Rate Dark Web

[Mister Mets]

I'm pedantic enough to think the poll question might be unclear (Is average enjoyable, or bad but not offensively so)?

One way to look at it is to consider cost. Was this worth 25 bucks for the main Spider-Man issues?

And we can consider whether the various side-stories (Gold Goblin, Ms Marvel, etc) were enjoyable.

There was some good in that the artists are solid (in the main material at least) and it was fun to see a demon possessed New York where cars come alive, even if it isn't an improvement over the Micheline/ McFarlane Inferno tie-in issues. The event did have some changes to the Marvel landscape, that are promising. It was annoying that the Ben story ended so indifferently, especially since this is also the payoff to the whole 18 (or so) issue Spider-Man: Beyond run.

Although now I'm thinking how smart Michelinie and Mcfarlane were to add single issue stories with A-list villains (Mysterio! Lizard! Harry Osborn Green Goblin VS Hobgoblin!) to the proceedings, and how Conway connected it to his ongoing stories in the satellite books.

[Pav]

What could have been an opportunity by Marvel to justify and truly dabble in the highs and lows of Ben Reilly's latest turn to villainy was utterly squandered in a cookie-cutter cartoon cavalcade that benefited nobody and entertained only a select few. Art was on point, if art was all that was needed to sell you and not characterization, then sure, top marks. But we want to read about heroes, duality, two scarred sides of a fractured coin, broken brothers, and the people in their lives.

We got nothing of the sort. Instead we got Rek-Rap, King Chasm, and 90s Venom, we got Norman Osborn of all people carrying the event (and this era) with a far more compelling narrative to call his own. We have Black Cat scared to tell MJ she's dating a boy, we got MJ with fancy new tech and more mystery (at least even that was somewhat advanced) and Paul being a human shield for the kids and largely forgotten about in favour of them being brought up more in conversation by MJ.

And Peter? the title hero? He stands by and watches everyone else make the moves for him, all the important stuff just goes on without him while he promotes a new toy, and in the final battle he contributes nothing. Maddie's redemption could have happened without this event in the pages of the X-Books. It was entirely unnecessary.

I think this is honest analysis of why this story just didn't work. Can't argue with a thing you said.

I was caught between ‘mediocre’ and ‘terrible’ because I enjoyed seeing him beat up Norman in the beginning, but eventually the sum of its parts meant it could only be ‘terrible’ lol

Exactly the same for me as well. The good moments were eclipsed by the preposterousness of it all.

-Pav, who does like the idea of "offensive spider-sense"...

[CaptainUniverse]

-Pav, who does like the idea of "offensive spider-sense"...

Offensive spider-sense almost sounds like a version of Spider-Sense that goes off when Peter gets offended by something, lol!

"#$%^&"

"Walloping Web-Snappers! My offensive spider-sense is tingling!"

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

This is easily the worst arc of this run so far and I'm not confident that things will pick up in the coming months with the "what did Peter do" arc. Might drop the book after that but we'll see how much I hate myself I guess.

Even for a big dumb popcorn epic spidey arc like Maximum Carnage or Spiderverse this has to be considered bottom of the barrel. I think Wells should stick to moody Tombstone and Hobgoblin stories with John Romita Jr because this wasn't very satisfying to me at all.

Ben Reilly deserves better and so do the readers of this book.

[Lukmendes]

Offensive spider-sense almost sounds like a version of Spider-Sense that goes off when Peter gets offended by something, lol!

"#$%^&"

"Walloping Web-Snappers! My offensive spider-sense is tingling!"

This would be very overpowered with Chasm, 'cause he looks like someone who gets offended very easily .

This is easily the worst arc of this run so far and I'm not confident that things will pick up in the coming months with the "what did Peter do" arc. Might drop the book after that but we'll see how much I hate myself I guess.

It's never too late to learn self love man, and you can start it by dropping this nonsense right now lol.

[exile001]

Ordinarily, I'd say put a "bad" option between mediocre and terrible as there is a gulf between them, but this time it's not needed.

I've not read the final issue yet but this has been an utter failure from conception to execution and everything in between. And I'm only skim reading in my LCS, I can only imagine how much worse it is for those who actually invested time and money into this (talking) dumpster fire.

[Coop]

Went with mediocre. The Maddie stuff over in Dark Web X-Men wasn't bad. Al Ewing getting to write Janine is probably the best treatment her character has gotten since Redemption.

The Spider-Man stuff was horrible though. Tonally the event was played way too comedically, which neutered the Ben Reilly story. It's hard to be invested in his pain when it's acted out through this dumb slapstick plan. I don't think the Chasm costume looks good and his new powers were nothing interesting. Offensive Spider-Sense sounds cool but came into play once.

