Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider #6 Discussion/Spoilers

[Huntsman Spider]

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?

To respond to your questions as best as I can . . .

1. It started with Otto Octavius, pissed off that Ben insulted Anna Maria for her stature by offering her the perfected proto-clone body and that the "Jackal" he was working with turned out to be a Spider-Man clone, setting off the frequency that would trigger the Carrion Virus's degenerative effects to spite Ben and ruin everything Ben had created. Ben then took it even further by extending the frequency to cover the entire country, if not the world, intending to "reanimate" everyone like he had done to others before and thus usher in a world without death (Cancerverse, anyone?). Peter managed to generate a countersignal to stop the degeneration process using the Webware to broadcast it all over the country, but by then Ben was already starting to show signs of degeneration with his jaundiced and scarred skin after Otto destroyed his Webware. He had to steal someone else's Webware when he escaped and he would have taken the New U pills to help, but the real Jackal, Miles Warren, pretty much destroyed everything Ben kept in reserve as part of his revenge for what Ben did to him to keep him in line, so he's now living on borrowed time.

2. I'd presume he was cured of the Carrion Virus, but not of his prior degenerative condition. As such, he's also living on borrowed time, which he's using to hunt down Ben and bring him to justice for what he did in The Clone Conspiracy.

3. If Ben does ultimately find a way to cure his and Kaine's clone degeneration, I presume they'll go back to having smooth, healthy skin (and Ben might dye his hair again, since he no longer has a need to impersonate Peter Parker as his contingency plan for if Peter didn't want to cooperate with him).

4. Pretty much, yeah. Clones can live for years without showing immediate symptoms of degeneration, but later start succumbing to it as their cells begin to break down more rapidly.

[Timmyb52]

Another solid issue IMHO...even though the art sometimes took me out of the story. So far...I'm still enjoying the ride and like what PAD is doing as a whole.

[boots]

To respond to your questions as best as I can . . .

1. It started with Otto Octavius, pissed off that Ben insulted Anna Maria for her stature by offering her the perfected proto-clone body and that the "Jackal" he was working with turned out to be a Spider-Man clone, setting off the frequency that would trigger the Carrion Virus's degenerative effects to spite Ben and ruin everything Ben had created. Ben then took it even further by extending the frequency to cover the entire country, if not the world, intending to "reanimate" everyone like he had done to others before and thus usher in a world without death (Cancerverse, anyone?). Peter managed to generate a countersignal to stop the degeneration process using the Webware to broadcast it all over the country, but by then Ben was already starting to show signs of degeneration with his jaundiced and scarred skin after Otto destroyed his Webware. He had to steal someone else's Webware when he escaped and he would have taken the New U pills to help, but the real Jackal, Miles Warren, pretty much destroyed everything Ben kept in reserve as part of his revenge for what Ben did to him to keep him in line, so he's now living on borrowed time.

2. I'd presume he was cured of the Carrion Virus, but not of his prior degenerative condition. As such, he's also living on borrowed time, which he's using to hunt down Ben and bring him to justice for what he did in The Clone Conspiracy.

3. If Ben does ultimately find a way to cure his and Kaine's clone degeneration, I presume they'll go back to having smooth, healthy skin (and Ben might dye his hair again, since he no longer has a need to impersonate Peter Parker as his contingency plan for if Peter didn't want to cooperate with him).

4. Pretty much, yeah. Clones can live for years without showing immediate symptoms of degeneration, but later start succumbing to it as their cells begin to break down more rapidly.

the degen rules have always been a little muddled.

1. long term. kaine, little jack and the brute guy all had long term degen "cancer", which used to result in a weird webbing like pattern on your skin not the decaying zombie look currently. the brute guy who died of it looked more like he died of some sort of organ failure and there was no accelerated decomposition of his body. for some reason it also gave kaine exaggerated spider powers and made him taller and bulkier.... cos comic logic.

2. induced. i think jackal clicked his fingers and caused little jack to melt. he was on the way to a fate similar to the brute's, but the jackal accelerated this.

3. rushed clones- the guys who weren't fully baked. all the spideys in maximum carnage just started melting away from the stress on their bodies.

4. ben reilly. despite being the "perfect clone", for some reason the only one to degenerate immediately after being killed by non degen issues. kaine has died a zillion times and always leaves an intact body.

5. currently, it seems like kaine and ben are back to 1 even though its physical appearance is different.

[Prof. Warren]

I actually liked the art here but the issue overall was my least favorite so far. Maybe because I wasn't aware of Marlo's backstory and so the extent her abilities confused me. Also, having Ben being more conventionally heroic goes against what I've liked about the book so far - the fact that he was anything but a conventional hero. That said, I'm still sticking with the book for now and I'm curious as to where PAD is taking things.

[Cthulhudrew]

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.

Marlo died years ago when she was stabbed by a woman who may or may not have been Rick Jones' real (and mentally unstable) mother. Rick wouldn't accept her death, having so many personal connections to heroes who have died and come back to life, but they couldn't (or wouldn't, in some cases) help him. Eventually, he managed to get the Leader to help him out, and Marlo was revived. Much later, it was revealed that her death and resurrection subsequently forged a connection between her and Lady Death, which manifested in different ways. She could talk to the ghost of a dead woman she used to know; she had the power of the "death wish" that allowed her (unknowingly) to grant people's wishes. At one point it was revealed that the essence of Lady Death was hiding in her in order to escape being murdered by a cosmic Death being from another reality. Thanos ended up destroying that being with Captain Marvel/Genis-Vell's help, and Death separated itself from Marlo, presumptively taking her powers along with her. Nevertheless, Marlo occasionally still displays some weird powers associated with Death, likely due to the fact that she has always kind of flirted with death (little "d") all of her life, going back to her childhood, when she would do crazy stunts and dares and things; which is one of the reasons Death (big "d") has such a strong connection to her.

In a nutshell.