Been Really Keen on Ben Reilly & Kaine: WEB OF #1 Review/Spoilers

[Pav]

Hello! This week's Spider-Anthology featured our favorite scarlet clone bros, Ben "Call me Chasm" Reilly and Kaine "Don't call me at all" Parker.

(For what it's worth, I've never loved that these two have different last names. They're brothers. But I digress.)

The first vignette starts with a (once again?) evil Norman Osborn tossing the demon goblin from Dark Web back into the Limbo Embassy. Havok and Maddie Pryor appear and discuss what to do with their new prisoner; Maddie says she doesn't intend for the Embassy to also serve as a prison. Cut to a demon Jurkk and his pal who are guarding the portal to Ben's paradise cell room -- until it sucks them in, where our Benjy Boy -- the "corrupted clone" -- is ready to attack. Seems Ben's getting a better handle on using the green glowy energy emanating from his suped-up web-shooters, and he's decided he's done being tormented. Cue the fight: demons vs Chasm.

And I will say: despite another speech about having everything taken away from him, it was at this point in the story that I felt like Foxe was channeling Ben's voice fairly well. His "I refuse!" moment brought to my mind Ben's "Life is in the living!" moment, i.e. his determination to break free from the forces that would dehumanize or destroy him. ALSO: BEN GETS TO BE FUNNY. FOR A SECOND.

The story ends with Havok and Maddie watching Ben escape. His fate, now, is "in his own hands."

LIKES: Ben sounding more like Ben than under other authorship. Ben not doing anything villainous. Webshooters on the outside of the costume.
DISLIKES: Powers are still very vague. Didn't see offensive spider-sense. Jurkk's friend didn't get a name.

Kaine's story begins in the Manhattan sewer system, on the hunt for his currently-chasmed clone bro, Ben Reilly. Apparently he was given some psychic intel from Madame Web on where to find Ben, and we, the readers, get some E X C E L L E N T and not at all blood-thirsty *cough* PAD *cough* pontificating from Kaine about his relationship with Ben. He's going to keep an eye on him because right now Ben's "as messed up as [Kaine] ever was." Kaine even suggests that Ben deserves some peace after everything he's been through.

SIDENOTE: I really like the way Kaine is drawn here: the scarring on his face looks more like the "webbing scars" look from the 90s, and he's got long hair but no man-bun. For me, the closer Kaine can be to his original design -- without losing the arc of growth the character has gotten -- the better.

Anyway, there's a problem: seems the men working down there have seen something that spooked them, and that something is now stalking Kaine. They fight, each gets the upper hand, but then the eyes of the "freak" fighting Kaine start glowing red, and it runs away. Kaine's on a mission to find Ben, so he decides not to follow -- it's "not his responsibility."

But wait. Maybe the freak is connected to Reilly. And even if it isn't, Kaine feels guilty about not doing something about it. Good thing too, because Freak -- yeah! that guy! -- heads back to his master: Druig from the Eternals, who seemingly wants to pit our Clone Bros against each other!

WHY? I DUNNO!

But Chasm and Kaine will return! The comic said so!

LIKES: Kaine being concerned about Ben rather than wanting to kill him. The return of an also-ran villain. References to both modern and 90s era continuity.
DISLIKES: I don't care a whiff about the Eternals.

If you've got some mystery mastermind set on pitting Spiders against each other, why not use Judas Traveller?! Or even the real Scrier? I mean, c'mon.

BUT YEAH! Overall I liked these little glimpses of Ben and Kaine, and I'm excited to see how their stories will collide in Chasm: Curse of Kaine.

Here's hoping for a new, exciting era for our favorite Spider-Clones!

-Pav, who hopes others will share their thoughts on the issue and/or what they're hoping to see in C:CoK...

[bob.schoonover]

Great thread title! And analysis, too, but mostly the title .

