Credits: Plot by J M DeMatteis, script by Todd DeZago, pencils by Darrick Robertson, inks by Larry Mahlstedt and edited by Danny Fingeroth and Bob Budiansky
Cast: Ben Scarlet Spider’ Reilly, Peter ‘Spider-Man’ Parker, Mary Jane Watson-Parker and Dr Seward Trainor.
Plot: He has decided to leave, hasn’t he? Ben Reilly is leaving on his motorcycle. Now I’m away that he got to the city somehow, but when did he have a bike? But I digress, the tires a shot away from him and the bike crashes, so lost in his own inner turmoil, Ben blames himself and rails against the night that this is his life and his home and he should not have to leave. To clear his head, he gets into his Scarlet Spider outfit and starts swinging through the city. He convinces himself that he’s intending this to be his final romp through the city, but it’s clear that he’s conflicted about that. Elsewhere Peter wakes up from a nightmare, but one he doesn’t remember and he gets up, happy to let MJ get a bit more sleep.
To clear his head further, he calls his friend Seward and asks to use his cabin in Vermont, given a couple of minutes to think, Ben remembers how far he had come from the angry young man he was 4 years ago in a town called Rachel. Oh yes, flashback time!
Ben was $12 short for a room and a stranger (Seward) fronted him and when was ill and hungry (masked by violent anger) Seward continued to befriend him. It’s clear to see that Ben owes a great debt to Seward. He also owes another one as he gets a call from Seward who warns him to get out of the cabin and the Seward has to run or he will be found by them. Seconds later, the cabin has been blown up. Ben heads to Seward’s lab in New York and it’s also trashed, Ben drops into the lower levels and is confronted by some kind of robot drones with tentacles on them, sort of familiar looking ones. More and more arrive and electrocute him on contact, unable to withstand so many shocks in short succession, Ben falls. Elsewhere, an imprisoned Seward cowers in a corner before he is locked into that room by a mechanical tentacle.
Notes: Now we’re free of this Jackal nonsense, we can see a bit more of who Ben is, other than a clone/not clone. He’s someone who knows the right thing to do, even though he struggles with it, reminding us of one of the other elements of Spider-Man strips, the idea of choosing to do the right thing. Peter can be selfish and self interested and often the heroic things are things he feels he has to do. Ben was that person and it’s clear to see he still is. We get a bit of a mystery as to where Seward is and who has him and we see that noir crime theme come back to the book. Ben searching for his friend is a nice change of pace from the melodrama and sci-fi foolishness of the last several issues and I’m glad to see it.
Verdict: Writing – 4 out of 5. While not the script of J M Demateis, the plot moves into that psycho-drama that he does well and DeZago does well with it, painting a picture of Ben as a distinct person from Peter, but definitely cut from the same cloth. His worry over Seward is palpable and you can feel the determination to do right by the first to do right by him.
Art: 4 out of 5 Darrick Robertson was making a name as a great fill in artist before a high profile stint on Transmetropolitan would cement him as a quality artist. Here we see his ease at action scenes and also his excellent facial work that once again scores the similarities between Peter and Ben as well as keen differences, an essential skill in someone pencilling a book with two identical protagonists.
Overall: 8 out of 10 A return to quality and the best single Spider-Man story I’ve read in a while for this, genuinely excited for the next several issues.
Next Time: Age of Apocalypse time and this isn’t going to end well.
My Marvel Life 