Amazing Spider-Man # 416
Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Ron Garney
Inker: Al Williamson
Letterers: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Cover by Mark Bagley & Larry Mahlstedt
Cover Date: October 1996
Rating: 
This week, I will take a look at Amazing Spider-Man # 416. An issue that puts the focus on the aftermath of the big X-Men event Onslaught (that soon spilled over to the rest of the Marvel Universe) and the disappearances of both The Avengers and The Fantastic Four, who were whisked away to another universe thanks in part to Franklin Richards (Shortly after this issue came out, The Heroes Reborn era was kicked off thanks to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld); I’ve been thinking and re-reading stories from the sequel to one of the most hated Spider-Man stories ever- The Clone Saga, that overtook any LCS and newsstand back in the mid-90s, and to no surprise, I was happy to see Ben Reilly (Who was supposed to be the original Peter Parker) take on the mantle of Spider-Man; Unfortunately, the Ben Reilly/Spider-Man era never gelled with readers due to too many crossovers and the fact that it could never fully end!! but this issue shows how some fans warmed up to Ben while anticipating the return of Peter Parker.
This issue starts with Ben going non-stop as Spidey due to crime being up since the absence of the Avengers and the FF. At the same time, Peter Parker faces a grim situation when The Daily Bugle is forced to lay off most of its staff due to the damage caused during Onslaught (To say that Peter was shocked by this news is an understatement). Still, the one weird factor from this issue comes from Spidey finding two kids slugging it out over mutant hysteria and how they were the cause of the main heroes no longer being around, so he takes him swinging around NYC and gives them a clear perspective on life; Sounds familiar?! It should see how DeFalco did the EXACT SAME THING in ASM # 252.
The most interesting thing about this issue is how Tom DeFalco used the Daily Bugle cutback scenes as a way to work out his feelings about Marvel’s layoff situation that occurred in January of ’96 (The staff that he hired during his time as Editor-In-Chief were sadly let go); A good read, but the ghost of Onslaught and the nauseating plot threads of the Clone Saga don’t help matters at all but only succeeds in making this a less-than-worthy Spider-Man story. True, Tom DeFalco had to work with whatever editorial direction he was given then, but this could have been a lot better. Looking back, some writers will recycle certain plot threads to make their scripts readable but the ASM # 252 callback was unnecessary, so if anyone reads this issue with a small amount of enthusiasm, try not to be hard on DeFalco’s writing because we could understand the story that he was going for, even if he tends to repeat himself.
Well, that’s it for me this week. Thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.
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