Hello, Friends! Were you all as excided as I was to read your copy of Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #3!? I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to go outcide and shout its praises to the masses! But I'm happy to settle for sharing a fun conversation with all of you incide our Spidey message board
As an acide: I don't think I've ever mentioned that I live in a converted bus on the back of a friend's farm; I couldn't wait to get home yesterday to write this up, and I got two-thirds of the way through before my laptop died! I had forgotten to charge it at work! So my apologies for making you wait. Believe that I was bummed! ANYWAY...
As always, I'll walk you through my second read-through of the issue and provide my thoughts. Let's take a look at what's incide this comic!
1) But first, the cover! On the one hand, I was stoked to see Carolyn Trainer again; however, the cover art does her absolutely no justice. She looks like a scary witch, not a super-hot mad scientist! Luckily her depiction inside isn't so hideous.
2) We start off with Edward Whelan being used as bait by Lady Ock, and Ben narrates some backstory about her, him, and their mutual relationship with Seward Trainer, who was Ben's friend and Carolyn's father.
3) Ben resents Edward being used as bait, but Lady Ock comments that she just wants to have fun making Ben miserable. Plus, an agitated Ben is easier to kill!
4) Lady Ock unmasks Ben and we get a soliloquy from Lady Ock about Ben being the "favorite son" before Ben headbutts her and frees himself from her clutches.
5) Ben thinks to himself that Ock could've gotten Edward killed... and John Diaz, too, who appears to be watching the fight from the street below.
6) "What is it about you, Ben, that inspired my father to embrace you and cast me aside?"
7) We then get some very interesting narration from Ben about being Spidey: is it a selfless desire to make the world a better place, or a selfish need to prop up his own ego? Ben decides it's okay if it's both.
8) THEN we get a very interesting scene in which Ben tries to convince Carolyn to stop fighting and talk to him, but she won't accept his pity. Still, Ben's time on the road has helped him realize that everyone has light and dark elements to themselves, and that even someone as dangerous as Ock doesn't deserves his hatred.
9) Ben punches Ock off the building, but instead of hearing her land, he instead hears a sound behind him: it's zombie Kraven the Hunter! And it's at this point that Ben acknowledges that someone is messing with him and things cannot be what they seem.
10) Zombie Kraven, be still my English teacher heart, starts reciting William Blake's poem "The Tyger" but substitutes "spyder" for "tyger" -- oh, and probably more importantly, he turns into a huge mass of spiders and complete overwhelms Benjy. Ben swears he can feel "their loathing. Their spite. Their hunger." They don't just want Ben's body; they want his mind -- his very identity!
11) EDWARD SAVES THE DAY!
12) Meanwhile, in Dr. Kafka's office, the newscaster on the television reminds us of the "First Date Murderer" subplot. Simultaneously, Ben is narrating his worries: now that he thinks none of the villains he's faced are who they seem to be... well, what could it be? Could it be clones? "No! It's not him!"
13) The newscaster mentions the lack of connection between the victims of the First Date Murderer and the descriptions of the suspects in each case don't match. WEIRD.
14) Ben figures that if he's seeing things that aren't there, it must be one of two people, so he revists Kafka's office so that he can check up on the Chameleon and Mysterio.
15) As they walk through Ravencroft, Ben and Ashley Kafka have a fantastic conversation about the similarities and differences between Ben and Peter. Kafka also insists that the Chameleon is barely functioning, so Ben turns his attention to Mysterio, who informs him he's got none of his tricks available.
16) MONTAGE! Waiting for his enemy to attack again isn't his style, so Ben goes on the offensive. We see him chasing down small-time crooks, investigating old goblin hideouts, and interrogating Hammerhead. Ben narrates that, as this happens, he feels a real friendship blossoming between himself and Edward Whelan (as well as Ashley Kafka) -- but the same can't be said for John Diaz, who Ben describes as lost, alone, and needy. Seems John even shows up to his apartment uninvited. Ben decides he needs to cut this stalker loose.
17) Later, Ben is closing up shop at the Daily Grind, which he's "starting to like." What he doesn't care for so much is getting beamed upside the head by Shirley's frying pan! Oh -- that's not Shirley at all.
18) "I'm whoever I want to be." Scorpion. Lady Octopus. Kraven. Uncle Ben and Aunt May. George and Gwen Stacy. (Maybe even Random Ravencroft Doctor? Somehow he was privy to the conversation between Ben and Ashley.) "I know all about you, Benjamin. You, and Peter. Even that defective, Kaine."
19) The shapeshifter turns into a writing gray mass of monstrous arms and faces, attacking Ben. There also seems to be some kind of toxin radiating from the creature and seeping into Ben's mind.
20) "There's guilt there. So much guilt. About Uncle Ben. Captain Stacy, Gwen. So many more. And maybe that guilt is what rules Peter Parker's life. But not Ben Reilly's."
21) Ben fights back! He's not going to let the Jackal get him this time!
22) "Really, brother? You really believe that lovestruck buffoon Miles Warren is behind this?" says JOHN DIAZ!!!!!! But of course, John is merely a creation to get closer to Ben. Because the villain all along has been "the sibling none of you ever acknowledge." His father never gave him a true name, so you can just call him...
23) SPIDERCIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW.
Guys, this right here is an excellent comic book. Let me stop to catch my breath and collect my thoughts!
...
Okay. So, lot's of questions:
If Spidercide was both John Diaz and Lady Ock, does that mean his shapeshifting allow him to be in two places at once? Because the art indicated that Diaz was watching the rooftop fight from the street.
How does the "First Date Murderer" play a role in Spidercide's return? It's gotta be him, right? Or are we purposefully being led astray on that subplot?
How will this affect continuity, as Spidercide has been "in a coma" since his fall from the Bugle back in the 90s. But with this retroactive return, what will be Spidercide's new continuity? Where has he been for all these years?
Because of the title of this miniseries, The Humanity Agenda, my guess is that Spidercide wants to know how Ben was able to establish a life and identity for himself -- something that he never had the opportunity to do. Perhaps that's why he's going on all these dates and killing people as well: he's trying to, I dunno, gain a better understanding of what it means to be human...? But then, why kill them? Does he need something from others to sustain himself? Is his biology working against him? OR, like I indicated earlier, what if Ben and Spidercide end up joining forces against some OTHER enemy doing the preying upon the blind dates?
OR, maybe Ben will "trap" Spidercide in the persona of John Diaz, powerless and no danger to anyone, which would maybe explain where he's been all these years.
There's so much to consider! I'm definitely going to re-read the first three issues straight through and see if I can't pick up any clues we may have overlooked.
And as if this issue wasn't sensational enough already: yessir, that is a letter written by your pal Pav to start off the issue's Arachnotes! I've only ever written one letter to Marvel before -- when I was a kid, stoked about seeing Kaine's first appearance post-Clone Saga; you can read it in one of the Identity Crisis issues, I believe -- but I HAD to write another after enjoying BR:SM so much. So yeah -- very excited that something I wrote to express my Clone Love once again gets to grace the pages of a Spidey comic!
Can't wait to continue the conversation on this issue and maybe consider what we might see in the final two issues!
-Pav, who hopes the rumors that JMD is writing more Ben are true...