Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider/Spider-Man Appreciation 2024.

[Sr. Bungle]

I have hope, but if Kaine starts using Ben's Scarlet Spider suit I'm going to be beyond mad

[Huntsman Spider]

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...

Muse . . . that's a deep cut. Not the Muse that was the serial killer villain in Charles Soule's Daredevil run, of course, though I would like to see the return of the Great Game, especially if it also meant bringing back Joystick, who hasn't been seen, to my knowledge, since Fabian Nicieza's Thunderbolts in the mid-2000s.

[Sr. Bungle]

Muse . . . that's a deep cut. Not the Muse that was the serial killer villain in Charles Soule's Daredevil run, of course, though I would like to see the return of the Great Game, especially if it also meant bringing back Joystick, who hasn't been seen, to my knowledge, since Fabian Nicieza's Thunderbolts in the mid-2000s.

He's about to get big

[Refrax5]

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.

Yeah. Kaine was a great villain, but he's changed so much from then that it'd feel really inorganic and forced to put him back in that role. We have Spidercide as the villainous clone anyway.

[classicgmer]

Yeah. Kaine was a great villain, but he's changed so much from then that it'd feel really inorganic and forced to put him back in that role. We have Spidercide as the villainous clone anyway.

Yeah his time in that role was great but that has come and gone and they need find ways to progress the character not regress him.


And as to those who feel Kaine and Ben are too similar


The X office has recently had two Laura Kinney's running at the same damn time. ( not sure if this is still the case)

Also the X office has at times and maybe still now found ways to differentiate the Stepford Cuckoos from one another and they're far more identical clones then Ben & Kaine currently.

If people prefer Ben and Kaine radically different from one another that's fine but we need to stop acting like it's impossible to differentiate them from one another without going to extremes.

It's really not as difficult as the Spider office would have us believe it is IMHO.

[Sr. Bungle]

Yeah his time in that role was great but that has come and gone and they need find ways to progress the character not regress him.


And as to those who feel Kaine and Ben are too similar


The X office has recently had two Laura Kinney's running at the same damn time. ( not sure if this is still the case)

Also the X office has at times and maybe still now found ways to differentiate the Stepford Cuckoos from one another and they're far more identical clones then Ben & Kaine currently.

If people prefer Ben and Kaine radically different from one another that's fine but we need to stop acting like it's impossible to differentiate them from one another without going to extremes.

It's really not as difficult as the Spider office would have us believe it is IMHO.

Maybe it's difficult for THEM

[Refrax5]

Yeah his time in that role was great but that has come and gone and they need find ways to progress the character not regress him.


And as to those who feel Kaine and Ben are too similar


The X office has recently had two Laura Kinney's running at the same damn time. ( not sure if this is still the case)

Also the X office has at times and maybe still now found ways to differentiate the Stepford Cuckoos from one another and they're far more identical clones then Ben & Kaine currently.

If people prefer Ben and Kaine radically different from one another that's fine but we need to stop acting like it's impossible to differentiate them from one another without going to extremes.

It's really not as difficult as the Spider office would have us believe it is IMHO.

I don't even find Ben and Kaine all that similar. Ben can be brooding or dark, but he's generally a good man when he's in his right mind. Kaine is a rough character with a violent temper, an appetite for booze and someone who barely keeps himself from crossing the line. Even the way he speaks is different.

I always make the comparison that Ben would be more like the Bucky/Winter Soldier of the Spider-Men and Kaine is more like the Wolverine of the Spider-Men.

[classicgmer]

I don't even find Ben and Kaine all that similar. Ben can be brooding or dark, but he's generally a good man when he's in his right mind. Kaine is a rough character with a violent temper, an appetite for booze and someone who barely keeps himself from crossing the line. Even the way he speaks is different.

I always make the comparison that Ben would be more like the Bucky/Winter Soldier of the Spider-Men and Kaine is more like the Wolverine of the Spider-Men.

You're spot-on with the differences between Ben & Kaine IMHO but apparently having multiple clones of Peter Parker running around at the same time and differentiating them is mission impossible for the Spider office.

Maybe they should have Hero/Villain monikers based on Marvel's inability to know what to do with them?

