Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #24 Review

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #24

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Bruno Oliveira

Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez

Assistant Editors: Lauren Amaro

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

“Oh, what? Mephisto made you do it? Oldest excuse in the book.” — Kaine

The Story: So, Ben’s been stabbed by Cassandra Mercury. He manages to get free of her and her bodyguard, Slate, only to run into the other Scarlet Spider, Kaine. Ben has an hour to try and survive so everyone’s memories will return to them, proving he didn’t withhold the cure from Cassandra’s daughter, Abigail. Ben leads Kaine on a merry chase throughout Las Vegas, all while trying to stay in one piece so that he can live long enough for Mephisto’s lie to be undone (it’s he who messed with everyone’s memories of Ben trying to save the dying little girl). While Kaine chases and battles Ben across the city, Cassandra and Slate tail them. Kaine takes a gun off a police officer, preparing to fire it at Ben. Cassandra, meanwhile, comes in from behind. Not wanting to dodge Kaine’s bullets and risk Cassandra getting hurt, Ben takes the bullets to the chest, leaving us with yet another cliffhanger as Ben lays there in a pool of his own blood. Could Kaine have done the unthinkable and killed his fellow clone?!

It’s also worth noting that Abigail’s body disappears from the hospital while this is all going on! 

The Good: The action, humor and dialogue is all up to par. Peter David does his typical great job; no disappointments here. The issue is over before you know it, leaving readers wanting more and dying (maybe more literally for some than others) to see what happens in the final issue of this book. Kaine trying to kill Ben? It reminds me of the original Clone Saga, and for a fan of those old issues, it’s quite a nice bit of nostalgia.

The Bad: While Bruno’s art art itself isn’t that bad (much better than some of the other recent non-Will Sliney artists), the style is jarring enough between the two artists that it takes a little getting used to. It’s not perfect, mind you, but it didn’t detract from the story trying to be told here. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing Bruno draw a different book down the road. I do wish this book had a more stable art team, though. I could see if the book was starting a new story-line or something, but to change artists in the middle of an important story like this is never fun. Other than that, I don’t have much to complain about (maybe other than the cover art’s depiction of Ben’s sleeves for the umpteenth time, but with the book ending soon, it’s kind of a moot point, especially since the same artists have already done the cover for the next and final issue).

I’m giving this issue 7/10 bullets to the chest. It’s a definite shame to see the book ending soon, but this issue definitely kept the momentum going for me.