Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #19 Review

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #19

 

 

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Andre Lima Araujo (despite mistakenly listing Will Sliney as the artist)

Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez

Assistant Editors: Lauren Amaro with Emily Newcomen

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

 

“I’ll just disarm you. Well, dis-hand, but you get the idea.” — Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider

 

Story: Lots of stuff going on in this issue! Kaine and Slate fight for their lives and the lives of everyone in the hotel while the Mindless Ones launch their assault in the Darkforce Dimension. Meanwhile, Ben as Scarlet Scarlet Spider and Dusk confront Quentin Beck (aka Mysterio) and his daughter, Misty. The villainous little family vanish before our heroes’ eyes down below where the hotel once stood and into an ancient place of worship. Turns out the site was a place of worship for the powerful being known as Cyttorak (you know, “The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak” spell that Dr. Strange uses, and the being that grants the Juggernaut his powers). Inside is the artifact known as the Crimson Brand of Cyttorak (at least, that’s the clever name Misty came up with; although I thought it was called the Hand of Haagenti last issue, but I digress ). Turns out it grants its user great power as a result of its direct link with Cyttorak himself. It turns out that in order for one to gain said power, the blood of a loved one must be spilled, which is revealed just as Misty closes in on her father with a dagger! However, before she can succeed, Ben and Dusk arrive in time to distract Misty.  Unfortunately, because he’d been fighting for his life, Quentin uses our heroes’ distraction to push the knife away… inadvertently right into Misty! With Misty’s blood spilled and Beck touching the “Crimson Brand of Cyttorak”, he’s given the power his daughter so desperately sought. Instantly garbed in a new Mysterio costume and brimming with new power, Beck is seeing red, or in this case, scarlet, and vows to kill our hoodie-wearing protagonist. Ben sees weapons on the walls which were used for sacrificial purposes as Mysterio begins unleashing his new powers while giving chase. Surmising that Cyttorak’s followers created these weapons as failsafes should whoever gain such power get out of hand, Scarlet Spider engages in swordfight with Mysterio before severing the master of illusion’s hand! In fact, it’s the hand that had been touching the “Crimson Brand of Cyttorak,”and Mysterio’s power soon fades, leaving behind a one handed Quentin Beck. Ben then urges Dusk to get Beck and his hand to the hospital so that they can reattach it. Ben’s Spider-Sense goes off, warning him of the casino’s imminent return; he manages to escape the hidden underground temple just moments before the building and all of its inhabitants return, including Kaine and Slate. Deep below ground, a red-eyed Misty wakes up…!

 

The Good: Finally! Beck shows up in his Mysterio costume so as to not make this issue’s cover a liar (see last month’s issue). It was good to see Beck back under the fishbowl again. While Andre’s art still isn’t really my thing, for whatever reason, it seems to have improved a little since last issue. I wonder if there was a new inker or something, but unfortunately, while the cover got the name right, the inside of the book mistakenly labels Will Sliney as the artist this issue, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a correction regarding that in the next issue. I didn’t see the twist with Misty trying to kill her father coming, so it was definitely a surprise.

 

 

The Bad: Still not a fan of the cover artists, Khary Randolph and Emilio Lopez. Things are way too angular for me, especially with Ben’s legs, and I still don’t like the depiction of the torn sleeves. Plus, look at the middle finger on what would be Mysterio’s left hand; it just looks all sorts of wrong!

 

While Andre Lima Araujo’s art improved a little, it’s still not the best; the one area that definitely did not improve was Beck’s face. Some of the panels also look a little stiff in areas where action should be better conveyed. I feel that the following page is a perfect example of everything good and bad about Andre’s art.

 

 

If you’ll look at panel three, you’ll see what I mean about stiffness. The knife is meant to be pulled from behind Misty’s back and pulled up before making a deathblow. However, it looks more like it’s stirring an imaginary pot of stew. While I’m sure Peter David’s script called for such a panel, I feel that Andre would have better served the overall issue if he had omitted that panel and if the word balloon with the words “Sorry, Dad.” had been moved to the following panel up and to the left of Beck’s head where there was plenty of room. I mean, panel four has a very nice layout. It would have kept the action flowing better, because as it is, I feel that it lost something with that third panel in the way.

 

Then if we take a look at the second to last panel, I feel Andre’s art looks so much better here, Beck’s face in particular. Not that Misty’s face doesn’t look perfect for what’s going on, too; you can see the intensity and drive in her expression! It’s great, and it really is a definite improvement. And then in the following panel, Beck’s face gets worse again. So basically what this tells me is that Andre’s art went from disappointing last issue, to inconsistent in this issue.

 

Let’s talk about the plot. While I said last issue felt like a lot of setup, this issue’s plot felt very rushed to me. It jumped around a lot from start to finish. Some things also felt cut short (Kaine in the alternate dimension battling Mindless Ones, Mysterio’s fight with Ben), which to me made it feel like this issue was crammed perhaps a little too much. When you look at the two issues, it gives me the impression that the pacing was very off. It feels odd to think that way, considering that I am a Peter David fan. However, even his dialogue this issue felt off and very stiff. I didn’t get the typical humor or snappy comebacks David will usually imbue his work with. I guess everyone was having an “off day” if you will, from the writer to even the editors of this book.

 

I would have given this book a 5, but with Beck back as Mysterio, Andre’s art showing some improvement, and the issue not being unreadable, I’m going to go ahead and give this issue 6/10 fishbowl helmets.