The humor was unfunny. Aside from Maddie no character received meaningful development. The only advancement of the Ben and Peter plot is that Peter knows Ben is alive.

[alanyoung909]

I thought it was decent.

Dark Web: X-Men > Excellent. Duggan brings his A game. One of the best Jean Grey and Madelyne stories ever. A true sequel to Inferno.
Venom 13-16 > Excellent. Ewing wrote the book on how to use events to progress your own plots.
Black Cat & Mary Jane > The 'Jackpot' plot device is a stroke of pure genius. The Limbo setting is hindering this book - too nebulous for a heist.
Dark Web: Ms Marvel > This was alright for a new Marvel Comics writer. Is Pirzada going to end up writing the eventual Ms Marvel ongoing?

As for the ASM book, it is what it is.
I've never been a fan of Zeb Wells, even back when people were fawning over his Hellions or New Mutants runs.
I've always known he was an edge-lord with a cynical streak and Dark Web is the kind of idea he's come up with.

That said, I thought the execution of the idea was competent and I wasn't too shocked by anything that happened in it.
Editorial announced their intentions with Ben Reilly early on - they felt there was no place for him as a spin-off hero anymore and they wanted to reposition him as a villain, taking the spot Venom has vacated.

Dark Web accomplished that - he's a former associate of Peter Parker with powers based on Spider-Man that now hates him for personal reasons. He's currently in (rehabilitation/prison) but since he's hinted to have learnt magic, I'm positive Chasm will be escaping to battle Spider-Man in the near future. I wouldn't lose all hope though. Venom managed to evolve his way out of this spot in the rogues gallery so I'm sure given time, Chasm could too. You just need the right writer with the right pitch.

Wells did a good job with Hallows' Eve though - unique super powers, decent costume, decent motivations.
I like Erica Schultz so I'll pick up the HE book.

[Matt Rat]

Black Cat & Mary Jane > The 'Jackpot' plot device is a stroke of pure genius

Nah, it's dumb, has gone largely unexplained, and robs MJ of her agency. She puts more people in danger with it than without.

Wells did a good job with Hallows' Eve though - unique super powers, decent costume, decent motivations.

Explain how please, all we saw from her was a 'ride or die' attitude and caring very little about anyone else but her man's well-being. Lack of agency.

That said, I thought the execution of the idea was competent and I wasn't too shocked by anything that happened in it.
Editorial announced their intentions with Ben Reilly early on - they felt there was no place for him as a spin-off hero anymore and they wanted to reposition him as a villain, taking the spot Venom has vacated.-

That is an opinion editorial have, one Ben's fans don't share. And he's no Venom.

Dark Web: X-Men > Excellent. Duggan brings his A game. One of the best Jean Grey and Madelyne stories ever. A true sequel to Inferno.

Nope, it was a drawn out badly acted soap opera where Maddie got off the hook for everything.

[ARkadelphia]

I thought it was decent.

Decent or descent?

[HypnoHustler]

I totally disagree with Alan Young, but it’s good to have some diversity of opinion so we’re not just an echo-chamber.

[Matt Rat]

I totally disagree with Alan Young, but it’s good to have some diversity of opinion so we’re not just an echo-chamber.

There's nothing wrong with having a different opinion, sure, but articulating your points helps a great deal in understanding those opinions and at the very least you don't come off as shilling for the company's policies. Maybe he's more of an X-Men fan (who put up with far worse than we do as Spider-Man fans)

[HypnoHustler]

There's nothing wrong with having a different opinion, sure, but articulating your points helps a great deal in understanding those opinions and at the very least you don't come off as shilling for the company's policies. Maybe he's more of an X-Men fan (who put up with far worse than we do as Spider-Man fans)

Lol is that possible? I’ve never been an X-Men reader, but do they have a storyline worse than OMD?

[Matt Rat]

Lol is that possible? I’ve never been an X-Men reader, but do they have a storyline worse than OMD?

House of M springs to mind.

[Daibhidh]

Lol is that possible? I’ve never been an X-Men reader, but do they have a storyline worse than OMD?

Cyclops has been written as a complete jerk at least once a decade, starting with when he ran off from his wife and child and then didn't tell Jean he was married until the new writer, Louise Simonson, took over.
Scott Lobdell wrote them in the nineties.
Grant Morrison tried to undo Magneto's redemption arc in the crudest possible manner and gratuitously jammed Scott and Emma into a couple. I think it was something of an achievement to write Emma as completely sexy and yet have absolutely no chemistry with Scott whatsoever.
Avengers vs X-Men has Captain America behaving like a self-righteous crusader and Scott gets the blame.

I think there's a general feeling that what made Claremont's run great was the easy things to mimic like the angst and the character deaths rather than the stuff that takes talent like the character writing and the construction of plots to build suspense.