THE GIST OF IT… Dark Web is finally coming to a close and Thank God. Was this story arc worth the hype, the wait, the migraines? Chasm has become the all power “Limbo Master” and if you are wondering just how “low Ben Reilly can go”, there’s not enough voltage to power your easy-bake-oven to repair this expired mess of flour and rotten eggs. A party is going on in Central Park and you are invited backstage! Let’s find out together if this was all worth the hype Marvel was selling us.
(Writer) Zeb Wells
(Artist) Adam Kubert, Francesco Mortarino w/Scott Hanna
(Colorist) Frank Martin & Guru eFX
(Letterer) VC’s Joe Caramagna
(Editor) Albert Banaszak (Nick Lowe in disguise)
(EIC) C.B. Cebulski
Date Released 2/1/2023
Issue Number #1 LGY #2 of 2 (it’s confusing)
Price Tag: $4.99
STORY: While Chasm and Hallows Eve riminess on their relationship. Spidey explains to Maddie how utterly stupid this story event is (I’m not lying, it’s right there on the panel). A battle breaks out between the X-Men and demons. Spidey and Rek-Rap take on Chasm and Hallows Eve. Eddie Brock or “Bedlam” (his soul?..I don’t know, ask Symbiobro on our discord) help Maddie gain control of the demons. Gold Goblin and Ms Marvel come to assist Spidey and Rek-Rap. Maddie with the help of Magik defeat Chasem and take his powers away, but not before Chasm teleports Janine to somewhere, yet to be revealed. Spring time arrives and Ben 27 tells Peter “Now and FOREVER, Make Mine, EVIL.” from his Limbo Prison. Maddie is now ambassador to the “Limbo Embassy to New York” to help any troubled souls strolling around in Manhattan. Oh…and Albert Banaszak was defeated by Nick Lowe in the letter’s section.
REILLY NO MORE: This may hurt, but it needs to be said. There is no turning back for Ben Reilly, he’s a villain. The Clone Saga was a MESS! We all know that. A correction needed to be made and it was. The end of Revelations corrected everything and even honored Reilly’s character. However, Slott brought him back in Clone Conspiracy and the character assassination began. It was, indeed, the malicious and unjustified harmful action on Reilly’s good reputation that he left in Revelations. Spider-Geddon (I guess) set him to his “default” setting, but then enter Wells. The events of Beyond and Dark Web have completely ANNIHILATED, this character after getting a THIRD CHANCE at life. Peter has done some things in the past and has always seem to bounce back (*we’ll see with ASM 21-26). He’s a Marvel flagship character, whereas Ben Reilly is not. Ben Reilly is an expendable character. I understand Reilly has a fanbase so here’s my advice. If you are fan of Ben Reilly, know that he died honorably in Revelations. Despite his reputation being hung out to dry, this isn’t the Ben you know and love. To honor his “legacy” and the good he stood for, go read Spider-Girl. I know clone fans that are just embarrassed and angry (they should be). If you are still “praising” this character (Ben27) ever since he entered in Clone Conspiracy and call yourself a “Spider-Man/Ben Reilly fan”…
NITPICK #1:
🚨 Continuity Alert!🚨 It wasn’t Ben’s plan, it was actually Madelyne’s plan or at least she implied it. Ben just went with whatever Pryor had to offer to get his memories back and that soul stealing fruit was option one and apparently the only option. They tried it on (the throw away character) debt collector and he agreed to eat it. Not sure what Wells is thinking here. Is he thinking Pryor finally realized that wasn’t a good revenge plan for Peter after he said it out loud or did Wells just forget that it was her plan. Whatever the case may be, it’s Wells sleepwalking to the end of this story event.
SPIN-OFFS: I know that Dark Mark is rooting for more Rek-Rap. He reminds me of how Nick Spencer handled Boomerang for comedy relief. Marvel has a golden opportunity to do this new character right, but I can see him becoming more of an announce than anything else. We all know Janine is getting her own series or mini-series and I’m sure she’s gonna want to break Ben27 out of his limbo prison. I don’t know your thoughts on these two characters, but I just rather stray away from them for awhile and just focus on Peter and his supporting cast.
