Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2018

[classicgmer]

If the book is ending anytime soon you wouldn't really know it by the contents of the book...They just introduced a new character (Hanako) and you've still got loose plot threads hanging everywhere, Misty Beck, what will the Slingers role be, the thread of the guy who hired the hippo to beat up the Mascot, etc.

[wleakr]

This applies to most cancelled books. It's rare for a book to go out with all plot threads resolved.

[Pav]

Also nervous, and hoping for Ben Reilly's continued survival. Personally, I think the title should be relaunched as Scarlet Spiders, starring Ben and Kaine (and maybe Ultimate Jessica Drew in her red-clad Spider-Woman identity).

Personally, I have no interest in Ultimate characters intruding into my Spider-Clone comics

But I'm totally with you: a relaunch of the book as "Scarlet Spiders" would be fantastic, and maybe a bigger draw to fans?

-Pav, who is indifferent towards Miles...

[Huntsman Spider]

Personally, I have no interest in Ultimate characters intruding into my Spider-Clone comics

But I'm totally with you: a relaunch of the book as "Scarlet Spiders" would be fantastic, and maybe a bigger draw to fans?

-Pav, who is indifferent towards Miles...

Oh, it could be. It most certainly could be. And hell, how about some good old Wolverine Publicity (in TV Tropes' parlance) and throw in everyone's other favorite clone, Laura Kinney, as a guest star?

[Captain Craig]

... Personally, I think the title should be relaunched as Scarlet Spiders, starring Ben and Kaine (and maybe Ultimate Jessica Drew in her red-clad Spider-Woman identity).

So you'd like to see the premise of the Spider-verse mini, Scarlet Spiders, expanded upon, yes?
Scarlet_Spiders_Vol_1_1.jpg Scarlet_Spiders_Vol_1_1_Bagley_Variant.jpg

I would not be for any more Ultimate Spider-man related characters brought over. We have enough 616 Spider characters to utilize. Plus, didn't they kill Ultimate Jessica Drew? Death not being permanent in comics aside she is super redundant to 616 Jessica Drew who could guest star in the book and is plenty interesting.

[Miles To Go]

Interesting stuff in Renew Your Vows#21 this week...Ben's gravestone appeared and MJ was there to grieve his loss (we never really got to see her do that in 616) and to tell Annie about how he wanted to be a hero.

[Spiderfang]

So would Renew Your Vows be a good series to get for someone who likes the Clone Saga?

[Miles To Go]

So would Renew Your Vows be a good series to get for someone who likes the Clone Saga?

The current storyline involves clones (and seems to draw inspiration from the Spider-Man/X-Men series a decade or so ago), and references to what went on in it, including MJ confirming Annie is her second child with Peter and referencing the miscarriage from the Clone Saga.

[Huntsman Spider]

So you'd like to see the premise of the Spider-verse mini, Scarlet Spiders, expanded upon, yes?
Scarlet_Spiders_Vol_1_1.jpg Scarlet_Spiders_Vol_1_1_Bagley_Variant.jpg

I would not be for any more Ultimate Spider-man related characters brought over. We have enough 616 Spider characters to utilize. Plus, didn't they kill Ultimate Jessica Drew? Death not being permanent in comics aside she is super redundant to 616 Jessica Drew who could guest star in the book and is plenty interesting.

That was why I said "maybe." I should mention, though, that as of Spider-Men II #5, Ultimate Jessica Drew is alive and well (and back to being Spider-Woman), and so is the Ultimate Universe. Aside from that, I'm perfectly fine with a Scarlet Spiders relaunch just being Ben and Kaine; I just thought I'd throw in Ultimate Jessica Drew because she was also a clone of Peter, and I thought she had a lot of unused potential.

So would Renew Your Vows be a good series to get for someone who likes the Clone Saga?

Given that the new/current arc finally acknowledges that the Clone Saga did happen and that Ben Reilly was a genuine hero, through and through, yeah, I'd say you could get it just for this.

[Spiderfang]

Given that the new/current arc finally acknowledges that the Clone Saga did happen and that Ben Reilly was a genuine hero, through and through, yeah, I'd say you could get it just for this.

Cool, I must admit I am a tad sentimental over the loss of the marriage from the 90's (when I first started reading) so it should be interesting to get to revisit that.

[Huntsman Spider]

Cool, I must admit I am a tad sentimental over the loss of the marriage from the 90's (when I first started reading) so it should be interesting to get to revisit that.

Indeed. I'd start with the Secret Wars miniseries (actually written by Dan Slott, who does a pretty bang-up job of depicting the family dynamic between Peter, Mary Jane, and Annie), and then get the first twelve issues of the ongoing by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman (who takes over writing duties around issue 9), which sets up the new dynamic of MJ and Annie joining Peter in crime-fighting despite Peter's initial reluctance. Starting with issue 13, there's an eight-year time-skip where the title is (currently) written by Jody Houser and depicts a teenage Annie growing into her role as a superhero and balancing it with everyday high school life while Peter and MJ adjust to raising a teenage girl. Issue 19, however, is a flashback to when Annie was still a little girl, centering on Peter and Mary Jane finding some time for themselves (while Annie gets babysat by Wolverine of the X-Men), and it's a pretty good take on their relationship, in my opinion. Issue 20 begins the current arc with the Clone Saga callbacks, only it's Mister Sinister who's behind these clones (albeit infiltrating Oscorp for whatever reason).

[Digifiend]

Bleeding Cool claiming that #25 is the final issue of Scarlet Spider.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/07...-peter-parker/

[Miles To Go]

Rumor is Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider is wrapping up in October


https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/07...-peter-parker/

edit: ninj'd

[Captain Craig]

We've been expecting this for months now so no real surprise here.
When the title is selling 14K it's frankly on borrowed time and has been for months.
However, in today's publishing cycle a 25 issue run is a successful one. I highly doubt that Ben, Kaine and crew just go into limbo.

[Pav]

We've been expecting this for months now so no real surprise here.
When the title is selling 14K it's frankly on borrowed time and has been for months.
However, in today's publishing cycle a 25 issue run is a successful one. I highly doubt that Ben, Kaine and crew just go into limbo.

I certainly hope not, although you never know. We went twenty years without any new stories about Ben Reilly, and nearly as long a wait for Kaine before he rose in prominence. It may be that it will fall to Spencer to decide whether they have use in his ASM run, and we may seem them fall back into more supporting roles (which is better than nothing). If we are getting an ongoing of Superior Octopus, it might fit the role of "bad Spidey" that both Kaine's and Ben's solo each held, respectively.

I do hope that Ben and Kaine are given another book in which to star, but if it doesn't happen, I'm happy that we got 25 issues of new stories about Ben to enjoy. The quality might've been up and down at times, but hey! Beggars can't be choosers

-Pav, who is glad there are some exciting books coming out in October to soften the potential loss of Scarlet Spider...