Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider #6 Discussion/Spoilers

[MetalWoman]

Death comes for Ben Reilly!!
spoilers:

Literally. Rick Jones's wife, Marlo, who is bonded with Death (yay comics), finds Ben and sends him on a mission to hunt down two people killing random people in Las Vegas because they enjoy the power over life and death (sound familiar). After Ben defeats the killers, Abigail supposedly dies which causes Kaine to go after Ben to kill him. Marlo intervenes and 'kills' Kaine, and tells Ben they should talk.

end of spoilers

Once again Ben is called out on his insistence that he cloned people with good intentions, and not because of ego or a desire for power over life and death. Plus, Death's interest in Ben makes me wonder if he actually did manage to resurrect people, and not just clone them. It was nice to see Ben act heroically again, and hopefully Kaine's interaction with the one hand vet is setting up him sticking around for the long haul.

My only complaint is that Wil Sliney's art is just not as fluid as Bagley's. Although I do love his made up names for various Las Vegas casinos, such as WGW and Manhattan.

[blackspidey2099]

I actually did like this issue as well. It's interesting how PAD is slowly bringing Ben's heroic side back to the forefront. Hopefully Kaine does survive next issue, because this is honestly the lamest way to kill him off. BTW, where did it say that the red-head was Lady Death? Did I miss something?

I also preferred Sliney's art over Bagley, but tbh it was a step down from Sliney's art on 2099.

I think the only thing I didn't like about this issue was the overly self-righteous mother. That was not only highly unbelievable, but also extremely cringey IMO. Not sure why, maybe the dialogue seemed forced?

[MetalWoman]

BTW, where did it say that the red-head was Lady Death? Did I miss something?

Never said she was Lady Death in the comic, I just looked up the character on the internet to see why she seemed to have god powers.

[blackspidey2099]

Never said she was Lady Death in the comic, I just looked up the character on the internet to see why she seemed to have god powers.

Ahh okay. That makes sense.

[SensationalSean]

This issue felt a little strange to me, due to Sliney's art not being quite as pretty as Bagley's, the extreme nature of those killer guys and mystical Death stuff.

However, I'm certainly curious about where PAD is going with all this and how Ben will react.

[Webhead]

Thanks for clearing that up with Marlo's backstory, cause I had no idea what was going on with her through the book.

[theoneandonly]

Kaine dying like that seems ironic. I think Ben will use his body to clone himself a healthy one. It was a tad anticlimactic but then I always thought one of them was going to die and it couldn't be the one who had been killed 27 times. If this keeps up maybe Kaine will be called by some such name soon. This must be the third or fourth time he has died.

[MetalWoman]

How many times has Kaine died? He died once during the Clone Saga (revived by Jackal), once during the Grime Hunt (revived by his regeneration powers), once in his own series (revived by The Other), and once during Spider-verse (revived by The Other again). So I guess this is death number five, and will likely be as permanent as the others.

[Von]

Great issue, this is the first one that makes me feel like this book is going somewhere interesting.

Sliney's art is great (as usual) - I think it might be a different colorist than the one they used throughout the majority of 2099? hence the slighly jarring effect people are getting from it.

[MarioHerald]

How many times has Kaine died? He died once during the Clone Saga (revived by Jackal), once during the Grime Hunt (revived by his regeneration powers), once in his own series (revived by The Other), and once during Spider-verse (revived by The Other again). So I guess this is death number five, and will likely be as permanent as the others.

This would be the sixth time Kaine has died (and come back? The solicits for the next issue hint at spoilers:

Kaine's survival — and Ben being responsible for it!

end of spoilers See: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Ben_Rei...Spider_Vol_1_7

Here is a collage of four of the previous five times Kaine has died, where we can see him sacrificing to save people (or get revenge in their name): http://redconfession.tumblr.com/post...-spider-man-v1

1. For his father, the Jackal

2. For his brother, Spider-man

3. For his ward, Hummingbird/Aracely

4. For his other brother, Ben Reilly.

Dan Slott mentioned a fifth death that apparently occurred in Spider-Island.



https://twitter.com/DanSlott/status/571130103939399681

[boots]

This would be the sixth time Kaine has died (and come back? The solicits for the next issue hint at spoilers:

Kaine's survival — and Ben being responsible for it!

end of spoilers See: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Ben_Rei...Spider_Vol_1_7

Here is a collage of four of the previous five times Kaine has died, where we can see him sacrificing to save people (or get revenge in their name): http://redconfession.tumblr.com/post...-spider-man-v1

1. For his father, the Jackal

2. For his brother, Spider-man

3. For his ward, Hummingbird/Aracely

4. For his other brother, Ben Reilly.

they should write "for my brother...again lmao" in that last image though

[Thievery]

Another solid issue that advanced Ben's story of his heroic side returning slowly.

I don't think Kaine is will remain dead. Marlo will probably resurrect him next issue. If he is dead however, it would really effect how much I like this comic. I mainly read it just for Kaine.

[JoeWithoutFear]

I liked it. I'm excited to see Ben have a story that is more about him being a hero and doing things as opposed to JUST a story about "who am I? am I good or bad? blah blah"

I didn't really like the art, but, hopefully either it gets better or I grow to like it.

[Pav]

Read the issue last night before bed. I'm indifferent on the art - it looked a little wonky once or twice, but I'm not really an "art guy" as a general rule anyway, so it was fine.

I was definitely surprised to see PAD bring in Marlo. I've read some of his Captain Marvel run, so I'm somewhat familiar with her character, although I don't know why she has death powers.

Count me as someone who assumes Kaine will be resurrected in the next issue, and I think we're actually going to see resurrection continue on as a theme (based on what we've been told about future issues).

I liked seeing Ben acting heroically in this issue, yet still having a hard time with it. It feels real to me. As I told my middle school students yesterday, doing the right thing often means doing the hard thing - the thing we really don't want to do even if we know we should. Glad Ben is moving towards being the hero we all remember, even if he's struggling with it.

Not much longer until SLINGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Pav, who is glad so many of you enjoyed this issue...

[JoeWithoutFear]

Questions about the degeneration of our current clones (Ben and Kaine)....

1. Refresh my memory about the ending of Clone Conspiracy and how it relates to Ben's condition. I know he had almost perfected the process, but that he needed to take a pill every day to stave off the degeneration. By the end of CC, he starts lookin' all degened. So, did he just stop taking the pills? Wouldn't that mean he would die? Why not take the pills again just for the sake of not having messed up skin?

2. To my knowledge, Kaine was "perfect" after Spider Island. Then, after he died and was brought back without The Other, he was all degened cuz The Other apparently kept the degeneration at bay (bit of an eye roll on that one!). But then he ALSO got the Carrion Virus thing when he was world-hopping before CC and that added a nice, gross green color to his already gross skin. But in the new SS books, he isn't green, he's just the usual gross. Any updates there? Was the Carrion Virus removed as of the end of CC when Peter cured everyone else?

3. Do you think PAD will fix Ben's skin soon? Maybe if/when Ben goes full hero again PAD could somehow get his skin fixed in the process (and find a reason for him to dye his hair blonde!!!). I don't care too much about the hair, but if you haven't gotten the impression, I really do not like the gross skin. It's part of the reason I never got that into Deadpool or Spawn. I don't like heroes that kinda gross me out under the masks. Call me superficial, but this is a purely visual medium we're talking about =)

4. If the gross skin is an indication of degeneration, doesn't that imply that anyone who exhibits it is rapidly dying? Like, can a clone live a normal life span if they are degenerating?