Dark Web 1 Spoilers and Review: Ben to Hell and Back

[Pav]

Ben Friends! Spider-Clone Compadres! Once again we review a new comic book featuring our boy, Ben Reilly, the one true Sensational Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, and now: CHASM.

And y'know what?

I think this issue is... good. Like, really good.

Disclaimer: You have to just accept that Ben does not give a **** anymore, and neither does Janine. If you can, then I think this issue is really enjoyable: solid characterization, excellent art, and intriguing action -- especially a particular fight that's been years in the making!

Anyway -- let's get to it!

1. We start "somewhere, sometime." Ben and Janine are enjoying a Christmastime stroll through the city, when who should they see but Peter and MJ! Peter laments that it's Christmas, but he really wants Ben to give him his stuff back. What stuff? "You know -- all of it!" laugh Peter and MJ maniacally. Peter removes Ben's blonde hair and then rips his mouth off his face. Janine moves to protect Ben, but MJ stops her and reminds her what happens to "girls who stick up for themselves: they get locked up tight." Janine, wearing her prison outfit, has become a dummy in the store window; Peter takes Ben's eyes and brain, and Ben joins Janine as "a nothing person in a nowhere place." Peter and MJ laugh and laugh.

2. And Ben wakes up in Limbo from his nightmares to an empowered Maddie Pryor wielding the Scythe of Sorrows. She tells Ben that, in Limbo, pain is currency and energy. Masking up, Ben responds that he's got plenty of pain for them to use. We then get a cool pose of Maddie and Ben as they begin to take back "everything stolen" from them.

3. We then cut to the Coffee Bean, where Peter and his social group are celebrating the late Harry Osborn's birthday. Peter and Flash support Liz while other dialogue between characters reference the current side-plots happening. MJ approached Peter and they awkwardly converse BUT I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS CURRENT PETER/MJ DRAMA. NEXT!

4. Peter notices Norman Osborn outside, and because Norman has had his sins forcibly removed, he and Peter have a heart-to-heart. Norman laments the death of Harry's Clone, and mentions Ben dying in Peter's arms, which he of course orchestrated. It's at this point that we get some insight into how Peter views clones: that they are individuals who are real people, even if they aren't the people whose lives they claim. And honestly, it's good writing; it's a good moment between Peter and Norman considering the current circumstances under which they find themselves. I believe the emotional underpinnings of each, and it makes me interested in "good Norman" for the first time.

5. Back to Ben and Maddie, who are discussing their plans, including Janine's role as Hallows' Eve. Ben says that he isn't going to hide that Maddie is behind things, which pleases Maddie: for her, this is about how the X-Men react. But she wants more help, and her and Ben somehow traverse planes of reality to find a certain Eddie Brock: Venom. And he wants his son. Maddie promises to help, but first she's going to help ease his mind of the "great weight" it's carrying.

6. Meanwhile, the X-Men are enjoying Christmas in New York City. We get fun banter between the current team, but elsewhere Maddie is priming her army. She asks Chasm and Hallows' Eve if she should "play on" and they both agree that she should.

7. Leaving the Coffee Bean, Peter's spider-sense goes crazy; at the Rockefeller Center ice rink, the X-Men feel something bad happening. Suddenly, objects around the city are turning into demons and causing havoc (no pun intended). Peter recognizes what's going on and puts on his new Spidey costume. Looking down on the ice rink, he sees the X-Men fighting a monstrous zamboni! Comics, folks!

8. The X-Men banter about Maddie, and Magik sadly wonders what Maddie is doing. Back in Limbo, Maddie and Hallows' Eve talk, which gives the reader insight into their respective mindsets: Maddie is glad the X-Men know she's her own boss; Janine, back in NYC, feels like being at home is a punishment, as it always has.