NITPICK #2: You are probably asking yourself, why is there a #1 to this finale? We already have a #1 to Dark Web’s first issue, that makes sense. Is there a #2 to this finale (Please, make the bad man stop)? Simple answer..#1’s sell. First edition to any comic seems to sell decently well if there’s a #1 slapped on it, even though this particular issue is #2 of 2.
* Apparently the whole Mystery Box will be revealed in ASM #21-26
START RANT: So Wells ASM #1 came out in April of 2022. ASM#21 comes out in March of 2023. It took them 12 months (that’s ONE YEAR) to actually get to this point. Wells even admitted “We went back and forth a lot and even thought about revealing it all in issue 6, but we kept thinking of stories we wanted to tell before the big reveal.” Look how well THAT turned out 🙄, so well, in fact, that Wells did another interview on a podcast where he blamed the fans that couldn’t get over OMD, for the negative response in his run. That’s smart, tick of your customers that put time and money into the product your selling..🙄. END RANT
GRADE: F. The art was good and there were even some really funny panels, but it couldn’t save this issue. It felt like Wells didn’t really care for this event or that editorial changed it around. Who knows. It seemed more like an X-Men book than a Spider-Man book. We don’t even know what happens to Felicia and Mary Jane! We got more answers in the spin off series to Dark Web for this big “Mystery Box” than we did in the main event. For me, Crawlspacers, this was not worth the hype or wait. I suppose you could consider this a follow up to the end of the Beyond Event. This just failed on so many levels.
Dark Web is over, but the darkness IS still here! That’s right Crawlspacers, next issue is brought to you by…
as he reviews the WORST DATE EVER!
…personally, I would think a date with Deb Whitman would be the worst date ever. Peter has got to be thinking “Honestly, I would rather fight off ninja’s with Felicia than go on a date with Deb Whitman.”
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
@Hornacek – yep, at the end of Beyond Ben just wanted to be whole again with his memories back. His motivations now seem to be to steal Peter’s soul and replace him which is just weird but you can hand wave it as being part of his desperation.
As you said though, it’s Ebert’s Idiot plot; everyone is out of character and acting like a moron just to move the story on. It’s story driven plotting rather than character driven plotting and is what we’ve had for years now (Spencer’s run aside, although even that had moments – I’m looking at you Kindred plot line).
And with ASM #19’s developments it seems there’s no end to the idiocy – and don’t get me started on HUGE plot developments being revealed in an intro and not in story. I’ll wait for Dark Mark’s review before I comment on that poop-show.
@Paul – The thing is, at the end of Beyond, I would say that the *only* thing Ben wants is his memories. He doesn’t want Peter’s “soul” or to replace him (if he did then I forgot about it when I tried to block Beyond from my own memories). It wasn’t until he returned in this run that he wants Peter’s “soul” and to replace him.
As I said in my earlier comment, the memories are just an excuse. Ben wants to steal Peter’s soul and take his place. He just using the idea of Peter refusing to give him his memories as an excuse to do the terrible things that he’s doing.
As to Warren Worthington’s healing blood, I believe it was implied that you have to be a good blood type match. Warren tried healing a bunch of mutants when they were crucified on the X-Men’s lawn, his blood managed to save some of them, not all.
I’m sure some other solutions existed, but as a writer you can justify them not being available.
In this case, yes Jean can give Chasm back his memories if she wanted to. Not only doesn’t she want to help out someone she only knows as enemy, but as a telepath she can probably tell that it isn’t what Ben wants either.
@Tyler – That same argument was made back during the Civil War/One More Day time when Aunt May was wounded and Peter was going around the Marvel Universe trying to find someone to save her, but for some reason he couldn’t find anyone who could fix bullet wounds.
I remember at the time someone mentioning that there were multiple mutants that could cure any wound/sickness – I think Warren Worthington at the time had developed a “secondary mutation” (that was all the rage at the time) and his blood could cure anything and he could give someone a transfusion and cure them. So why couldn’t Spidey go to him and ask him to save Aunt May?
That’s the problem with some of the X-Men – their powers are so close to magic that they resolve almost any plot. If Jean can fix Maddie’s mind then why can’t she do the same thing to Ben? The answer is that she can but if she did it would resolve the plot in 2 seconds and the story would be over (Roger Ebert called this The Idiot Plot problem, in that everyone in the story has to act like an idiot, otherwise the plot would be resolved in 2 minutes).
