Dark Web: X-Men #3 Review *spoilers*

[sunofdarkchild]

IMO that doesn’t work bc it makes Magik look stupid. She already was foolish to hand over Limbo to Maddie. It would make her loom even dumber to still vouch for Maddie given everything she is doing

She's already vouching for Maddie in the previous issues despite everything Maddie is doing. She's the one trying to assure Scott and Jean that Maddie really has changed even as demons possess inanimate objects and attack civilians across New York. The way the story resolves ends up proving her right to vouch for Maddie despite that not making sense given what Maddie has done. If she hadn't been defending Maddie in this very story I wouldn't make this suggestion, but since that's what Duggan had her doing in the previous issues, let him pay that off instead of ignoring that she exists for the entire issue accept for 1 throwaway line at the end.

[Kurolegacy]

I can understand why Jean did what she did for Maddie. At the end of the day, she is Nathan’s mother. They both are and she’s not taking anything from Jean. Jean have her something no one else can really do.

What’s interesting is that Jean’s words to Maddie is the entire solution to Dark Web as a whole. Both Maddie and Ben were missing memories that are important to both; Maddie those of raising Nathan that she missed out on and Ben is missing the formative memories from Peter that his identity and morality is built on. The entire solution to it is right there in sharing them because doing so doesn’t have to take from the other. One would hope that Peter and Ben can come to a similar reconciliation as now that Maddie is with the X-Men to stop the demon invasion, she and Jean can restore what the Beyond corporation took from Ben.

[Mercury]

Jean is a complication bc she and Maddie are a unique case in that they merged at the end of Inferno. Jean gained all of Maddie's memories, the missing piece of her soul that gave Maddie life and for a short time even Maddie's persona before they were fully integrated at the end of Judgement War. Maddie essentially lived on through Jean. Thats not the same case as other clones like Laura and Gabby whom always remained seperate. There's also the fact that the Maddie that was seen in Hellions which even raised the question wasnt the original Maddie but some Nate Grey creation now twisted by demonic magic and vowing to burn Krakoa to the ground. I really wish we saw more of the QC's deliberation bc i feel that latter part should have been emphasized more by the sides against her resurrection. The fact that there was no plan in place to rehabilitate her was a failure on their part

Very good points!

[Steroid]

I liked the issue and mini overall but the one thing that annoys me is that Havok joining the team was completely pointless and unnecessary. The same story could have been told without him taking up a roster spot that amounted to him throwing a tantrum and leaving.

[Triniking1234]

Third week of 2023 and we're already sitting on one lackluster of an X-Men (and Spider-Man) event.

Duggan's version of Maddie doesn't line up with the anime villain version I'm reading in Wells' Amazing Spider-Man and Ewing's Venom. You mean to tell me Maddie gave a buffed-up clone of Spider-Man a demon army, created a new villain and brainwashed Eddie Brock back into evil venom just so she can get some memories back from Jean when all she had to do was ask?

Duggan also made the Limbo quartet look highly incompetent until the final moment when Jean had to carry them. Gillen did a better job with her in Judgement Day. The team left back in New York is running a comedy routine with Parker. Literally the only book taking this seriously is Ewing's Venom.

We still have Dark Web Finale to go through. I'm guessing the next issues of ASM and Venom are X-Men light.

3/10.

[Kingdom X]

Third week of 2023 and we're already sitting on one lackluster of an X-Men (and Spider-Man) event.

Duggan's version of Maddie doesn't line up with the anime villain version I'm reading in Wells' Amazing Spider-Man and Ewing's Venom. You mean to tell me Maddie gave a buffed-up clone of Spider-Man a demon army, created a new villain and brainwashed Eddie Brock back into evil venom just so she can get some memories back from Jean when all she had to do was ask?

Duggan also made the Limbo quartet look highly incompetent until the final moment when Jean had to carry them. Gillen did a better job with her in Judgement Day. The team left back in New York is running a comedy routine with Parker. Literally the only book taking this seriously is Ewing's Venom.

