Life in Hell: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #17

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by Ed McGuinness

inked by Cliff Rathburn

colored by Marcio Menyz  

With Ben Reilly aka  Chasm having revealed that he had J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson trapped in Limbo, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man has agreed to stay in Limbo himself and live a out a twisted version of his life as a photographer for the Daily Bugle, with Madelyn Pryor's demons playing the parts of the Bugle staff. Offering him and his friends the chance to leave  Limbo, Ben tries to trick Peter into eating an apple that will steal his soul, but Peter won't go for it. Madelyne appears to be losing patience with Ben's mind games, which doesn't quite bode well for their partnership but Ben has one more trick up his sleeve to truly drive Peter crazy: a slightly altered version of the Sinister Six called the "Insidious Six." Ben's memory isn't what it used to be, after all. The potential fly in Ben's ointment, though, is a demon who has taken to hero-worshiping Peter and who may just have access to some super powers.  

At this point, I've kind of resigned myself to whatever Marvel has planned for Ben at this point, and am doing my best to enjoy this story. This issue is, to be fair, a fun read, with Ben's fragmented memory resulting in an amusingly distorted version of the Sinister Six, with equally amusing designs by Ed McGuinness. Except for the last few pages, there aren't any hard-hitting action sequences, but McGuinness' work is still a pleasure to look at.

Next issue marks the end of the Dark Web crossover in the pages of this title, and the end of the second story McGuinness has drawn for this run. After this it's two issues of Terry and Rachel Dodson, and then back to series mainstay John Romita Jr. for an arc that uncovers much of the mystery in which this new status quo has been shrouded. I remain hopeful to see more McGuinness work after that, because he really is just a blast on this book.

8/10

 

Self-Harm: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #16

 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

One for the Ages: A Review of Fantastic Four: Full Circle

 written and illustrated by Alex Ross

colors by Josh Johnson

I haven't really read a whole lot of comics illustrated by Alex Ross, having read only  Kingdom Come years ago, but few names are as recognizable to a comic book fan, so when I found out that Ross was drawing his first sequential work for Marvel since Marvels (which I haven't read, ironically enough for me) it was a must-have for me. It hit my wallet like no other single comic book ever has, but it was still worth it. 

In this story, the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards, Sue Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are enjoying a quiet evening at home in the Baxter Building when their tranquility is disrupted by an intruder, one whom Ben almost immediately recognizes as a man who stole his very identity years ago. The intruder collapses, and Reed and the others immediately begin examining him, trying to figure out to help him, when they learn to their shock that their surprise visitor isn't even human at all but rather a husk through which several parasites were transported from that most dreaded of places: the Negative Zone.  Seeing a dire threat, Reed comes up with a plan to trace to invasion to its source and prevent it from recurring, but not without a dangerous trip into the unknown.

The artwork of this book, presented in tabloid-sized pages, is absolutely mesmerizing.  Everything about this book feels like a love-letter to the early days of Lee and Kirby on this book, from the story, which apparently serves as a direct sequel to a forgotten story from the early days, to the color palette Ross has chosen, which hearkens back to the four-color days of Marvel Comics. Every page is a knockout punch, and Ross is pretty darned generous with the splashes and two-page spreads. This is the reason I'm here, and it was worth the (considerable) price of admission. 

That said, I felt that Ross' choice of Lee/Kirby story to revisit felt a tad too esoteric, with side characters that didn't ring any bells at all. Annihilus, the big bad guy of the Negative Zone, has a two-page splash appearance and is basically gone immediately after that.  More than just a lack of familiarity, though I found the pacing of the story to be a bit disjointed, as a result of which the book felt oddly anticlimactic.  This is a first writing effort from Ross, so I guess that can be forgiven.  The story definitely has its charms, like Ross' Lee-esque dialogue.  

In the end, though, Ross captures the essence of what makes the Fantastic Four such compelling characters, and presents it in artwork that is meant to be savored the way one pores over paintings in museums.  This is just drop-dead gorgeous stuff, the kind that's worth waiting decades to see.

9.5/10

Ensnared: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (Dark Web)

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by Ed McGuinness

inked by Cliff Rathburn

colored by Marcio Menyz

The massive Spider-Man/X-Men crossover Dark Web has finally launched in Dark Web #1, which I have no real interest in picking up, but I wasn't about to miss the return of Ed McGuiness to the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man following the eighty glorious pages he contributed to the landmark 900th issue.

