Chasm (a.k.a. Ben Reilly) is back! Does that deserve and exclamation point? I don’t know yet! But Stan the Man Lee liked that particular punctuation mark, so let’s give it a try. We have a clone story, and I know how much you guys like that, so read on, and let’s see what this new (and potentially improved?) clone can do!
Credit Where Credit Is Due
We have four stories, so we will handle them all individually. Here are the credits that run for the entire issue:
Writer: Zeb Wells
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramanga
Cover Artists: John Romita, Jr, Scott Hanna, and Marco Menyz
Asst. Editor: Kaeden McGahey (what happened to Lindsey Cohick?)
Editor: Nick Lowe
Remedial ASM 101
Ben Reilly is the clone of Peter Parker, but recently, he was given everything he wanted in life, just to have it all taken away (including memories of his/Peter’s) life by the Beyond Corporation. Last we saw him, he fell into a vat of psycho-gloop (or something) and became… Chasm! (Look, I tired, but even a Stan Lee-esque exclamation point can only do so much)
The Stories – Pay Attention, This Will Be on the Test
Before we go into these stories, it’s time for our…
Basically, we are all hard-wired to think certain things when we encounter certain symbols Sunrise=beginnings and sunset=endings, white=pure and black=unknown, death, and so on. They can be subverted, but these symbols typically do not change their meaning no matter where or when the story is written, unlike most symbols which are pretty much wanton and rather promiscuous with their meanings.
Seasons represent a life’s journey with spring time being youth and beginnings, summer being your childhood and prime of life, fall being heading into old age, winter being old age and death. Our issue this month is broken up by seasons with their story titles and each one is it’s own nugget drawn by someone different.
Since there are fours stories with four artist teams, I will read each one and then write my review before moving to the next.
Spring
Artists: Michael Dowling and Richard Isanove
Janine is trying to work with Ben, but he is so obsessed with getting back at Beyond for stealing his memories and maybe finding how to get his memories back, that he has put them on hold. She’s had enough, secretly walks out on him, and while waiting for a train, encounters a man who is being nice only to keep her here while the police arrive. Once she figures it out, she takes care of the situation, returns to Ben, and promises to to do all she can to help him because they only have each other.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – Janine taking care of business – she could have just run away, but instead she takes the time and effort to leave her own bit of crazy on the situation, letting us know that she may look like a Mary Jane on the outside, but on the inside she is all Betty Brant.
FAIL – Ben Reilly’s Pain Bot impression
Analysis
When the Beyond arc started, I cared little for Janine and didn’t really remember any of the previous stories that involved her. She became one of my favorite characters in that arc and I actually hoped things would work out well for her. Do we need this scene? No. Is it a good scene to establish her and why she is still with Psycho-Spidey (I mean Ben, not Chi-Town, by the way)? I think so. Ben is babbling about “he” took everything away from me. Ben is fairly focused on this “he” and we are being led to believe that it is Peter, but I don’t think it will turn out that way (I’m doing these segments one at a time, so who knows what the other three will bring. A good start for me on this issue and it makes me hopeful that it won’t end up as complete trash.
Grade:
B
Running Tally of Spider-Man appearances in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man: 0
Summer
Artists: Kyle Hotz and Dan Brown
Ben is walking around town and runs into The Debt Collector! He is mistaken for Peter and we are led to believe that Ben is going to eat his brains or something (it might be because he looks a lot more like Eddie Brock here than Ben Reilly). But he just walks away. Then he uses some old skin to open a portal to limbo where meets fellow clone Madeline Pryor. Their demons pause their taunting and begin to get … intimate … with each other before turning on each other and fighting. This gives Ben and Madeline (a.k.a. Goblin Queen (not to be confused with Queen Goblin)) some time to talk about how they ought to work together (bringing us presumably up to speed with the FCBD demonic mailbox issue).
What Passed and Failed
FAIL – The Debt Collector – I was unaware that chronologically we were out of sync with current story lines and really wanted to see what happened to our newest favorite villain.
PASS – Zeb Wells dunks on his own story arc
Analysis:
Oh good. What could make bringing in MORE clones better? Make them from stinking mutant books. I hate mutant stories, so Goblin Queen’s appearance, though not unexpected, is not exciting. Basically these panels were all just to explain the one panel in the FCBD issue that showed Chasm and Goblin Queen together. And my good friend Mohammed pointed out that this really solidifies the six-month mystery and the Osborn team-up really are MJ centric. This should erase any doubt.
