The dawn rises after the demonic invasion of New York City, but what will that light reveal? It will reveal Chasm's final gambit and the new denizens of Hell he helped create and unleash on Spider-Man and the X-Men! See how Dark Web changed this city's landscape forever!
Rated T
Dark Web Finale #1 closes the crossover with consistency. It goes out with the same energy that it came in with. It is clear on every single page that these creators love comics. This is a celebration of the characters and the format. Its so enjoyable to read, with lovable characters and fights full of excitement. And yet the story is meaningful, carrying massive consequences. Its a very rewarding comic and one that was a delight to read. Read Full Review
A really fun issue with some sadly typical issues in comics. Read Full Review
In the end, Madelyne Pryor has shown that she's here to stay and her new Limbo embassy ensures that her realm can no longer be ignored by the larger Marvel Universe. This fiery and fun finish to the Spider-Man/X-Men crossover brings the action, the team-ups, and the reveals that are sure to satisfy fans of either franchise. Dark Web Finale #1 is weird and yet still solid superhero storytelling that can be enjoyed over and over again. Read Full Review
All of the artists deliver visually thrilling and beautifully detailed moments throughout the issue. Read Full Review
Given the promise, fun, and scale on display throughout much of "Dark Web" that can't help but feel a little disappointing. Read Full Review
If you're looking for something deep and emotionally resonant, unfortunately this isn't it. But a fun action story, with an interesting twist or two? This is a great one-shot for that. Read Full Review
Dark Web: Finale #1 ends the event the way it began – with bad humor, nonsensical plot points, and weird creative choices. If ever there was a case to say an event didn't need to exist, this is it. Read Full Review
I really like the status quo tweaks made in the final scene. The Big Dumb Fight leading up to it is pretty weak tea, though. There are some funny quips, but they're slotted into a *very* simplistic structure: "Everybody split up into smaller fights, then take turns making a joke and resolving your conflict so we can gang up on Chasm and end this." The artists work together fairly well. But I also think they're all tired; this is nobody's A game.
After the, somewhat, mixed bag that was the rest of Dark Web, things end leaving more to be desired for me. This was a fairly entertaining issue, but I just feel like more could have been done with this storyline.
This is a bummer of an ending. This entire event, despite ostensibly being a Spider-Man event first and foremost, has done its best to avoid Spider-Man and his side of the story. Ben and Janine leave this story only slightly changed by its events, in a way that can quickly glossed over if/when they come back. The X-Men plot drives the story while Spider-Man is stuck doing mostly nothing in Limbo, with an admittedly enjoyable new demon companion. The solution to Ben's problems is right there in the Dark Web: X-Men tie-in. It's the same solution as Madelyne Pryor's. Yet no one attempts to help Ben, and instead just lock him up in Limbo. One could almost call it meta. I'm glad the X of it all managed to be a good time, with a nice heartfelt story. But I'm a Spider-Man fan, and I can't help but think the last two months of story was largely a waste for the character. I'm ready to move on. I hope the Joe Kelly guest arc coming up next is fun. And the mystery box, while I couldn't care less about it, I look forward to that being revealed finally. If only so that one of the two major empty-headed complaints this run has will finally be silenced. more
As a finale to an event I mostly disliked, this is good. Kubert's art was amazing and this managed to tie up most of the plotlines other tie-ins introduced. This just works as a finale, even if the event itself was bad.
And it felt that Wells wanted all along to just write this kind of event. And the atrocious miss-handling of Ben was the only way they managed to make this a Spider-Man event. Although I am confused that Peter still didn't share his memories with Ben. Or what even happened to Ben, does he still feel the chasm inside of him.
Dark Web was a horrible Spider-Man event that never seemed to know what it wanted to be. From Ben to odd pacing to conflicting tone, the event just didn't work. But the finale did.
lol off topic but I just realized that Marvel could have fixed Ben Reilly if they gave Ben Reilly the same treatment they did with Jean Grey and Madelyn Pyror. Jean Grey could have gave Ben Reilly a copy of Peter's memory and he would have became whole again.
