Teaming up Spider-Man with the X-Men is usually a slam dunk. Take that and mix in the history of a classic event, Inferno, with the fate of a character’s new identity, Chasm, and on paper, this should be a fantastic Marvel event. There is some excellent talent involved – writers Gerry Duggan, Al Ewing, Sabir Pirzada, Ram V, and Zeb Wells, and artists Bryan Hitch, Adam Kubert, Ed McGuinness, Phil Noto, Rod Reis, John Romita Jr, and Federico Vicentini help to create this 14-part story. In the end, I had some hopes for this event, but the ride to get there was a very cumbersome journey that didn’t feel needed or have any lasting impact.
The best thing about this trade is the value, as you will get a collection of comics for a reasonable price, even if you can’t get a deal under the retail price of $34.99. Keep in mind, however, that you are not getting the complete story – you won’t get the Amazing Spider-Man and Venom prelude issues or the Gold Goblin tie-ins. Finding that out was a bit of a bummer for me since I was hoping to have the complete story, and when I started looking at the Amazing Spider-Man trades, it would turn into some buying of repeated issues and other comics I don’t want.
It was hard to get through the event in the first place, and the collected edition isn’t providing any relief. The third strike was the reading order; they showcase a great map at the front of the trade, but the stories are not in that order. They are in order of series issue, so that felt like I was reading towards an end, then pausing, so another character could catch up.
Going back to the comics, I came to this event to find out what would happen to Ben Reilly now that he has become Chasm. For me, this event was a continuation of Spider-Editor Nick Lowe’s letter back in Amazing Spider-Man (2018) #93, in which he talks about Reilly’s change into Chasm and how he “didn’t have a place in the Spider-Landscape” and I thought this would be the next step for Reilly. I had high hopes for some great entertainment especially teaming Ben up with Madelyne for them to exact some “clone revenge.”
Unfortunately, the story fell flat for me. Nothing major changed with Ben and the Amazing Spider-Man series. The event felt like a good break from the “what did Peter do” story hanging over the series. For Ben, the story found a new corner of obscurity for him to be placed in, and Peter, in my eyes, sided with and helped the wrong people. Peter gave more grace and forgiveness to Norman Osborn instead of Ben Reilly.
The X-Men tie-in issues were the best; that side of the story did some incredible growth for the characters. With Dark Web, Madelyne confronted Jean Grey, Scott, and Alex Summers, which led to some unexpected Inferno “fallout” that was a fun revisit with some great closure. I liked how Gerry Dugan grew these characters from their conflict; Jean and Madelyne are way stronger after their match, and they found a great resolve that could’ve been shared with Peter and Ben, yet for some reason, it wasn’t. I was glad those issues were there to help make the story more enjoyable and give purpose.
The Venom and Ms. Marvel tie-in issues were all right, and they did pique some interest to see what will come next for those characters. The artist produced some fantastic artwork for this series to make it look worthwhile, but I wish the script would’ve stayed focused instead of becoming self-deprecating as the event dragged on. The overall conclusion sadly shows that Spider-Man doesn’t work well with others; it would’ve been great for him to find out how the conflict between Madelyne and the X-Men was resolved and potentially put that into play to save his “brother” Ben. The event has come and gone with minimal impact overall and, sadly, has now put Ben Reilly into another Spider-Man event that misses the mark and drags on.
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