Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2021

[Sr. Bungle]

"And Marvel is hinting the design variants are not just a nostalgic trip down memory lane, but that the costume may also play a "surprising role" in Ben's saga before the end of the series."

But why?

[Reilly]

"And Marvel is hinting the design variants are not just a nostalgic trip down memory lane, but that the costume may also play a "surprising role" in Ben's saga before the end of the series."

But why?

Well, I hope for Spider-Man cosplayer or maybe even Spidercide donning this suit but not Ben. I don't know what it's up with Marvel, lately they are giving it's characters awful costumes, with Miles' one being ugly as hell. If you don't have an idea for a great costume, just stick to the one that works. Someone might say it's for the toys sales, but if it's ugly in comics then nobody is going to buy it anyway (except hardoce collectors).

[Webhead]

The Jurgens design feels like he started drawing and gave up somewhere along the way.

It was fine when it appeared as part of Ben's ideas but making him wear it would be meh.

[Spiderfan001]

God forbid. Granted, I do like elements of the costume, like the messy webbing and the way all the red bits of the suit look like webs, but other than that? Ehhhhh. Either give him a brand new suit or give him the Sensational suit back. (Or keep the Beyond suit)

Agreed, I feel they had an idea but they stopped half way.The recent Miles(the baggy one) and Peter(the streaming one) suits have been flops as well.

Also there's a JMD interview acc. to which Kafka will play a pivotal role in the new BR mini.W/ the new Queen Goblin leaks do we think they are trying to establish a deeper bond/backstory b/w the 2?

[Huntsman Spider]

Agreed, I feel they had an idea but they stopped half way.The recent Miles(the baggy one) and Peter(the streaming one) suits have been flops as well.

Also there's a JMD interview acc. to which Kafka will play a pivotal role in the new BR mini.W/ the new Queen Goblin leaks do we think they are trying to establish a deeper bond/backstory b/w the 2?

Peter's "livestreaming suit" would have looked a lot better if the primary colors had been black and silver/gray instead of blue and silver/gray. Black is a very complementary color. That said, I am curious as to how or if the Ben Reilly flashback series will be laying the foundation for Ashley Kafka to become the Queen Goblin.

[HypnoHustler]

Peter’s streaming suit was okay. Nothing special and already a bit forgotten. But it was fine.

Miles’ new suit on the other hand is a walking tragedy. Who approved that sloppy mess? How could you replace Miles’ sleek original costume with …. that?

[HypnoHustler]

Yeah, the suit is not great.
But it’s cool that Jurgens seems to have done a 180 when it comes to Ben. Even though he wrote some of the best Ben stories, he disliked the character at the time and left because Peter didn’t come back quick enough. But on his Twitter and in this interview he seems very positive about Ben. Maybe he’s mellowed with age, or maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder…. Or maybe he just realized he did have an important impact on the character, even if it wasn’t Peter, and he shouldn’t deny that. Whatever it is, it’s cool he’s doing these alternate covers. If the rejected suit gets some use for a few pages in the mini, that’s fine. Not a biggie. I trust in JMD.

[boots]

Yeah, the suit is not great.
But it’s cool that Jurgens seems to have done a 180 when it comes to Ben. Even though he wrote some of the best Ben stories, he disliked the character at the time and left because Peter didn’t come back quick enough. But on his Twitter and in this interview he seems very positive about Ben. Maybe he’s mellowed with age, or maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder…. Or maybe he just realized he did have an important impact on the character, even if it wasn’t Peter, and he shouldn’t deny that. Whatever it is, it’s cool he’s doing these alternate covers. If the rejected suit gets some use for a few pages in the mini, that’s fine. Not a biggie. I trust in JMD.

did dan not like ben as such...or did he simply just want to write peter (as in the peter that was peter not the peter that was ben. you know what i mean). it's a small distinction but still somewhat important.

and maybe dan has mellowed due to the fact that his stories featuring ben are still so well regarded now and seen as some of the highlights of a messy time.

dan's design is good. there's nothing wrong with it in terms of composition, but it doesn't feel especially ben or peter.

on another note: i think miles' new costume is sik. it feels like an attempt to shift the accepted aesthetics of superhero design and i think it pulls it off. all the stuff people seem to hate about it is why i think it's so strong. it wouldn't work for peter or steve rogers, but for a different generation of heroes? sure. it's better than random pouches.

[Spiderfan001]

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/ben-r...ontent=link_ad

"Ben Reilly: Spider-Man is one big story, a mystery that unfolds over five issues," DeMatteis said. "Along the way we’ll encounter some classic Spidey villains as well as one of my favorite characters, the head of Ravencroft Institute, Doctor Kafka, who plays a pivotal role in the story."

I wonder if this plays into Queen Goblin or they just wanted to better establish Kafka's history w/ Ben to make Queen Goblin seem more impactful.Not to mention how does JMD feel about all this.

Also after this get this man on a Ben+Peter team up story because we need to see more of both of them together.Specially for modern audiences not familiar w/ Spider-bros

[HypnoHustler]

There must be a lot of people in the spider-office pissed that Queen Goblin’s ID was spoiled through a sloppy promo.

[Spiderfan001]

There must be a lot of people in the spider-office pissed that Queen Goblin’s ID was spoiled through a sloppy promo.

There's a new staff member(Junior editor IIRC but don't quote me) which might be the reason.

Also re-reading issues and Kafka seemed very nice to Ben in therapy, yet we know she was very interested in Ben when approached by Beyond.Aside from the JMD mini adding anything, this might be her playing Ben along and maybe an experiment gone wrong which leads her to this?

