Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #9

Issue #9 of Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider delivers a punishing cover image: a battered, hooded Scarlet Spider crouches in the rubble while a powerful armored villain looms over him, fist raised and a blazing energy weapon aimed squarely at the hero's back. Mark Bagley's pencils and Andrew Hennessy's inks capture both the desperation of Ben Reilly's position and the menacing confidence of his attacker, set against a backdrop of smoke and shattered debris. With Peter David writing and Will Sliney on interior art, this 2017 Marvel series continues to put its complicated hero through the wringer in thoroughly compelling fashion.