Running Tally of Spider-Man appearances in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man: 0
Grade:
D
Fall
Artists: Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson
In an unreadable two page splash opener, Goblin Queen, Chasm, and an out-of-place looking Janine (looking pretty much like some of you will look when having to socialize with extended family members this Thursday) are sitting around a table talking, presumably reinforcing that they will be working together. Janine and Pryor meet outside, have a bit of heart to heart, and, upon hearing that Janine wants so much to be useful to Ben, Pryor offers her the finger of a demon to give her power. She suddenly has on a Mr. Hyde mask, which she takes off to reveal a Dracula mask, which she takes off to reveal a Frankenstein mask (kind of like that issue where Daredevil wears a Kingpin fat suit over his Daredevil suit). She gets to decide her face, so she chooses to be Hallow’s Eve (which looks like the daughter of Hobgoblin and Harley Quinn).
What Passed and Failed
FAIL – Kindle Comixology – the two page spread for the opening of this story is tiny and I cannot read it. I miss regular Comixology. I wish Marvel sold new issues on their site.
PASS – I do like that table that conveniently spells out the title of this sub-story.
FAIL – Well, there goes the only character I liked on this side of the arc.
Analysis
I hate I couldn’t read the opening two pages. They are eating, and in literature, when people are sitting around eating, there are always some important character moments happening. But then again, we’re not exactly reading Fitzgerald here, so I’m over it. Janine’s transformation was disappointing. This feels like a permanent move for her and so we’ve lost the only character I was interested in. I did like the masks being symbolic of her constant hiding who she is. And, perhaps I’m reading too much into this, Janine is supposed to be a smart person. Maybe not scientist-level, but clever. She’s Ben’s Mary Jane. In the Beyond arc, she was quite capable of figuring things out. I get that she wants to transform herself into something that can help Ben. The first story in the issue makes it clear that she has made a decision to help him (which means we needed that story after all). So that I get, but wouldn’t she think it out just a second or two before making a life-altering choice? Ben wants to gain his Peter memories back. Once he does, what will he think of Hallow’s Eve? She’s lost him.
Running Tally of Spider-Man appearances in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man: 0
Grade
D-
Winter
Artists: Ryan Stegman, Tim Townsend, JP Mayer, and Matt Hollingsworth
Ben goes back to Peter’s apartment building to meet up with The Debt Collector once more. He beats the crap out of him when the man unfortunately says the words “fake” and “Peter Parker”. He is then taken to Limbo where they get him to eat a fruit that absolutely looks like it has been sitting in the back of the pantry, forgotten, long past it’s ripe date. The guy needs surprising little coaxing to eat the strange fruit from hell and when he does, his soul comes out. Pryor can suck it in and know all about him. This is how Ben will get Peter’s memories – by convincing Peter to eat nasty produce.
What Passed and Failed
PASS – We finally get to see what happened to The Debt Collector
Analysis
Well, I was wrong about the first story’s “he” being a twist. Ben is going after Peter’s memories and that is his only focus. I thought Chasm might be redeemable if he was going after Beyond, but this is … disappointing. The whole forbidden fruit angle is a nice touch, though. The Debt Collector also turned out to be a rotten person who does things in his attic that I really don’t want to know about.
Running Tally of Spider-Man appearances in this issue of Amazing Spider-Man: 1 (kind of)
Final Grade
Well, no Spider-Man, though I was glad Peter Parker got to stay away from this downward spiral, and the only enjoyable part for me was undone by turning Janine into an X-Men villain type. Chasm is Well’s creation and I was hoping that he would really shine, but it is just not working for me. I am guessing that we will only learn about the six month mystery after Ben convinces Peter to eat the soul-apple.
D
Extra Credit
The cover is pretty cool looking despite Chasm being the focus. If you notice, his spider has ten legs on it. Here’s some bonus reading for you to learn more about ten-legged spiders.
But Wait! There’s More!
So Chi-Town got yet another letter in the letters pages… wait, he didn’t? What the heck! I am so going to miss the 100 text messages as he counts down the number of times he’s been published…
What’s Next?
Dark Web. Yea. Venom and Chasm. Can’t wait…
You know what, I practically reviewed four stories this issue. Chi-Town should have to take the next four.
‘Nuff Said!
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@Mark — No problem! I actually noticed it was visible before I saw that you responded to my comment, so I’m glad I could help.
