Peter do the whole globetrotting thing in Dan Slott's "Worldwide" story felt a tad goofy and out-of-character for Peter, but having Ben skulking around the back alleys of Europe or even Asia as a super-powered mercenary or something like that could definitely work out. Maybe he could be sent to a universe where Peter Parker is dead, or something like that.
Just my two cents, for whatever they're worth in today's global economy.
Anyway, I'm still sticking around for more McGuinness magnificence!
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment