spider-man He is probably the most recognized and beloved character in Marvel Comics. But to be honest, such an amount of love does not mean that his career in the world of comics has been perfect.
On the contrary, readers more experienced with the adventures of the wall-crawler know full well that there are quite a few arcs and sagas where Peter Parker has had a relatively embarrassing performance.
Marvel Comics has gone through dark and complex stages. Between the 1960s and part of the 1970s it was an avant-garde publishing house that addressed complex issues such as drugs, addictions, police brutality, racism, and many more. All while Batman danced the bat-twist.
But between part of the 80s and particularly in the 90s we saw how the publishing house tried to diversify the range of its stories, achieving moments of glory and others that were somewhat painful.
For example the run of Jim Lee with the X Men It can be considered today by many as the cornerstone of the comics of the last three decades, despite its bumpy evolution and outcome.
However, for every epic moment there were moments of great sorrow from others. Like the clone saga with Spider-Man. Many would think that it would be something that the publisher would want to leave behind. But it seems they just can’t give it up.
Ben Reilly returns to Marvel with The Amazing Spider-Man #14
The clone saga revolves around a clumsy loose end left in a story originally published in 1975, which would be very haphazardly picked up by Marvel Comics between 1994 and 1996.
In broad strokes, an intrigue was raised where apparently for years the Peter Parker that we all believed to be the real one would be a clone created by The Jackal, when Ben Reilly, an alleged surviving clone, would actually have been the authentic one but exiled.
It is not worth turning around, but the entrance of Wikipedia. The bottom line is that now Marvel Comics has brought Ben Reilly back.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #14 this new issue turns to focus on the clone, who has also fallen on hard times since we last saw him, as a rebound character in another saga that brought him back.
The story, which is the prelude to the new arc “Dark Web” is divided into four parts with different creative teams contributing to the book, with writer Zeb Wells and VC marker Joe Caramagna being the only constants.
“Spring” is drawn by Michael Dowling and colored by Richard Isanove, while “Summer” is drawn by Kyle Hotz and colored by Dan Brown. Rachel Dodson is doing the inking, and Terry Dodson is doing the drawing and coloring on “Fall,” while for “Winter” Ryan Stegman draws, Tim Townsend and JP Mayer do the inking, and Matt Hollingsworth does the coloring.
Madelyne Pryor, clone of Jean Gray appears in the plot and is established as a counterbalance in Reilly’s own plot. So everything indicates that this time they might not screw it up.