Update: Hey, it’s there now. Thank you!
@Hallows Evan – I have no good excuse for omitting the onomatopoeia of the issue. I didn’t even forget. I just didn’t do it and knew I would be called out for it by you. I can only submit my undeserving plea for forgiveness. I am having a hard time separating the Goblin Queen and Queen Goblin in my head as well. If I could give up on this arc, I would, but somehow BD put a lien on my house and if I don’t stay with it, I’m on the streets. So the die is cast for me. Just you don’t give up on the reviews! And YES! That is almost EXACTLY how Ben justifies his stupid name.
If this arc keeps up the way it is going, I may begin to wistfully remember the good old days of Drop That Chicken!
As for it not appearing in the reviews, it *could* be that I may have forgotten to click the little box that tags this review for that. More likely, though, is Chi-Town, in a rage of jealousy over my vastly superior Spider-Man review prowess, accessed my review and unclicked it to keep people from enjoying my entertaining prose. Whichever the case, I have now fixed it. Thank you for calling it to my attention.
Incidentally, I’m curious why this review does not appear in the “Recent Reviews” group on the Crawlspace home page. I only found it was posted by seeing the comments in the right column, and even now that’s t he only way I can access it short of saving the link.
@Mark — I’m going by the review alone, since I have no interest in reading Ben stories post-Revelations Part 4 (which is when I started up my Spider-man collection again), but I will say that I thought the giant “BAM” panel is nice, though there was no reference to onomatopoeia at all.
I’ve already gotten Goblin Queen and Queen Goblin confused, and I don’t know much about the X-Men beyond the 90s animated series, so maybe this particular arc isn’t for me. As always, though, I love reading the comments and reader interaction.
I’m so glad you noticed the extra pair of legs on Ben’s insignia/sigil. When I first saw that in the solicitation, I thought it indicated lack of care on the artist’s part, and it bothered me just as much as when the Iron Spider costume had three extra gold arms instead of four. If they were going to go that route, they should have just changed his name to Solifugae instead of Chasm, since it makes far more sense to me. How is that named explained, anyway? Did Ben’s previous appearance have him say something like “Where all of my memories once were, there is only a space. From now on there is only….CHASM”?
As long as there aren’t any chickens like in Amazing Grace, we should be okay, right, Mark?
I guess if Peter doesn’t show up in the book eventually, I might be forced to find a demon appendage, a few masks, and change my name to Hallow’s Evan.
I doubt even Ben fans would care about this issue at all since his characterization is a total mess here.
@Brad Douglas – Me either. And, of course, Norbot came up with a new schedule that “lets” me do the next issue, which is Dark Web #1. 🙁
I keep telling myself that it can’t be worse than that Amazing Grace series you had me do when I first started… 🙂
Man, this book did not make me want to read the Dark Web story at all. When was the last time Spidey wasn’t in his own ASM book? Was it that 1980s storline where he went missing? Oh wait, I bet he wasn’t in a few issues when Ben took over recently. I’d give this a D, perhaps a D-.
@Mark
Haha, you almost sound as you get revenue from those links… Now, you don’t, do you…?
@Michael
Okay, thank you for the info.
@Sthenurus
Too late, Michael already spoiled a bit. LOL (no big deal)
@Mark
“My” Ben Reilly died at the end of Revelation. Anything since then (the jackal, the following scarlet spider run, Beyond) have been about a different character. Kind of like the Peter Parker in the MCU. He is Peter in name only. That Ben is Ben in name only.
I do not enjoy that chasm thing one bit. I do not believe even for a minute that “my” Ben would want revenge on Peter. That’s Kaine (marvel seems to have forgotten all about him anyways)
I wish they would have put him on a path of his own with Janine as well. That’d have been a lot more fun that yet another misguided -but-not-quite-evil spider doppelganger.
@Aqua
No spoilers my friend but oh boy do things change with that protocol!
@Aqu- the resurrection process has recently been extended to certain humans, with Jean using her powers to scan their memories. Which, again, raises the issue of why she or Maddie couldn’t do the same with Peter and Ben.
@Mark Alford- the annoying thing about this story is that the X-Men and Maddie had reached a truce in Vita Ayala’s New Mutants. This story is a complete 180.
@Aqu@ and @John
Aqu@ – Teaching is a passion of mine, friend. Glad to help you increase your knowledge on our multi-legged friends in this world. Always makes me happy when someone clicks the links I stick in. 🙂
John – Wow! That really makes a difference! See, always pay attention to when people are eating in literature. OK, so now I understand why the two of them are working together. Thanks, man. I owe you one.
