Amazing spider-man #48 preview

[Garlador]

So just to be clear, spider is aware something nefarious happened to both Ben and Dr Kafka, but he has no empathy/concern for Ben (far as I remember from dark web) and he just never gave a rip about Dr Kafka. Someone who was a close/trusted civilian friend to Spider-Man. (Yes a clone but a clone with Kafka’s memories)

Spidey’s been a hot head but post OMD he has been spectacularly inconsistent with loyalty. I guess it’s just easier to skip to the fighting that way.

https://twitter.com/BenReilly149/sta...rbKmJDIRA&s=19

A reader in 2022 brought up how sympathetic and nuanced these characters once were and the issues of vilifying them given how strongly their stories were initiated on NOT letting their broken pasts determine their future, and their inspirational stances to do the right thing when others would have failed.

… only to have modern writers ignore all that and make them shallow obstacles for Peter to hold little sympathy for. No time for that when we got punching and explosions to get to.

I still remember the real-life Doctor Kafka who inspired the character feeling it was a horrible decision to kill her off and resurrect her as a mentally unsound villain and various readers (particularly women) taking issue with Pete glibly telling a rape survivor who killed her abuser she was supposed to be in prison. There’s just such… problematic… optics at exploiting abuse survivors defined by overcoming their struggles just to create shallow badguys for Peter to tussle with.

This isn’t what these characters were intended to be.

[Sr. Bungle]

https://twitter.com/BenReilly149/sta...rbKmJDIRA&s=19

A reader in 2022 brought up how sympathetic and nuanced these characters once were and the issues of vilifying them given how strongly their stories were initiated on NOT letting their broken pasts determine their future, and their inspirational stances to do the right thing when others would have failed.

… only to have modern writers ignore all that and make them shallow obstacles for Peter to hold little sympathy for. No time for that when we got punching and explosions to get to.

I still remember the real-life Doctor Kafka who inspired the character feeling it was a horrible decision to kill her off and resurrect her as a mentally unsound villain and various readers (particularly women) taking issue with Pete glibly telling a rape survivor who killed her abuser she was supposed to be in prison. There’s just such… problematic… optics at exploiting abuse survivors defined by overcoming their struggles just to create shallow badguys for Peter to tussle with.

This isn’t what these characters were intended to be.

Hey! I'm on that thread!

[Jman27]

So, are we trying to say that Ashley Kafka has always been behind the Hobgoblin or is this just about Kingsley's recent stories? Because either way, no...

this right here

[Frontier]

So with Janine joining the Blood Hunters. How do Ben and Janine split?

She realizes she can't save Ben I guess.

[Sr. Bungle]

She realizes she can't save Ben I guess.

That dialogue about his soul and feeling that was all in vain seems to set that up

[Garlador]

That dialogue about his soul and feeling that was all in vain seems to set that up

I guess we'll see. However, given that their relationship literally began with Ben saving her from the darkest parts of her soul, her self-loathing and self-hatred and self-destruction, I hope we don't get that downer of an outcome. I feel that would be a huge discredit to their characters.



Spider-Man comics used to have strong messages on genuine healing and overcoming one's demons through love and support. It would be a severe misfire to end this arc with that message lost and buried under cynicism and destructive writing.

[Frontier]

I guess we'll see. However, given that their relationship literally began with Ben saving her from the darkest parts of her soul, her self-loathing and self-hatred and self-destruction, I hope we don't get that downer of an outcome. I feel that would be a huge discredit to their characters.



Spider-Man comics used to have strong messages on genuine healing and overcoming one's demons through love and support. It would be a severe misfire to end this arc with that message lost and buried under cynicism and destructive writing.

One thing I can appreciate about Janine is she's been pretty consistently committed to Ben throughout all this.

[rward777]

She realizes she can't save Ben I guess.

Bet she blames it on Peter

[Majesty]

Bet she blames it on Peter

Doesn't everyone?

[Astroman]

Doesn't everyone?

Maybe the tagline to this run should have been, "What DIDN'T Peter Do?!?!?!?!"

[Aura Blaize]

The whole Memory thing is forced considering that it could have been solved in Dark Web. Hell, it STILL can be solved. They both know Maddie. Have Peter agree to share his memories up until Ben was created and boom. It's not perfect but it's definitely a start.

