Amazing Spider-Man #16: An Emissary from Limbo. Chasm!

The Amazing Spider-Man #16 – written by Zeb Wells with pencils by Ed McGuinness, inks by Cliff Rathburn, colors by Marcio Menyz, and letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna – focuses on a fight between Peter Parker’s Spider-Man and Ben Reilly’s Chasm as the invasion of Limbo demons continues across New York. Throughout the battle, Ben reveals more about his twisted point of view surrounding the events of Spider-Man: Beyond, while providing more insight into the changes Chasm has gone through. This includes a weaponized version of the spider-sense and more magical abilities. 

Meanwhile, The Goblin Queen (Madelyne Pryor) and Hallows’ Eve (Janine Godbe) let the twisted version of Venom loose near the X-men’s Central Park Treehouse, searching for a mutant resurrection backup drive. As the plot leads into X-Men: Dark Web #2, the issue returns to the Spider-Man and Chasm fight, revealing that the villain has trapped J. Johan Jameson and Robbie Robertson in Limbo, and casts Peter into the Hellish dimension too. This marks yet another member of the crossover cast trapped in Limbo, joining the likes of Mary Jane and Black, the X-Men, and Ms. Marvel. 

This issue’s script continues the non-stop action momentum set with the previous issue, combined with McGuinness’s high-octane pencilling. Wells balances the dueling perspective of Peter and his clone to well effect, ensuring there is a pathos to Chasm even as he descends into additional villainy. That structure also helps build the tension of an almost full issue of fighting, giving the script a sense of movement and flow that keeps the plot from getting too repetitive. A little more focus on plotlines outside of Peter and Ben, like Norman or Aunt May, would have helped with the overall flow of the story. 

Along with that flow, Wells’s script delivers some fun execution of Chasm’s altered spider-sense, taking an established element of the mythos and giving it a new life. Paired with the mists that have been a vital part of the Chasm design across various artists since his introduction, it’s nice to see that vapor is more than just an aesthetic choice. Outside of some basic magic, Chasm has felt like an antagonist that just stands around and laments his problems, so seeing this new element to his power gives a fun twist and more agency to try and take Peter’s memories. A more mystically inclined spider-clone also clears the way to put Peter back into a street-level zone, which is also a refreshing concept. 

One reason that the weaponized spider-sense works so well in this issue is thanks to McGuinness and Rathburn’s illustration of power. The way the duo renders the ability, taking the visual styling and giving it a harsher shape and more defined outline, ensures that it sticks out from a regular spider-sense depiction. Menyz’s coloring then takes it a step further by imbuing the strands and then forming items like axes, with the same sickly green that has been a recurring motif for the character and the larger Dark Web crossover. 

If there’s any place that the art falters, it’s in the unmasked facial expressions of Peter and Ben. Even as clines, there’s an uncanny look to the expressions, trapped in the overly emotive styling of McGuinness’s pencils and Rathburn’s inks. With other characters like the Goblin Queen and Johan, the art works for the facial expressions, but something about the transition between mask to no mask for both Peter and Ben creates a dissonance that’s hard to ignore. The duo does, however, capture the expressiveness of characters in their masks extremely well, lending their style to the over-the-top aesthetic set in the issue. 

Menyz’s coloring helps to sell the aesthetic set by the art, showcasing the colorist’s ability to move between tone and spectacle. In previous issues, Menyz has managed to channel a gritty, noir-inspired palette while here, the same colors in different hues are put to good use to give the book its hyper-kinetic feel. The coloring also syncs with McGuinness’s use of split-screen panels to create a sense of duality that centers the book, playing on the warring p.o.v.s of Peter and Ben. The red/yellow and green/purple palettes play off one another to ensure perfect clarity between the characters, even as their faces and uncolored costumes resemble one another.