Ben Reilly: Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider Appreciation 2023

[Kurolegacy]

I honestly am considering writing a letter explaining why Ben should not be used to experiment with roles that Peter would never find himself in, as the whole point of the Clone Saga was that Ben and Peter are equals, and that Ben is merely a Peter who cannot live the life of Peter Parker, AND that THAT is enough of a hook/reason to publish stories featuring Ben Reilly.

-Pav, who will likely wait until the end of Dark Web to decide...

I genuinely don’t understand how they fail to grasp something so basic. If anything, the world is Ben’s oyster because he isn’t just confined to New York running in the same hamster wheel of a status quo that Peter is. That in itself basically makes Ben’s potential bear limitless. Yet because they lack creativity, they instead write him counter to who he is as a character and use him essentially as a cautionary tale for Peter.

[HypnoHustler]

I honestly am considering writing a letter explaining why Ben should not be used to experiment with roles that Peter would never find himself in, as the whole point of the Clone Saga was that Ben and Peter are equals, and that Ben is merely a Peter who cannot live the life of Peter Parker, AND that THAT is enough of a hook/reason to publish stories featuring Ben Reilly.

-Pav, who will likely wait until the end of Dark Web to decide...

Do it! Although they only seem to print sycophantic letters from the handful of people who like this run, so it probably won’t see print.

[Kurolegacy]

Do it! Although they only seem to print sycophantic letters from the handful of people who like this run, so it probably won’t see print.

Sometimes I wonder just what the ratio between positive and negative feedback they get looks like.

[TinkerSpider]

I sympathize with her for being written poorly!

-Pav, who is reminded of Legion metatextually complaining about his existence...

There’s that, true!

[IamnotJudasTraveller]

Well, Beyond made it look like she was released legitimately, so continously blaming Janine as if she broke out is pointless. The guy obviously knew something about the case because he seemed very angry and judgemental about her killing her dad.

For what's worth, reading the issue it does look like Beyond did a spin on it to say Janine broke out of prison instead of being released - Janine says "that's what they told everyone, yeah". So at least this much seems to be that she was making the news as an escaped convict more than anything.

(Personally, I can buy her getting sick of explaining herself and helping Ben as a bit of a knee-jerk reaction at how badly she's been hounded, but everything from agreeing to attack New York and so on really just falls into asking too much of the reader IMO.)

[HypnoHustler]

Sometimes I wonder just what the ratio between positive and negative feedback they get looks like.

I really don’t know. I’ve only seen a couple posters who are at most mildly positive about it. Even Slott’s run had its fanbase (much as I didn’t care for it personally).

[Kurolegacy]

Know what really just bothers me about this entire thing when looked at with a bird’s eye view? Maxine is a Spider-Man villain who got everything that she wanted and got away with it. From what we saw of her, she wanted to create villains and whether it be through her direct action or something she set into motion, she turned 3 good people and into villains. Kafka she infected with Osborn’s sins, Ben she erased his memories setting him down this path and Janine she released from prison but didn’t expunged her record or erased the records of Beyond having had anything to do with her release turning her into a fugitive which, combined with Ben’s situation, led to her becoming a villain. The Spider office just ended that story with her getting away Scott free and we’ll probably never see her again. Despite ruining 3 people’s lives and having no redeeming qualities, she was allowed to be a Karma Houdini.

[HypnoHustler]

Know what really just bothers me about this entire thing when looked at with a bird’s eye view? Maxine is a Spider-Man villain who got everything that she wanted and got away with it. From what we saw of her, she wanted to create villains and whether it be through her direct action or something she set into motion, she turned 3 good people and into villains. Kafka she infected with Osborn’s sins, Ben she erased his memories setting him down this path and Janine she released from prison but didn’t expunged her record or erased the records of Beyond having had anything to do with her release turning her into a fugitive which, combined with Ben’s situation, led to her becoming a villain. The Spider office just ended that story with her getting away Scott free and we’ll probably never see her again. Despite ruining 3 people’s lives and having no redeeming qualities, she was allowed to be a Karma Houdini.

