Sure, but it all comes down to money rather than writing (unfortunately). I don't think a series starring Kaine as he is now and a series starring Ben with traditional characterization would both be successful - too much overlap in a tight market. It's not about "can it be done?" - it's about whether it can be done successfully in the long-term. What would differentiate the books in the eyes of the readers? What would cause them to say, "Yes, I DO need to buy two books a month about Spider-Clones!"
You can put them in different cities and with different casts, but in the end you have two books about Spider-Clones in a market with little wriggle room: Venom got cancelled, no Spider-Woman/Girl book succeed lately, and so on. They would have to be differentiated substantially somehow, and as I've said before, Kaine seems more like Ben now than ever before.
Don't want to rain on parades. Just want to consider how we might realisitically get more Spider-Clones in our lives!
-Pav, who is one of the few people who would buy both...
You were Spider-Man then. You and Peter had agreed on it. But he came back right when you started feeling comfortable.
You know what it means when he comes back.
"You're not the better one, Peter. You're just older."
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Closet full of comics? Consider donating to my school! DM for details
I get what your saying. It's why my suggestion is that Ben be a travelling hero, going from town to town on his chopper and helping where ever he is needed, like Knight Rider or the A-Team. I also suggested that instead of a full on costume, Ben do what he did in Salt Lake City, where he was wearing boots and jeans, just add a hoodie and his old Scarlet Spider mask, gloves and web shooters and he'd be all set.
I think if there was an ongoing about a team of Spider-People, it just might be a sustainable long term ongoing book. It would draw in fans of Kaine, Ben, Miguel etc. because one of them is someone's favorite character out there. I'm sure the passionate Kaine fans alone would buy it a lot.
Post Spider-Verse, it even seems kinda reasonable story-wise.
Peter could make guest appearances or even be a regular member in that team, too.
Agreed. I don't understand why Marvel doesn't "package together" some of their lesser-selling characters into singular books, as they did with Luke Cage and Iron Fist back in the day. It seems like an obvious thing to do, but I'm not a businessman either.
Regardless, I think a monthly featuring a team of Spider-Characters would probably do quite well. Maybe not a team-up of merely Ben and Kaine because their fan base likely overlaps too much, but there are certainly plenty of characters - Miguel, the Spider-Women/Girls, the MVP Iron Spider, the Steel Spider, and so on - to choose from.
Personally, I've always thought a relaunched "Slingers" book featuring Ben Reilly as the "lead" would be awesome, but I'm under no illusions: it's a long shot. Perhaps more realistically, I think Marvel might find success with a monthly team-up starring Venom and Kaine. Call it "Sinister Web of Spider-Man" and give it a darker tone than Peter's books.
-Pav, who would add Morbius to the team too...
Last edited by Pav; 09-08-2014 at 06:41 AM.
You were Spider-Man then. You and Peter had agreed on it. But he came back right when you started feeling comfortable.
You know what it means when he comes back.
"You're not the better one, Peter. You're just older."
--------------------
Closet full of comics? Consider donating to my school! DM for details
Oh yeah, the sky is the limit. Some Spider-Women/Girls should be in there and Morbius would certainly provide a bit of an unique flavor. I'd have SpOck on the team too, just because he would pull a lot of readers in.
I'd rather read this than any Avengers book in the market.
Maybe. I get that with Kaine filling up the role of "rogue" Spider-Man, it leaves Ben little room to bring something different, but with Ben, the difference (to me and some writters who wrote Peter and Ben) the character is essentially something else other than Peter Parker. He got the same morality, but I think that is where the line is drawn. Ben brings a kind of vision that Kaine, Peter and Venom, for exemple, do not share. He`s a bit of a contradiction, a WHAT IF Peter Parker went a whole other path instead of what made him..Peter Parker?
Market wise, yes, Editorial would have to pull an effort in setting up both Ben and Kaine in a way that makes both character`s contributions to the Spider verse something worthwhile and not redunctant. But if the recent saga is of any indication and knowing they want to market more characters under the Spider bane, then now is the time. Heck, make Ben the new "Spider" mentor, the guy with more real world experience of all, a travelling zen guy to Peter`s day to day struggle theme. he could kind of fill the role similar to madame Web.
I'll be very curious to see Ben interact with Jessica Drew, given that I've always thought of her as the ultimate version of Ben Reilly.
Was anyone else kind of let down that Ben is going to be in his Spider-Man suite and not his Scarlet Spider suite? Don't get me wrong I'm still excited for The Scarlet Spiders and Ben's return, and quietly hopeful that at some point in the story Ben does don his Scarlet Spider uniform, but I was never that fond of Ben's Spider-Man suite.
Not bothered in the least. I loved the Spider-Ben suit (and was happy to see Mayday in it) but the original SS costume was pretty silly.