Solicit for the final trade
BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER VOL. 5: DEAL WITH THE DEVIL TPB
Written by PETER DAVID
Penciled by WILL SLINEY & BRUNO OLIVEIRA
Cover by KHARY RANDOLPH
For months, the occult Diogenes Initiative has been resurrecting heroes and letting them run amok in Ben Reilly’s town. As the Scarlet Spider, he may have a thing or two to say about that! But when a pack of ravenous hellhounds descends on Las Vegas, can Ben and his clone-brother Kaine keep themselves from each other’s throats long enough to save the city?! Then, they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions — and in Ben’s case, that may be literal! For months, his attempts to cure young Abigail Mercury’s rare illness have proved fruitless — but now salvation is at hand…for a price. Will Ben find the strength to do the right thing and save Abigail — and his soul? Or will he succumb to his worst instincts and damn himself in the process?! Collecting BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER #20-25.
136 PGS./Rated T+ …$17.99
ISBN: 978-1-302-91504-9
770257D0-AD92-49EB-B8CD-100009B9F762.jpg
From Spider-Ghost Jan 2019 cover. Solicit talks about some Spider-Geddon aftermath garbage. Look at the grave in the lower left hand corner. Looks like Ben Reilly’s Scarlet Spider symbol. Wouldn’t be surprised if Kaine’s SS symbol is somewhere on here too.
Theoretically, Ben is the guy who doesn't break no matter what life throws his way. He's the guy who thought he was the real Peter Parker, then had all that ripped away (along with his support system). He tried to put power and responsibility behind him, but found he couldn't shake the Parker conscience. And then he discovered that he had been the real Peter Parker all along, only to have it ripped away AGAIN.
There's enough there to differentiate him from other Spider-themed characters running around.
If he dies he could at least have a more heroic death. Maybe even show that he's passed on to a better place .
It does seem that Spider-Geddon seem to be about thinning out the number of spider people running around, I doubt a Ben Reilly book would have ever been one of Marvel's top sellers but it would be interesting to think about whether if it had been better received like Kaine's book whether he'd be on the chopping block.
While Kaine’s book was undeniably better, it wouldn’t have mattered. They both had the exact same number of issues before being cancelled: 25. If anything Marvel probably kept Ben’s book going a bit longer than it would’ve out of respect for long-time employee Peter David. It’s numbers were shocking... it was selling like 13,000 copies a month towards the end, maybe lower.