Should I Read Scarlet Spider?

[ViewtifulJC]

Yes, be amazed at Ryan Stegman's incredible, visceral, kinetic artwork! See how he evolves on McFarlene and Larsen in new and modern ways! Be amazed at his inventive panel layouts and stunning mastery of body language and clarity of storytelling.

Then, recoil in horror as he's taken off the book less then half a year later and replaced with...Khoi Pham.

The first four issues are good, anyway! But all good things come to an end I suppose.

[lord zobby]

Is it better than ultimate spiderman?...because i hate ultimate

[kitonok]

Is it better than ultimate spiderman?...because i hate ultimate

Better than the all new ultimate spider-man, that's for sure. Then again it's pretty hard to write a more boring book imo. So, yes. You must read scarlet spider. Now.

[RoadDoggBigPauly]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssss.

[Kerukun878]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssss.

^ this. 100 times this.

[Billium 3]

This is Marvel's best monthly book, bar none. No other book excites me this much from the cover until the end of the story; totally feels worth every penny. Enough good can not be said about this book. I love it more than Amazing Spider-Man, if that doesn't tell you anything.

So yes, read Scarlet Spider if you like great comics.

[wc662]

this book was such a nice surprise. not since x-23 have I been so into a clone.

[wc662]

on the inside looking out: I'm not really a Spider-Man fan, I admit I only pop up when Carnage & Venom are in town. But this isn't Spider-Man. A traditional (& untraditional) anti-hero, Kaine proves he can make the face of Peter Parker not look like a giant pussy that wishes to incarcerate every bad guy he comes across. The truce he brokered with the assassins guild, even if he is lying, is something we'd never see spidey do. Plus he has extras in his little bag of tricks, including Pre-Brand New Day's Spidey's "stingers" (as seen at the first of issue 5), being stronger than Spidey, no spider-sense, and the ability to talk to spiders. Plus the south (in this case Houston TX) gets their own costume. What's not to love about that?

[robcastor729]

I highly recommend this book. I love the fact that Kaine isn't perfect. Like Flash Thomson

[Seto Kaiba]

I was so scared that this book would just end up as another Spider-Man title in the end. Or like Venom was in the early 90s. I was wrong. So wrong. Kaine has a different feel to him. The way he interacts with his cast, etc. In the end, he wants to do the right thing, but unlike Peter, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty doing it.

Scarlet Spider has most of Spider-Man's powers and the intimidation factor of freaking Batman. But in his own, harsh way, he does care. Five issues in and he's already his own man.

But, I don't want to call this the best Spider-Man book, because like I said, Kaine's his own man at this point. Two different books, two different men. Can't ask for anything else.

[ddub65]

Absolutely! I just started reading it myself but I love it, I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone

[Oni Squirrel]

Not that anymore praise needs to be piled on. But I really feel Yost managed to capture the atmosphere of the 90's antihero with a nice twist that really modernizes a concept that is often so reviled. Scarlet Spider could have easily been Extreme Spider-man in every way. A dull anti-hero version of the web-slinger and a pure revitalization of the worst elements of the 90's. Instead we got a character that we can sympathize with. One who's brutality is neither applauded or shied away from. Kaine is growing and changing, but in no way is he becoming dark Peter or Peter light he's clearly his own character. And to go along with this unique take the opening arc gave us an artist who did a great job making Kaine feel like a unique individual in and out of costume. Hopefully, the new artist will continue to draw Kaine as a clearly separate individual from Peter that Kaine is being written as.

[refrax5]

Are things really that different from Pete's clone's point of view? I've been enjoying Venom & the Carnage minis that have been put out so far, should I give this a go? Because the closest thing I get to reading "Amazing" is "Avenging". I really haven't been messing with Spidey that much lately. Is he all moral as hell as Peter Parker or does he just kick ass? Thanks in advance for replies, just trying to figure out if this is worth a read.

Yeah, he could not be less like Peter. Not only is Kaine a unique character, this is pretty much everything I love about comics. It's both laugh out loud funny and dark and violent and the same time. It has a likable, if deeply flawed, main character. It's colorful and action packed. I seriously look forward to this maybe more than any other book. I cannot recommend it enough.

And this is coming from someone who was steamed that it wasn't going to be Ben Reilly.

[rdfnd1253]

Yeah, he could not be less like Peter. Not only is Kaine a unique character, this is pretty much everything I love about comics. It's both laugh out loud funny and dark and violent and the same time. It has a likable, if deeply flawed, main character. It's colorful and action packed. I seriously look forward to this maybe more than any other book. I cannot recommend it enough.

And this is coming from someone who was steamed that it wasn't going to be Ben Reilly.

I have to agree with this. I was angry when I knew it wasn't Ben and was going to continue my boycott of Marvel that I have been doing since back when they killed Ben, but I have to hand it to Yost and Stegman, these first 5 issues have been the best readable and enjoyable comics that I have ever owned! I will still go out and state I want to see Ben come back......even if its not to take up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider again, but just to see him interact with Kaine and them develop a bond like they started to just before Ben's death. I could see the assassin guild having Kaine down for the count and just when all looks hopeless, webbing stops a blade or knife about to cut into Kaine. From the shadows steps a guy dressed in the Scarlet Spider attire of the 90's, and after seeing his "brother" about to be slain, decides to give him a helping hand. It'd be great to see them fight along side one another and at the end, Ben parts way for a city unknown, and Kaine has the satisfaction of "true" redemption for what he put Ben through.

[Assassin Spider]

I have to agree with this. I was angry when I knew it wasn't Ben and was going to continue my boycott of Marvel that I have been doing since back when they killed Ben, but I have to hand it to Yost and Stegman, these first 5 issues have been the best readable and enjoyable comics that I have ever owned! I will still go out and state I want to see Ben come back......even if its not to take up the mantle of the Scarlet Spider again, but just to see him interact with Kaine and them develop a bond like they started to just before Ben's death. I could see the assassin guild having Kaine down for the count and just when all looks hopeless, webbing stops a blade or knife about to cut into Kaine. From the shadows steps a guy dressed in the Scarlet Spider attire of the 90's, and after seeing his "brother" about to be slain, decides to give him a helping hand. It'd be great to see them fight along side one another and at the end, Ben parts way for a city unknown, and Kaine has the satisfaction of "true" redemption for what he put Ben through.

That would be an awesome full-circle to the story of Ben and Kaine, as Kaine saved Ben when nobody else was able to, so Ben saves Kaine when all hope seems lost. The only thing I would mention as an addendum would be that it would have to explain how Ben came back from the dead when he was "conclusively" killed at the end of the Clone Saga. The usual theory is that it wasn't really Ben, just a defective clone programmed with Ben's memories as opposed to Peter Parker's, a clone of a clone, in other words, and the real Ben has been locked up all this time by Norman Osborn as a way to torture Peter by proxy or substitute. All the same, it would be an awesome thing to have happen and have the trinity of Spiders fighting together as real brothers as opposed to recurrent enemies.