Reilly2040's Blog

So, a follow up to my Spider Island post.  I must admit, this has really surprised me, but this year will see not only the return of the Scarlet Spider, but he’s getting his own monthly.  And even more than that, he’s a clone of Peter Parker once again.  Wow.

Now, the Scarlet Spider ID has been used previously since the clone saga, turning up in Avengers: The Initiative where an elite unit of 3 Scarlet Spiders were discovered to be a secret part of the Initiative (and appropriately enough, clones of another character), as well as in the MC2 universe.  However this is the first time the identity is making a big return to the main Spider-Man franchise itself since the Clone Saga wrapped up (to the best of my knowledge).

This time, in a bizarre twist of fate, its Kaine that’s under the mask.  Having been cured of his degeneration (and subsequent mutations) during the events of Spider Island, he’s relocating and finding himself with his first honest chance at a normal life since he was first created.   However, while he may not possess Peter’s memories, the spirit of Peter Parker looms large in his life, and its not long before he finds himself donning a costume of his own.

I must admit, despite the fact that I’d really love to see Ben Reilly back (it’ll never happen), I really like the idea of Kaine taking over the role.   And the setup actually harks back to the old “Lost Years” era of Ben Reilly, which was such a big hit at the time.   Like Ben at that time, Kaine finds himself on the road, and struggling with who he is.  Both are clones, and both live in the shadow of Peter Parker.   But while Ben was on the road purely to escape Peter and avoid Peter’s life, Kaine is genuinely on the run since he was previously arrested for various murders he committed both before and during the Clone Saga.

Its a setup that seems to be borrowing heavily from what made Ben successful as a character, so I’ve got high hopes for the series.  The fact that it seems to be specifically targetting that “Lost Years” vibe really appeals to me, as does the idea of Kaine trying to figure out who he is.  He’s definitely been played as a more sympathetic character since his origins as a clone were revealed, despite his murderous tendancies during the years he tormented Ben, so it’ll be interesting to see how they address that side of the character.  With the degeneration gone though, its a real fresh start for the character.

The only thing I have to say against the series so far, is that I’m not a big fan of the new costume.  I do really like the black mask with red eyes, but I’m on keen on the fingers being a different colour to the rest of the gloves, and I do kind’ve miss the hoodie Ben wore (a nice nod to it in the Point One book though, pity they didn’t keep that look).  However its not nearly enough to kill my excitement for the book.

Roll on issue 1.  Can’t wait

Its safe to say that over the last few years, we’ve been bombarded by various events from the big two comic book publishers.  And even within this year there’s been plenty to talk about, with Fear Itself, Flashpoint and the new 52.

However, for me, without a doubt Spider Island has been the event of the year.  Heck, to be honest I found it the most enjoyable comics event I’ve read since the Sinestro Corps War.  For me it was pretty much perfect.  And as someone who fell out of love with the main Spider-Man books years ago, it really felt brilliant to be picking them up again and enjoying them that much.  So be warned, what follows is a bit gushing.

Ok, I’ll admit, as someone who got into regularly collecting comics during the Clone Saga, in many ways Spider Island felt like a love letter to fans like me who got into Spider-Man during that time.  Ever since the Clone Saga ended, and Marvel adopted its “lalala we’re pretending it never happened” policy, it had always felt like they were ignoring the good elements of that story.  Throwing the baby out with the bath water.   And as I’ve talked about before on this blog, over the last few years, its been a joy to see that policy slowly be reversed.

And its affects were no more apparent than in Spider Island, with the Jackal returning to orchestrate events, infecting the inhabitants of Manhattan with a virus that gives them all spider-powers.  Throw into the mix Kaine, recently further mutated by the events of the Grim Hunt and the Jackal into a spider monster called Tarantula, and there’s a lot to appeal to those fans of the clone saga.   Especially in the final issues, when Kaine is finally cured and joins the fight by borrowing Peter’s stealth suit (before leaving town to head towards his own new series, as the new Scarlet Spider).

But despite all this, this story wasn’t about Dan Slott showing some love to the Clone Saga.  Not at all.  This was about him celebrating the character and his history.   All of Spider-Man’s friends turn up to help contain the situation in Manhattan, as criminals are also gaining powers, and later, as the population start mutating into monsters.  Peter’s scientific mind is at the fore-front of the story as his new job at Horizon Labs finds him in the middle of trying to find solutions to the plague (and infact, Peter eventually saves the day without throwing a single punch).  Its about Peter being free to use his powers publicly without fear of recriminations.  To let him be himself without hiding behind a mask (although, in true Spider-Man style, it does eventually backfire on him).  More recent stories play heavily into things as well, when the main villain who the Jackal is working for is revealed as the Spider Queen, and of course, it wouldn’t be a Spider-Man story if the old Parker luck wasn’t around to kick Peter just as things are going great.

