COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Ben Reilly The Scarlet Spider: Back In The Hood
By The Masked Medic
I know that ever since I expanded my reviews to anime, my attention has been largely held by the new category. I recently thought about whether I was starting to lose interest in comic books, and felt a little sad. But then I realized that I didn’t start this blog for any other reason than to be a stress reliever, and it was okay to flit from interest to interest. I think that process calmed me down enough to open up a comic book! Ha!
‘Back In The Hood’ is the story of Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Ben goes by the moniker “The Scarlet Spider”. The novel starts with Ben contacting an old colleague of his, whom he worked with, in what sounds like a conman job to help bring people’s relatives back to life. Following that ploy, he went undercover and only recently resurfaced. He asks his colleague for money and heads over to Vegas, wanting a new and perhaps profitable start. However, his luck wanes when he ends up in a casino that is owned by Cassandra Mercury, a rich and vengeful businesswoman. Cassandra’s daughter is one of the victims of Ben’s con and has been in a coma. As fates align, Cassandra and Ben come face to face, and she remembers that he was the one who promised to bring her daughter back. Ben, seeing himself in trouble, promises her that with her financial backing, he can come up with a plan to cure her daughter. If that wasn’t trouble enough, Kaine Parker, another Peter Parker clone, begins to look for Ben, with the intention of killing him. Can Kaine find where Ben has been hiding? And can Ben figure out how to undo the mistakes of his past?
Listen, straight off the bat, what the absolute hell was going on in this novel? I started this series in an attempt to read something new, and this was the first novel in this series, but I was so, so confused as to what had happened before. I’ve said this before, but Marvel’s continuity is genuinely all over the place. Also, why are there so many Peter Parker clones? Where did they come from? It feels like I’m going to have to do a lot of background reading to find out all the answers I need. If you can ignore all of that confusion, the novel isn’t bad. I did feel like both Ben and Kaine were overly violent and lacked the moral streak that Spider-Man has, but I suppose that’s why they’re flawed clones? I don’t know.
The artwork was not bad, I think the style was crisp, and the colours were bright. The covers were certainly a highlight, and I struggled to choose one to put at the beginning of this review. Overall, an extremely confusing novel, which I’ll probably return to one day, just for clarity’s sake!
Favourite Panel:
Given that they’re both Peter Parker clones, this cracked me up!
Favourite Character:
Errr… they’re all Peter Parker? But I suppose if I had to pick someone, it would be Ben Reilly. Don’t have much choice.
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★½
Character Development: ★★★
Artwork: ★★★½
Enjoyability: ★★½
Re-readability: ★½
Level: Impossible