THE GIST OF IT… Jed MacKay does his best (you can tell in the writing he didn’t want to go this route) to pen a new MJ/BC mini given the guidelines he must follow from Zeb Wells story line. Speaking of Wells, he did an interview at Marvel.com that teases the return of a villain (that he created, go figure). He also mentions future things in ASM to come (that doesn’t excite the reader).
- Teases a “Spider Space Suit” – Right…since the our “down to earth relatable” superhero needs that.
- Black Cat is drawn to Spidey’s dangerous side – Clearly, this ISN’T a Batman/Catwoman book.
- Originally the mystery box was supposed to be answered in issue #6. – Instead we play the long game, which is what the readers have been complaining about. I consider that route to waste the readers time and money, just to shell out unearned storytelling. HOWEVER…there are rumors out there that the reason the long game is played is because of the backlash of the events of issue #1 and Marvel had to find a more “satisfying way” than what was originally planned for their customers. Time will tell…
(Writer) Zeb Wells
(Artist) Ed McGuinness
(Colorist) Marcio Menyz
(Letterer) VC’s Joe Caramagna
(Editor) “Albert Banaszak”
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 12/28/2022
Issue Number #16 LGY #910
Price Tag: $4.99
STORY: Banter and punches are exchanged between Spidey and Chasm during this holiday season on the streets of New York. Madelyne Pryor is up on a rooftop with Hallows’ Eve and gives Venom the “boot” to go be a distraction that you’ll need to read Venom #14 to find out (that or just ask Symbiobro on our discord) for who (pretty sure it’s the X-Men). Anyways, as Peter and Ben fight like (pretend) siblings often do, Ben gets the upper hand by baiting Peter with innocents (Jonah and Robbie) that are in danger. A demon who can only be described as “Unpronounceable” drags Peter down into Limbo. Peter wakes up to find himself in a HOSTILE HELL WORK ENVIROMENT Daily Bugle setting.
SOUR FLOUR: This is NOT the Ben Reilly you know. During this run I have been very addiment on my utter dislike on what has been done with the Peter/MJ relationship in his ASM run. I can’t imagine what “TRUE” Ben Reilly fans are going through right now. Let’s do a checklist on Ben Reilly.
- 90’s Clone Saga: He died a hero and honored via Spider-Girl costume. “Tell my “niece” about her Uncle Ben.”
- The Clone Conspiracy: Resurrected (27 times), Ben becomes a mentally unstable villain. “Great Power, NO Responsibility.”
- Scarlet Spider Series: The adventures of the mentally unstable fugitive in Las Vegas.
- Spider-Geddon: Restored back to factory default settings.
- Beyond: Got paid “stupid money” to be a poster-boy hero for an evil corporation. Dragged his murderous gf into the mess and was later turned into goo.
- Dark Web: Supernatural Mentally Unstable Villain who convinced his murderous gf to become a Supernatural Mentally Unstable Villain
Is this considered character assassination? Are we even beyond that?! I’m not a clone fan myself, but I did reach out to one and he described what this actually is. The Ben Reilly you know, loved, and admired died in Revelations Part Four. What you are reading after that story is nothing now but a fake. A fraud. A husk that just happens to occupy the name “Ben Reilly”. There’s a difference between being a fan of the character and a fan of the name and it’s the “name/idea” that is being presented in the stories that you are reading right now. If redemption comes for this character, it’s redemption for the “name”, the “character” died long ago.
DIALOGUE: I’ll give Wells credit here, the dialogue between Peter and Ben is good. It’s Reality (Peter) vs Hallucinogens (Ben). It’s Wells staying in touch with the characterizations (more misses than hits during his run, if I’m being honest) and delivering narrative of what these characters would be saying to each other given the current setting. Zeb, that notches it up a bit with the background noise and “brings the funny” as Brad would say. Not saying that Wells has been “spot on” during this entire run, because he clearly hasn’t, but in this particular issue he does deliver what NEEDS to be delivered.
NITPICK 1: Seriously?! You UNMASK in the streets of New York?! I get you are concerned about your friends, but doesn’t your new mask allow you to show emoji’s? Signal up a frustrated face to let Chasm know how seriously you are taking this now. KEEP. THE. MASK. ON!! You are in PUBLIC!
SPIDER-SENSE: It’s been said that a good defense is also good offense. Clearly, Ben’s Spider-Sense took some notes. I’m pretty sure what ever Janine has done to Ben with Beyond tech has made his powers function in a unique way. It’s pretty cool that his Spider-Sense acts like a protective counter measure than just an early detection warning system.
