Comics Official Fans of Reilly Thread - Part 1

[mcg031]

Hmmm Spider Stingers.......I'm getting a feeling that Randy Robertson will be keeping his powers after Spider Island and i'm guessing he'll need a mask and uniform......

 

[AgentEnforcer]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=33809

A few words about Ben Reilly in there from Dan Slott.

Truncated here:
http://www.benreillytribute.x10hosting.com/News.html

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Not to be a continuity nitpicker, but Reilly didn't melt into goo, he crumbled into dust. And that dust was later scattered by Peter over manhattan, making it virtually impossible to collect (yeah I own the sadly out-or-print-but-now-kinda-valuable Revelations TPB with the extra pages). I'll forgive Slott for this canonical mistake, if he does Reilly justice and eventually brings him back to his former self. If he brought him back just to be a grunting Jackal underling who gets killed quickly and with an insensitive "clone" wisecrack by Peter, then I'll pretend it never happened.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=33809

A few words about Ben Reilly in there from Dan Slott.

Truncated here:
http://www.benreillytribute.x10hosting.com/News.html

Was just about to post this.

 

[mcg031]

Not to be a continuity nitpicker, but Reilly didn't melt into goo, he crumbled into dust. And that dust was later scattered by Peter over manhattan, making it virtually impossible to collect (yeah I own the sadly out-or-print-but-now-kinda-valuable Revelations TPB with the extra pages). I'll forgive Slott for this canonical mistake, if he does Reilly justice and eventually brings him back to his former self. If he brought him back just to be a grunting Jackal underling who gets killed quickly and with an insensitive "clone" wisecrack by Peter, then I'll pretend it never happened.

I think he's betting on people to take his word for it. I'm banking on Ben to comeback cause like you said he dusted not melt into goo which no clone ever did they all melted except Kaine...Remember that Norman was behind the whole clone saga there's no telling.... he had Ben locked up in the tube studying the "perfect clone" to beat Peter. Slott is a spider man "guy" he knows what he's doing i hope he does the right thing...

 

[Will Nolte]

he dusted not melt into goo which no clone ever did they all melted except Kaine...

I've always said that the Ben we saw die was a clone of a clone (the "real" Ben) which easily explained the dusting effect. Just like when you copy a copy on a copy machine, the quality is always lower...

 

[bugman]

i mean watching ben reilly crumble into dust is the same as watching spidey dump his clone in a smoke stack (or watching a clone dump spidey in a smoke stack or a clone dumping a clone or whatever): they can spin it however they want. i don't mind the clone saga, although it did go overboard. but miles warren being out there, that always puts me on edge. similarl to the goblin, i think that's what makes the jackal one of spidey's worthiest foes: he went after peter through gwen. and he holds the power to bring gwen to life.

so, i;m sure there are other ben reilly's and kaine's and gwens and miles warrens and probably some suprises out there. i don't care how they do it, just don't have any maximum clonage bull@#$%, and bring ben reilly back. i do miss the brotherhood between him and peter. clones...in moderation, are, to me, pretty cool.

 

[AgentEnforcer]

Ben as a character was always well-written because he was intended to take over as Spidey and therefor be likable. The issue with the clone saga was and will forever be that the story went on too long, Peter was being replaced, and some writers had to explain away a lot of mythology with bad story telling. I just re-read Web of Scarlet Spider... man was that terrible. Nothing to do with Ben, just a terrible story. Do I believe a story about Miles Warren living among mythical creatures fits with Spider-Man? Nope. Terrible way to explain away the High Evolutionary and the clone virus.

 

[mcg031]

Well put Bugman...I never know what The Jackal wants is it Gwen or Peter? Plus he's tied to my favorite Saga so when he comes around i know Kaine & hopefully Ben is involved somehow. I have to agree that the whole saga was completely stretched out but Marvel was on the verge of bankrupt back then it was putting up good numbers. They had no choice....IMO

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Ben as a character was always well-written because he was intended to take over as Spidey and therefor be likable. The issue with the clone saga was and will forever be that the story went on too long, Peter was being replaced, and some writers had to explain away a lot of mythology with bad story telling. I just re-read Web of Scarlet Spider... man was that terrible. Nothing to do with Ben, just a terrible story. Do I believe a story about Miles Warren living among mythical creatures fits with Spider-Man? Nope. Terrible way to explain away the High Evolutionary and the clone virus.

Ah... I liked all those goofy stories as a kid. I'd probably hate them today if I read them for the first time, but childhood nostalgia counts for a lot in this crazy world. Actually, I'm glad the clone-saga storyline went off the tracks and lasted so long (if we're being honest), because we got more Ben and Peter out of it.

