Credits: Written by Evan Solnick, pencilled by Patick Zircher, inked by Andrew Pepoy and edited by Tom Breevort.
Plot: In the heart of midtown Manhattan, Helix is rampaging. Last seen in the Maximum Cloneage saga, which started here and now he’s out again and destroying things. Out to stop him are the New Warriors (Justice, Firestar, Speedball, Powerhouse and Turbo) who were involved in his last appearance as the only survivor of a viral attack caused by the Jackal. He appears to change with each attack and doesn’t seem to be either willing or able to communicate. Firestar is asked to take him out, but for the reasons that the comic doesn’t elaborate on (although I do remember this) is too hesitant and has to be saved by Turbo. Swinging nearby is Ben ‘Scarlet Spider’ Reilly, who has just come off the revelation that he was the original Spider-Man. He sees Helix and the Warriors and tries to help as he’s been expecting Helix to show up again.He webs up his quarry and gets ready to tranquilise him, when he expands his size and rips through the webbing..
In Newhaven Connecticut, Rich Rider (the man who used to be Nova) is eating lunch with his girlfriend Laura and complaining about not being Nova anymore, she doesn’t get it, but he’s determined to make the best of his new situation, as long as she’s in it with him. Elsewhere at the hidden base of the Soldiers of Misfortune. Admiral Protocol is seeing how training is going with his adjutant General Obsidian. He asks about Kymera (the New Warrior once known as Namorita) who he’s told in being interrogated by General Admission. She breaks free and tries to get out of what seems to be an underwater base. She fights past SoM members Right and Wrong and is almost free, when Protocol presses a button and she collapses, clearly never being anywhere near free.
In Midtown, the battle isn;t going well as the device that Ben wants to sedate Helix with is broken. Justice calls Carlton/Hindsight, (the team’s man in the chair) and asks him to set up containment facilities at the New Warriors’ base, affectionately referred to as the Crash Pad. He is on his way there, when he has to avoid Ana Patel, who is trying to find Speedball and talks to Carlton like she knows him (Carlton sees her a stalker) and when he is almost killed crossing the road, she messes with time to save him. Carlton asks her to put her contact info under the door as he has a place to be, but recognises that they have something to talk about.
Back to Midtown and Helix is growing and evolving to his attackers, preventing any plans from being succesful. Ben has an idea, he loads the tranquilising serum into his web launchers (or at least the stinger part) and fires it it into Helix’s neck in the spaces between spikes and Helix drops to the floor. Seeing as how they handed off Helix to the authorities to little avail, Justice decides to take Helix to the Crash Pad and try to work out who he is and how to help him. Ben goes with him and is surprised by an invitation to join the team and that’s how the Scarlet Spider ended up as one of the New Warriors.
Notes: The New Warriors was a title from the earliest part of the 90’s and was a mix of new characters and older ones that didn’t have any place to go, this Team of the 90’s was all kind of young and edgy with new character Night Thrasher (a black skateboarding Batman) brought in Speedball, Firestar, Namorita, Marvel Boy and the Man called Nova, but that was 5 years ago. Team-mates start and leave and this story takes place during an era where Night Thrasher (no seriously, that was his name) had parted ways with the team, Namorita/Kymera had vanished and Rich Rider had been displaced as Nova. Still there was enough of the team to call themselves the New Warriors,.I have read the issues leading up to this, although a while back now and it was moving towards the 75th issue when the series would be cancelled. Around this time, Marvel had splintered their titles in a handful of mini-fiefdoms and I’m guessing New Warriors was handled by the Spider-offices, leading to greater co-ordination between these two different properties.
The main story is a bit of a simple out-thinking the problem as once again the Warriors cross paths with Ben and Helix, all three connecting independently and Justice (a leader so bland that 90s Cyclops looks down on him) rewards that with an offer of membership. Now I have one problem and one problem only here, Scarlet Spider and Spider-Man were up to a point, the same guy. They have the same power set, the same colour scheme and wear the same type of full mask. They must move and more importantly, sound the same as one another. Less than 30 issues ago, the New Warriors worked with Spider-Man over the whole Darkforce in Manhattan thing. No one mentions how similar they’d sound? No instance of “You know who you sound/look like?” I find the villain (with the power of super-survival/hyper evolution a lot more realistic than no one asking that question.
But to me, the strength of this series is the sub-plot/side story moments. Soldiers of Misfortune reprogramming Namorita, Ana Patel trying to prevent Speedball’s death and Rich trying to reacclimate to not being a superhero, again. These are the strengths of the issue and it does it really well, so well that I’m considering a re-read of the New Warriors stories. I don’t know that it’s an essential part of this Clone Saga era, but honestly it’s good comics featuring Scarlet Spider, so am going to run with it and see how it shakes out, definitely glad I added it to the list though.
Verdict: Writing 4 out of 5 – Consistent character voices, good use of sub-plots and foreshadowing and a story that flows together really well.
Art: 3 out of 5 – Zircher is a solid, if unremarkable artist who does the day to day stuff with the same ease as the action, neither are spectacular, but honestly the serve the story well enough. This is one of those series that the writing will hook you or the characters will hook you, but the artist won’t and trying to be the hot artist following Mark Bagley and Darrick Robertson is a pretty tall order, so Zircher just does the basics and does the basics well. If you consider some of the art on other comics here, doing the basics well with a clean style is actually a step up.
Overall: 7 out of 10 – This is not the issue that will convince you to follow this title, but it is a comic that tells a good story, furthers the overall plots and has one or two emotional moments to go with it and lets be honest, that is what a single comic should do. Getting the basics right is still difficult at times and essential and I’m here for this title.
Next Time: More drama and dramatic people as we get back into the X-Cutioner’s Song.
My Marvel Life 