So, I have a question I’m hoping someone smarter than me can answer:
In Dark Web X-men #3, Jean Grey gives Madeline Prior her memories of baby Cable, saying “just because I gave you my memories doesn’t mean I lose them.” Now I don’t know jack about the X-men, but why didn’t they just do that for Peter and Ben? Have Jean or Madeline make some telepathic bridge between the two and have Peter give him his memories. Peter looses nothing from this and Ben would get exactly what he wanted. Seriously, am I missing something here? Cuz it’s boggling my mind what a simple and obvious answer that is and why they aren’t doing it.
F is generous; this didn’t just fail, it failed, dug a hole to fail some more, then kept on going. I give it a U, for unclassified. It’s so poor it ruins the curve.
The story was awful and if you didn’t read the X-Men tie in you have no idea why Pryor changed her mind or why only Ben is being punished at the end when he was just along for the ride. Maddie gets off scott free, and is even rewarded for the whole thing.
Oh, and Limbo has a permanent portal in NY City now? Just like that? Just ludicrous.
Ben wants, no needs, Peter to voluntarily eat an apple to give Ben his soul? Why? There are so many other “in universe” ways he could do it if he just asked and I still believe Peter would be doing his utmost to help Ben because that’s what Peter Parker DOES.
Wells is writing both Parker brothers as absolute morons here. Peter WANTED to help Ben, then after Beyond and six months no longer cares? I get not trusting a machine, and Ben going off the rails, but Peter could go to so many other people he trusts – Reed or Strange for example, to get help or one the X-Men could help. As @Michael said, Jean could/should have done it as soon as he was beaten to tie up the loose ends from the story. I don’t think Well’s even reads his own stuff because he sure as hell can’t keep continuity straight and the plot was so convoluted that it makes little sense and the motivations changed on a whim to suit the story.
Ben has been turned into a one note villain and, you’re right, there should be no coming back from this. The best I can hope for for Chasm is that he is quickly forgotten.
I thought this issue was well written. And, in and of itself, the issue was good. Not great, but good. But, overall, I didn’t enjoy the crossover. It lost it’s way, and simply became a bit of a mess. And my frustration comes from the fact that Zeb Wells is a great writer, you can see good ideas and good writing shining through at certain points, but then it just misses the mark.
I did enjoy Ben referring to Ms. Marvel and Norman as losers. Not that Ms. Marvel is a loser, but Norman as the Gold Goblin is certainly an amateur superhero. And with his sins removed, I can see Ben seeing him as a neutered version of himself.
But my instincts are, and have been for a while, that this isn’t Ben Reilly. It’s a clone of Ben Reilly. And the mistakes he’s made are mistakes that Ben or Peter might have made. The whole, erase my memories of being a villain, because I just want to forget is something that Ben or Peter might consider doing, but at the last moment, something would pull them back from the edge. For Ben27, he lacks the support and earned life experience of those two characters, which is why things have gone so wrong.
As to the point of Madelyne and Jean being able to copy Peter’s memories over to Ben, they could do that. But, my guess is that Peter doesn’t exactly trust a telepath in his head. The X-Men probably want to see Ben punished, not rewarded. And Ben is nuts. He didn’t just want Peter’s memories, he wanted his soul. It may’ve started as wanting his memories, but now Chasm wants to destroy Peter and replace him. The memories are just an excuse at this point. And if he got them back, well, on a subconscious level Chasm is probably worried he’d feel guilty and no longer have the strength to do what he needs to. Better to destroy Peter first, and then get the memories back once he’s already replaced Peter and he can afford to be a human being again. At least, that’s how I’d justify Ben’s behaviour if I was writing it.
I was kinda sad that there was no interaction between “Ben” and Firestar, given that there used to be something between them when they were both New Warriors. Another missed opportunity.
And sadly, I’m not hopefully for the upcoming issues. I mean, the next two feature a guest creative team, so they might be good in themselves, but I can’t see them contributing too much to the overall run here. And after that we have the Mary Jane mystery no one asked for and everyone is already bored of.