The longer they drag this out, the more ridiculous it becomes.

[Huntsman Spider]

https://twitter.com/BenReilly149/sta...rbKmJDIRA&s=19

A reader in 2022 brought up how sympathetic and nuanced these characters once were and the issues of vilifying them given how strongly their stories were initiated on NOT letting their broken pasts determine their future, and their inspirational stances to do the right thing when others would have failed.

… only to have modern writers ignore all that and make them shallow obstacles for Peter to hold little sympathy for. No time for that when we got punching and explosions to get to.

I still remember the real-life Doctor Kafka who inspired the character feeling it was a horrible decision to kill her off and resurrect her as a mentally unsound villain and various readers (particularly women) taking issue with Pete glibly telling a rape survivor who killed her abuser she was supposed to be in prison. There’s just such… problematic… optics at exploiting abuse survivors defined by overcoming their struggles just to create shallow badguys for Peter to tussle with.

This isn’t what these characters were intended to be.

I guess we'll see. However, given that their relationship literally began with Ben saving her from the darkest parts of her soul, her self-loathing and self-hatred and self-destruction, I hope we don't get that downer of an outcome. I feel that would be a huge discredit to their characters.



Spider-Man comics used to have strong messages on genuine healing and overcoming one's demons through love and support. It would be a severe misfire to end this arc with that message lost and buried under cynicism and destructive writing.

Again, preach the gospel.

The whole Memory thing is forced considering that it could have been solved in Dark Web. Hell, it STILL can be solved. They both know Maddie. Have Peter agree to share his memories up until Ben was created and boom. It's not perfect but it's definitely a start.

The longer they drag this out, the more ridiculous it becomes.

Indeed, it does.

[Frontier]

Maybe the tagline to this run should have been, "What DIDN'T Peter Do?!?!?!?!"

As well as "Peter barely does anything."

[Refrax5]

So just to be clear, spider is aware something nefarious happened to both Ben and Dr Kafka, but he has no empathy/concern for Ben (far as I remember from dark web) and he just never gave a rip about Dr Kafka. Someone who was a close/trusted civilian friend to Spider-Man. (Yes a clone but a clone with Kafka’s memories)

Spidey’s been a hot head but post OMD he has been spectacularly inconsistent with loyalty. I guess it’s just easier to skip to the fighting that way.

I mean, this run sucks, but Peter has shown concern and empathy towards Ben, probably moreso than he did in the 90s. He cried over what happened at the end of Beyond and Felicia mentioned how it still haunted him six months after the fact. He was visiting Ben in limbo to try and talk to him and reach him. He clearly is shown to care about Ben, but when somebody is crazy and doing awful stuff, I think anybody would have moments of anger or snark.

[JustLuke]

I mean, this run sucks, but Peter has shown concern and empathy towards Ben, probably moreso than he did in the 90s. He cried over what happened at the end of Beyond and Felicia mentioned how it still haunted him six months after the fact. He was visiting Ben in limbo to try and talk to him and reach him. He clearly is shown to care about Ben, but when somebody is crazy and doing awful stuff, I think anybody would have moments of anger or snark.

Here's my thing: Yes, that's all true, but Peter has not actually tried to fix Ben. No one in this run (besides Kafka currently) is offering to help him. Sure, he feels bad about it, but he's not actually doing anything about it which, at least in my opinion, makes him look like an assh*le moron. Yes, there's the argument that "it might not be as simple as giving Ben his memories back" but we have no actual concrete evidence to support this, it's just speculation. If he got his memories back and still acted all Chasm-y and evil then sure that argument is more valid, but that hasn't happened. Fact is Peter's done nothing to actually help Ben. I know it may be hard to when he's acting like this, but there's such a thing as "tough love", ya know? And it doesn't just involve fighting him. Ben needs help regardless if he wants it from Peter or not, so why is Peter doing nothing to actually help his brother and instead is just acting all depressed? And yes before you ask, I know the answers are "bad writing" and "editorial doesn't want Ben to get help" but that's not the in-universe explanation, again there isn't one. So Peter just seems like a douchebag who won't help Ben and yet still wonder where he went wrong. It's stupid and a testament to the failure of this whole premise.