Kaine Parker: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2020

[Spiderfang]

Kaine Parker: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2020!





Wikipedia blurb;

"Kaine Parker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as a superhero and former supervillain who serves as an ally, an enemy, and a foil of Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and Ben Reilly. Created by Terry Kavanagh and Steven Butler, the character first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #119 (December 1994) as the Jackal's first failed attempt of a clone of Spider-Man. He later appeared as the new Scarlet Spider in the Marvel Point One one-shot in November 2011 before starring in his own series.

Kaine is the Jackal's first temporary success at cloning Peter Parker but, due to the flawed cloning process is left deformed and mentally unstable. Kaine is later identified by the Jackal as "Parker 3.0"; the implications of this are unknown. The Jackal discards Kaine because the clone starts showing early signs of the degeneration process, and Kaine experiences a strong feeling of rejection similar to that between a father and son. Kaine realizes the partial degeneration also caused a slight amplification of the powers he "inherited" from Peter. Not only has his strength, speed, and agility been copied from the original Peter's, but he gains a "precognitive sense" that shows him flashes of the future (an amplified version of Peter's spider-sense). He also possesses a "Mark of Kaine," a burning touch that he uses to leave eaten away hand prints on his victims' faces. Though never explicitly stated within the story, in a later interview former Spider-Man editor/writer Glenn Greenberg revealed that the Mark of Kaine was meant to be another analog of one of Spider-Man's powers, namely the ability to cling to walls.

The Jackal goes on to create a new, better clone which would become Ben Reilly. When the Jackal uses Reilly against Peter, the ensuing battle leaves Reilly and the Jackal for dead. They both manage to survive; the Jackal places himself into suspended animation in a cloning pod to awaken later; and Reilly leaves New York.

Behind the scenes, Norman Osborn manages to have the files on Ben and Peter switched, so the Jackal would think Peter is the clone and Ben is the real deal. Consulting the Jackal's files, Kaine also believes the same, so he follows Ben through his "exile". For a time, he finds love in the arms of police detective Louise Kennedy of Salt Lake City, until he discovers she is working for the criminals. This revelation, coupled with Kaine's increased cellular degeneration, pushes Kaine even further towards insanity and he kills Louise. Kaine continues to stalk Ben, making it appear as though Janine Godbe, Ben's new love, has committed suicide. Kaine, hoping to give the man who he thinks is the clone (Peter) the life he could never have, frames Ben for a number of murders he commits since both men have the same fingerprints.

Later flashback scenes reveal that Kaine worked as a bounty hunter for a time, being briefly dispatched to eliminate Kraven the Hunter. Kaine also experienced a 'vision' via his enhanced spider-sense that Kraven would kill him in the future. Despite the two engaging in a brutal confrontation—Kraven even briefly mistook Kaine for Spider-Man due to a vague recognition of Spider-Man's template in Kaine—both survive despite Kaine burying Kraven alive. Kraven dug himself out after three days, but his friend and manservant was killed by Kaine during the fight.

It was revealed in the Marvel Point One one shot that Kaine is the new Scarlet Spider in his own ongoing series. This was confirmed by editor Stephen Wacker in the "Letters to the Editor" page of The Amazing Spider-Man #673."

Collected Editions & Selected Reading


90's Clone Saga

* The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 1 (Collects SPIDER-MAN: THE LOST YEARS 0-3, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN (1985) 117-119, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 394, SPIDER-MAN (1990) 51-53, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 217, MATERIAL FROM SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 7)
* The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 2 (Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1962) 395-399, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 218-221, SPIDER-MAN (1990) 54-56, SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 8, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN 120-122, SPIDER-MAN: FUNERAL FOR AN
OCTOPUS 1-3)
* The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 3 (Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1962) 400-401, SUPER SPECIAL; SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 222-224, SUPER SPECIAL; SPIDER-MAN (1990) 57-58, SUPER SPECIAL; SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 9; WEB OF SPIDER-MAN 123-124, SUPER SPECIAL; SPIDER-MAN: THE CLONE JOURNAL; VENOM SUPER SPECIAL)
* The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 4 (Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 402-404; SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 225-227; SPIDER-MAN (1990) 59-61; WEB OF SPIDER-MAN 125-127; NEW WARRIORS (1990) 61; SPIDER-MAN: THE JACKAL FILES; SPIDER-MAN: MAXIMUM CLONAGE ALPHA, OMEGA)
* The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book 1 (Collects SPIDER-MAN: THE PARKER YEARS, NEW WARRIORS (1990) #65-66, SCARLET SPIDER UNLIMITED #1, WEB OF SCARLET SPIDER #1-2, AMAZING SCARLET SPIDER #1-2, SCARLET SPIDER #1-2, SPECTACULAR SCARLET SPIDER #1-2, GREEN GOBLIN #3. and SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) #0 and MINI-COMIC.)