NITPICK 2: Speaking of an early detection warning system…there’s NOTHING here. Epic fail, the DANGER is literally RIGHT behind him.
VENOM(?): The 90’s Venom wasn’t this stupid. He’s acting like Bane from the movie Batman and Robin. I rolled my eyes when I read these panels, but I’m the type of guy that looks at a dime from both sides of the coin. I don’t want to read this train wreck in panels let alone a whole issue, but I kinda do just to see the looney tunes humor that it can produce. (Careful Chi-Town, Slott published that kind of stuff.)
GRADE: I’ll give this one a B-. It’s a good story within a cross over event followed by GREAT SOLID ARTWORK. I’m not an uber fan of McGuinness’s artwork, but I never complained about it. He facial features on people don’t give you an eye sore and he seemed to have toned down on his body work as well (people complained that his illustrations had a “steroid body frame”). It’s the unflattering taste of this Dark Web and the mystery box that brings the grade down. The main problem with any given writer that takes on this job to write ASM is the “editorial mandate” they are required to follow. Rumors have circulated that a lot of writers don’t want this gig because of editorial, and honestly, I can’t blame them for that. During Spencer’s run up to his ASM issue number 60, it looked like the “editorial mandate” was washed away, unfortunately it looks like it still roams the hallways of Marvel. I’m also not going to dig in far with the X-Men portion of this story, you can talk to Neil over on our discord for that.
Wait…there’s more..
11 TIMES
I am lucky, humbled, and honored to be on the letter’s section once again. I don’t like to brag about it..
Dark Mark: “You are lying.”
Me: “I only brag about it to you, cause it annoys you.”
Dark Mark: “I am always super excited when a fellow Crawlspacer makes it into the letter’s section.”
Me: “Who is the liar again?”
Brad: “Enough you two, get to the point Chi-Town..”
Anyways, Albert Banaszak (it’s Nick Lowe, guys) seems to be having a lot of fun. I just hope Nick doesn’t come back on what he said with a “I didn’t say that, that was my clone Albert!”. He’s the kind of guy that would do that…
Dark Mark: “Stop acting like you are buddies with him! You don’t know if he’s ‘like that’!”
Me: “Obviously I do, I’m living rent free in the letter’s section.”
Brad: “Oh good lord, here we go…”
Dark Mark: “You never met the guy in person!”
Me: “I never met YOU in person and yet I know how annoying you can get.”
Dark Mark “We’re best buddies! We took that camping retreat together.”
Me: “Backup….WHAT??!!”
Brad: “STRIKE TWO! FOCUS!”
…right. So I wanted to point out that I did state in my publish letter “my dislike on this ENTIRE run” and the clone responds “glad your liking the comics”. I’m NOT liking the comic(s), I like that particular issue, but NOT the entire run or “comic(s)” as you incorrectly assume I’m liking the entire run . We also know that Peter’s not going to be in limbo “permanently” so I don’t know how in the world Ben is going to resolve the Peter/MJ/Paul situation. Nick Lowe has also said that Peter and MJ are “The greatest power couple” and yet, here we are with this run. Clones always be “cloning” I guess.
Everyone, please have a happy, healthy, and safe NEW YEAR. Here’s hoping that 2023 starts and ends better than 2022. As always, we at the Crawlspace appreciate you clicking on our links to bring you hours of Spidey opinionated and factual entertainment. Be sure to check on “Pain Bot” Read’s reviews and Dark Mark will start off the new year right, with the next ASM written review.
Dark Mark: “Unless, you get another letter published…”
Me: “There is no winning when it comes you to you.”
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@jjwspider — Wow, no wonder it’s all run together in my head. After all the trouble it took to “heal” Kaine, it’s a shame they would undo it like that. (I seem to recall Mephisto being involved, but maybe I’m just mixing up even more things that should go unmentioned and you should just ignore me. 🙂 )
@Aqu@ — Happy New Year to you, too! And to everyone here at the Crawlspace!
@HallowsEvan – The (awful) PAD Scarlet Spider series restored the scarring on Kaine, unfortunately. At the time, both were in Las Vegas and it featured frequent team-ups between the two, creating a bit of a sibling dynamic that hadn’t been featured previously.
Yep, unfortunately that’s it.
Well, while I’m at it, Happy New Year, guys!
@Aqu@ — Ah, wasn’t that the one where Mark Bagley changed the costume back to the hoodie from the 90s because people were creeped out by Ben’s smile being visible through the mask?
It’s all coming back to me now. Thank you!
