Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider Series from Peter David and Mark Bagley

[Mister Mets]

Ben Reilly fans get one hell of a creative team here.

[DV1Band]

The team is missing Yost or JM DeMatteis.

[oldschool]

Ben Reilly fans get one hell of a creative team here.

They do....but they also get an atrocious costume design. Sorry to harp on it, but I can't get over how bad it is especially for a Bagley book.

[Vworp Vworp]

My initial reaction was "Ben?! With David and Bagley!!? Take the money!! Take it all!!""

Immediate excitement aside though, I now find myself a little more on the fence. For starters. we already know that Slott-Ben is more than a little... off. And any hopes that he's coming out of Conspiracy with a clean pair of hands were pretty much dashed in the interview with PD accompanying the announcement...

Peter David: I love the fact that he’s a character who has been around for a long while, but that he has a history that has caused major changes in his personality. He spent so long trying to emulate Peter Parker, to be a hero, and then he had as huge a fall from grace as anyone could imagine. And now, he has died literally so many times that it’s completely unhinged him to the point where he doesn’t know what the hell he wants anymore. Someone like Peter is truly fixed in his personality and life’s ambitions. Ben is trying to understand the world around him and his relationship to it. He’s a hero at heart, but a villain in his head and he is constantly trying to sort everything out.

See, none of that sounds like Ben to me. Indeed, it's so fundamentally different to the character I still consider to be my Spider-Man as to be unrecognisable. One of the many things I liked about Ben during almost the entire Clone saga was how very uncomplicated he was. Whilst Pete was all angst and brooding, Ben largely just got in with it. He was cool being a Clone, and he was cool thinking he wasn't a clone. And regardless of any of that, he was just a hero.

But this Ben? This is a Ben with baggage and issues and the simplicity of the character already seems to be have been lost. I'm sure I'll have a look when the book hits the shelves (I was equally on the fence about Renew Your Vows and I'm digging that now). But right now, this doesn't feel like I'm getting back a character I've missed for the best part of 20 years.

And yeah... the costume. Meh. Losing the hoodie but keeping the hood, the very part of it that Ben ripped off for his original outfit? Yep, that makes sense.

[Kaine]

This is so awesome, I've been waiting for this!

If I had to choose, I'd prefer Kaine (Although I'm hoping there's a small chance he also gets his own book along the way), but I'm completely fine with Ben taking the spotlight on this one, especially since he was gone for so long. Besides, after all the wait, I'm just happy to know that not only Kaine didn't return only to die once more, but also that he will have an active and big role on a book. This is great.

The only thing that I didn't like very much is the costume. Eh, not really feeling it and that smile in particular is a bit... Weird.

Ben Reilly fans get one hell of a creative team here.

I agree, that's a great combination.

[CrimsonEchidna]

Not a fan of the hood.

[boots]

They kept Ben dead for 20 years. I doubt they will write him out again. Ben fans have waited a long time for this.

yeah, that would be an...odd...approach to a new series.

[stillanerd]

I don't wish a party pooper, but let's remember that, as we saw in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4 #22, this technically may not be the actual Ben Reilly, given how Ben/AnibusJackal is the result of Miles Warren killing and cloning him from the first Ben Reilly's remains twenty-seven times. Now, having looked at this (rather ugly) costume, I'm now more than convince "Ben" isn't actually Ben at all. I think he's really, as other posters have already alleged, Spidercide 2.0!

Spider-Man Clone, Ben Reilly, Is Back As The Scarlet Spider

[Orbus]

So presumably Ben is gonna stop being a villain like he is in Clone Conspiracy at the moment?

At least for now Ben isn't really a villain in the Clone Conspiracy. He's the antagonist, sure but his motives are honourable. Not to mention I'm reasonably sure that there will be 'real' villain that will emerge in the story. Doesn't one of the upcoming covers show Spider-Man and Ben-Jackal fighting with a traditional Jackal looking very villain-y in the background?

Though I'm not sure how they'll redeem him, since he's been killing people and bringing them back to life (including villains) to be dependent on his drugs, which is a lot to get past

Correct me if I'm wrong but Ben hasn't actually killed anyone. He stopped short of killing Miles Warren and then cloned him. The villains he's trying to reform have killed people but Ben himself hasn't actually killed anyone, the people he's brought back were already dead.

Now all this being said I think it's little disappointing to have the character come back this way. I suppose it was unrealistic since even with Marvel's sliding timescale Ben has been dead a long time but as a fan of Ben's time as Spider-Man I was hoping he'd somehow reconnect with his supporting cast and get adventures like we had during his Spider-Man era. I suppose the idea of Ben being damaged by his time being tortured by the Jackal makes sense as a premise for a series.

[Aioros22]

just read the interview; seems pav and i were off, pad clearly calls ben "unhinged" a couple of times. this gives me faith though:

"Someone like Peter is truly fixed in his personality and life’s ambitions. Ben is trying to understand the world around him and his relationship to it"

pretty good summary of one of the fundamental differences between the two characters. great that pad understands that.

smiled a bit at how enthused bagley was with designing the costume- did he come up with the original spidercide outfit in the 90s?

Holy bells, now that you mention Spidercicle, could that wink in the mask be a nod to him? That would mean the costume is trying to incorporate alot of stuff.

Still don`t know how to feel about it yet. Need to see it in motion.

[Aioros22]

Not a fan of the hood.

You take that back. You take that back right now!

Also sorry for the conspiracy theorists, but whether there`s Spidercicle DNA in this or not, it`s still Ben`s character that is being written, not Spidercicle. That one is left out off the bag. The title is "Ben Reilly: The Scarlet Spider", not Spidercicle as Ben Reilly.

[Aioros22]

To me, the fact this isn`t the Ben as we knew him that makes the kickstarter all the more interesting. Ben was always a character with bigger emotional battles than Peter. That`s part of his charm. That`s his main strenght. The fact he won`t be Anubis Head after CC (despite the fact that I love the snazzy Scarlet outfit....) is already a means to show that.

This may be too on the nose, but fact is, Ben will supposely battling his own issues between decisively between good and necessary evil. As PAD actually points out, since Ben is neither Peter or Kaine...he should actually be more than anyone else the measure in between.

[stillanerd]

just read the interview; seems pav and i were off, pad clearly calls ben "unhinged" a couple of times. this gives me faith though:

"Someone like Peter is truly fixed in his personality and life’s ambitions. Ben is trying to understand the world around him and his relationship to it"

pretty good summary of one of the fundamental differences between the two characters. great that pad understands that.

smiled a bit at how enthused bagley was with designing the costume- did he come up with the original spidercide outfit in the 90s?

Holy bells, now that you mention Spidercicle, could that wink in the mask be a nod to him? That would mean the costume is trying to incorporate alot of stuff.

Still don`t know how to feel about it yet. Need to see it in motion.

Oh, I think it's more than just a nod. Comic book artists give costumed characters a very particular look, and the design and style of Ben's new Scarlet Spider costume--especially with that mouth--looks way too much like Spidercide to be chalked up as mere coincidence. After Bagley was around during the original 1990s Clone Saga, and illustrated Spidercide.

[Aioros22]

It`s a visual nod, I`m not betting anything else. If there is, it won`t take the spothlight on the character being Ben.

[Pav]

Lots of thoughts and feelings here, folks.

Gotta say, though: I think Slott decided - just as I did years ago - that the way to bring back Ben is to actually bring back Spidercide.

I mean, that costume! It's the only explanation.

-Pav, who is more excited than anything...