Basically Chasm aka Ben Reilly aka Peter Parker's clone and his new BFF the Goblin Queen aka Madeline Pryor aka Jean Grey's clone have unleashed Hell on New York City, as a result of which Spider-Man aka Peter Parker has been running around the city trying to put out fires both literal and metaphorical.  Unfortunately, he runs afoul of an old frenemy who's turned particularly nasty as a result of the supernatural craziness: Venom.

This was a pleasant enough issue because it managed to tell a complete story while advancing the story of the larger arc, but I'm still not hyped enough for the "bigger" tale to start picking up the non-Spider-Man issues of this crossover. In that, I guess one could say this issue is a failure but really the entire idea isn't particularly appealing to me. In the end it'll just add another volume to the already epic-length "Clone Saga" which is starting to become Marvel's version of the Mahabharata. 

I was, of course, overjoyed to see Ed McGuinness back on art duties, and he did not disappoint in the slightest. I'm really happy to note that he'll be on art duties for the next three issues! 

8.5/10

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Ben Reilly? A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (Dark Web Prologue)

 written by Zeb Wells 

penciled by Michael Dowling, Kyle Hotz, Terry Dodson and Ryan Stegman

inked by Dowling, Hotz, Rachel Dodson,Tim Townsend and JP Mayer

colored by Richard Isanove, Dan Brown, Rachel Dodson and Matt Hollingsworth

Ever since the Spider-Man clone, first created in the 1970s by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, came onto the scene, he's proven to be a bit of a challenge to several generations of Marvel creators. Initially a one-off character meant to tell one story, after which he was unceremoniously killed off, Ben was then resurrected in the mid 1990s as a means to replace Peter Parker as "the one, true Spider-Man." When that didn't work out, Marvel killed Ben off again, despite having spent something like three years setting him up as a new lead character. There was just one problem; this time, fans actually cared because Marvel had spent all this time developing the character. I should know; I was one of those fans.  And thus, it finally came to pass that in 2016, Dan Slott and Jim Cheung brought the character back in the miniseries "The Clone Conspiracy," which featured Ben as a villain, twisted by his horrible experiences with death over and over again. Ben survived that, and in the six years that followed Marvel didn't quite seem to know what to do with him, taking him from villain back to hero and now...back to villain again.

Following the yearlong "Beyond" saga, which saw Ben take over the Spider-Man mantle yet again, albeit under the auspices of the evil Beyond Corporation, Ben has been robbed of nearly all of his memories by Beyond, an experience that has left him resentful and filled with murderous rage against the person he believes to be responsible for the loss of his memories: Peter Parker. This time, however, he has an ally in his misguided quest, someone who was also cloned from a major Marvel character and discarded when the story called for it: Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblin Queen, who was cloned from none other than the X-Men's Jean Grey.  "Dark Web" is the story of the two of them literally unleashing Hell on New York to get their revenge.

This prologue to the main event is a bit of a jam issue, with four artists illustrating the story in which Ben Reilly, his girlfriend Janine Godbe and their new ally the Goblin Queen move the pieces of their grand plan into place. The Goblin Queen bestows superpowers on Janine and a supervillain name to boot, and things look all set for the Dark Web to ensnare its intended prey.

I'm generally not a fan of "jam" issues, even though I think all of the artists here did a good job. I guess I'm tepid about this multi-part crossover, in part because I don't really feel like buying all of the issues involved, but also because this feels like an unimaginative way to deal with Ben Reilly, who was only just a supervillain not too long ago.  That Marvel teamed him up with another misunderstood clone deserves some points for creativity in recycling discarded characters, but as far as I'm concerned "Dark Web" is not off to the strongest starts.

6/10 

Forming the Fist: A Review of Daredevil #2, #3 and #4

 written by Chip Zdarsky

drawn by Marco Checchetto, Rafael de la Torre (issues #2, 3, and 4) and various (issue #2)

Having wrapped up his first three years on Daredevil with the highly satisfying "Devil's Reign" writer Chip Zdarsky and his rotating roster of artists led by DD veteran Marco Checchetto now set about telling the story of how Matt and Elektra will team up to take down the Hand, once and for all (or at least until another writer comes up with a more "definitive" story about the Hand).  It involves Matt tying up some loose ends, like saying his goodbyes to his old life in New York, and diving into a supernatural world the likes of which even he has never seen before, and committing to not only his cause, but to Elektra, in a way he never has before.

