Posted in: Recent Updates | Tagged: ben reilly, clone saga, Lying In The Gutters, marc guggenheim, marvel, spider-man

Clone More Day – The Return Of Ben Reilly

Published Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:55:54 -0500

Last updated Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:50:29 -0500

In September, Marvel are launching the mini-series Spider-Man: The Clone Saga by Tom DeFalco, Howard Mackie and Todd Nauck.

Once upon a time, in the seventies Spider-Man was cloned. They had a fight, they ended up on the same side, the clone died.

Then, in an early attempt to rid Spider-Man of being a book about a married man without having a death or a divorce, it turned out the clone hadn't died, he was now calling himself Ben Reilly and dressing as The Scarlet Spider. The intent was for it to be revealed that Ben was the original Peter Parket and the one we'd followed for the last two decades was actually the clone. Ben would step up, renaming himself Peter, and our Spider-man would reture, marries, to bring up a family.

If you think the fan outpouring over One More Day was an issue, you haven't seen anything yet.

Marvel performed a "reverse ferret", suddenly declaring Ben Reilly to be the clone, having him collpase into a pile of dust, putting everything back as it was, creating a storyline that is still mocked and held up as the greatest example of convuluted continuity-bound storytelling and leading eventually to a sequence of events where Joe Quesada would decide a deal with the devil was the only way to get an unmarried Spider-Man back on the books. And everyone decided that Ben Reilly was best forgotten about.

But some people can't let go.

A recent Marvel-published interview with Marc Guggenheim for the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man Annual had him stating ""How about reintroducing a character whose last name is 'Reilly'? How about the introduction of a new villain who will play a pivotal role in the upcoming series arc, 'Who Is Ben Reilly?'"

With Ben Reilly on the cover on an upcoming issue of Marvel Spotlight, its description reading "The REAL Clone Saga is laid bare " and, courtesy of SuperPouvoir, the solicitation

Written by HOWARD MACKIE & TOM DEFALCO

Penciled by TODD NAUCK

Cover by PASQUAL FERRY

You've been asking for it…and now it's here: THE CLONE SAGA!!! Marvel's most controversial event of all time returns with a vengeance, presenting the Clone Saga as it was originally intended to be told! From the minds behind the crossover that changed comics forever and the artist that introduced Spider-Man to President Obama, it's six issues of twists and turns that will shock fans old and new alike! Be here as Peter Parker's worst nightmare begins again…now with an ending you have to see to believe!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

With Chris Claremont revisiting how he would have written X-Men if he hadn't left the book, what other editorial decisions may be revisited? And maybe it's time to dig this comic book out of my closet?