Credits: Written by Todd DeZago, breakdowns by Sal Buscema, finishes by Bill Sienkiewicz with Jimmy Palmiotti and edited by Eric Fein.
Plot: Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider, is running for his life from an angry mob and the NYPD. The crowd want him dead and the police left their due process and warning shots in their other pants this morning. The doppelganger has done his job well and now disappeared. At the Darnell Building, Alistaire Smythe is showing off his Cyber Slayers to Mr Tso, who is now very angry with Ben’s continued absence, so he fires him as his bodyguard over voicemail. Smythe shows Tso that his new visor allows him to control multiple Slayers at once and as Tso’s other bodyguard leaves, the Pro, who has a contract on Tso to fulfil watches, and bides his time. At Doctor Octopus II’s base, she is ranting over the loss of the chips again, only now we learn what her overall plan is, it’s to merge the Virtual Reality with the regular kind, freeing the Master Programmer from his cyber-prison and allow him to walk in the regular world. The programmer is on board, but has to deal with Seward Trainer first. Elsewhere in that building, Joe Wade is still trapped in the machine that generated the Faux-Scarlet Spider and trying to comfort him is the real person behind Stunner, who we now learn is called Angelina Bracale. Linette Martinez watches from another room and orders more drugs to reduce his resistance.
Ben (back in regular clothes) return home, to the flat he shares with Seward, only to see the building heavily damaged by his doppelganger. He goes in and gets the message he’s fired and Seward connects with the voicemail machine and tells him of his daughter’s plans and Ben heads out as Scarlet Spider to try and save reality itself..
Doctor Octopus II and her goons attack the Darnell Building and wage war on the Cyber Slayers to get the necessary chips that both factions have been fighting over all along. Mid-fight, Tso (elsewhere in the building) co-opts Smythe’s control of the Cyber Slayers and leaves him at the mercy of Doc Ock II. As he gloats, he is killed by the Pro. Doc Ock II gets Smythe’s visor and uses the vital component to activate the VR Wave Generator back at her lab and this fuses local space with Cyberspace, Monsters and dinosaurs of all kinds walk into the regular world, putting the regular people near the Darnell Building at risk, but all Carolyn (Doc Ock II) can see is her love, the Master Programmer now made manifest in the world alongside her. Ben saves a child (who calls him Spider-Man) and Seward, fresh from his digital self also manifesting points out that if Ben puts another chip in Doc Ock II’s gear, this can all be undone. Ben takes this two the two reunited lovers and separates them, attacking the Master Programmer as a feint to draw Carolyn in. It works and he attaches the new chip to the Octopus harness and all of the VR creatures, including Seward and the Master Programmer disolve. Very soon afterwards, there’s nothing left. The Cyber Slayers are wrecked, Carolyn’s surviving goons are gone and Doctor Octopus II herself has disappeared as well, leaving only Ben standing;. So that’s when everyone arrives and Ben has to run.
As a denouement, Ben relates the post-dissolve events to the once more comatose Seward and realises that the Scarlet Spider identity is now useless, being that it was new enough to be vunerable to this, He realises now that the only course of action is, for the first time in 5 years, take on the mantle of Spider-Man.
Notes: Whilst there are two more issues of Web of Scarlet Spider and two more appearances in New Warriors, this is really the end of this mini-era. In eponymous comics, Ben is no longer the Scarlet Spider. We have an end to the Tso/Doctor Octopus II war and I think we can all agree that’s for the best. The Cyber Slayers vs Master Programmer plot never felt that it was all it could be and in a way, that sort of summed up the Scarlet Spider tales, they weren’t up to the standards of before, nor different enough to make they stand out as their own thing and as a result, sort of fizzle out into an unsatisfying damp squib.
Verdict: Writing 2 out of 5 – The way this story tied up it’s loose ends (apart from Seward still being trapped in Cyberspace) and set the stage for the next phase in Ben’s life was pretty good, but the majority of the issue was still trying to be this big epic finale that never really came together and it felt very much like we could have gone straight from Peter’s happy ever after to Ben taking up the mantle, this issue was the chance to make the last several comics feel worth the time and it really didn’t.
Art: 1 out of 5 – Jimmy Palmiotti made a difference, but not enough of one.
Overall: 3 out of 10 – Whatever this series was trying to do, the last 9 comics didn’t do it and I’m genuinely hoping that what comes next is either better, or even just feels more Spider-Man.
Next Time: The X-Cutioner’s song reaches a crescendo.
My Marvel Life 