Lol Wells and Lowe wanted their “tragic ending” or something along those lines. Of course there’s actually been many tragic endings in comics over the decades; not sure why they had to inflict another one on poor Ben.

[Huntsman Spider]

For what's worth, reading the issue it does look like Beyond did a spin on it to say Janine broke out of prison instead of being released - Janine says "that's what they told everyone, yeah". So at least this much seems to be that she was making the news as an escaped convict more than anything.

(Personally, I can buy her getting sick of explaining herself and helping Ben as a bit of a knee-jerk reaction at how badly she's been hounded, but everything from agreeing to attack New York and so on really just falls into asking too much of the reader IMO.)

Yeah, they claimed it was a "supervised release" kind of thing with her under the Beyond Corporation's custody, secretly in exchange for keeping Ben happy and loyal as their corporate-sponsored Spider-Man, but as soon as Janine escaped after realizing Beyond wasn't on the up and up when Ben passed on that thumb drive of Beyond's dirty laundry that Doctor Octopus gave him to her, Beyond spun it to the public and the media like she'd just broken out of prison so it would be easier to retrieve her before she could expose them.

[TinkerSpider]

Double post - many apologies

[TinkerSpider]

For what's worth, reading the issue it does look like Beyond did a spin on it to say Janine broke out of prison instead of being released - Janine says "that's what they told everyone, yeah". So at least this much seems to be that she was making the news as an escaped convict more than anything.

(Personally, I can buy her getting sick of explaining herself and helping Ben as a bit of a knee-jerk reaction at how badly she's been hounded, but everything from agreeing to attack New York and so on really just falls into asking too much of the reader IMO.)

I can’t reiterate enough that two wrongs don’t make a right. Life being unfair and unjust is not a reason to turn around and harm others, and that’s what Janine actively chose. You don’t get to pick and choose what laws you want to obey and what laws you want to flout without repercussions.

And it’s extra icky because in the The Lost Years, Janine turned herself in to the police, inspired by Ben to do the right thing. Wells did an inversion of the original story for kicks and giggles only, apparently, because there is no emotional resonance, no attempt to do a callback, just cartoonish “I am now EEEVIL.”

Know what really just bothers me about this entire thing when looked at with a bird’s eye view? Maxine is a Spider-Man villain who got everything that she wanted and got away with it. From what we saw of her, she wanted to create villains and whether it be through her direct action or something she set into motion, she turned 3 good people and into villains. Kafka she infected with Osborn’s sins, Ben she erased his memories setting him down this path and Janine she released from prison but didn’t expunged her record or erased the records of Beyond having had anything to do with her release turning her into a fugitive which, combined with Ben’s situation, led to her becoming a villain. The Spider office just ended that story with her getting away Scott free and we’ll probably never see her again. Despite ruining 3 people’s lives and having no redeeming qualities, she was allowed to be a Karma Houdini.

This bothered me, too. It’s not as bad as the devil getting a clear victory over Spider-Man, but it’s really cynical and nihilistic to let the villain just win and then disappear.

[JustLuke]

Remember how Cebulski said "you can always find hope for the villains" in regards to a fan saying if they should give up hope now that Ben is Chasm? LMAO god I don't wanna say I hate these people but it's getting really hard not to

[boots]

I really don’t know. I’ve only seen a couple posters who are at most mildly positive about it. Even Slott’s run had its fanbase (much as I didn’t care for it personally).

it's an interesting question, the online chatter seems to be overwhelmingly negative though some social media posts about chasm have thousands of likes

[scarletspidey]

Bleeding Cool is stating Ben should have been left alone

Kaine fans, count yourselves lucky, this could easily have been him if they wanted Ben to stay a hero. Just imagine if they had decided to keep Ben long-term as Spidey, married Peter off, Ben could have brought Kaine into Beyond and they did THIS to his memory.

At least this would have made an iota of sense though. Kaine loses his post clone saga memories and becomes villainous has reason and precedence.

Heck Ben as spidey trying to redeem Kaine would be good. Then again if Wells was still writing it would probably be awful still

[Matt Rat]

In one Marvel Universe Judas Traveller was Seward Trainer all along

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-10207