Transcript of the two page spread. All capitals = bold. Line break after every panel.
“You’re both welcome to stay as long as you’d like, of course”
“and I’ve quite enjoyed our mischievous excursions to Earth.”
(see 2022 FCBD issue –NO-CHARGE NICK)
“But the scale of what you’re asking… an attack on New York is complicated for me. Politically.”
“That’s why I should lead it.”
“Let me and your army provide cover… so you can get what YOU want.”
“I’m the QUEEN OF LIMBO. What could I possibly want?”
“The same thing I do.”
“Both of our lives were stolen. Both of us know where the THIEVES live.”
“Ben, don’t make me regret whispering my deepest hurts in your ear.”
“You know EXACTLY what you want. And you know EXACTLY where it is. I’ll help you get it.”
“As long as I offer MY help in return. Hmmm. Limbo was GIVEN to me. I would be BITING the hand that FED me. But who’s to say this kingdom was given to me out of kindness?”
“I’ve been given little reason to trust the generosity of others.”
Wow, I learnt so much about arachnids I didn’t knew, like the solifuges! Thank you, Mark!
@Sthenurus
Unless there has been a change in recent X-stories (I’m still at the prelude of the first Hellfire Gala!), resurrection protocols are only for mutants. But you have a point with the rest.
I’ll judge properly when I reach them on MU, but between the rising price of TPBs and the questionable quality of the stories, I fear my collection of Spider-man has concluded with Spencer’s run. Which of course makes me very sad.
@Michael and @Sthenurus
Michael – Thanks for the recap of that splash page. I even screenshot it and blew it up in an image editor only to find the wording too blurred. I was going to ask why Ben wants to attack New York. Is it to draw out Peter? Seems like an over-complicated plan for that since you will draw out, presumably, other New York heroes as well. It can’t be to get back at Beyond because he has already been hitting their bases, so he knows where they are and what do they care about New York? I am not a mutant fan, so I know embarrassing little about Maddie’s back story. I’m at a loss for why she cares one iota about Ben and helping him. Is is only because she feels lonely and he’s a clone too? That might be enough. Is she just using him to get whatever agenda she has? This is lazy reviewering here, but I really don’t feel like reading X-Men back issues to understand her. Maybe I’ll pull up Marvel Fandom and get the recap. We are in agreement that Janine’s transformation makes little sense. You from the Maddie’s history side and me from the fact that this is a short-term gain for Janine since once he becomes Peter, he will not want anything to do with her. Maybe she will secretly sabotage the plan in order to keep Ben with her. I don’t know. Again, this may be because I am not into X-books. As an X-Men fan, are you excited for the inclusion of Maddie?
Sthenurus – When the Beyond arc was happening and they revealed that they were taking away all that made him Peter, I was hoping that in the end, he and Janine would go off to other parts of the US, maybe hunting down Beyond, maybe not, but whatever the case, allowing him to figure out who he is. I know they tried that with Kaine a while back by putting Kaine in Houston, but I really liked that angle. We could explore other things as well. While he has the same “spider” powers, there would be no real reason for him to use those powers the way Peter did. He wouldn’t have web spinners, since he would have forgotten how to make them and the fluid, but he could build his own type of thing or steal some Beyond tech and make it his own. Maybe not the best idea, but seems a better use of the character than Chasm. You said you are a Ben fan, are you interested in Ben as Chasm?
I ask both of you the end questions not to serve an agenda to “make my point”, but because I am not a mutant fan nor all that interested in Ben (I don’t hate him), so I am not the target audience for this story and want to know if the target is energized by it.
I’m so mixed on this one.
On the one end, I’m a sucker for Ben Reilly, and I can understand why he would go to such extreme to get a sense of self back. After, it’s a guy who, for years, thought he was a clone, to then be told he was the real deal, to then be a killed (and revealed to be a clone) to ressurected and killed 26 more times in a row, to become partly amnesiac. That would mess anyone up.
On the other hand, as Michael pointed out, Maddie is a telepath. Nothing is stopping her from just copying Peter’s mind. Or Janine, who seems to be the reasonable one, to just go to Peter, say “Ben mind is fractured, he needs your help”. Peter could go to the X-Men and get help from his MANY friends there having some selected memories implanted into Ben. Or have them use the resurection protocol on him and bring him back good as new… It seems like an overly complicated way to go at it!
