Amazing Spider-Man #86 (January 19): Holy fucking shit. This issue is beyond (heh) intense, and I totally didn't see it coming.
I mean, I should've seen it coming. The blond hair, the old girlfriend: it felt like the Beyond Board was ret-conning away the events of "The Clone Conspiracy" and "Scarlet Spider" to give us a "Clone Saga" era Ben.
But, no, it turns out Beyond scrubbed away those memories at Ben's request, because he wanted a fresh start. Dr. Kafka reveals that she's been helping him recover those memories against Maxine's orders given how dangerous she felt the "memo-surgery" was. Of course, Maxine lied to Kafka about not monitoring their sessions, so she interrupts when Ben tells Dr. Kafka about the drive. However, the memo-surgery to remove his memories of the drive goes badly; instead of just cutting away the memories that Maxine doesn't want Ben to have, Ben's entire mind collapses.
Meanwhile, Janine uses her prison skills to take Marcus hostage and leave Beyond with the drive. How does she have the drive? It turns out Ben didn't lie to her last issue. Instead, when he slipped her the mask to clean (itself a weird moment), he also slipped her the drive and told her that Beyond was lying to them.
As I said, it was fucking intense. I honestly have no idea where we go from here.
Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #1 (January 19): For anyone who didn't read the Clone Saga, this series is a pretty essential companion piece to the Beyond story in "Amazing Spider-Man" as it really underlines the differences between Ben and Peter. The edge that Ben occasionally displays in "Amazing Spider-Man" is on full display here given Ben only just returned from his "wilderness" years. I had been feeling like the Beyond Board was overplaying that angst in the main title, but, after reading this issue, I realized that they're not. Moreover, Ben's time as Spider-Man was pretty limited in reality, so it's fun to see him in action again. Without all the Clone Saga baggage, it's a great read.
Devil's Reign: X-Men #1 (January 19): Oof, I do not like where we're gong here, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Duggan wrote this issue, so it seamlessly fits with the ongoing "X-Men" title. It focuses on the days when Elektra and Emma were, as Emma puts it, Kingpin's bad and good witches. (I believe that "Marauders" #22 is the first time that we see Emma working for him, when she tries to convince him to develop a new identity for Lourdes Chantel.)
Whereas Emma uses her powers to get people to do what Kingpin wants, Elektra obviously assassinates his enemies. In the opening sequence, a young girl in her room spots Elektra crawling onto a balcony after killing someone. In the present, Kingpin is enraged when Emma gets the United Nations to recognize Krakoa as a consulate, so he has Wesley tell the NYPD to open a cold murder case...of the young girl.
Kingpin seems set to pin the murder on Emma, and I do not imagine that Emma will let this provocation go without a fight. As tie-in series go, this one is top-flight.
Moon Knight #7 (January 19): First, I love Ben Grimm sending Marc Spector a Hanukkah card every year. Moving onto the plot, holy shit, y'all.
Moon Knight is on a single-minded crusade to take out Zodiac, but Zodiac is one step ahead of Marc (so far) every time. Eight-Ball sends Marc to Manslaughter Marsdale who won't snitch on Zodiac because he apparently saved his life. (I'd love to hear that story.) Before Moon Knight can shake down Clown, Zodiac cuts off his head, which he brings to Dr. Sterman's office. (I'm not sure how Moon Knight made his way to Clown, but I'm just going to go with Eight-Ball squealing on him, too.) Marc isn't going to take that well.
Meanwhile, it turns out Tigra is watching Moon Knight for Black Panther, who's worried that he's too unstable to be left alone. To Tigra's mind, she's clearly there to protect Marc from himself, though I'm not sure that Marc is going to see it that way.
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