The only clone storyline I hated when I read it as a kid was the 'Greatest Responsibility' with Lady Ock and Peter going to Portland. Always thought she was a terrible character and the story was lame and uninteresting (remember all that cyberspace nonsense? And the dinosaurs going down Fifth Avenue? I do).

 

[bugman]

i thought spider-man: the lost years by (my favorite spider writer of all time) jm dematteis, and (my favorite spider artist of all time) john romita, jr., was pretty good, and went a long way towards making me willing to accept ben as the "true" spider-man.

 

[November Rain]

what's all this potential clone news, i'm completely out of the loop is my beloved benjamin coming back?

 

[Themanofbat]

Pick up ASM #666 & 667 to get caught up...

 

[November Rain]

hey the man, how's the son of bat doing and life in general? long time no chat

the hype's become...dullish...sorry, i mean more dullish...

 

[mcg031]

I always wanted to ask this question to everyone here.....Why do you like Ben Reilly?? This thread got redone cause of all the conversation so i wanted to throw that out there.....

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I like Ben Reilly because I've always had a thing for blondes.

 

[Will Nolte]

Ben was a really well written character until the end then Marvel pulled a stupid stunt then turned around and pulled an even stupider stunt to fix it (then there was the OMD fiasco which is another story in itself). Marvel has kept around characters that are 10 times worse than Ben, but Ben stayed away due to a horribly written death...

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

As Will said, Ben was just well-written. He was Peter, and yet he wasn't Peter. His unique experiences led him to have a slightly different personality, make different choices, and he even started using his head long before Slott's revitalization of Peter's scientific nature. Unlike Peter who was burdened by Spidey, Ben seemed to enjoy it. Yes, there was drama, yes there were setbacks, yes there was girl trouble and his being misunderstood, but through it all Ben just seemed to be more optimistic than Peter had been in a very long time.

Ben was never intended to be a throwaway character, and a lot of love and care went into his creation. And, not only did he win over fans, he won over many of the creators. Say what you will about the Clone Saga as a whole, in the end we got many great elements out of it. And one of them is Ben.

 

[C. Pumpkins]

Ben was just edgier especially in the beginning. I was one of the few people I knew who didn't mind him being the real Spidey, but then again I'm fond of fresh starts.

We'll see Ben again if not in this current Jackal revival then eventually. Although I'm personally not that fond of the writing style of the nineties, the Clone Saga is etched in Spidey mythos now. So he'll come back just like Norman did.

 

[Themanofbat]

Ben was a really well written character because Marvel intended for him to be the "new" Spider-Man for good while a powerless Peter & MJ "retired" to the West Coast to have children and live their lives... so he WAS well written because Marvel wnated YOU to like him... evidently, it worked.

 

[C. Pumpkins]

Totally! Sometimes Marvel doesn't get what they want though. Didn't they even go so far as to apologize to the fans for Ben when they brought Pete back?

 

[Tvar10]

This might be a dumb question. I'm assuming that the five clone saga TPBs contain everything needed for the Story. But does it contain all the scarlet spider issues. Like web of scarlet spider. The amazing scarlet spider. Etc.?

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Yes!!
http://www.spidermancrawlspace.com/wordpress/2011/08/19/scarlet-spider-island/

 

[Will Nolte]

Finally a Lethal Foes variant. It seems like that one had the most limited release out of any Spider-Island book...so limited that you can't even download one of those "not so legit scans" of it either...

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

On the one hand if this is true, then I'm excited to see how he's brought back and what is done with him (and most importantly his relationship with Peter).

On the other hand, this could be yet another mean-spirited tease like they've done a dozen times in the past. Or Ben could be brought back in the dumbest way possible (as a giant spider let's say) and all his characteristics and history are ignored at the expense of just making him an evil Peter. I have more faith in Slott than this (but have to be honest, not a whole lot more faith after some recent developments).

If they are bringing him back, I'm kinda pissed they waited until I was almost 30. The clone-saga ended when I was 14 (and started when I was 12). I would be happy if he was brought back, but I'm old and jaded enough now that it wouldn't send me into a fanboy frenzy like it would have if I was still a kid (when Spidey comics were pretty much my life).

Ironically, if they are bringing him back then almost as much time would have occurred between his "death" in 1975 and his return in 1994 ... and his "death" in 1996 and possible return in 2011. It's mind boggling how long he's been dead now. But I guess it's a sign of how strong his fanbase was that people are still asking Quesada, Wacker and Slott when Ben will return at just about every convention appearance.