The Chi-Town Breakdown: ASM #85 LGY#886

Happy New Year, Crawlspacers!  2021 was fun wasn’t it?  Yeeaaah, I hear you, not really.  Let’s hope for a better year in 2022.  Let’s not just stand there, monologue and let the supervillain just stroll by and get what he was coming for, like Ben Reilly did in last issue.  Remember the first time Spider-Man let the bad guy go without DOING SOMETHING!?  Funny how the clone of Peter Parker, that has ALL of his memories, didn’t learn that lesson yet.  I mean he dated that burglar’s daughter, didn’t he?  Will he learn this issue?  Let’s find out, right here on the Spider-Man Crawlspace!

(Beyond Trust) Patrick Gleason, Zeb Wells, Saladin Ahmed, Cody Ziglar, & Kelly Thompson
(Writer) Cody Ziglar
(Artist) Paco Medina
(Colorist) Espen Grundetjern
(Inkers) WAAAAAY too many
(Letterer) VC’s Joe Caramagna
(Editor) Nick Lowe
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 1/12/2022
Issue Number #85  LGY #886
Price Tag: $3.99
For a different perspective:
Alford’s Notes and Read’s Reads

Story: Dr. Otto Octavius just strolls into the Beyond Corp like he owns the place (technically he did at one point).  After discovering a talking fish and some sandwiches that can grant him wishes (I swear, I’m not making that up), he has a run in with Misty Knight and Colleen, whom are easily defeated.    Meanwhile Ben is using his suit’s “Glide Booster” to rush to Beyond’s HQ to stop Doc Ock, because his job is on the line.  Being from the 90’s he decides it’s not fast enough and pulls a Tim Allen from Home Improvement to rewire it by adding after burners for…MORE POWER! *insert man grunt*.  Maxine Danger, (who seriously looks like a super villain with that get up she’s wearing) isn’t helping her safety when Dr. Octopus pays a house visit.  “Instant Bake” Crash-Through-The-Window-Action Spider-Man shows up and the two fight.  During the fight Ben tries to convince himself, Doc Ock, and even the reader that he’s Spider-Man.  Doc Ock slaps Ben upside the head with the drive that he stole and informs him that he’s nothing but “Damaged Goods” and proves that there’s a difference between being “woke” and being “awake”. as he escapes.  Ben informs Maxine Danger that the drive was destroyed and asks Janine to wash his mask for him, before adding seven years of bad luck to his life by breaking a mirror.

The Breakdown

• House Call
• The Truth
• Nitpicks
• Grade

House Call:  Otto Octavius is a driven man and if you profit off of anything he had put in work for, you can bet he’s coming after you.  Besides Janine, and the reader quick frankly, Otto KNOWS Beyond isn’t the company it’s made itself out to be in the public eye.  Don’t bet that he’s done with Beyond, just because Ben beat him in a fist fight.  Ben has won the fight, but it was Otto who won the battle.  He is going to try to exploit every weakness Beyond has and he actually he has already has done that…with Ben.  Showing Ben the truth of why Beyond picked him will send Ben down a depression state and I’m already starting to see “Evil-Ben” come out of the wood work.  So while Beyond is busy dealing with that drama, Otto can sneak on in to discover more dirty little secrets that he can use to his advantage.  Remember, he only scratched the surface…he’ll be looking for more.

The Truth:  It hurts doesn’t it?  Ben is feeling it.  First we need to assess that Ben is starting to feel very unappreciated from peers, outside of Beyond, stating that he’s not really Spider-Man.  Miles, Doc Ock, Felicia, Mary Jane, Peter, and more outside of ASM title, have told him that in one way or another.  YOU, the readers even know that Ben Reilly will never be the Spider-Man you knew from the 90’s again or even NEVER BE THE TRUE SPIDER-MAN.  That man is truly gone and even clone fans know that.  I’m starting to believe that’s what the Beyond Board and Ziglar are writing about.  This is a Ben Reilly Story, but I think it’s “Beyond” Spider-Man.  It’s so far from what Peter would do so why not write it about Ben instead, right?  He pushing hard to try to convince anyone that he’s worth something.  Too hard in fact.  I suppose this kind of resentment does get to a person, but Ben really only has himself to blame.  It looks like that going back to the “default” setting for Ben in Spider-Geddon wasn’t permanent.   The man STILL has to take responsibilities for his past actions whether he was in the right mind or not.  Peter learned that in Nick Spencer’s run.  That who “Spider-Man” is.

The second thing we need to assess is that Ben now knows the truth on WHY he was picked by Beyond.  Maxine Danger basically confirms it.  Thanks to the broken mirror in the bathroom, it doesn’t look good.  I bet this mental break will lead to Dr Kafka becoming that Goblin.  All that therapy ruined.  Oh, and that drive…it’s not destroyed.  Nope, Ben can’t trust Beyond anymore, but there is one person he wants to trust and that’s Janine.

Now Ben is on a mission to find out the truth and exploit it, so he’s taking no chances.  He figures the place they are staying at is “bugged”…get it, bugged..cause it’s a Spider-…never mind…you get it. He’s asking Janine to “wash his mask”, why would he ask that of her and follow up with “don’t lose that”.  Simple, it’s code.  The drive is in the mask for Janine to see and she right now is the only person he can trust.

Nitpicks:

• Why didn’t Ben go to Peter?  Or even think of it in a thought bubble.
• Talking Fish and Sandwiches that are “genies”.  Didn’t see that coming.
• Ben is flying in and asks all security shutters to disable on his biosignature.  He’s coming in pretty fast…do the sensors have time to detect him BEFORE he crashes through the window?  Why not just disable the shutters?

Grade:  Giving this an A-.  Never thought I give a grade like that to a Beyond book, but new year, who knew?  Cody Ziglar writes a really good Doc Ock and I like how he establishes Ben personality.  Showing really depth in both characters.  Give it up for Paco Medina and his artwork, it’s AMAZING!  Not hard to follow and beautiful to look at.  Why are there so MANY colorist on this issue, no clue, ask Neil, he’ll tell you whether you want to know more about it or not.

Next issue Ben is feeling like he doesn’t belong, that he holds no value and wishes he could be like Peter.  There’s no better person that can easily relate to that and cover the next issue than Dark Mark!  🤣

Join him then!