There is a lot to develop here so if they show Kafka's spiral into Goblin stuff then the reveal doesn't hurt as much, but if it's a mystery who the Queen Goblin is then they f*cked up big time.

[Lukmendes]

Yeah, the suit is not great.
But it’s cool that Jurgens seems to have done a 180 when it comes to Ben. Even though he wrote some of the best Ben stories, he disliked the character at the time and left because Peter didn’t come back quick enough. But on his Twitter and in this interview he seems very positive about Ben. Maybe he’s mellowed with age, or maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder…. Or maybe he just realized he did have an important impact on the character, even if it wasn’t Peter, and he shouldn’t deny that. Whatever it is, it’s cool he’s doing these alternate covers. If the rejected suit gets some use for a few pages in the mini, that’s fine. Not a biggie. I trust in JMD.

I mean, back then there was the whole moronic attitude Marvel had where they tried to replace Peter with Ben, and try to make it permanently, that can make one dislike the character more than usual lol.

There must be a lot of people in the spider-office pissed that Queen Goblin’s ID was spoiled through a sloppy promo.

Specially since the office can be pretty good at keeping secrets, now this one happens lol.

There is a lot to develop here so if they show Kafka's spiral into Goblin stuff then the reveal doesn't hurt as much, but if it's a mystery who the Queen Goblin is then they f*cked up big time.

I honestly have a hard time believing that's gonna happen in a believable way.

Then again, we don't know what Queen Goblin's personality is like, who knows, maybe she decided to try the Hellions method of handling trauma, by putting characters in traumatic situations and that somehow makes their mental health better.

Wonder how DeMatteis feels about this though lol.

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

did dan not like ben as such...or did he simply just want to write peter (as in the peter that was peter not the peter that was ben. you know what i mean). it's a small distinction but still somewhat important.

When people collected stuff to do the Life of Reilly articles, they managed to get a hold of Dan. IIRC Dan wasn't fond of the switcheroo reveal and wanted Peter back ASAP. The issue with that, though, is that Dan wouldn't be happy to write Peter as he were either. He said he couldn't get behind a married Spider-Man, and that him having a supermodel wife basically went against a lot of the character's foundation. But getting Peter back in the webs was priority one.

Glenn Greenberg, who was the associate editor who contributed the most info to the articles, mentioned that at least as far as his perception goes the current Spider-Man group editor decided to undo the switch so early in Ben's tenure because he spent a whole lot of time with Jurgens at a convention on a weekend, so there is also that. Greenberg also mentions that it was feasible Jurgens could've stuck around as just writer but not writer/penciller for the book, but Dan ended up passing on it (more than likely due to the absolute editorial chaos the books were at the time).

But Jurgens definitely mellowed out about it - I think it might have been the positive response over the years. I recall when they had launched PAD's Ben book that he said he was pretty surprised with how things (some) people regarded as 'stinkers' at the time like Ben's stuff and Superman's "Electric Superman" were very fondly regarded by people he'd meet at cons and that they'd ask him to sign these and all, so maybe all said and done he might just think Ben's a neat little addition to the Spider-mythos and now that there's no danger of overriding Peter as 'the one true Spider-Man' it's all good.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Before being impaled by Norman's glider Ben dodged a really big bullet

https://www.gamesradar.com/ben-reill...er-man-marvel/

I quite like it but Bagley's design is much better.

[HypnoHustler]

When people collected stuff to do the Life of Reilly articles, they managed to get a hold of Dan. IIRC Dan wasn't fond of the switcheroo reveal and wanted Peter back ASAP. The issue with that, though, is that Dan wouldn't be happy to write Peter as he were either. He said he couldn't get behind a married Spider-Man, and that him having a supermodel wife basically went against a lot of the character's foundation. But getting Peter back in the webs was priority one.

Glenn Greenberg, who was the associate editor who contributed the most info to the articles, mentioned that at least as far as his perception goes the current Spider-Man group editor decided to undo the switch so early in Ben's tenure because he spent a whole lot of time with Jurgens at a convention on a weekend, so there is also that. Greenberg also mentions that it was feasible Jurgens could've stuck around as just writer but not writer/penciller for the book, but Dan ended up passing on it (more than likely due to the absolute editorial chaos the books were at the time).

But Jurgens definitely mellowed out about it - I think it might have been the positive response over the years. I recall when they had launched PAD's Ben book that he said he was pretty surprised with how things (some) people regarded as 'stinkers' at the time like Ben's stuff and Superman's "Electric Superman" were very fondly regarded by people he'd meet at cons and that they'd ask him to sign these and all, so maybe all said and done he might just think Ben's a neat little addition to the Spider-mythos and now that there's no danger of overriding Peter as 'the one true Spider-Man' it's all good.

I think the kids who grew up with Ben and Superman Red/Blue are the reason those stories were (at least partially) redeemed; because eventually they became adults and some got jobs in the industry. When we’re kids, we don’t see the flaws in the pop-culture we consume… only the wonderment. So installments of a franchise that gets a mixed, or even negative, reception at the time is more embraced by those who have it as their first exposure to the property. Might be analogous to how the Star Wars prequels have been re-evaluated in recent years… I’m still not a fan as I was in my late teens/ early 20s when they came out and had already watched the OT. But those who grew up with them are now boldly proclaiming their love for those films, especially in light of how criticized the new Disney trilogy has become (just wait for the kids who grew up with THAT to in turn lead those films to a re-evaluation or re-embrace in two decades).