The Scarlet Spider

As a lifelong fan of Marvel’s wall-crawler, I of course have very strong feelings towards the infamous “Clone Saga” event that dominated the ongoing Spider-man titles in the mid to late 90’s.  Granted, I was nine when Ben Reilly made his debut as the Scarlet Spider, but it doesn’t mean that my preadolescent mind wasn’t aware of the bait and switch coming around the corner. There was no way Marvel was going to completely change their flagship character in such a major way, and even though I may not have a blind love of Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider, I can see where some fans are coming from when they say they love the character. I’m a child of 90’s comics too. I love Carnage, Venom, Azrael, The Age Of Apocalypse and many other events and creations that older readers look at with disgust. But it’s what I grew up with, so I have a soft spot for them. 

 

For those who don’t know, Ben Reilly was an attempt by Marvel to “de-age” Peter Parker. In many ways, it was the original “One More Day” (and handled the issue better than OMD did).  Tying back to a Jackal story from the 70’s, which saw the villain successfully clone Peter. The storyline introduced Ben Reilly, a man who looks stunningly similar to Peter. He also claimed to be the real Peter Parker, and that the Peter we had been reading for he past twenty or so years was in fact, the clone. Yep, the Peter Parker who gained an alien costume and fought it, married Mary-Jane Watson, and was expecting a child (don’t worry, Marvel forgot about this too), was suspected of being a clone. Of course the fan outcry was expected, but somehow, the fans welcomed Ben Reilly, and there has been a growing show of support for the Scarlet Spider, even if he didn’t have the best fashion sense.

That’s really my gripe with Scarlet Spidey: the costume. A hoodie? Really? That’s what you choose to place over your spandex costume? Does it get chilly swinging so high up, cause it looks like Spider-man’s doing just fine without one.  I know it’s a little nit-picky, but then again, I wouldn’t be a fan of comics if I didn’t obsess over something as dumb as a superhero wearing a hoodie.

Ugh....just....ugh

At least the Scarlet Spider in the upcoming relaunch won’t be rocking the homeless look. Yes, that’s right, starting in January; Marvel is giving the Scarlet Spider his own series. “But wait”, you say, “didn’t he melt into a pile of goop at the end of the “Revelations” storyline?” Why yes, he did. See, this clone isn’t Mr. Reilly. It’s actually SPOILER Kaine, the other, failed clone of Peter Parker. Yes, he survived “Grim Hunt” (and subsequently has the powers that Peter got after “The Other”-remember those, cause Marvel doesn’t), and after being turned into a giant Tarantula in “Spider-Island” (which was pretty cool), is now back and cured of his cloning degeneration. He’s also moving to Houston, Texas, for some reason.

I applaud Marvel for giving the fans of Scarlet Spider what they want, even if it’s not exactly what they want. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of the character, it will be cool to have a different flavor out there for the Spider-man line of books, and I’ll definitely be checking out at least the first issue.  But the second there’s even a hint of a hoodie in the book, I’m out.