"Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond"

 

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics event “Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond” as presented on Marvel Unlimited.

            Peter Parker was just your average, everyday high school student. His parents died when he was a little boy and he grew up with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. He was super smart, and bullied for it. One day, he went to a radiology demonstration. As the demonstration began, a small spider got in the way of the rays and became irradiated. The radioactive spider then bit Peter. Peter discovered he now had adhesive fingertips and toes, has the proportional strength, speed and agility of a spider his size, and had a precognitive awareness of danger he calls “spider-sense.” He also created webs which he shoots from devices mounted to his wrists. At first he tried to make money with his powers by showing off. One day, he allowed a robber to get past him when he could have easily stopped him, Peter caring only for number one: him. This robber took Peter’s Uncle Ben from him. Peter then decided to use his powers for the benefit of others, following a lesson that Uncle Ben had imparted into him: With great power there must also come great responsibility. Using these powers for good soon turned into stopping crime combatting others with powers using them for evil purposes, super villains. This made Peter the super hero the Amazing Spider-Man.

            Several years back, Peter Parker was cloned. He found himself face-to-face with his clone, and after the battle, Peter believed the clone vanquished. The clone, however, survived and tried to live a normal life as Ben Reilly. Ben eventually returned, and reluctantly ended up becoming the super hero the Scarlet Spider. Ben and Peter formed an understanding, and Ben lived his own life over the years following.

            The Beyond Corporation has been putting out products and services benefitting the public. Now, they have created a Super Hero Development Project, headed by Maxine Danger. Beyond has purchased the rights to the Spider-Man name, and wanted to have their own Spider-Man working for them. But the Spider-Man they have hired is not Peter Parker. They have hired Ben Reilly. They have upgraded many things for him, including a high-tech costume and other spider-related gadgets, as well as a penthouse apartment with his girlfriend Janine Godbe, a convict Beyond managed to have released from jail. He was assigned a handler named Marcus Momplaisir, as well as assistance from the Daughters of the Dragon, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing and Monica Rambeau/Spectrum. He is also assigned to therapy from Doctor Ashley Kafka. Beyond has also employed the super hero team the Slingers.

            Peter finds himself allied with Ben against the super villain team the U-Foes, including Vapor and X-Ray. Having a high-tech new costume, Ben emerged unscathed, and the U-Foes were captured. Peter, however, was not so lucky. This battle landed Peter in the hospital, fighting for his life. His girlfriend Mary Jane Watson and Aunt May rush to Peter’s side. Mary Jane is one of the few people who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Peter’s ex, the sometimes super hero thief Felicia Hardy/Black Cat also comes to Peter’s bedside. As Peter’s condition gets worse, Ben comes to Peter in the hospital. Peter tells Ben there has to be a Spider-Man and gives Ben his blessing before lapsing into a coma.

            As Spider-Man, Ben finds himself facing several of Peter’s old villains, including the pseudo-vampire Doctor Michael Morbius, Kraven the Hunter, and Doctor Octopus. Ben is also assigned to have Miles Morales give up the name of Spider-Man as Beyond owns the Spidey rights and Miles is committing infringement. After meeting and eventually teaming-up with Miles, Ben turns down this order.

            Meanwhile, Aunt May, who is a force of nature, refuses to give up on her nephew and forms an unorthodox team-up with her ex-fiancé and super villain, Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, in an attempt to save Peter’s life, and the pair actually manage to get samples from the U-Foes that brings Peter out of his coma.

            While still incapacitated, the super villain and crook Parker Robbins/the Hood holds Peter at gunpoint. His hood has been stolen, and Robbins wants it back. Black Cat then says the Mary Jane is part of her crew, and Black Cat and Mary Jane go on a mission to retrieve the stolen hood by sunup or else Peter’s life is forfeit. Through trickery, Black Cat and Mary Jane retrieve the hood, but not in the way Robbins expects.

            Peter is not in any shape to be Spider-Man, but he wants to get back to the job. So, at nights, Peter receives training sessions with Black Cat and Steve Rogers/Captain America, preparing to get back into the game.

            Ben manages to obtain a Beyond data drive and learns that Beyond is keeping him compliant by erasing some of Ben’s memories. They accidentally erase several of Ben’s key memories, such as “with great power there must also come great responsibility” and end up sending Ben into a downward spiral.

            Meanwhile, Beyond is not just developing a Super Hero Project, but also a Super Villain Project. To that end, Beyond creates Queen Goblin in an attempt to bring Ben back into their fold. Now Peter, Ben, Misty, Colleen, and Spectrum must team-up to expose Beyond and bring them down.

            Some of my readers who go way back with me may have read my review of “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga.” If you haven’t, maybe you should consider reading it, as it will provide greater context of this story. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I totally suggest you check it out.

            Anyway, you probably want me to tell you what I thought of it, if I recommend it, to whom I recommend it, how accessible I feel this story was to casual/non readers, and my numeric score, so I’ll get to that promptly.

