Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #20 Review

Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider #20

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Will Sliney

Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Cover Artists: Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez

Assistant Editors: Lauren Amaro

Editor: Devin Lewis

Executive Editor: Nick Lowe

Editor in Chief: C. B. Cebulski

Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada

President: Dan Buckley

Executive Producer: Alan Fine

“Son of a–! I am never having kids.” — Kaine/Scarlet Spider

Story: Ben Reilly tracks down Sheldon Sanders’ location on the naval base and sneaks in to pay him a visit. Meanwhile, Kaine discovers that one of the Mindless Ones must have hitched a ride back to our dimension from last issue. Turns out that it found a young boy and has decided to follow his commands, which spells big trouble for Kaine and anyone else looking to spoil his fun. Back on the naval base, Ben finds Sanders, confronting and asking him why he refused to help Abigail out with her Crooks Syndrome. Turns out that Sanders doesn’t handle his own emails; that’s left to his assistant, Karl. Much to Ben’s horror, we find out that Karl the assistant is really Karl Lykos, aka Sauron, the pterodactyl man! Seems he was looking for a cure to his own condition, but he looks to be out of time!

The Good: Will Sliney is back on art, and it’s so great to see him return! The detailed expressions and great layouts are all here and it’s a visual delight. Peter David gives us some nice setup this issue, and he really keeps you invested in the entire story from start to finish. I didn’t see the Karl Lykos reveal coming (Sliney does such a horrific mid-transformation look for the character, it’s awesome!), so that was a great surprise. I’m really looking forward to seeing him and Ben clash next issue! It’s also going to be interesting to see Kaine take down that Mindless One without anyone getting hurt, especially when the thing’s master is just a kid who doesn’t know any better.

The Bad: The cover is really the only thing I have to complain about; I’m not really a fan of Randolph’s style. Oh! And Kaine needs to lose the messy manbun look; sorry, Kaine, it’s not working for you!

This issue’s getting 8/10 pterodactyls from me!