‘Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #1’ Review
Written by J.M. DeMatteis | Art by David Baldeon | Published by Marvel Comics
Retro certainly seems to be in the air at Marvel these days. After my last review, which was looking at the ‘new’ Silver Surfer book that is written and drawn by its old 90’s creative team, we now get J.M DeMatteis back writing Ben Reilly. Now, back in the day everybody hated Ben Reilly and the whole Clone Saga, myself included. Even Marvel had to row back on its original intent to make Ben Reilly the ‘original’ Peter Parker, and actually had Ben killed off to make the Clone Saga go away. He then got better. It was all as weird as it sounds. Time is a great healer it seems, as people have been greeting the return to the spotlight of Ben Reilly in his own book like the second coming. Me, I paid the entrance fee to see J.M DeMatteis. Let’s see if the book can make us all happy.
We start with some strong writing from DeMatteis, laying the groundwork for Ben Reilly’s current situation. How do you define your identity, your own self, when you are a clone? How much of what you think and do is your original thought, and how much is theirs? This has always been a DeMatteis strong point, characterisation and drive, what makes this person tick and why are they the way they are. A little encounter between Jonah Jameson and Ben Reilly reinforces Ben’s desperation for his own life. One handy recap later, it seems canon now that Ben Reilly is back to being the ‘original’ Peter Parker. I’m ignoring this personally, as this will without a doubt be retconned at some later date. Peter is Peter, Ben is Ben.
What does a hero need when he is feeling sorry for himself? A good bad guy punch up. As luck would have it, Carrion has escaped from prison, so Ben’s off to the rescue as Spidey. Peter, if you don’t know, has left with Mary Jane for Portland, so Ben is Spider-Man for now. Carrion it seems is having identity issues of his own, as his evil Carrion persona struggles to suppress his Malcolm McBride identity. Ben seems to have a penchant for trying to help broken souls, and although he inflicts the obligatory physical beating, he also helps identify and understand Malcolm’s pain. Back to Ravencroft Carrion/ Malcolm goes, under the watchful eye of Director Ashley Kafka and her assistant, the former Vermin Edward Whelan. Never trust former bad guys who work in asylum’s I say.
Ben’s none too convinced by this new regime of rehabilitation either. An institution that contains Shriek, Swarm, Chameleon, Mr. Hyde, Typhoid Mary, and many more needs to be very careful, right? For Ben, the juries out on Ashley Kafka, no matter how close she was to Peter. Ben, after all, wants to establish his own life and his own friends. Which we see a little more of later. An empty life, but a safe one, a low risk one. One that allows Ben to lie low and go under the radar. Unfortunately, also one in which you wake up to find The Scorpion standing over you….
As you would expect with a DeMatteis script, there is a lot of psychology and analysis going on here. Ben Reilly has shifted from a copy of Peter with a permanent feeling of inferiority, to an angry, alienated young man struggling to find his own identity and life. A very relatable character, then, to a certain demographic of the comic-reading public, and one, ironically, reminiscent of a young Peter Parker. It was a great world-building issue, giving us a recap of where Ben was and where he now is, and a little dabble in the Spider-Man Rogues Gallery for good measure. The art, by David Baldeon, grew on me. Initially it seemed a little too cartoony for my taste, but I soon realised it fits the tone and look perfectly, and Baldeon has a knack for nice pacing and nicer layouts.
If you can see past all the crossovers and big events that will try and catch your eye, this book looks like being a hidden gem.
This is definitely a book to keep an eye on in 2022.