Kaine could be called Conundrum and Ben could be called Rubik's Cube

[Huntsman Spider]

Yeah. Kaine was a great villain, but he's changed so much from then that it'd feel really inorganic and forced to put him back in that role. We have Spidercide as the villainous clone anyway.

Yeah his time in that role was great but that has come and gone and they need find ways to progress the character not regress him.


And as to those who feel Kaine and Ben are too similar


The X office has recently had two Laura Kinney's running at the same damn time. ( not sure if this is still the case)

Also the X office has at times and maybe still now found ways to differentiate the Stepford Cuckoos from one another and they're far more identical clones then Ben & Kaine currently.

If people prefer Ben and Kaine radically different from one another that's fine but we need to stop acting like it's impossible to differentiate them from one another without going to extremes.

It's really not as difficult as the Spider office would have us believe it is IMHO.

Maybe it's difficult for THEM

I don't even find Ben and Kaine all that similar. Ben can be brooding or dark, but he's generally a good man when he's in his right mind. Kaine is a rough character with a violent temper, an appetite for booze and someone who barely keeps himself from crossing the line. Even the way he speaks is different.

I always make the comparison that Ben would be more like the Bucky/Winter Soldier of the Spider-Men and Kaine is more like the Wolverine of the Spider-Men.

You're spot-on with the differences between Ben & Kaine IMHO but apparently having multiple clones of Peter Parker running around at the same time and differentiating them is mission impossible for the Spider office.

Maybe they should have Hero/Villain monikers based on Marvel's inability to know what to do with them?

Kaine could be called Conundrum and Ben could be called Rubik's Cube

Very good points raised there.

[Captain Craig]

Anyone see this image used as a House Ad that has the caption

"Ben can we just kill him already", or something to that affect. I couldn't find it online but it is this cover image used as the house-ad.
asm47.jpg

It reads just a tad nefarious since Hallows Eve hasn't been seen that murderous or I missed something? I know Chasm at the outset was designed to be unhinged but even that has been pulled back. Which is why this dialogue seems....off in the house-ad.

[Sr. Bungle]

Anyone see this image used as a House Ad that has the caption

"Ben can we just kill him already", or something to that affect. I couldn't find it online but it is this cover image used as the house-ad.
asm47.jpg

It reads just a tad nefarious since Hallows Eve hasn't been seen that murderous or I missed something? I know Chasm at the outset was designed to be unhinged but even that has been pulled back. Which is why this dialogue seems....off in the house-ad.

They changed the colors too

https://twitter.com/SpiderMan/status...94525592379646

[Sr. Bungle]

I hope is just a bait cover, the Spider-Office is pretty adept at that

[Refrax5]

Anyone see this image used as a House Ad that has the caption

"Ben can we just kill him already", or something to that affect. I couldn't find it online but it is this cover image used as the house-ad.
asm47.jpg

It reads just a tad nefarious since Hallows Eve hasn't been seen that murderous or I missed something? I know Chasm at the outset was designed to be unhinged but even that has been pulled back. Which is why this dialogue seems....off in the house-ad.

I saw that too. Covers sometimes are overdramatized versions of what actually happens in the book, so hopefully its just one of those situations.

I doubt they'd have given the Chasm series to Foxe, who has publicly expressed his fondness for Ben and disdain for the Chasm idea, if they were planning to push him back towards villainy. Then again, it's Spider-Man editorial, so who knows anymore?

[Huntsman Spider]

I saw that too. Covers sometimes are overdramatized versions of what actually happens in the book, so hopefully its just one of those situations.

I doubt they'd have given the Chasm series to Foxe, who has publicly expressed his fondness for Ben and disdain for the Chasm idea, if they were planning to push him back towards villainy. Then again, it's Spider-Man editorial, so who knows anymore?

And even when he had to write Ben as Chasm, he at least had more respect for Ben's character than to have The Chasm Formerly Known as Ben Reilly join up with a genocidal outfit like Orchis. That was the highlight of Dark X-Men, at least for me.

[Refrax5]

And even when he had to write Ben as Chasm, he at least had more respect for Ben's character than to have The Chasm Formerly Known as Ben Reilly join up with a genocidal outfit like Orchis. That was the highlight of Dark X-Men, at least for me.

Yeah, exactly. I'm sure that Foxe will do everything in his power to do justice to Ben.