* The Amazing Spider-Man Identity Crisis (Collecting Collecting SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) #27-28, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #434-435, SPIDER-MAN (1990) #91-92 and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) #257-258.)

* Dark Reign (Collects Lethal Legion #1-3, and Made Men digital comic)

Kraven Saga
* Grim Hunt (Collects Amazing Spider-Man #634-637, Grim Hunt Prologue and material from Web Of Spider-Man #7 & Spider-Man Origin Of The Hunter)

* Spider-Island (Collects Amazing Spider -Man 666-673, Venom 6-9, Spider -Island : Deadly Foes , material from Amazing Spider -Man 659-660, 662-665, Spider-Island Spotlight)

As Scarlet Spider

* Scarlet Spider Vol. 1: Life After Death (Collects Scarlet Spider 1-6, material from Marvel Point One)
* Scarlet Spider Vol. 2: Lone Star (Collects Scarlet Spider 7-9, 12.1, 13-15)
* Scarlet Spider Vol. 3: The Big Leagues (Collects Scarlet Spider 16-19, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up 2, Scarlet Spider 20)
* Scarlet Spider Vol. 4: Into the Grave (Collects SCARLET SPIDER 21-25)

Carnage - Minimum Carnage (Collects Minimum Carnage: Alpha 1; Venom 26-27; Scarlet Spider 10-12; Minimum Carnage: Omega 1)

* Spider-Verse (Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2014) #7-15, SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #32-33, SPIDER-VERSE #1-2, SPIDER-VERSE TEAM-UP #1-3, SCARLET SPIDERS #1-3, SPIDER-WOMAN (2014) #1-4, SPIDER-MAN 2099 (2014) #6-8 and material from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2014 (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) #1)

* Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy (Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 19-24; THE CLONE CONSPIRACY 1-5; THE CLONE CONSPIRACY: OMEGA; SILK 14-17; PROWLER 1-5; FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2016 (CAPTAIN AMERICA) 1 (SPIDER-MAN STORY))

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider

* Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 1: Back In the Hood (Collects BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER 1-6)
* Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 2: Death's Sting (Collects BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER 6-10, SLINGERS (1998) 0)
* Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 3: Slinger's Return (Collects BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER 10-14)
* Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 4: Damnation (Collects BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER 15-20)
* Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Vol. 5: Deal With the Devil (Collects BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER 20-25)

* Spidergeddon! (Collects SPIDER-GEDDON 0-5, SPIDER-GEDDON: VAULT OF SPIDERS 1-2)

[Frontier]

Happy New Year to Kaine .

[Celgress]

As with his clone "brother" Ben, hopefully, 2020 will be kinder to Kaine than the past few years have been.

Edit- Kaine's Scarlet Spider uniform is my third favorite Spidey costume of all time (classic red & blue and the black & white symbiote design being my favorites). The juxtaposition of black & red is very visually dynamic. It possesses an aggressive yet ghostly quality.

[Huntsman Spider]

As with his clone "brother" Ben, hopefully, 2020 will be kinder to Kaine than the past few years have been.

Edit- Kaine's Scarlet Spider uniform is my third favorite Spidey costume of all time (classic red & blue and the black & white symbiote design being my favorites). The juxtaposition of black & red is very visually dynamic. It possesses an aggressive yet ghostly quality.

Agreed, and while I'd touch up Kaine's Scarlet Spider suit with some more black around the waist and on the legs, it is indeed a dynamic design. Come to think of it, wasn't Spider-Man himself originally supposed to be red and black, only with blue highlights on the black parts of the suit, but then someone started coloring those parts predominantly blue with black shading instead of black with blue shading and that stuck?

[Celgress]

....Come to think of it, wasn't Spider-Man himself originally supposed to be red and black, only with blue highlights on the black parts of the suit, but then someone started coloring those parts predominantly blue with black shading instead of black with blue shading and that stuck?

I believe so. Someone, please correct us if we are wrong, thanks.

[Zaresh]

I believe so. Someone, please correct us if we are wrong, thanks.

I remember reading (somewhere, long time ago) that Ditko asked the colouring part of the print process for certain blue and red for his costume, but Kirby's cover for Amazing Fantasy (and Ditko own art inside) does have a lot of black. It's not some rare case: a lot of blue costumes showed a lot of black, and a lot of black costumes had blue highlights. I think it was meant to be dark blue.