Hello, Ben Friends! It's that time again: the Dark Web storyline continues, and I'm here to tell you:
This issue is f*@#ing weird.
1) We start the issue with some demons who are essentially roleplaying as Daily Bugle employees. One of the demons is having fun, but the other -- not so much, but all it takes is one punch from Peter to stop the meaner demon from doing any damage. The other demon? Apparently falls in love with "Parker Pete-Man."
2) Inside the Bugle, JJJ is being harassed by his demon employees, who want him to be better at play-acting his role as himself, J. Johnnie John-Man. This running gag about the demons being unable to say people's names correctly is certainly a choice that Zeb Wells has made. Once again, it's the arrival of Peter that prevents any violence, and because he's "been told" what'll happen if they don't, Peter suggests they "get to work" doing whatever fake demon newspeople do at a fake Daily Bugle in Limbo. It's at this point in the story that the demons make Johnman request "tasty pics of Spider-Man, and probably feeling much the same way the reader does, Peter swears that Ben's gonna pay for this.
3) We cut to Ben waiting for Peter, who is (I guess?) walking to his Limbo home. And I gotta say, I don't like the Chasm suit as much when the mask looks more like it has laser-whiskers than when the eyes have more of an emo-y, haphazard dripping kind of look. Anyway, Ben tells Peter this can end -- all Peter has to do is eat the glowy Limbo fruit. Peter isn't stupid even if this issue very much is and isn't going to voluntarily eat the Limbo fruit. He's not going to give up, which Ben would know if he hadn't "lost his mind." Oof. Tough choice of words there, Petey.
4) Elsewhere, some demons are turning themselves into demonic versions of Spidey's worst enemies while Maddie Pryor and Chasm watch from above. Maddie is mostly uninterested in Ben's plans, but she warns him not to forget that her demons are merely on loan.
5) "When have I forgotten anything?" I'll admit: I chuckled.
6) Anyway, Chasm introduces his Insidious Six to Maddie -- the Grave Goblin is the probably the coolest -- and then, all of a sudden, that little demon guy from earlier returns, wearing a Spidey t-shirt and tighty-whities, claiming to be "Parker-Man!" and punching one of the Six. Maddie says what the reader is thinking -- "This... is not a great use of my time," and skedaddles from this issue and over into the X-Men tie-ins, which actually take this Dark Web story pretty seriously and has, y'know, actual emotional depth in its characterization. It's a legitimate shame that Ben isn't allowed the same level of seriousness.
7) Anyway, Ben tells the little demon guy that he's got it backwards: they need villains, not heroes. But the demon escapes, saying that "Parker-Man lives to fight another day!"
8) We then go back to Jonah, who is being sexually harassed by his demonic grooming kit and bed because of course he is. Luckily, Peter arrives to tell Jonah his plan to get them out of Limbo.
9) Back to the little demon guy, who wants to be a hero, and is kicking rocks down the street. His big demon brother notices and agrees to help him / maybe kill him by taking the Spidey t-shirt and mixing it with a little of the Venom symbiote that he got in Venom #13 (apparently). With a little Limbo magic, the now-alive Spidey costume eats/covers the little demon guy.
10) At the Bugle, Jay Jayman puts Peter's plan into action by telling all the Bugle demons how much fun the demons on Earth are having. The demons run off to have Earth fun, and JJJ, Robbie, and Peter-as-Spidey follow them -- until the Insidious Six show up, asking Peter if he's brave enough to face them?
11) *sigh* Sure. Me too, Pete. Me too.
12) Peter gets his butt handed to him quickly. Luckily, he's saved by the appearance of Rek-Rap, the little demon guy who is now a big, buff Spidery-Man Guy! F*@#ing. Weird.
So yeah. In this storyline about the rift between Peter and Ben, we get to the inevitable issue about demons roleplaying as Bugle employees and a hard shift of focus onto an unnamed demon who wants to be a Spider-Man. Personally, I'd have preferred the focus stay on Ben Reilly; y'know, the clone who wants to be a Spider-Man and whose turn towards villain is the whole reason for this event.
I suppose any casual fan might enjoy this issue, but I was left feeling very underwhelmed with the focus of its plot and the even greater shift towards absurdity (widening the tonal gap between the Spidey issues and the X-Men issues).
I chuckled a couple of times. But I need a little more than that, especially when it comes to Ben. His plan here is just... silly.
-Pav, who gives the issue 3.5 out of 10 thwips...