9. AND NOW THE MAIN EVENT: in his office, Norman Osborn is listening to the news of the current INFERNO redux and considers putting on his Gold Goblin gear. "What harm could it do?" he asks himself. And someone responds, "A lot. Trust me." Ben, as Chasm, has come to... reintroduce himself to Norman. AND BEN SOUNDS LIKE BEN, YOU GUYS. It really feels like him. Ben tells Norman about the situation with his memories: losing all of Peter's -- and Ben is pretty sure some of those were important -- and even some of his own, especially most of the good ones. Seems bad memories tend to last the longest. And that's why, Ben says, "I really... really... remember you." Norman leaps to his tech, but Chasm kicks him in the back in such a way as to be VERY reminiscent of Ben's original death via goblin glider. In fact, Norman calls for his glider and Ben leaps out of the way! The banter here is SENSATIONAL. Norman, now in his golden gear, tells Ben that he means to make amends for what he's done, but he's determined to protect Peter from Ben; unluckily for Norman, Ben previously posed as Peter and corrupted Norman's Gold Goblin tech, exploding his glider.

10. "Let's get back to those amends you were so hot on making...

ONE AMEND!

TWO AMENDS!

THREE AMENDS!

FOUR AMENDS!

FIVE AMENDS!

**** yes! How can any Ben fan not enjoy Norman's beatdown at the hands of Ben?!

11. Meanwhile, Maddie and Hallows' Eve are having trouble controlling their new partner. Seems that Maddie and Ben messed with Eddie's mind too much, because now Venom is determined to kill Spider-Man and eat his brains!

*whew!*

I'll say it again: Ben Reilly is a hero, and turning him into a villain still doesn't feel like the right move. Despite my reservations, however, this issue was really fun, and Ben felt like Ben -- a Ben Reilly who has had his goodness ripped from him by an ugly world, and who is willing to do anything to regain what he feels has been taken from him. But the real prize is getting to see him get some revenge on Norman Osborn, the mastermind behind the Clone Saga. Never mind that Ben is currently "bad" and Norman is currently "good." For this Ben fan, it was beautiful schadenfreude to see Norman get the crap kicked out of him at the hands of Ben.

The art throughout this issue is really great, and it's never better than when we see Ben's Chasm costume. It looks really great.

THE ONLY PROBLEM: WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT BEN'S NEW POWERS ARE. You'd think Wells would want to establish what Ben can do, considering he's a major player with a new status quo in this important crossover series, but apparently not! Funny, the 90s Clone Saga similarly forgot to establish Kaine's powers as heightened Spider-Powers within the actual story. One possibility: it was potentially implied that Ben had something to do with Venom's mindwipe. But there was nothing specific said about how.

So, other than still not knowing what Chasm can do, I found this to be an excellent issue. It is, arguably, one of the better modern appearances of Ben Reilly, despite the villainous take.

I can't wait to find out what others thought of the issue!

-Pav, who looks forward to your posts...

[Sr. Bungle]

Great as always!! Will give my more elaborate thougts tomorrow and add some counter-points (because is fun)

P.S. : Chasm's powers are punching people really hard, we saw it here and in ASM 14

[boots]

seeing as how i won't be buying this, pav will essentially be my channelling the comic for me. practically will be the comic

where should i send you my money, pav?

i'm slightly relieved that this issue seems to have had a positive reception and that some work has been put into honouring who ben used to be, along with what sounds like a genuinely interesting scenario

side note: i always liked that they weren't explicit about kaine's power in the 90s. i know superhero comics sometimes prefer the...direct... approach but i enjoyed piecing that together myself and with other readers.

[Huntsman Spider]

Great as always!! Will give my more elaborate thougts tomorrow and add some counter-points (because is fun)

P.S. : Chasm's powers are punching people really hard, we saw it here and in ASM 14

Same as Peter's, then. Because Peter can punch people really hard, too; he just prefers not to do it unless the person on the other end can take those punches without being turned into a bloody smear on the nearest surface.

