Scarlet Spider is good, but how can it be great?

[Pav]

Friends, I've been thinking...

Spidergeddon is coming, and I think we're going to see a reshuffle of the Spider-books - including the potential end to Ben Reilly: the Scarlet Spider.

Here's why --

The end of Miles' solo comic, as well as the upcoming end to Spider-Gwen's solo, creates a vacuum already in the publishing schedule. Cates' new Venom solo partially fills that vacuum, but I can see Marvel wanting to put out a couple more new titles to coincide with the new Spidey run from Spencer (and Zdarsky).

Also, on Twitter I asked Will Sliney if Spidergeddon was a contained event, and if not, would it have ramifications on Ben and his book. Sliney's answer?

"No comment."

Now, there's a Scarlet Spider on the cover of Spidergeddon #1. What that means for the 616 Ben Reilly remains to be seen, but we can consider the possibilities. (Also of note: no Kaine on that cover.)

My hope is that, if Ben's solo does end, it is replaced with a book that still features him in some way: obviously a Scarlet Spiders book co-starring Ben and Kaine would be amazing, but Marvel may have other ideas.

Personally, I say think outside of the box: have PAD and Yost co-write a book starring Ben and Kaine. I bet together they could create a book better than they did on their own individual attempts.

(I would also obviously accept a relaunched Slingers book.)

Ooooo... Ben and Felicia. She’d like a Spider with a bit more edge and none of their baggage.

I really liked the story from the Clone Saga featuring Black Cat and D'Spayre. From that particular story, I always thought Felicia and Ben might make for good romantic will-they-or-won't-theys.

-Pav, who still 'ships Ben x Firestar over all others...

[Huntsman Spider]

Pav, I would love to see PAD and Yost cowrite a Scarlet Spiders book. It would be an epic collaboration, and we would finally get answers to questions like, "What happened to Aracely? What about the rise of Mictlan that Yost was teasing and hinting at? What is Kaine's true connection to Aracely, besides being her 'Champion'?" As for D'Spayre, I'd love to see Ben take him on again, and I would also chalk up Ben's more psychotic behavior and actions in Clone Conspiracy (and a bit during the beginning of his current solo) to D'Spayre's influence, since as the name implies, his whole thing is driving people to despair. Oh, and Firestar running into Ben in Las Vegas? Perfect. Just about perfect.

[HypnoHustler]

Hey y’all. First a note; yes, this is my first post here, but I’m a long-time lurker. Also, a long-time poster at crawlspace (where I’m Andrew C), superherohype (JJJ’s Ulcer there), comicboards and other forums. So I’m going to hit the ground running here. Been reading Spidey for almost 30 years, but I’m a huge Ben Reilly fan. After reading Scarlet Spider #20 today, I thought about this thread (and registered so I could post) and thought about an ongoing problem no one is really talking about: the editor. I’ll repeat what I wrote on crawlspace earlier.

Scarlet Spider #20. Okay issue. Nothing too interesting.

But can this book get a new editor please? This guy doesn’t do his job. First, forgot to correct Ben’s hair into blonde when he was supposed to have dyed it back in #8. Then he got the artist wrong on the cover last issue. This issue he forgets Ben has a scarred eye, which is an important subplot and probably the biggest blunder to date. The artist can also be at blame, but it’s the editor’s job to find these mistakes and fix them. And he’s slacking.

Seriously, what is happening with the editing, or lack of it? This is pretty lazy.

[Obsidian Spider]

Hey y’all. First a note; yes, this is my first post here, but I’m a long-time lurker. Also, a long-time poster at crawlspace (where I’m Andrew C), superherohype (JJJ’s Ulcer there), comicboards and other forums. So I’m going to hit the ground running here. Been reading Spidey for almost 30 years, but I’m a huge Ben Reilly fan. After reading Scarlet Spider #20 today, I thought about this thread (and registered so I could post) and thought about an ongoing problem no one is really talking about: the editor. I’ll repeat what I wrote on crawlspace earlier.

Scarlet Spider #20. Okay issue. Nothing too interesting.

But can this book get a new editor please? This guy doesn’t do his job. First, forgot to correct Ben’s hair into blonde when he was supposed to have dyed it back in #8. Then he got the artist wrong on the cover last issue. This issue he forgets Ben has a scarred eye, which is an important subplot and probably the biggest blunder to date. The artist can also be at blame, but it’s the editor’s job to find these mistakes and fix them. And he’s slacking.

Seriously, what is happening with the editing, or lack of it? This is pretty lazy.

I noticed the artist name mistake and the lack of scarred face as well. I don't recall anything to do with Ben's blonde hair, though.

You're also right about this being an okay issue. I feel like Peter David and the editors must realize that this book is probably not a top-seller and won't last much longer. Why aren't they going for broke and writing some crazy ****?!

Also, they might as well call this book Scarlet Spiders (plural) because Kaine is now officially getting half the story time. That's one thing I'm actually quite happy about.

Here's hoping things start to get more interesting leading up to Spider-Geddon.

[HypnoHustler]

I noticed the artist name mistake and the lack of scarred face as well. I don't recall anything to do with Ben's blonde hair, though.

It was heavily implied in #8 he was supposed to dye his hair blonde.
He’s in a hospital room with Abigail and she asks him “why his hair looks like that.” Ben replies he felt like “making a change.” And they talk a bit more about it, for about a page. Meanwhile the art shows no difference in his hairstyle or color. So I can’t say with 100% certainty, but why else would that dialogue be included?

You're also right about this being an okay issue. I feel like Peter David and the editors must realize that this book is probably not a top-seller and won't last much longer. Why aren't they going for broke and writing some crazy ****?!

Also, they might as well call this book Scarlet Spiders (plural) because Kaine is now officially getting half the story time. That's one thing I'm actually quite happy about.

Here's hoping things start to get more interesting leading up to Spider-Geddon.

I’d actually be okay with the book ending. The series is ... good. Much better than when it began. PAD has done a decent enough job reforming Ben’s character (as best he can considering how thoroughly Slott broke it). So the book is good, but it’s not great. Kaine’s SS series WAS great (at least the first half or so) and that only lasted 25 issues. Looks like this series will at least match that. Haven’t seen any cancellation notices or heard any rumors yet, but its sales are in the danger zone. So we’ll see.

Hope Pete and Ben get along in Spidergeddon, and I’ll riot if they try to off Ben again.

[boots]

totally fine with ben not going blonde. he could grow back his long disco locks though