@Hallows Evan
There are two Scarlet Spider series: the one you mention with Kaine from 2011 and the Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider (by PAD) from 2017.
@Mark
🙂
I thought the Scarlet Spider series featured Kaine in Houston, not Ben in Las Vegas. Wasn’t Kaine “cured” after the events Spider-Island? I must be forgetting something.
@Mark: Our discord members have posted links to interviews and twitter feeds that I click on every now an then. Then there’s the conclusive “read between the lines” on what is going on at the Marvel offices. Still haven’t read MoonKnight yet..
@ Aqu: Well if they publish my latest letter (which is pretty negative) we’ll see. I sent it into MJ/BC, don’t know if they’ll have a letter’s section though.
@Aqu@ – I agree. Since we are already adjusting grammar for the hyphen look, keeping spacesuit as one word would make more sense. Plus, while it is more common to see it as two words, it is an acceptable alternative spelling to keep it as one word, according to the dictionary I checked, so it makes even more sense.
@Chi-tow
I checked that letter and personally I would classify it as the “exception of generally positive letters with just very limited and bland expressions of distaste” I talked about. I think we still have to see a wholly negative letter with no buts.
@Mark
Ok, thank you for your explanation.
For clarity I still think it would have been better to use the alternate spelling “spacesuit” (no space between words), seeing as all the other examples use single words, but that’s just my brain logic.
@PeterParkerfan
Great series, albeit some narrative choices and the ending left me perplexed. Still a better read than the current run (or the Beyond arc, for that matter).
I’m so glad I have these reviews to fill me in with the current happening when the main book is this bad
If you dislike the current status quo of Ben Reily, consider giving J. M. DeMatteis’ Ben Reily miniseries a read.
@Chi-Town – Right now, I am only keeping up with two heroes when they hit the stands – Spider-Man (obviously) and Moon Knight. I am so loving this Moon Knight run right now. When I see the two pop up on the same day, I have to tell you, I would rather read the Moon Knight first. Where did you find the rumors that writers are turning down the book due to the editorial mandates? I wouldn’t mind reading that. I do try to judge the issue separate from the arc, but that is harder to do with some arcs than others.
@Aqu: Not necessarily, my friend. I did get a letter published in Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 6) #5 it was quite negative. My other one in #13 was more questions and both responses were “We got exciting stories down the line, we can’t make everyone happy though.” I have no clue if my last letter will be published in the future, but I do guarantee you, it was pretty harsh. I do think Marvel want more praise letter’s published than negative ones, so they do sort them out. This run does suck, not going to lie.
@Mark: You ARE living rent free in my mind when it comes to these letters. I HAVE been sending you eviction notices, but it doesn’t seem to work. Yeah, I was border line on B-/C+ and just went with the B-. The issue was pretty to look at and that’s about it, but Peter and Ben did talk in the way the reader (loyal fans) would expect them to talk, of course given the situation. That Fight scene was fun to read. I know you and I go through each issue and if an issue stands alone as a good comic, the grade will go down because of the run that we are given. Like you, I do not find this run enjoyable. I believe we are BOTH on par with that. I too only read ASM and MJ/BC and thank the heavens that PainBot and Neil have the endurance to read the rest. I just don’t have the energy or patience for those other titles. Except for X-Terminators which is a fun – don’t take it seriously – X-book
@Chi-Town and @Aqu@
Chi-Town – As I read your review and your imaginary conversations between us, I guess I live, as you say it, “rent free” in your head as well. As always, I am happy to see my best friend get his tenth letter published in yet another Marvel comic book. Congratulations, pal! Nothing could make me happier. I just hate that the Marvel Spidey office has been so off-putting to fans that not enough people are writing in to support a regular letters page, but at least you are there praising their efforts so that they can get one out every so often.
I’m going to agree with Franz29 and say that I fell you are being a little too generous with the grade. C+ max for me, and I feel that even that is being nice. Though I know once you saw that letter, you wanted to go to an A level, so the restraint you showed with the B is admirable.
Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the fight between Chasm and Peter. The overall story is crap to me and you have to constantly read it as Chasm and not Ben, but the actual fight scene was fun.
I am also slightly intrigued by the masks that Hallows Eve (not to be confused with Hallows Evan) uses. It’s an interesting concept. Can she only take on masks of classic horror villains? Could she put on other masks and assume their powers?
And following up on Michael’s comment about the Spider-Sense and the demon, let me also add for consideration that the demon here was not a threat, per se. Peter was willing to go to Limbo, asked to go to Limbo, and this demon is the transport to get there. It should pose no less threat than every other demon around. Speaking of, I love the scooter demon. He’s awesome. I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not, but that scooter demon’s name is listed as ‘Hornacek’.