Aside from that, I'm generally of the same mind as Pav. While I absolutely despise this direction for Ben --- in the same way 90s TAS Spider-Carnage despised his reality's Ben Reilly, who may or may not have been the clone, after all --- I can concede that it's at least somewhat better-written than what we've been getting from Wells for a while now, though that might just be more because Wells does better with darker, more "villainous" characters than with more standard "heroic" figures. Quotation marks used largely because the idea of who the hero and who the villain is . . . is a lot more nebulous than it used to be, given that it could be argued the catalyst for Madelyne Pryor's transformation into the Goblin Queen was her abandonment by Scott Summers once Jean Grey came back from the (seeming) dead, while the only reason Norman is penitent at all for what he's done over the years is that he had his evil purged by way of a mystical shotgun blast. Not to mention that as much as Janine/Elizabeth/Hallow's Eve might seem fine with helping to burn the world (or at least New York City) down, Chasm's nightmare in Limbo pretty much sums up why that would be the case; the law and the world as a whole punished and rejected her for killing her abuser, instead of her abuser for abusing her to begin with, which is unfortunately very true to real life.

In a nutshell, they all have valid reasons to be bitter and angry and just done with it all, even if those reasons don't exactly justify all the innocent people who'll end up as casualties of their vengeance, or the violation of Eddie Brock's mind to revert him to the point of single-minded obsession with his own kind of misguided vengeance on Spider-Man. Still, although it was quite satisfying to see The Chasm Formerly Known as Ben Reilly avenge himself upon Norman Osborn, I must ask . . . if he used his genetic and physical resemblance to Peter to slip past Norman's guard and sabotage his equipment . . . what else did he use that resemblance to do, and might it have anything to do with that giant crater Peter found himself in at the beginning of Wells's run?

[Kurolegacy]

Yea, I really can’t accept Ben or Janine’s just not caring because, while it might make sense in the context of the story, it doesn’t change for me that bad writing and a lot of PIS led to it. These are things that I just can’t overlook especially since I’m reminded of the stupid pills everyone had to be on for Superior to happen. While I’m going to follow this crossover, I refuse to give Marvel any money for this story as I find it would be rewarding them for a direction that I despise. The Spider-Man line is usually one of endearing hope. Everything from the groundwork of this crossover to this issue is just bathed in a cynicism and nihilism that wouldn’t feel out of place in the Ultimate Universe. Meanwhile the only thing that felt like the spirit of Spider-Man is given to Osborn pertaining to Harry which falls flat when his current state is only because his sins were removed from him and the fact that he sold Harry to Mephisto long before he ever took the Goblin Serum.

[dornwolf]

Same as Peter's, then. Because Peter can punch people really hard, too; he just prefers not to do it unless the person on the other end can take those punches without being turned into a bloody smear on the nearest surface.

Aside from that, I'm generally of the same mind as Pav. While I absolutely despise this direction for Ben --- in the same way 90s TAS Spider-Carnage despised his reality's Ben Reilly, who may or may not have been the clone, after all --- I can concede that it's at least somewhat better-written than what we've been getting from Wells for a while now, though that might just be more because Wells does better with darker, more "villainous" characters than with more standard "heroic" figures. Quotation marks used largely because the idea of who the hero and who the villain is . . . is a lot more nebulous than it used to be, given that it could be argued the catalyst for Madelyne Pryor's transformation into the Goblin Queen was her abandonment by Scott Summers once Jean Grey came back from the (seeming) dead, while the only reason Norman is penitent at all for what he's done over the years is that he had his evil purged by way of a mystical shotgun blast. Not to mention that as much as Janine/Elizabeth/Hallow's Eve might seem fine with helping to burn the world (or at least New York City) down, Chasm's nightmare in Limbo pretty much sums up why that would be the case; the law and the world as a whole punished and rejected her for killing her abuser, instead of her abuser for abusing her to begin with, which is unfortunately very true to real life.