If you read my review of “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga,” you will know that I felt it was disjointed and inaccessible because it crossed over into several series and had multiple storylines. Almost all this issues “Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond” on Marvel Unlimited were of “The Amazing Spider-Man” with the one exception being a one-shot “Mary Jane & Black Cat: Beyond.” This did have multiple storylines in the event, but not every issue focused on Peter and Ben. While most of the story was consistent, the stories of the Daughters of the Dragon, Aunt May and Doctor Octopus, Spectrum, the Slingers, and Mary Jane and Black Cat were not all characters as prominent as Spider-Man. Even Ben Reilly is a lesser-known character, and casual/non readers probably only know Peter Parker and Miles Morales from the movies and cartoons and don’t know Ben as Spider-Man. However, the villains Morbius, Kraven and Doc Ock are more prominent characters from the movies and cartoons. Still, I don’t think that makes up for that. Me being a huge Marvel fan, I know a lot about these characters, but I know you may not. So if you have never picked up a Marvel Comic book in your entire life, this is not a good place to start. However, if you are a reader of Spider-Man comics dating back to “The Clone Saga” in the ‘90s, I think this might be worth the read. I felt like the stories were self-contained, but a reader needs extensive knowledge to actually read and understand these stories. I think it’s inaccessible to any non or casual reader. As far as the stories themselves go, I did find them rather entertaining. I read the whole event twice, as individual issues as they became available on Marvel Unlimited, then as one consecutive binge, finishing in less than twenty-four hours, and I did enjoy them both times. I’ve always been a fan of Ben Reilly. The first Marvel comic book I ever bought was “The Amazing Spider-Man” #410, which was at the first point where Ben was Spider-Man, so he holds a special place in my mind. Incidentally, as this will probably never come up again, in that issue Ben became Spider-Carnage, which is possibly why my favorite super villain is Carnage. (I recently reviewed “Carnage: Born in Blood,” if you want to read that one too.) Unfortunately, I have to say that Ben’s downward spiral was devastating for me. I always thought he was a great character, and when I first read the event as it became individually available, I was so excited he was back in the Spidey costume (I also like Ben’s Spider-Man costume better than Peter’s, I think it’s so much cooler). I felt like it would have great potential, and yet for me, it fell flat. I did appreciate that this story didn’t go all over the place like “The Clone Saga,” and I thought the villain choices were great. I loved Aunt May’s persistence, storming into the hospital and scaring the heck out of all the staff, and her turning back to Doc Ock was for me an interesting twist. I’ve also been a fan of the Black Cat, so her part in Peter’s rehabilitation was enjoyable for me, and her team-up with Mary Jane was so interesting for me as well. But I didn’t quite like the character of Janine Godbe. First off, to me she looked like a poor man’s version of Mary Jane, with the red hair and green eyes, just like Mary Jane Watson, so of course Ben fell for this cheap imitation since he couldn’t get the real deal. Second, she was a convict, and Beyond pulled strings and got her out, which made her unlikable to me. And third, her other history was not covered, so her character to me felt two-dimensional. I’m not saying she wasn’t a useful character, she helped big time with the data drive, I’m just saying she wasn’t provided with enough background for me to like the character. I have to say I liked the inclusion of Miles Morales and their little Spider-Person tussle felt fun for me.

But we do have a major problem with this event. When you think of a comic book, you should also think graphic novel. This means it contains artwork and story, and both of those need to be considered. I feel like you could call this a showcase. There were several writers and several artists. That is a MAJOR conflict. While the multiple writers did produce a rather decent story, some of the artwork just did not please me. I’m being nice to the artists and not naming names here, but some of the artwork was not to my liking. Some of the artwork blew me away, and some of the artwork just made me think “meh.” The styles of artwork were too varied, and that was the only cause of inconsistency. It’s like looking at two paintings, where they’re both supposed to be the same thing but if you really focus you see that they’re both completely different. That’s how the art in this event made me feel. Every artist drew Ben so differently, it was just so hard to accept that this was all the same character.

Okay, I hope I’m not boring you, and if you’re still here reading this, you are THE BEST! So now you probably want to hear me give this a numeric score. If you’ve read any of my other dozens of reviews (I kid you not, there are literally dozens), you know I’m a very harsh scorer. If I give it a seven or higher, it might actually potentially be good for other readers. Even if I give it a one, it might still be good for other readers. On this blog, I offer you nothing other than my own personal opinions. Just mine. I’m not forcing you to accept everything I say. I even invite you to disagree with me, so if you want to say anything to me and my other readers, feel free to leave comments, as that would be THE BEST! (No one has ever left a comment for me before, so feel free to be the first). It’s the beauty of free will that we all have our own individual opinions. For example, some people saw “Thor: Love and Thunder” and said it was the worst Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, while others say it was amazing. I will not say if it was a good movie or a bad movie because we all have our own personal opinions, a fact I wish people would accept. (I personally rather enjoyed it, I’d score it at seven out of ten). And yes, I score out of ten. One is the worst, ten is the best. When I give a score, I have to take everything into consideration. This means both stories and art. The stories felt decent and entertaining to me, but some of the artists just didn’t draw me a pleasing experience. So factoring it all in, I score it as… six. My reasoning has already been completely explained I don’t think I have to say anything else.

Speaking of not having to say anything else, let’s wrap this all up. I know this has been a long read, and this has taken me over two hours to write, so let’s just finish this now. But before I go, I must reiterate that I have literally written dozens of Marvel reviews, and my work is just all piled up on my desk. I have short stories I’m working on, I have more B’ings on the way, and you can expect plenty more to read in the following weeks. So I’m getting to work on some other things now to keep you reading, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!