Ben Reilly: the Scarlet Spider #15 Spoilers/Review

[Pav]

Hello, friends! You know I was excited to get this week's issue of Scarlet Spider, which is his first tie-in with the Damnation event.

I read Damnation #2 last week, and Ben's entrance into the story definitely upped my already high excitement.

I'm now doing my second read-through of the issue, and here are my thoughts:

1) We start with Ben heading back to Mercury Towers from his visit with Mysterio, and in true Peter Parker / Ben Reilly fashion, he's questioning whether or not his decision about Beck was the right one.

I like how the difference between Ben's hero costume and his civilian clothes is the color of his sweatshirt

2) Ben notices that Aunt June is missing from her normal perch, and upon checking on her, meets the little girl from the preview. Except she's not really a little girl; she works for the Diogenes Initiative, and she knows via magic premonition that Ben needs to help the Midnight Sons defeat Mephisto. Oh, and Aunt June has been kidnapped to force him into action.

Now, I'm thinking a few things at this point -

The Diogenes Initiative were also involved with the resurrection of the demon posing as Black Marvel, who subsequently recruited the Slingers (along with Cyber, also resurrected from Hell). Despite this being a secret organization of some kind, Prodigy and Slate both know about it. The little girl, Jezebel, says that BM was actually on "assignment" but that Scarlet was right to take him down.

How does all this add up?

Also, I can't shake the feeling that the story of Diogenes "looking for an honest man" must have something to do with it thematically, especially considering Ben's central moral conflict in the book.

My favorite part, I think, was Ben's extremely pragmatic reaction to Jezebel's demands: "Kid, are you nuts?! I stick to walls and shoot webs. Demon lords are above my paygrade!" - This is a fine example, for me, of one thing I really appreciate about what PAD's doing: I really think he does a good job of making Ben sound like Peter Parker, despite what he might be saying or the actions he might currently be taking. Ben, being a mirror of Peter, still feels like Peter Parker - just one who has decided to take creative liberties with his do-gooding

Oh, and Midnight Sons = Bad Band Name !!!

3) Ben's out in the city now as the Scarlet Spider, and we find him saving the owner of a gun store: Ben's going to lock and load - but he has to defeat a demon first, and that's tricky business! Interestingly enough, Ben wonders "if Peter ever has days like this" but decides quickly that Kaine definitely does.

(Does Ben have severe memory loss about his time in NYC with Peter from CC? I mean, wouldn't he know the answer?)

Ben's costume looks great here, by the way, and even gets better when...

4. he arms himself Punisher-style!!!!

Such a cool visual, but on the same page, Ben silently muses to himself about leaving the gun store owner down in his bunker forever - evidence that Ben certainly has a nasty streak right now.

5. Ben's spider-sense leads him the Midnight Sons, who are fighting the Ghost Rider Avengers - until Ben hits them with a cement truck. And there we end on the same cliffhanger as Damnation #2: Ben being totally badass and saving the cool new supernatural team!

They better get an ongoing, and Smallwood better illustrate it. And I really, really hope they make Ben a fixture on the team, just as Iron Fist seems to be.

Regardless, this was an excellent issue that ties together the current problems facing Ben in his solo and the problems of the overall Damnation event. Although I wish it would've advanced the plot beyond what I read elsewhere, I understand why that wasn't the case; and I certainly didn't mind seeing how Ben got from point A to point B. The art was solid, the dialogue was funny, the action... was... packed? It was packed full of action.

You get me.

What do you think, fellow fans of the spider-clones? Thoughts on the Diogenes Initiative? Anyone especially interested in the relationship between Ben and the Diva? Did you miss Kaine?

Did you miss the Hippo? I know I did.

Talk to me!

-Pav, who hopes the cover to #16 is an accurate depiction of the story inside...

[Naked Bat]

I was glad to have Sliney back. His art really works well with PAD writing. Great issue as usual!

[Huntsman Spider]

I was also excited, and enjoyed the issue, too. Good thing Jezebel isn't really a little girl, though holding Aunt June hostage to secure Ben's compliance with the Diogenes Initiative in stopping Mephisto's Hell on Earth from spreading past Las Vegas . . . yeah. Classic superhero/action genre trope. Speaking of the Diogenes Initiative, who the shock are they exactly, what the shock do they want in Las Vegas, and what the shock is Slate's connection to them? Oh, and will we ever get that Ben/Cassandra confrontation we were promised in the solicit for last issue, before it turned out to be something entirely different?

P.S. Yes, I missed Kaine, but it looks like he'll appear in issue 17, so I can wait for that.

[SensationalSean]

This was a good issue, but I'm not wild about Ben getting involved in an event. I don't really want to read Damnation, so I'll see if I can just stick to SS and still have the narrative make sense (unlikely).

[deadboy80]

Love this book, love Ben. Glad to have him back and in his own monthly(which i subscribe too). Keep up the good work get Bagley back on it and give me more, more, more!

[Pav]

Noticed something:

Jezebel specifically tells Ben to get out there and be a

Damned

Hero.

-Pav, who gets it...

[Huntsman Spider]

Noticed something:

Jezebel specifically tells Ben to get out there and be a

Damned

Hero.

-Pav, who gets it...

Oh, yeah . . . "Damned hero." Because yeah, Ben is on a fast track to hell if he doesn't get his s*** together. Come to think of it, as long as we've been discussing Ben's past coming back to haunt him, why not some background on that time he fought D'Spayre? Hell, we could blame D'Spayre messing with Ben's head during his time in captivity to the Jackal for helping drive Ben as nuts as he became/was revealed to be in Clone Conspiracy.

[Denirac]

Is it me or is Jebzel the disguise Mephisto used in OMD to manipulate Parker.... if so.... Then maybe Mephisto WANTED Ben Reilly involved

[Huntsman Spider]

Is it me or is Jebzel the disguise Mephisto used in OMD to manipulate Parker.... if so.... Then maybe Mephisto WANTED Ben Reilly involved

Not quite. She's connected to the Diogenes Initiative, whatever that is, and they have their own plans for Las Vegas that Mephisto is interfering with. That said, I wouldn't put it past Mephisto to try to get his hooks into Ben in some way.