My constant complaint about Mark Waid is that he cannot write a superhero scene where he is NOT trying to be "defining and iconic." That he needs to pull his copy of HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES from up his ass. That he goes over the line from "deep analysis" to "more thesis than story."
Which is exactly why he's exactly the perfect guy to write a comic like THIS one, however.
It's hard to take that too seriously, though, when not too many pages earlier we were introduced to "It's Clobberin' Time," where Mark Waid proves that either (a) rap must be wiped out before someone really records it, and (b) Mark Waid is the whitest man alive.
And all respect to the late artist, but everyone but Ben looks like a toy. And in the last panel, that's very unfortunate placement of Sue's left hand.