All in all, this arc is not enjoyable. Thank goodness I am only reading the ASM and MJBC. I pity Painbot and Neil for reading all the tie-ins.
@Aqu@ – Hyphens have weird rules – in some cases, it follows established grammar guidelines and in other cases, it goes with whoever wrote the word first. In this case, Stan Lee used the hyphen so that Spiderman would not be confused with Superman. It has been established that equipment/powers that Spider-Man has can be written with a hyphen (Spider-Mobile, Spider-Sense, Spider-Strength, Spider-Signal, Spider-Tracer), so a Spider-Space Suit could work, in my opinion.
B- was generous I think; too much going on here setting up other issues that interfered with the A plot. I gave it a C. Nothing great, nothing too bad, merely average.
@Michael – They live in a world with mutants, sorcerers and Eternals – there are any number of ways Ben could work with Peter to get his mind back that doesn’t involve using a machine that frankly Peter has every right to be sceptical about. Heck, they could even take that machine to Reed to be checked out and made safe to use. TBH though, this is one part that doesn’t grind on me: Ben was panicking at the time and had lost almost all of his memories so him not acting rationally isn’t something that surprises me. Peter on the other hand hasn’t done anything since Beyond to try to help Ben. Of course it doesn’t help that there’s a six month gap that we can’t know about because “something, something mystery box” but right now he just seems to be an ass about the whole situation his “brother” is in.
I’m starting to think nowadays everyone in NYC knows Spider-man’s identity, but they just play dumb to humor him. Like in that Slott story in AF 1000, where the nurse keeps telling her collegue “we don’t do that with him”.
Because, really, that’s the only realistic explanation in a world where literally everyone has a camera in their pocket and pictures get instant worldwide exposure.
@Chi-Town
Don’t be surprised if they didn’t get your dissatisfaction with the run: your letter was overall quite praising, minus that sentence with the word “dislike”. People today are getting less and less capable of understanding what they read, mostly because they lack focus in what they’re doing. That assuming Banaszak\Lowe knows what “dislike” means… 😉
Which brings me to the next thought: I noticed they only publish letters of praise, never ones of complaint, with the exception of generally positive letters with just very limited and bland expressions of distaste.
This gives the impression that everyone is liking the comic, which is, evidently, improbable (if not impossible).
So it makes me think they ignore negative comments on purpose; it’s like they choose to focus only on the praising, which is… childish. I’m not talking insults here, mind you, but criticism, which helps growth and improvement. As I see it, if you want to ignore criticism just to live a (falsely) happy life, don’t cry when it all comes crashing down on you.
But, hey, I’m not the one earning millions (billions?) in the comic business, so what do I know.
@Mark, the english teacher
I read in the interview with Wells the term “Spider-space suit”, so I wondered if it’s written right. It makes me think of a suit for a specific kind of space (a “spider-space”), instead of a spacesuit for Spider-man.
The device Janine and Venom are stealing from the X-Men is a recording of Jean’s memories. Maddie needs it to absorb Jean’s memories. Can someone explain to me why Ben needs to absorb Peter’s memories through a different method than Maddie absorbs Jean’s? Couldn’t Ben and Janine just ask the X-Men to copy Peter’s memories into Ben after Maddie told them about the X-Men’s memory recording technology? Conversely, couldn’t Maddie use the fruit to absorb Jean’s memories?
Also, on the subject of memories,in Venom’s own book, we learn that Venom is the way he is because Ben used the goo to steal Venom’s memories. What are the limits to this? Why can’t he use the goo to steal Peter’s memories?
Peter shouldn’t trigger Ben’s Spider-Sense. He didn’t in the 90’s Clone Saga.
Speaking of Peter’s Spider-Sense- Peter’s Spider-Sense not be triggered by the demon might not be an error. There are several stories where Peter’s Spider-Sense isn’t triggered by a magical threat.
Why did Ben need Peter’s permission to send him to Limbo this issue when he didn’t need Ms. Marvel’s permission last issue?
At least we finally found out what Ben’s and Janine’s powers are.
“The Ben Reilly you know, loved, and admired died in Revelations Part Four.”
As a Ben Reilly fan that is EXACTLY how I feel. Everything since then has just been attempts to ride on nostalgia.
I’m seriously afraid that that’s what will happen to the wedding if they ever reinstate it. Just a way to ride nostalgia with no plan about what to do with it.