I read these two vignettes in the shop and didn't recognize Druig (because I can't recognize any Eternal) so I'm glad someone told me who he was. I agree that there are plenty of more interesting options that might pique my interest - i have no idea why an Eternal would care about Ben or Kaine - but I'll wait and see before considering it a misstep (I should be clear, this is very big of me because I care so little for the Eternals).

I know Ben has a detour to ASM before C:CoK, so I look forward (as always) to seeing you jump in for a few issues of the flagship title before we get to the main event with Ben and Kaine back together. That is the main event, right?

As to what I hope to see - I'm not looking for too much. Maybe Kaine back in something more evocative of his (extremely dope) original costume and some sort of actual direction for Ben that doesn't make me incredibly confused or sad.

[Sr. Bungle]

Great as always!! When they said "And you will not guess who is lurking in the shadows. Truly. You will not guess." they were right but is easy to be when the chatcater is so random and unrelated

[HypnoHustler]

Great as always!! When they said "And you will not guess who is lurking in the shadows. Truly. You will not guess." they were right but is easy to be when the chatcater is so random and unrelated

Reminds me of when Cyber was revealed as a Big Bad in PAD’s SS series.

[Sr. Bungle]

Reminds me of when Cyber was revealed as a Big Bad in PAD’s SS series.

Yeah, a headscratcher that one. It didin't make sense physically. Is like having the Thing dressed as Spider-Woman and fooling everyone

[classicgmer]

Great as always!! When they said "And you will not guess who is lurking in the shadows. Truly. You will not guess." they were right but is easy to be when the chatcater is so random and unrelated

So Freak as in Freak from BND and Druig are going to be the antagonists for Curse of Chasm book?? Interesting and kinda random but wasn't Druig locked up getting the tar beaten out of him by Uranos?

[HypnoHustler]

So Freak as in Freak from BND and Druig are going to be the antagonists for Curse of Chasm book?? Interesting and kinda random but wasn't Druig locked up getting the tar beaten out of him by Uranos?

As far as BND-era villains go, I can’t believe Freak is coming back before Paper Doll.

[Sr. Bungle]

As far as BND-era villains go, I can’t believe Freak is coming back before Paper Doll.

It looks like they gave Foxe villains that no one wanted to use in the next decade

[Kurolegacy]

This issue reminds me that they still haven’t bothered to give any explanation for why Kaine lost his Spider Sense. Originally it seemed to have been a side effect of the Anti-Venom curing him but given that that was later retconned to be the Other, now he’s missing it for no apparent reason. Since they took away those powers, it’d be great if they could give it back to him.

[Sr. Bungle]

This issue reminds me that they still haven’t bothered to give any explanation for why Kaine lost his Spider Sense. Originally it seemed to have been a side effect of the Anti-Venom curing him but given that that was later retconned to be the Other, now he’s missing it for no apparent reason. Since they took away those powers, it’d be great if they could give it back to him.

Right but it should be his amped-up spider sense, to make the three spider senses different.

[Pav]

As to what I hope to see - I'm not looking for too much. Maybe Kaine back in something more evocative of his (extremely dope) original costume and some sort of actual direction for Ben that doesn't make me incredibly confused or sad.

Couldn't agree more on both accounts. I wonder what a mash-up of Kaine's two costumes would look like. And as far as Ben goes, here's hoping this year's stories featuring him will eventually put him back in a more appropriate role with more appropriate characterization.

Right but it should be his amped-up spider sense, to make the three spider senses different.

His amped-up spider powers were awesome, and I definitely prefer them to the powerset he's shown as the Scarlet Spider. And anyway -- what exactly ARE his powers now that he's without The Other? Like, okay, he's got no spider-sense, but can he still communicate with spiders? He seems to have his organic webbing still.

As far as BND-era villains go, I can’t believe Freak is coming back before Paper Doll.

Generally speaking, I think it's fun when obscure characters -- even the lame-o villains -- get another chance. But I've always been a sucker for the D-Listers.

-Pav, who remains confident that we will EVENTUALLY see the return of SHOC...