Re: the scene with them around the table. Basically, Ben wants to attack New York and Maddie is reluctant because she has a truce with the X-Men.
There’s a chronology problem here- Maddie took over Limbo in New Mutants 25-28, which is also where Illyana got her new costume. The Summer scenes are clearly supposed to take place before issue 1. But Ilyana has her old costume during Judgement Day and issue 10 is a crossover with Judgement Day.
The scenes with Janine are obviously supposed to be a callback to how Maddie became the Goblin Queen. Even several lines of dialogue are reused. (e.g. “the mercy of forces beyond your control”.) What happened was Maddie was dreaming and in the dream, she was approached by the demon S’ym. (Hence, the repeated references to “dream”.) Maddie agreed to S’ym’s offer thinking it was just. a dream and was stabbed by S’ym’s finger turning her into the Goblin Queen. Many readers who preferred Maddie’s previous personality didn’t like this because Maddie didn’t knowingly turn evil- she was tricked in what she thought was a dream. It seemed like a cheap way to turn the good girl into an “evil slut”. Maddie lacked agency in her transformation.
Wells tries to avoid this problem by having Janine agree knowingly. But while this avoids any consent issues, it just makes Janine look like an idiot.
Maddie’s a telepath. Why can’t she just copy Peter’s memories into Ben? It’s extremely annoying since she’s initially trying to find a way to help Ben while avoiding a conflict with the X-Men.
Note that it’s Ben who suggests attacking New York. If all Ben wants is Peter, then why does he need to attack New York?
In New Mutants 25-28, Maddie agrees to a magically binding contract that prevents her from attacking mutants. That isn’t mentioned AT ALL in this issue. I guess there’s some wiggle room in that Ben is leading the invasion, but even so, taking Jean to Limbo seems idiotic since Maddie won’t be able to harm Jean but Jean will be able to harm her.
@Adam and @Chi-Town
Adam – Yeah, I don’t think this one is a must read unless you are a big fan of Ben Reilly and want to see how this new look for him pans out. We do get what the plan is, so there is that. I didn’t mind the four story parts. They all interweaved to make one story and it probably was carved up to allow for the different artists. I assume that JRjr is gearing up for the onslaught of books coming our way with this Dark Web. The Hallow’s Eve costume was nice, but I hate that they took away Ben’s only human anchor. She made him more interesting, in my opinion. I’m buying ASM in Kindle because I’m reviewing it and I’m buying Moon Knight because I have been a fan of Moon Knight for quite a long time now. I might would buy more current issues if my local comic book store was actually local or if this Kindle app was worth reading. I cannot understand how they could not incorporate the technology to read panel by panel or at least zoom in on the page since they already had it when they acquired Comixology. Until they do, make mine Marvel (Unlimited, that is)!
Chi-Town – Glad to see you agree fully with me. I’ll see you in four issues, buddy! Have a great Thanksgiving!
1) “Reviewed for stories”…delusions. You are suffering from delusions again. They are PARTS of A story, not 4 STORIES.
2) Glad to know you missed my texts! I’ll double it the next time, and there WILL be a next time, my letter gets published.
3) “This is how Ben will get Peter’s memories – by convincing Peter to eat nasty produce.” Okay, that’s a good one. I laughed out loud when I read that, maybe I’m wrong about you…
4) “Psycho-Spidey (I mean Ben, not Chi-Town, by the way)” …Ah..there’s the Mark I know..
This issue is a solid F for me. Just NO. A lot of the points you have already made I agree with regarding the PARTS of this ONE story. Barb the waitress for example. The Dishwasher line she used for “code” to let Gerry know the police are on their way. They way she handled that, might as well write in a “Wink Wink” while we’re at it.
I’m not reading this, but Dark Web looked interesting so thought I’d read the review to see if I should try it.
I’m not a fan of a single issue being cut into four. Did it feel necessary, or was it just to accommodate the artist change.
The in press for this Hallow’s Eve caught my eye (yes, I’m that shallow), but I’m a little disappointed it’s just Janine in a costume.
I’m not a Ben Reilly/Janine fan, but I can imagine if I were this character assignation must be the Clone Saga’s version of One More Day.
I feel your pain regarding the Kindle app. It can be a frustrating reading experience. I miss Comixology. I now only buy books I need to review, and get everything else on Marvel Unlimited but I miss weekly comics.