Good Ben Reilly Material?

[PunkPoserStyle]

I've conquered just about every Spider-Man decade, except for the mid-90's. Fans seem to have a soft spot for this certain Ben Reilly character, and his Scarlet Spider outfit kicked ass. So I was wondering if anybody could recommend some stand out stories featuring this guy? I'd appreciate it, seeing as I really don't want to trudge through the tragillion issues that made up the Clone Saga. Really really.

[hmnut73]

Spider-Man "the lost years" I felt was a really good Ben Reilly story.

It is basically a tale of Ben (and actually Kaine) right after the whole orignal clone storyline where Peter Parker thinks he disposed of his clone's body, the story is about Ben (at the time the reader believes he is the real Peter/ and Ben believes he is a clone). Ben tries to live a normal life, but Kaine is it every turn, there to f*** everything up. Ben even happens to meet an attractive redhead, what are the odds.

There's no colorful customs, no Green Goblin, or other heroes, just Ben and Kaine in a small rural town. Kind of like a buddy comdey, minus the buddies, and minus the comdey. I liked it a lot.

[Mister Mets]

Amazing Spider-Man #400 may just be Ben Reilly's best moment, showing his inability to be a part of May's final moments, despite his love for the woman.

[preppistonpav]

Except for some of the crossovers with other comics that happened at the time, I have basically the whole Clone Saga. 'Course, 90% of my comic collection is at home while I'm at school, so here's some of my favorite Ben moments off the top of my head (and if anyone can help me out on issue numbers, that'd be great):

1) During Onslaught, there were two issues of Ben and Peter fighting Sentinels. So much fun and you really got the brotherly aspect of the characters.

2) They were nothing special, but when all the Spidey comics changed to Scarlet Spider, I thought the stories were fun. A lot of people didn't like these, and yeah, they were just filler and a way to make money, but I still enjoyed the stories that were told. Specifically, the issue with the good Green Goblin (which then finished in his own series). I really, really wished that these two would become partners after that issue.

3) Lost Years and Redemption were both amazingly well-done minis about Ben and Kaine.

4) There were a couple of issues of (I think) Unlimited when Ben was Spidey that, for some reason, I really enjoyed. One was him fighting a bunch of D-listers trying to get the skeleton - Beetle, Scorpia, etc. Just a fun issue. The other was another big battle issue about the Great Game - Prowler, Rocket Racer, Cardiac - but it really highlighted to me that Ben and Peter were different people, which was always one of my interests: how each reacted differently to other supers. (For example, Ben being on better terms with Sandman than Human Torch, and in this issue, way cooler with Cardiac than Peter ever was).

I hope you do pick up some Clone Saga comics. It was a fun time to be a Spider-collector!

[Sonicjuce]

I will probably get shot for this but I enjoyed/still enjoy Mackie's adjectiveless Spider-Man which covers Ben Reilly. JRJR is there and the stories are pretty solid in my opinion.

[ZT4]

Amazing Spider-Man #400 may just be Ben Reilly's best moment, showing his inability to be a part of May's final moments, despite his love for the woman.

Really, Ben is all kinds of ownage in that....mainly due to this bitching illustration of Peter shitting himself after he's arrested and staring at Ben on the roof. In that moment, followed by the cliffhanger, readers genually thought Ben had shown his true colours

One of the best anniversary cliffhangers (and one of only two)

[hmnut73]

Really, Ben is all kinds of ownage in that....mainly due to this bitching illustration of Peter shitting himself after he's arrested and staring at Ben on the roof. In that moment, followed by the cliffhanger, readers genually thought Ben had shown his true colours

One of the best anniversary cliffhangers (and one of only two)

Can we just say that Amazing #400 was one of the best Spider-Man books of all time. I literally had to drop all Spider-Man books when they brought May back saying the dead lady was an actress, because it sh*t all over that great story. For me that was the last straw.

