From Steve Foxe's newsletter:
"Also announced in the Spider-world was Web of Spider-Man #1, out this March featuring a truly amazing (wink) roster of friends, peers, and legends, including a cover by Greg Capullo (!) and two stories written by yours truly and brought to vivid, creepy life by the incomparable art team of Greg Land, Jay Leisten, and Frank D’Armata. Our twin tales spotlight troubled Spider-clones Ben Reilly, now known as Chasm, and Kaine, reluctantly saddled with the Scarlet Spider moniker. Who knows what 2024 has in store for them beyond Web…"
So they may not even interact until Curse of Kaine
"Our twin tales spotlight troubled Spider-clones Ben Reilly, now known as Chasm, and Kaine, reluctantly saddled with the Scarlet Spider moniker."
Interesting. I wonder how Kaine's reluctance will manifest itself, and how this seeming desire to NOT be the Scarlet Spider relates to Ben and whether or not he will remain Chasm indefinitely.
Relatedly, I'm super curious to know the level of modern continuity that will be recognized in these stories. Beyond and/or Dark Web will certainly be referenced. Will Clone Conspiracy? Will Kaine's solo series? What about their Las Vegas adventures? For that matter, will the 90s stories be referenced?
-Pav, who hopes we get the return of Hummingbird...
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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I can see them using Ben's Chasm bs as an excuse to have Kaine backslide into being a villain because after all all he was using Ben as a motivation to be a better person
If they did that I'd be pissed and have yet another reason to be further disenfranchised with the Spider books.
Kaine was cool as hell as the monstrous clone bro who would hound and torment Ben at every turn but I personally have no desire to see him backslide into that.
And yes a Aracely appearance would be nice.
I have faith in Steve Foxe to nail the voice of Ben and provide a much more logical and compelling story then what we have gotten so far. As a Ben fan I won't even contemplate buying it though, unless they have the mandate to undo pretty much all of Chasm. It's just poision, it rottens the story from the inside out. To me there is no way to salvage that, doesn't matter who does the writting. It will be crushed by the weight of marvel editorial and their mandates.
I’ll still buy it because I’m a sucker for anything with Ben Reilly - even this current damaged beyond (heh) repair version. Hope springs eternal. Plus, it’ll be good to see Kaine again.
Former CBR writer. See my old articles here.
I’m personally voting with my wallet on this one. If it features Chasm and isn’t trying to fix Ben, I refuse to buy it as I’m never supporting this Chasm status.
To be honest, I DO want to see him return to being the monstrous clone bro -- but emphasis on the "BRO." I'd love to see Kaine's clone degeneration return, but have the stories focus on how that affects Peter, Ben, and Kaine as actual brothers who care about each other. It would be interesting to see Peter and especially Ben trying to help their brother, whose degeneration could be representative of real physical/mental/emotional illness. Frankly, I think there's a wealth of rich storytelling possibilities there, and it would help to differentiate Ben and Kaine, who I think have become too similar in the modern era.
I'm in the same boat. I'm not expecting much, but I'm always hopeful that the NEXT story will be the one that gets Ben back on track. And if it isn't, there always the NEXT one. I definitely understand voting with your wallet, but as I've mentioned many times over the years, I went twenty years with NO stories about Ben. I can stomach some crappy ones.
-Pav, who wonders if we'll ever see the return of Muse...
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