We still have Dark Web Finale to go through. I'm guessing the next issues of ASM and Venom are X-Men light.

3/10.

Surprisingly this actually makes me appreciate Duggan slightly more cause I think he’s in a tough spot. I haven’t been reading many of the Wells’ issues, but he clearly loves Inferno (see: Hellions and his New Mutants run) and wanted this event to feature a villainous Madelyne. However, right before this event we have Vita put her on a path of redemption or at least a path of less pettiness. So Duggan has to reconcile these two conflicting depictions while not stepping on the toes of the main architect of this event.

Speaking of not reading the Wells Spider-Man issues, do those issues explain why Madelyne can’t just turn off the mess she’s caused in NY and make the demons return to limbo?

[Uncanny X-Man]

What’s interesting is that Jean’s words to Maddie is the entire solution to Dark Web as a whole. Both Maddie and Ben were missing memories that are important to both; Maddie those of raising Nathan that she missed out on and Ben is missing the formative memories from Peter that his identity and morality is built on. The entire solution to it is right there in sharing them because doing so doesn’t have to take from the other. One would hope that Peter and Ben can come to a similar reconciliation as now that Maddie is with the X-Men to stop the demon invasion, she and Jean can restore what the Beyond corporation took from Ben.

It might feel like an easy solution to the story, and also I believe the Spider-Man office prefers keeping Ben Reilly as a villain, but it wouldn't be impossible for an Omega-level telepath like Jean to just bring back Ben's memories or share Peter's with him. I have a feeling it won't be how Dark Web concludes but I'd be happy if it was.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Well, that happened.

Anyone else laughed at the "But I tried sooo hard to have you resurrected because I'm soooo GOOD" soft retcon and Maddie's "To me, my X-Men" moment? Oh what the hell, I'm throwing in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it "Alex breaking Maddie's heart" lunacy in there, too. Because, yes, Alex ditching her because he didn't want to murder a baby or whatever makes *her* the victim. You can't make this stuff up, lol.

Can't wait for Her Highness to start making excuses for the Brood because, really, all they want is to be good parents.

[justanotherclassic]

Frankly, there is nothing wrong with someone being a "paragon," although, in the last 1-2 years, Jean has shown that she is hardly that. She pushed Lorna to go with her true desire to be an X-Man, which was not Jean's place to do, and later broke a gambler's hand on Gameworld for getting smart with her, which, when looked at objectively and realistically, certainly crossed a line. Moreover, she fooled Emma into dancing with Scott with a psychic illusion and even tried convincing the Progenitor that her role in taking down Gameworld and "saving countless lives" somehow made up for and should absolve her of her destruction of D'Bari, however unintentional it may have been. And she knew better, too, especially since she had already countered others who had tried convincing her she was blameless (T'Challa, Rogue, et al.) and held herself accountable for that tragedy several times, including most recently in X-Men #4 (2021). No, she is certainly fallible, as most of us are.

I'm going to touch on this, because you've actually highlighted a major issue I have with Duggan's writing of Jean and why I say it's bordering on Mary Sue-ish. Because you're right, Jean has done some fucked up shit under Duggan's pen, but my problem is that the narrative doesn't properly explore that. In fact, it somewhat...endorses that behavior. Jean essentially committing election fraud is actually one of the first times I got seriously annoyed with Duggan. Because here's the thing: I actually thing that's an interesting plot. She broke away from the Quiet Council, in part because of their corruption, then one of her first acts as an X-Men following X of Swords was to partake in an act of corruption itself! That's actually super interesting to me, but Duggan lost me when he instead chose to explore it as...Jean being a good friend? Polaris got over it pretty quickly, the action was never brought to life to the voting public, and it's all but forgotten. I'll agree that Duggan, theoretically, writes Jean as conceptually flawed, but if the narrative endorses the flawed behavior, then it's not exactly a flaw. It's just a thing that happened.

