Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #24-25: I love Peter David, but this series has been a mess almost from the start. To be fair, he inherited Dan Slott's terrible decision to turn lovable Ben Reilly into a crazed homicidal maniac, so he had a rough road before him. He seemed to find his stride when he struck onto the idea that Ben would heal his soul -- and his face -- by doing good. Ben really exemplifies the selflessness he used to exhibit here: at the end of issue #24, he takes a bullet to prevent Cassandra from inadvertently running in its path. Mephisto claims his soul and, to maximize the torture left in his wake, he allows Cassandra and Kaine to remember the truth about Ben. To be honest, if David ended the series with someone allowing Ben to go to Heaven (instead of Hell), I'd be perfectly happy with how this series ended. Ben died a hero, just as he did the first time he died.
But, it's here where David goes off the rails. He brings back Abigail as the same kind of entity as Gabriel is, whatever that is. To pay her debt to Ben, she returns him to life after proving Mephisto had stolen his soul prematurely. (This part made no sense. David seemed to be saying that Mephisto only won Ben's soul through machinations and as such he engineered it prematurely. But...um...that's what Mephisto does. Wouldn't everyone be saved if they were only going to Hell due to his machinations?) Unfortunately, Abigail doesn't listen to Ben when he says Death told him he'd be irreversibly evil if he died and returned to life one more time. As such, he is now fully evil, as he realizes when he kills a returned Misty without thinking. (It turns out she's really a robot Mephisto created, so David hedges his bet here, allowing Ben to kill, but not really.) He then seems to kill Kaine, but we know they're both in "Spider-geddon," so that seems unlikely. Instead, the issue ends with him sobbing in the rain while Gabriel and his assistant somehow observe him.
In other words: [sigh]. Again, David had a hard road here, because he had to undo the character assassination Slott committed against Ben in "Dead No More!: The Clone Conspiracy." But, I never really understood why he kept Ben in Las Vegas so long. Originally, it seemed to be the first stop on his David Banner-esque journey across the country; he'd save Abigail, heal his soul a bit, and move onto the next case leading him down the road of Redemption. But, instead, David got mired in Vegas, telling the same story about Abigail over and over again. The interesting "The Incredible Hulk" premise was gone. Ben Reilly deserved better than he got here, and I can only hope Marvel corrects course with "Spider-geddon." Fingers crossed.
Edge of Spider-geddon #4: Perhaps the most exciting part of this pretty exciting issue is the preface about this world being a relatively unexplored one. It adds a layer of mystery, implying we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg and more will eventually be revealed. In this reality, Peter Parker definitely seemed to have gained Spider-Powers, but it's unclear if he really became Spider-Man. One way or another, he wound up working for Oscorp and a six-armed Norman, who apparently also gained Spider-Powers. Peter and Harry eventually work against Norman, who seems all-powerful here in ways we've seen in other realities as well. It's not clear why Harry and Peter finally turned against Norman, but at some point Norman discovers their treachery and kills Peter. Peter's death activates a message to Harry, who makes his way into Oscorp HQ to retrieve -- in possibly the "Spider-Gwen" moment of this series -- the Kobold suit that he and Peter developed. He successfully gets past Norman's defenses and discovers Norman has acquired a remnant of the Cosmic Cube, which Harry then dies destroying. Before we can learn more, Spider-Punk whisks Spider-Norman into wherever it is the Spider-People are gathering. It's all so great that I really wish we could get at least a miniseries showing how we got to this point. At any rate, it only makes me more excited about "Spider-geddon," so mission accomplished, Marvel.
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310: I do not write the following statement lightly, given how many Spider-Man issues I've read, but Chip Zdarsky is possibly the best Spider-Man writer I've ever read. I'm devastated he's leaving this title. But, he leaves on the highest of notes, with a brilliantly laid-out tribute to Spider-Man. He gets to the character's heart better than any other story I think I've ever read, at least since "Amazing Spider-Man" #314. (Also, his Peter Parker is downright sexy.) If you read one Spider-Man story ever, it should probably be this one. Seriously. I can't believe we only had a year and a half with him, but it's one of the best runs I can remember. I'll see you in "Marvel Two-in-One," Chip!
Spider-geddon #0: Oy. As cool as it is to have the hero of the new Spider-Man video game make his first comic-book appearance, it would've been even the cooler if the story wasn't terrible. I usually like Gage, but both Spidey and Otto sound like a 14-year-old boy wrote the script. They're constantly confessing their feelings to each other, in a way that doesn't make sense for people who just met each other (particularly in Otto's case). Plus, Gage overuses ellipses to make every statement of emotion seem...profound. After five issues (including the "Edge of Spider-geddon" series), we at least finally learn in the back-up story how the Inheritors lay the groundwork for their escape. I could've done with a lot more of the B story than the A story, though.
Also Read: Amazing Spider-Man #6
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