Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #18 Review

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #18

 

 

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Andre Lima Araujo

Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez

Assistant Editor: Tom Groneman

Editor: Devin Lewis

Executive Editor: Nick Lowe

Editor in Chief: C. B. Cebulski

Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada

President: Dan Buckley

Executive Producer: Alan Fine

 

“They’re called the Mindless Ones. And we are very likely going to die.” — Kaine Parker/Scarlet Spider

 

Story: Our hero, Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider, is still following leads on a cure for casino owner Cassandra Mercury’s daughter, Abigail (she has Crook’s disease). His search is interrupted when his Spider-Sense goes off big time; turns out her mother, Cassandra, has made a deal with Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio’s daughter, Misty (a magician), to make the entire resort disappear in a huge charity event. Not one to doubt a warning like that, Ben enlists help from Kaine and Slingers member, Dusk. Misty, or “Mysteria”, is apparently after a mystical artifact called the Hand of Haagenti and manages to convince her retired father to come along for the ride. Turns out Misty is successful in her disappearing act, sending the entire building into a dimension filled with Mindless Ones (you know, those huge one-eyed creatures often seen battling Doctor Strange at the behest of the dreaded Dormammu). Said Mindless Ones descend upon Kaine, Cassandra, and her bodyguard Slate while Ben and Dusk are left to confront Misty and her father after she literally puts the rest of the audience to sleep.

 

The Good: If you’ve read Peter David’s work before, you know the quality writing you’ll be getting here (his humor and dialogue are always a highlight).  While this issue mostly felt like setup, I still found myself pretty engaged in the plot from beginning to end. I’m curious to know what this mysterious artifact is and just what it can do, as well as what Misty’s overall plan is.

 

The Bad: Seeing Mysterio as a dad and one that genuinely wants to be left alone to retire seems… weird to me. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to, unless, of course, there’s more than meets the eye (and long-time Spider-Man fans know fully well that there usually is when Mysterio is involved). So I’m willing to hold off final judgement on this one until the final issue of this story-line wraps up. But as of right now, it’s not a character development I’m too thrilled about.

I’m not a fan of the cover. It’s very misleading. I understand that the point of the cover is to help drive sales and entice readers, but if you’re looking for Scarlet Spider vs Mysterio, you’re going to end up very disappointed; I know I was. I’m also not really a fan of the way Randolph depicts Ben on this cover, particularly the way the torn sleeves look.

Finally, the issue’s main artist, Andre Lima Araujo, is definitely not for me; it’s my biggest gripe with the entire issue. I find their style distracting more than anything; I don’t find it a good fit for this book at all.

 

I know Mysterio is supposed to be a father, but he looks quite a bit older than I picture the character in scenes where he’s sharing panels with Misty. He’ll be competing with with Vulture in a game of prison shuffleboard in no time if this keeps up…

 

 

I’m also not a fan of the way Andre handles expressions (behold Ben’s reaction to Dusk suddenly appearing behind him to see what I mean).

 

 

It’s a kind of scratchy art style, in my opinion; perhaps one that could benefit from a different inker to tighten it up a little bit? I’m not sure. I remembered this artwork from issue 11, and I wasn’t a fan of it then, either. I miss Will Sliney…

 

All in all, I’m giving this issue a rating of 6/10 Mindless Ones.