As for the Progenitor, that was written by Gillen. I'm not a mindless Jean hater. That issue was probably one of my favorite X-Men-related issues of the year, but in part, because it was such a refreshing take on Jean. What was the line? Jean being "a saint and a bully"? I love it. That's such an interesting and compelling dichotomy, but I don't really see much of that with Duggan's writing of her. Even Gillen's implication that Jean is so afraid of slipping into the Dark Phoenix that runs away from making morally grey decisions is complicated and messy and a delightful thing I'd love to see deeper explored. But Duggan doesn't seem super interested in that? He focuses almost entirely on her virtues, not the vices. And the failures, even if coming from a good place, and how the character bounces back from that are interesting to me and what makes me feel engaged and excited.

I'll give editorial credit: it seems intent on canonizing the Dark Phoenix as Jean again. Which, the weird cocoon thing is still one of my least favorite retcons in existence because it didn't allow Jean to be messy and took away an interesting character beat. But more of that work, again, seems on Gillen.

[Triniking1234]

Surprisingly this actually makes me appreciate Duggan slightly more cause I think he’s in a tough spot. I haven’t been reading many of the Wells’ issues, but he clearly loves Inferno (see: Hellions and his New Mutants run) and wanted this event to feature a villainous Madelyne. However, right before this event we have Vita put her on a path of redemption or at least a path of less pettiness. So Duggan has to reconcile these two conflicting depictions while not stepping on the toes of the main architect of this event.

Speaking of not reading the Wells Spider-Man issues, do those issues explain why Madelyne can’t just turn off the mess she’s caused in NY and make the demons return to limbo?

Maddie should be able to go back to the organ and tell the demons to fuck off so I don't know what's the hold up.

[Kurolegacy]

Surprisingly this actually makes me appreciate Duggan slightly more cause I think he’s in a tough spot. I haven’t been reading many of the Wells’ issues, but he clearly loves Inferno (see: Hellions and his New Mutants run) and wanted this event to feature a villainous Madelyne. However, right before this event we have Vita put her on a path of redemption or at least a path of less pettiness. So Duggan has to reconcile these two conflicting depictions while not stepping on the toes of the main architect of this event.

Speaking of not reading the Wells Spider-Man issues, do those issues explain why Madelyne can’t just turn off the mess she’s caused in NY and make the demons return to limbo?

They do not. In fact, Maddie basically reminds Ben, when she’s watching the ridiculousness of what he’s doing over there, that those demons are essentially on loan due to her own personal kindness. So really, there’s nothing preventing her from commanding them back.

[Kingdom X]

Thanks for the clarification y’all! Yeah the end of this issue kinda made it seem like she’d lost control of the demons or something. Cause really the only remaining threats should be Chasm (and brainwashed Venom I guess?), and that should be slight work for a team of X-Men.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

Maddie should be able to go back to the organ and tell the demons to fuck off so I don't know what's the hold up.

She's a witch. She made binding promises to both Chasm and the X-men, so she can't just directly call back the demons she loaned to Ben. So since she can't order them back, she'll have to thump them and take them back.

[Odd Rödney]

I’ve been waiting for this issue for like 30 years. A redemption for someone who desperately needed it, a great book if you’re a Jean fan. *Chef’s kiss* This was a good week to be a fan!

[Havok83]

She's already vouching for Maddie in the previous issues despite everything Maddie is doing. She's the one trying to assure Scott and Jean that Maddie really has changed even as demons possess inanimate objects and attack civilians across New York. The way the story resolves ends up proving her right to vouch for Maddie despite that not making sense given what Maddie has done. If she hadn't been defending Maddie in this very story I wouldn't make this suggestion, but since that's what Duggan had her doing in the previous issues, let him pay that off instead of ignoring that she exists for the entire issue accept for 1 throwaway line at the end.

nah it still makes Illyana look stupid to me. How many people were killed in this event unnecessarily so Illyana could be proven "right". Not worth it