In your mind, is the real Ben Reilly back?

[classicgmer]

The bottom line for me with the direction they're going with Ben Reilly is that it's not a natural fit when you contrast it to how he's been portrayed for the bulk of his publication history. To me there are some characters who you can slide into a hero, anti hero or villain role and it's rather seamless and then there are others who can't & just fit into one of the three character alignments & do so rather well.


Ben Reilly to me is not a character who you can just slide into a villain or Anti hero role no matter what the reason/justification because it just comes off as forced when compared to what you've known of that character before.


It's the same way in wrestling or WWE. (for those that follow that type of stuff) Yes there are performers who can operate quite nicely in a face, heel or tweener (more or less anti hero role) but then there are those who most definitely can't & are better off in one alignment over the others.

[Pav]

The bottom line for me with the direction they're going with Ben Reilly is that it's not a natural fit when you contrast it to how he's been portrayed for the bulk of his publication history. To me there are some characters who you can slide into a hero, anti hero or villain role and it's rather seamless and then there are others who can't & just fit into one of the three character alignments & do so rather well.

Ben Reilly to me is not a character who you can just slide into a villain or Anti hero role no matter what the reason/justification because it just comes off as forced when compared to what you've known of that character before.

It's the same way in wrestling or WWE. (for those that follow that type of stuff) Yes there are performers who can operate quite nicely in a face, heel or tweener (more or less anti hero role) but then there are those who most definitely can't & are better off in one alignment over the others.

But all of that is mere opinion. I read the same comics and see this new role for Ben as a perfectly natural fit. When I dreamed of what I'd do if I could bring back Ben, it wasn't that much different from what we have now - and it's all based on what I know and love about the character. I read all those old comics with Ben in them over and over; I know the character - so do you. Our opinions are both valid.

It's one thing to not like the direction the character is being taken. It's another thing altogether to say this isn't even the character in the first place, which many seem to want to do.

-Pav, who can't wait to see how Ben's morality plays out..

[classicgmer]

But all of that is mere opinion. I read the same comics and see this new role for Ben as a perfectly natural fit. When I dreamed of what I'd do if I could bring back Ben, it wasn't that much different from what we have now - and it's all based on what I know and love about the character. I read all those old comics with Ben in them over and over; I know the character - so do you. Our opinions are both valid.

It's one thing to not like the direction the character is being taken. It's another thing altogether to say this isn't even the character in the first place, which many seem to want to do.

-Pav, who can't wait to see how Ben's morality plays out..

Well I'm not going sit here & dispute whether or not it isn't Ben Reilly because Marvel owns the character & if this is how they want the character to be going forward then that's the way it is no matter what any one individual might feel about it.


To me where they're going has very little in common with the character I read in the 90's & I feel pretty safe in saying I'm not alone in feeling that way.

You're right in that nobody can definitively say "this isn't Ben Reilly" but what you can do is form somewhat of a general consensus to how people are receiving what they're doing with the character & from what I've observed in various places plenty of people are echoing the sentiment that this isn't a natural fit or familiar to what they've read of the character in the past.

[Pav]

Well I'm not going sit here & dispute whether or not it isn't Ben Reilly because Marvel owns the character & if this is how they want the character to be going forward then that's the way it is no matter what any one individual might feel about it.


To me where they're going has very little in common with the character I read in the 90's & I feel pretty safe in saying I'm not alone in feeling that way.

You're right in that nobody can definitively say "this isn't Ben Reilly" but what you can do is form somewhat of a general consensus to how people are receiving what they're doing with the character & from what I've observed in various places plenty of people are echoing the sentiment that this isn't a natural fit or familiar to what they've read of the character in the past.

Plenty of people are dissatisfied with the current Scarlet comic.
Plenty of people are totally satisfied with it.

As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "So it goes."

-Pav, who should go to bed soon...

[SensationalSean]

If we got '90s Ben back, he'd be too similar to Peter and offer little by way of real value or drama. Bringing him back as a villain/warped version of himself has created lots of tension, so I'm satisfied that we've got him in the most interesting possible way.

[plasticman101]

I voted NOPE!

I got the first issue read it and said "this isn't Ben reilly" I thought t was getting the old Ben back. from classic ASM, first appearance and such.

so I dropped it like a sack of potatoes!!lol

[theoneandonly]

well as long he doesn't turn into a spider slayer or serial sting slasher and tries to be a hero he can become a separately regarded anti hero in his own right. So long as he doesn't pull of a cyclops and starts a clone revolution stating cloned lives do matter and die proclaiming clones never die!!!! with a p.s.Scarlet Spider was right.

[Vworp Vworp]

If we got '90s Ben back, he'd be too similar to Peter and offer little by way of real value or drama. Bringing him back as a villain/warped version of himself has created lots of tension, so I'm satisfied that we've got him in the most interesting possible way.