In a nutshell, they all have valid reasons to be bitter and angry and just done with it all, even if those reasons don't exactly justify all the innocent people who'll end up as casualties of their vengeance, or the violation of Eddie Brock's mind to revert him to the point of single-minded obsession with his own kind of misguided vengeance on Spider-Man. Still, although it was quite satisfying to see The Chasm Formerly Known as Ben Reilly avenge himself upon Norman Osborn, I must ask . . . if he used his genetic and physical resemblance to Peter to slip past Norman's guard and sabotage his equipment . . . what else did he use that resemblance to do, and might it have anything to do with that giant crater Peter found himself in at the beginning of Wells's run?

Giving Wells and Co. Too much credit at the end there

[Kurolegacy]

Giving Wells and Co. Too much credit at the end there

Yea, especially when Peter’s only been working for Osborn for a short time. For Ben to have sabotaged Osborn’s new suit it would have to have happened very recently that he posed as Peter. So it would be impossible for him to be responsible for what happened with Peter to have caused that crater.

[Lunala]

You are the most relentlessly optimistic fan I have ever met and for that you have my undying respect. Rock on.

[Malachi]

Very hard to enjoy a issue where 3 characters are only doing this because they have been tampered with. Ben, Eddie and Norman.

Maddie is probably the only character who has some actual motivation for doing this beyond "I will steal Peter Parkers soul". Witch has to be spell out to really hammer in what level this is on.

I can't enjoy a comic where there are no actual characters to drive the story. Here most of it is just down to convinient plots making characters do what the story needs them to. So business as usual.

[Alex_Of_X]

"So now we dance," Stormin' Norman

Winter's starting out HOT with this issue. I'm jazzed. What's more Christmasy than Brother fighting Brother and trying to stuff on another full of demon fruit.

Hmm...maybe this crossover would fit Thanksgiving better

Ben slashing up Norman was a delight. Also like what they're doing with Venom! I was wondering how they were going to tame the Sci-Fi direction of the solo to fit the story, and back to basics works swell. It also makes him more of a Spidey-level threat again. Made me remember ASM tying into Onslaught in the 90s, where the writers (cleverly) gave Spidey sentinels to fight.

Inferno has a delightfully playful visual iconography--all those angry hydrants and hungry mailboxes. Excited to get four issue of McGuiness going absolutely hog-wild.

Also curious that Janine's hanging back in Limbo...maybe she'll go up against Felicia & MJ?

[Sr. Bungle]

"So now we dance," Stormin' Norman

Winter's starting out HOT with this issue. I'm jazzed. What's more Christmasy than Brother fighting Brother and trying to stuff on another full of demon fruit.

Hmm...maybe this crossover would fit Thanksgiving better

Ben slashing up Norman was a delight. Also like what they're doing with Venom! I was wondering how they were going to tame the Sci-Fi direction of the solo to fit the story, and back to basics works swell. It also makes him more of a Spidey-level threat again. Made me remember ASM tying into Onslaught in the 90s, where the writers (cleverly) gave Spidey sentinels to fight.

Inferno has a delightfully playful visual iconography--all those angry hydrants and hungry mailboxes. Excited to get four issue of McGuiness going absolutely hog-wild.

Also curious that Janine's hanging back in Limbo...maybe she'll go up against Felicia & MJ?

They seem to be fighting Belasco as per the preview.

[Jman27]

point 3 of the review is the correct way to go when reading this run. The beatdown of Norman by Ben is long overdue should the circumstances be better? not really in my opinion a beatdown is a beatdown. I'm looking forward to the Venom and Peter fight to be honest

[Mercwmouth12]

point 3 of the review is the correct way to go when reading this run. The beatdown of Norman by Ben is long overdue should the circumstances be better? not really in my opinion a beatdown is a beatdown. I'm looking forward to the Venom and Peter fight to be honest

How long now till Norman goes evil again because there's this and then his next fight where he will lose as well

[Toxin45]

How long now till Norman goes evil again because there's this and then his next fight where he will lose as well

Until gold goblin issue 5

[Mercwmouth12]

Until gold goblin issue 5

Maybe quicker if he gets a code of sins back so maybe issue 4 we get a peak of evil Norman again