Basically Zdarsky shakes up the status quo yet again, albeit this time following two years of foreshadowing. This feels like Act 2 of Zdarsky's plan for the character, and while I quite vocally disagreed with some of his creative decisions in his 2018-2021 run of issues, "Devil's Reign" was more than enough compensation and I'm willing to see this through. With this four issue run, though, one of them being a supersized anniversary issue, Zdarsky isn't off to the smoothest start as a lot of these three issues felt like filler, especially the anniversary issue which was basically just an excuse to showcase the work of guest artists, but at least things are moving along.

I was genuinely impressed that Marco Checchetto managed to draw all six issues of "Devil's Reign" so I confess to being slightly disappointed that he did not manage the first four issues of this new run, but at least Rafael de la Torre is of comparable talent, and there is a bit of visual consistency here, so I'm hoping they can keep it together for the duration of this run. 

7.5/10

Goblins, Goblins and More Goblins: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #s 11, 12 and 13

 written by Zeb Wells

drawn by John Romita, Jr. and Scott Hanna

colored by Marcio Menyz

Following the single-issue crossover with the Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Eternals event, Judgment Day, Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man resumes his adventures, this time having to face off against an old enemy, the Hobgoblin, who may or may not be Ned Leeds or Roderick Kingsley. Meanwhile, Peter has to keep an eye on his employer, Norman Osborn who has apparently been conducting dealings with the sinister Kingsley and may well be flirting with the darker past he professes to have left behind. It all comes to a head when Hobgoblin launches a deadly, sudden strike and Spider-Man has to chase him down, only to get way more than what he bargained for.

Thirteen issues into this new status quo, I find it distinctly gratifying that at no point has writer Zeb Wells introduced a brand new character or brought about a "shocking" new status quo for any existing ones. Everything featured in this story is pretty much an organic continuation of what Wells' predecessors on this book, particularly Nick Spencer, have already laid down. I especially like how Wells has created genuine tension around the "will he, won't he" question of whether or not Norman Osborn can be goaded back into his old, villainous self after the literally soul-changing events of "Sins Past."  As a reader, I genuinely find myself rooting for old Norman here; the Parker arch-nemesis shtick was getting old, whether it was Slott or even Spencer retreading it. It's really nice to see Wells further developing Spencer's ideas. Again, by excising "Sins Past" from the canon, Spencer has made it possible to really plumb the depths of Osborn's conscience, including how he now feels about the murder of Gwen Stacy, and Wells is doing a really good job running with the baton here.

I know there are at least some readers taking issue with how Wells has broken up Peter and Mary Jane yet again, and who are basically pointing out that Marvel is perpetually stunting Peter's emotional growth. While I understand that frustration, I must respectfully disagree with it, as this iteration of Peter has learned form mistakes and heartache; he's working with Norman not just because he's hard on his luck and in need of a job but because he genuinely wants to help him be the better person that Norman is trying to be. This Peter is definitely a wiser, more experienced Peter and Wells has paid due respect to the stories that have come before. Sure, he may have broken up with Mary Jane for now, but I know the explanation is forthcoming. I also trust, given how well Zeb Wells is handling this story, that it will be  a reasonable one.  

Another factor that makes this book consistently compelling to read is something I didn't think I'd see with John Romita Jr.'s return to the book; his work actually seems to be getting incrementally better with each passing issue. 

Now, I don't mean that JR Jr is suddenly reinventing himself; this is an elder statesman of the comic book world, after all, as the guy is in his mid sixties.   I had noted, though that towards the end of his days on The Amazing Spider-Man with J. Michael Straczynski, his work simply didn't look quite as clean as it did in the best issues of that thirty-something issue run. My favorites, in particular were his issues that came out in 2002 and 2003. He even came back for a couple of brief runs during the whole "Brand New Day" era but the magic was never quite recaptured, even when he moved on to other Marvel books and over to DC.  His work here on his run with Wells looks cleaner than it has in years, and his normally harsh, blocky line-work has, however incrementally, softened a bit, allowing for more expression in his characters' faces.  He may not have changed his art style, but it is surprisingly nice to see that even this late in his decades-long career he is still capable of fine-tuning his approach. 

Next issue, the much-hyped "Dark Web" crossover with the X-Men books finally begins, but from the preview material I've seen it looks like the ongoing saga of Norman Osborn's rehabilitation from his life of violent crime will continue, and I for one am very much along for the ride. 

9/10