Seems like six of one, half a dozen of the other. Real-Ben is apparently superfluous in the MU because of Peter. So instead bring in a different character with his name, to make him so different to the character that he once was, that he's no longer that character. If that was Marvel's thinking, that's a pretty skewed logic. Even moreso when you consider they already had a morally questionable Scarlet Spider in Kaine.

Besides which, since CC, Not-Ben's been less villainous and more simply unpleasant/douchey. Again, there's been no internal conflict, no great philosophical outlook on the nature of morality, no questioning of right and wrong. Instead, Not-Ben's just been a boringly generic selfish smart-ass who's pretty much been going with the flow. If this is bringing Ben back in 'the most interesting possible way', that must have been one very, very low bar to reach.

[Pav]

If we got '90s Ben back, he'd be too similar to Peter and offer little by way of real value or drama. Bringing him back as a villain/warped version of himself has created lots of tension, so I'm satisfied that we've got him in the most interesting possible way.

I voted NOPE!

I got the first issue read it and said "this isn't Ben reilly" I thought t was getting the old Ben back. from classic ASM, first appearance and such.

My little brother is 17 years old now and going into his senior year of high school. Sometimes I think of his younger self and miss how he was and how we interacted, but I wouldn't trade who he is now for anything - and I've got my memories and pictures to enjoy when I feel nostalgic.

In the same way, those 90s comics about Ben Reilly still exist. When we are feeling nostalgic - when we want THAT Ben Reilly back - we can have him back at any moment. How lucky we are to be able to do that while simultaneously enjoying the Ben Reilly comics that are new and fresh! We get to remember him how he was and enjoy the journey he's on into the present and future!

I'm so happy that Ben is no longer this dead, static, unchanging thing.

He's a character again. He's dynamic.

He's alive!

-Pav, who is feeling lively himself this morning...

[Celgress]

I like the idea of Ben being back but find it hard to believe this is Ben. I really loved Ben and was enjoying him and also loved Peter and was happy to see Peter back back then but sad to see Ben die. Ben to me was a guy who accepted what life dealt him and moved forward. He accepted he was a clone and went on the Road. He accepted Peter earned his life when he thought he was the "real" Parker and gave up the Parker identity to forge a new life. So the idea Ben couldn't accept all those deaths and started resurrecting everyone seems untrue to who he was to me.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

[Pav]

I like the idea of Ben being back but find it hard to believe this is Ben. I really loved Ben and was enjoying him and also loved Peter and was happy to see Peter back back then but sad to see Ben die. Ben to me was a guy who accepted what life dealt him and moved forward. He accepted he was a clone and went on the Road. He accepted Peter earned his life when he thought he was the "real" Parker and gave up the Parker identity to forge a new life. So the idea Ben couldn't accept all those deaths and started resurrecting everyone seems untrue to who he was to me.

Being killed and resurrected changed Ben's perspective on death being a permanent ending.

I think mine would too.

-Pav, who still recommends "Last Days of an Immortal"...

[Vegeta]

Plenty of people are dissatisfied with the current Scarlet comic.
Plenty of people are totally satisfied with it.

Are the people that are satisfied with it a large enough number to keep it from cancellation though? My interest is already waning; I simply haven't found any of the casino side characters (Cassandra, Slate, Thorne or "June") interesting enough to get invested in their personal drama. I'm probably just going to drop it from my pull if next issue doesn't step things up, ALOT. It's a shame, because I like Peter David, but maybe he's lost his touch.

The thing is, Marvel has yet to give Ben Reilly fans a proper version of the Scarlet Spider (it's either Kaine or Jackal-Ben or MVP) I'm curious what the sales would look like for a title that did. Would it stay the same? Better? Lower?

[Scott Taylor]

If not Ben Reilly, then who else would you call him? Ben-27 is just a shortcut name for Ben Reilly.

The Ben we saw in the 1990s Clone Saga is clearly dead and this current version is a new incarnation. But still Ben. I think there's hope for this version to be more accepted by the fans.

Anyone concerned about Kaine, by the way? He was pretty ready to kill this Ben in cold blood in the recent issues. He's changed over the years, too.

[Baron of Faltine]

So, whenever someone dies and comes back, does that mean that they're no longer the same person as before?

IT depend HOW the come back. A clone is essentialyl an artificial twin with whatever memories you load into its mind. In fiction we got example fo clones with complete different memories. also what about two clones with the same memory? That is what throw a wrench in the "clone are the resurrection of the original character"
Also there is an ethical problem abnout the upload/downlaod of one's own memory. Is it really you or is a copy of a past you. And what if there had been mistake in the copy. What if AI tony is missing some part of old comatose tony? How could he know? Same story with Ben27 How does we(and he)know that the Jackal process is as good as he say it is?