The most interesting stuff involving Norman’s possible redemption or slide back into darkness, with Queen Goblin manipulating and testing him, isn’t even going to play out in the main title. It’s all happening over in the Gold Goblin book. It seems like such a weird decision to take one of the most compelling parts of the main title, and have it play out elsewhere.
I have to say two things:
1. I LOVE the new Dark Mark logo. The fact that my best buddy made it for me is a big plus too!
2. This is BY FAR my favorite Dark Web issue of the lot. It’s great! I can’t recommend my experience with it enough! Now, that may be because I didn’t *have* to read it and so I didn’t. That also means I didn’t spend any of my hard-earned North Carolina teacher salary on it, so that’s another big plus! In fact, I am so delighted by my experience with Dark Web Finale #1 that I will ignore your ignorant comments on Parker’s true love.
I think there is potential in next issue’s date story. With Wells, it is a 50/50 toss up on if it will pay off or just flop. I’m in an optimistic mood and am looking forward to it.
When they make a Rek-Rap Funko Pop, I expect you to buy me one and send it to my house for me.
@Micheal: If Ben is in pain then everyone is in pain? I can see that. Still at the beginning he was trying to destroy Beyond first then decided it was all Peter’s fault.
@Sthenurus: You are 90% correct on this. I honestly want to take a crap on it, but that would be injustice to the villains during this run. During the start, Peter’s rouge gallery definitely upped their game.
@Evan: Thank you Evan! Even Mark LOVED it! It should be his new logo for his name. I will not shy away from what I’m reading, the readers DESERVE it. In my career here (and reading Spidey Titles all my life), I have developed a “spider sense” to see between the lines. Somethings the crazy part about being an “overthinker” is most times…you are right. I have expressed my concerns and joy in my letters that have been published, at conventions, on the podcast, and on here. It’s WHO I am and I dig that you guys are enjoying and agreeing with it. Even when you don’t agree, we can still discuss and dig deep into it. Appreciate you acknowledging that and will, keep on thwipping!
@Hornacek: Buddy…I really wish I knew the answers to these great questions that even popped in my head. I’m just too exhausted to actually care.
So are there still Dark Web tie-in mini’s that are still going on, even though Dark Web is now over? Isn’t the Felicia/MJ a 5-issue mini-series? What about Gold Goblin? Are the remaining issues just going to be “Dark Web”-free?
@Chi-Town — I think the best thing to come out of Dark Web is your Dark Mark logo. That’s very well done! As I was reading your review, it made me happy to see how transparent the goings-on behind-the-scenes in the Spidey Office are and that you don’t shy away from commenting on them. If you can’t get an honest review containing negativity published in the letters section, at least you can always publish them here.
Incidentally, I don’t buy that they just thought of more stories to tell and so postponed the reveal of the six-month mystery. Something else had to have been going on. And it really bothers me when creators blame the fans if a book or movie or whatever doesn’t sell. That’s how children behave, and not nice children.
Ooooouf that was BAD. The whole thing is an F for me.
Nothing good came out of it. The rape of Ben Reilly desecrated corpse continued. No character development for Peter came out of it. The plot of the tie in could have worked just as well without being dragged into this mess.
I just hope this entire run gets finished soon so that someone else can take over and we can all move on. Cause so far, out of over 20 issues of ASM (if we include the prelude and prologue one shot), we got nothing new from or for the characters.
I think what Wells meant was that the WAY Ben went around getting Peter to eat the fruit was stupid! Why not, for example, threaten to kill Jonah and Robbie unless Peter ate the fruit? If the point of the demon invasion was to make Peter want to eat the fruit to protect innocent people, then why take him to Limbo where he isn’t seeing the effects the invasion is having on innocent people.
For what it’s worth, the dialogue in this week’s Venom implies that Chasm always wanted everyone else to be as broken as he is.
Bedlam is an Eddie whose been rendered amnesiac by Chasm’s powers.
Why couldn’t Jean just download Peter’s memories into Chasm the same way she downloaded her memories into Maddie? Even if Chasm would have objected, you’d think they’d have done this as soon as possible after defeating Chasm to find out (a) where Chasm teleported Eddie to and (b) how to restore Eddie’s memories. The quickest way to do that is to turn Chasm back into Ben.
For what it’s worth, the dialogue in this week’s Venom implies that Chasm always wanted everyone else to be as broken as he is.