I want to rate this higher because these two event books have more or less been fine but it's completely marred by the lack of communication between Wells/Lowe and all of the other writers. Nothing felt cohesive or planned out. Another sad aspect to this issue in particular is that the art didn't feel as on as the first event issue. Still good but there are some off model faces. There is really no growth for Ben whom I had expected this series to actually deal with considering he and Madelyne were practically bringing hell to Earth but once the X-story was properly and satisfyingly wrapped up, the Spider-story died. There are a few instances is the dialogue that I recalled where even some character development that occurred in previous tie-ins is completely ignored as well as both Mary Jane and Black Cat. You'd really think Peter would be more worried about them. I get that he doesn't know but it really doesn't seem like it would have been hard for him to find out, bust out of the Hell Bugle and help them. More points deducted for a lack of communication. I saw a friend of mine mention in a comment here that Ben's arc could have been completed if Jean and Maddie had just done to Peter and Ben what they did themselves. Peter would have willingly gifted anything to Ben, just not his life. All Ben really wanted were the memories that they shared, not even necessarily the ones he lost as Ben Reilly. As Jean showed compassion for Maddie in sharing the memories and emotions, you know Peter would have done the same. But Duggan knew how to wrap up his story. Wells clearly didn't. Wells plucked two characters with similar enough backgrounds and trauma to think up and event but couldn't deliver on his half of the story. Props to Duggan, Cantwell and MacKay for elevating this flop of a Spider-Man/X-Men crossover. more
On its own this issue wasn't terrible, but it doesn't really redeem the crossover either. Certainly Adam Kubert is always a pleasure, even if this isn't his most interesting (much less astonishing) work, and I quite like the ending, but beyond that this is a messy, underpowered ending to a messy, underpowered crossover.
Everyone's talking about the weird choice to bring back Ben and then make him a generic supervillain, but honestly Madeline is the worst-served here: fresh off her wonderful redemption arc in New Mutants, she randomly decides to invade NYC as a wildly inefficient way of getting what she wants, but then it turns out that she didn't bother just asking first and she's given what she wants and everything is fine now, and then Ben & Janine go instantly from family to ditched, making their ostensibly villainous complaints about being abandoned the moment she got what she wanted seem honestly quite fair and reasonable. Even Maddy's big moment where she retakes control of the demons is sold so poorly by both Wells & Kubert that it comes off as the demons just going "oh yeah, OK, if you're going to vaguely threaten us we'll surrender". And that's Dark Web in a nutshell: things just happen because the plot demands them; characters just do the next obligatory thing regardless of whether it makes sense for them or not.
Dark Web has had its moments (I don't care what anyone says, I love Rek-rap) and all the troubled people and dark humor seemed like the sort of assignment Wells could easily dazzle with, but in the end this crossover felt like little more than the sloppy rough draft of something great. more
I mean, unpopular opinion but.... I find this event to be.... okay and mediocre at best? Besides the Chasm thing, the art was alright, the tone was really weird and comedic for some reason, the action was fine, the dialogue was hammy, and the way the event resolved was.... kinda dissapointing. I get that the heroes gang up, but I expected more better fight choreography.
Overall, this event was not bad. But.... it was very dissapointing and weird. Probably going to drop Spider-Man after this event. Or after the mystery box
To be honest, I just realized Spider-Man really didnt play a big role in this event and was just there as a punching bag. I get how Peter Parker ties into Chasm wanting his memory, but I expected more from Peter Parker. more
From a outside perspective, this was a fun meaningless event that had enjoyable moments. Unfortunately, once you take a closer look, you see its failings. This was Plot-Driven story without any of the characters having any development or acting like themselves. It was frankly insulting to see Peter throw Ben under the bus and not try his upmost best to try to fix his CLone-Brother and repair their relationship. What happened to Ben wasn't his fault... It was In-Story, And Editor-Wise, elements that slowly started ripping away his character without any reason. Peter knows this but he refuses to take "responsibility" and help Ben. It's even worse to know that the Xmen solved Ben's memory issue in their own tie-in but naturally dont bring it up here. For me, the best partso f the events were the Xmen issues (#3 foremost) because it got to the heart of the conflict, which was Maddie being thrown to the side by Jean. Makes me wish Duggan wrote the event vs Wells. I know Wells just wanted to conclude his Hellions Saga with this but man do I wish he could have put more effort. more
This ranges from bad joke to forgettable story. I'm sincerely embarrassed by this Zeb Wells run for now... I can't remember one single truly great issue. It looks like he's not even trying.
It's very lame. The art is the only thing that warranted a good grade besides Bedlam. Just more of the same. Campy dialogue. An ending that doesn't matter. The event started off ok but lost all its emotion and I could care less about anything that happened.
The 1.5 is that high because Kubert is always nice to have on the art side. Good solid artist.
The writing though... I can say in confidence that Wells is my least favorite Spiderman writer of all time. I'd take Past Sins or OMD over this trash. Not only does he destroy the character of Ben Reilly, but his Peter is easily the worst ever interpretation of Peter Parker that has ever been made. At this point, it would be an improvement to the writing to have someone, anyone, just wake up and realize it was all a dream. One of the worst tropes in writing would improve this nonsense.
Is there at least a decent explanation for why Ben Reilly is acting so out of character in this?
Yes, is literally explained in the story multiple times and it's also a plot that comes from the ending of the Beyond arc
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