Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond is my favorite kind of superhero project. It’s a series where a huge group of creators brought a whole bunch of their ideas together for a couple months. It isn’t the best way to tell a good story, and sometimes it’s actually the worst way to do so, but sometimes it’s a fun time, and sometimes it’s great. Fortunately for Beyond, it is a good time. Unfortunately for Beyond, it really isn’t more than that.
This volume of Spider-Man: Beyond is split up between the two main stories—Ben Reilly’s time as Beyond’s Spider-Man, and Peter recovering—and a one-shot about a super team whose title I don’t really care to remember. Because of both the low page count and the completely forgettable issue #88.BEY (besides Jan Bazaldua’s art), this feels very light on actual story. Fortunately, the trade does make up for that, as both of the main stories have great issues.
Peter’s story is handled by Jed MacKay, C.F. Villa, and Carlos Gómez, who tell stories featuring Captain America, Black Cat, and Mary Jane. There’s a sitcom feel to their issues that I wish more creators would remember when making Spider-Man comics, and really emphasizes how fun they can be. I still don’t love MacKay’s dialogue, but these two issues may be my favorite things he’s written, and near the top of ‘Beyond’ as a run. And I gotta admit, dude can write a good Peter Parker story when he has to.
Wells and Dowling are the real MVPs of this volume for me, though.
Ben Reilly is not a character I really care about. I jumped aboard Spider-Man: Beyond because I love Spider-Man, and because there were a bunch of great creators attached. Ben was not in any way a selling point, and at some points was almost detrimental to my enjoyment of the book. I had trouble connecting with the character, both because of a lack of personal history, and because the vibe was just off in a bunch of places. The issues I liked the most were ones that focused on Peter, even if they were just his fever dreams. Issue #86 changed that for me.
Wells and Dowling work together in this volume to tell a story they could only tell using Ben. The way he is literally owned by Beyond wears on him in a visible way, along with the general confusion and trauma of being a clone superhero. Ben’s objectification works well because of the general capitalistic hellscape we currently live in, but also because of the constant editorial manipulation of, not just Peter, or Ben, or any Spider-People, but all superheroes, in comics and Beyond. And through all of this, it never becomes too divorced from the plot, or from the emotional stakes of the story. All of the themes are constantly linked directly to Ben and his emotions, which is really why it works.
Now, I don’t think they perfectly nail it. I think those themes could have used more time to cook, and I wish Wells had been the main writer of a few more issues so it could have more room. It works fine as is, and the ideas are very blatant, but I think it all could have been utilized better with a little more cooking.
Ultimately, Amazing Spider-Man: Beyond Vol. 3 is far from a perfect comic. But it’s a fun time, and I enjoyed most of the time I spent with it. If nothing else, it’s a good time just to read the story that made Spider-Man fans mad at Wells before you read the new first issue this week that will make a bunch of Spider-Man fans mad at Wells.
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