Also yeah Onslaught was a great Peter and Ben moment, really showcasing one something that Marvel too long to figure out and then forgot just as fast. There is room in the world for two Spider-Men. (I might have to find those issues just to read them today).

[rZi]

Peter Parker #75 Revelations

The Trial of Peter Parker

[WOLVERINE25TH]

As a fan of the ENTIRE Clone Saga, it's so hard for me to pick just shining moments. So I won't, because in it's entirety, it was ALL a shining moment. Some people may point out some stories were more lackluster than others (and really, when can you NOT say that about an ongoing comics run?) but I liked every moment except for how SM #75 ended. Do yourself a favor if you can and read from start to finish. There are plenty of places to get a complete listing of CS books as well as their reading order.

Actually, I lied. I only have two issues of it, but Planet of the Symbiotes seemed to be utter crap. Avoid THAT particular story line.

[matthewaos]

I will probably get shot for this but I enjoyed/still enjoy Mackie's adjectiveless Spider-Man which covers Ben Reilly. JRJR is there and the stories are pretty solid in my opinion.

No. You won't get shot. Mackie wrote some descend stories in adj Spider-Man. Everything went to hell when he got to write both titles...

Media Blizard was good, a story with Mysterio. Blood Brothers was also good, with Hobgoblin (cyber at the time)

Revelations of course.

The trial of Peter Parker, a great story.

ASM #400, one of the best ever for me.

The mark of Kaine, except parts 4 and 5...

The lost years and Redemption as many have said

Those are the only that came to mind. When the switch happened, the stories were not bad at all, except the Scarlet Spider month. I think they were good, not exceptional though. The stories up until trial of Peter PArker 4 are also good, most of them.

[Shyft]

Spiderman: The Lost years was pretty good. For general ben Reily reading, the issues where all the books were renamed the Amazing Scarlet Spider etc are good.

[matthewaos]

Spiderman: The Lost years was pretty good. For general ben Reily reading, the issues where all the books were renamed the Amazing Scarlet Spider etc are good.

I think those issues seemed to me like fill ins. I enjoyed the Ben Spider-Man stories more.

[metr0man]

Really, Ben is all kinds of ownage in that....mainly due to this bitching illustration of Peter shitting himself after he's arrested and staring at Ben on the roof. In that moment, followed by the cliffhanger, readers genually thought Ben had shown his true colours

One of the best anniversary cliffhangers (and one of only two)

You know, even though I liked Ben Reilly, that would have been a brilliant direction to take the books into, if you found out that Reilly really had committed murder and his intention all along was to set Peter up for it (same DNA and all) and take over his life... Reilly as the ultimate Spider-villian, coulda been a long time villian too.

[TheAmazingSpidey]

You know, even though I liked Ben Reilly, that would have been a brilliant direction to take the books into, if you found out that Reilly really had committed murder and his intention all along was to set Peter up for it (same DNA and all) and take over his life... Reilly as the ultimate Spider-villian, coulda been a long time villian too.

Maybe. But--the whole 'evil clone wanting to take over the original's life' thing is kind of cliched...

Besides, I liked Ben--as a good guy, as Peter's "brother". And I liked that he died a hero.

[Bricolo]

I liked the team up with Ben's Spidey, Peter and Howard the Duck who thought he knew Peter was Spider-man until he saw them together, or at least that is how I recall it happening. I have that packed away somewhere here, what issue was it?

[Shyft]

I think those issues seemed to me like fill ins. I enjoyed the Ben Spider-Man stories more.

i liked them because they were Ben being Ben in stories not related to the Clone Saga, not a Peter Parker fill in, which is what he sort of became when he became Spiderman.

[ZT4]

Still, he had his moments as Spidey. First "Amazing" wearing the coustume (when the titles were all billed as "The Return of...", the BND of the Clone Saga), and he pisses off Johnny Storm and Sandman in one issue, and makes wisecracks that Peter'd be proud of.