And as a fan who was never impressed by the One More Day thing (to be honest, its something that I suspect will be more successful over at DC, due to it being a line-wide reboot, rather than the more specific changes Marvel brought on Spider-Man – also the reasoning works better without damaging any of the characters in the same way), seeing Mary Jane get a big role was a thrill as well.  Initially stuck on the side lines as everyone around her gets powers, the issue where her own powers finally kick in was a lot of fun.  While they may still be split up,seeing the two characters working together in the story, and drawing on that past relationship strikes me as exactly how things should be handled.  Despite not being a fan of the break up, and having previously tried an failed to get into the Spider-books post One More Day, their relationship here really worked for me.

Of course, being a cross over, the other Spider-characters all have their own part to play in the story.  I must admit, I was a bit light on picking up the other tie ins to this story line.  I haven’t much interest in the current Spider-girl, or the Cloak and Dagger stuff, but I did like Julia Carpenter as the new Madame Web in the story itself.  However one book I have been picking up was Rick Remender’s Venom series which has been excellent.   Thrown into the middle of the Spider Island events.  Remender still managed to stay focused on the character arcs he’s been telling, especially in terms of Flash and Betty’s relationship.  I’ve been greatly enjoying this new take on Venom, and thought the big role he ended up playing in Spider Island was great.   Likewise Eddie Brock became an important part of the story and events in Spider Island make me wonder what they’re planning next for the character.

So, as I said, pretty gushing.  But then, I did really love the storyline.  Unlike many of the longer stories I’ve read over the past few years, it kept up the pace throughout, with no real filler jumping out at me.   The love to the history of Spider-Man felt great, with Jameson, Spider slayers, and the Clone Saga all playing their part, and there’s loads of interesting setup in place, while still feeling like the last issue was more concerned about wrapping up the storyline (a particular complaint I’ve had with DC events).  Dan Slott’s always been a writer whose work I’ve enjoyed, but reading this has made me keen to not just keep collecting Amazing Spider-Man, but also to go back and grab the issues of his run I’ve missed.  Great stuff.

When I first got back into comics in a big way, it wasn’t Green Lantern that did it.  It wasn’t even DC.

Nope, it was Spider-Man.  Specifically, the Clone Saga.  A time of huge controversy in the Spider-titles as what started as an interesting idea, got thrown wildly out of control by marketing excess.   By the time the dust settled, the various elements introduced were brushed away with a seemingly unspoken promise at Marvel to never speak of it again.

A great shame though, as for all the problems with the Clone Saga it had its highlights as well.  Aunt May’s death was a beautifully written issue that moved the character of Peter Parker forward, Kaine was a compelling new villain, and Ben Reilly a brilliant new character that added something new to the franchise by giving Peter a brother.   I’ve always maintained that the whole thing went wrong only when phrases involving the words “one, true” came into the mix.  Until that point it had been great fun having the two brothers running around.  Something that was briefly recaptured towards the end of the story albeit with Ben now in the Spider-Man role rather than as the Scarlet Spider.

Despite the unravelling of the Clone Saga I actually stuck with the Spider-titles for a while afterwards, only eventually dropping them in protest over Aunt May’s resurrection.  It was a horrible story and a worse retcon.  And subsequent storylines such as Mary Jane’s “death”, Spider-totems, Sins Past and One More Day only served to underline my decision to walk away.

Until now.  Now they’ve managed to do the one thing guaranteed to bring me back to the fold.  The Clone Saga is back, and not just in the form of the new mini-series that started this month.  Nope, its turned up in Amazing Spider-Man as well, with flashbacks to Ben Reilly, and Kaine himself appearing (and due to be the focus of a story in this week’s Web of Spider-Man).  For me, this is really exciting, and makes so much more sense than the previous “pretend it never happened” ethos.  Obviously, partly this will be due to the amount of time that’s passed, so now readers and fans of the clone saga will be the writing professionals, so why shouldn’t Marvel embrace those pieces of the storyline (which occupied a fair chunk of the 90s) that actually worked?

Of course, sadly this is all unlikely to result in Ben Reilly actually coming back (a pity as I’d love new stories with Ben back as the Scarlet Spider), but the return of Kaine should be very interesting, as he was always a powerful opponent and his very personal links to Peter should be interesting to see what he’s actually up to.

And of course, I have to mention the first issue of the Clone Saga mini-series, which is re-presenting the series, altered to present something more along the ideas of the original writers.  It was definitely fun to see the story being revisited, although I personally found the first issue a little rushed.  Its hard to criticise it for that though, given it was trying to set the scene, and had to incorporate about a years worth of events in the Spider-titles in order to get the reader to the point where the main story of the Clone Saga can be told.   It was definitely fun to see the new spin on Peter and Ben’s meeting and it was so nice to see the characters working together again.   I’ll be very interested to see what the rest of the series brings, especially now the necessary evil of catching the reader up is out of the way.