The die is cast! Doc Ock is out for revenge against the Beyond Corporation and can even a Beyond tech-enhanced Ben Reilly stop him? And should he? Let’s jump right on in this, dear readers! Enough with the nascent nonsense!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Story Title: Beyond Chapter 10 (BORING)
Writer: Cody Ziglar
Artist: Paco Medina
Colorist: Espen Grundetjern
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artist: Arthur Adams and Alejandro Sanchez
Asst. Editor: Lindsey Cohick and Kaeden McGahey
Editor: Nick Lowe
Published: January 5, 2022
Remedial ASM 101
Peter Parker – hospital * Ben Reilly – Spider-Man working for Beyond * Doc Ock – Pissed off at Beyond for some reason or other. That’s it! You’re ready!
The Story – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Doug, an employee at Beyond, is jawing with a bud when Doctor Octopus sneaks into the break room and starts breaking some heads. Maxine Danger realizes that Ock is after crucial Beyond secrets so she sends Ben after him. Ben thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips, and this seems to be the case because despite Ock easily getting past Beyond security measures, Ben is able to put some tech on him that disrupts the connection between Ock and his arms. Ben makes lurid jokes at Ock’s expense but then Ock makes a come back and defeats Ben soundly without any arms at all. Ben wakes up in the med center, again, and gets reprimanded by Danger and basically told that he is replaceable if he can’t do the job.
OOTI (Onomatopoeia of the Issue)
On a scale of 1 (POW) to 10 (BLRKBQRKPQRBLNB), WHUWHAWHUWHAWHUWHAWHUWHA WHUWHAWHUWHA rates a 9!
Analysis
Faceless Uncle Ben Dream – OK, the first time we saw that, it was clearly implied that it was Peter’s dream. This time, it is clearly Ben’s dream. So I guess both are having the dream?
It’s quite possible since they are clones and share some of the same repressed memories. If that is the case, it’s interesting to see one of them get it resolved while the other does not.
Janine – I am actually liking this character and how she is developing. I knew nothing about her prior to this, but they are playing her out nicely. She wants to be supportive of Ben and she is grateful that Beyond got her out of prison. However, she has her reservations and she is wary about what is going on. She’s not wanting to push the issue too much because she trusts Ben. The amazing thing here is that all the writers are consistent with her portrayal. Anyone who lived through the clone saga or Carlie Cooper’s introduction knows how frustrating it is when different writers all seem to have different takes on characters.
Spoiler Alert – He doesn’t use it wisely.
Doc Ock – I also enjoyed how Doc was written here. It’s odd, because I feel like he is the hero in this issue. Ben is the corporate stooge and Ock is potentially up to saving the day, although we don’t know what he wants to do with the information at hand. My best guess is that Doc Ock will play the fallen hero character here. He has the potential to be the good guy to bring down Beyond, but he will be tempted by the power/secrets/tech he gets from them and go back down his own dark path.
The device used to disable Ock’s arms is, to my knowledge, something that has not been done and I have to give the Beyond Board credit here for bringing something new to these old, established characters. Ben’s cockiness really contrasts with his dream resolution. He feels that Uncle Ben is disappointed in him and he is striving to be the better man, but when he gets to this fight, he overly relies on Beyond tech and monologues like a villain. Ock shows his strength by remaining unflappable and that, when it comes down to it, he, like Spider-Man, has brains. Ock just bides his time and uses Beyond’s security devices against Ben and still escapes with the hard drive. My assumption is that once he is out of there, he will be able to remove that bit of tech and get control of his arms back.
Extra Credit
What do you think Doc Ock knows about Beyond that we don’t?
Final Grade
Despite my low expectations for this run, I am really enjoying this. We can run in circles all day long about how this is not Peter Parker, but when it comes down to it, more of these issues are good than bad. I loved this one. It was fun. It was intriguing. It is well paced.
A-
‘Nuff Said!
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Hey, at least the onomatopoeia was awesome!
I concur, Ben is portrayed like an idiot. It reads as someone without experience in being Spider-man at all. They could have just used any other character (maybe empowered by Beyond themselves) instead of him.
Hey Mark,
Great review, but I’m giving this a B-. I think that is my highest grade in Beyond Baking factory, I could be wrong, but I’m too lazy to check and really don’t care. I actually really disgusted with that page of Ben just talking to Ock, as he walking RIGHT UP TO THE DRIVE HE’S ABOUT TO STEAL. It’s called a web shooter, USE IT! No, we get the “Now now, you put that back like a good boy.” APPROACH from Ben.
I don’t think Ben is back at his default setting as it was seen in Spider-Geddon, he seems still way to off the mark than the Ben we know from the 90’s. Beyond also may have something to do with that. That being said, I like the writing and the art is really good too! I don’t want to keep the plot going for plot reasons, I want character development. Here’s hoping for good future issues!
Oh, happy new year btw!
Great review as usual mark!
However for me this issue is a C at most. The fact that Ben monologues like an idiot instead of knocking Otto out and allows him to take off his arms and WALK TOWARD THE DAMN MCGUFFIN is bad writing at its worst. It’s now the 3rd time in a row Ben is bested by villains. And he doesnt learn to just end the fight quickly. Plot contrivance at its best ESPECIALLY since Ben took down lady ock like she was a threat during his first go at Spidey. You’d think he’d take the OG ock just as seriously -or even more!