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Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic
Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic, Book 3
The man beneath the mask may look like Peter Parker, but his name's Ben Reilly, the former Scarlet Spider and brand-spanking-new Spider-Man! But that typical Parker luck isn't shy when it comes to novices, as Ben finds out when he comes face to face with the Web-Slinger's most psychotic foe: Carnage! In the meantime, Peter and MJ face some major life changes, including the shocking loss of Peter's spider-powers! COLLECTING: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 409-410; SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) 2-3; SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 231-233; SPIDER-MAN (1990) 66-67; SPIDER-MAN: THE FINAL ADVENTURE 1-4; SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP 2; SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 11
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 25, 2012
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About the author
Tom DeFalco
2,477 books106 followersTom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well-known for his association with Marvel Comics and Spider-Man.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 9, 2022
3.5.
Enjoyed the Black Cat story.
Glad Kaine's back even though The Game storyline is getting on my nerves.
Carnage story was okay, although the symbiote's method of escape was obvious and slightly ridiculous.
Peter's last story was good.
I'm assuming the Jackal is back. And so the skeleton story continues. I'm quite invested in that one.
Enjoyed the Black Cat story.
Glad Kaine's back even though The Game storyline is getting on my nerves.
Carnage story was okay, although the symbiote's method of escape was obvious and slightly ridiculous.
Peter's last story was good.
I'm assuming the Jackal is back. And so the skeleton story continues. I'm quite invested in that one.
February 12, 2018
This volume starts out with some pretty cringe-y writing from Nicieza, but somewhat course corrects in the latter half. Kaine and "the game" is a frustrating concept they've been pushing the last few volumes, but the Spider-Carnage story holds up well (as does the work of JRJR, Bagley, Jurgens, and Buscema).
Sidenote: the volumes are starting to blend together in my mind, but good lord, there is a disturbing (and increasing) amount of Hootie and the Blowfish references.
Sidenote: the volumes are starting to blend together in my mind, but good lord, there is a disturbing (and increasing) amount of Hootie and the Blowfish references.
July 27, 2021
If I have to read another recap monologue about Ben remembering he's not the clone, I'm gonna barf
November 12, 2023
I was on sabbatical from the hobby when all of these issues were originally published, so this was all new to me. After purchasing eleven of these chunky trade paperbacks (five Complete Clone Saga Epic and six Complete Ben Reilly Epics) and reading eight of them (while currently working on the ninth), I must say that these are some solid, enjoyable comic books. I would honestly rather read about Ben Reilly than Doc Ock inhabiting Peter Parker's mind, the so-called Superior Spider-Man.
The writing and artwork are good, although some dated aspects of the '90s rear their head every now and again. This is acceptable, since some of those pop culture references in the '60s comics don't hold up much better today. The biggest drawback that this material has going for it is the hand lettering. Lettering took a turn for the worse during this decade, so much so that Richard Starking and ComiCraft's computerized fonts were a breath of fresh air. The then-state of the art computer color separations look limited by today's standards, but one must take into account how revolutionary these were at the time. No longer were comics limited to four colors or even the expanded palette of the flexograph printing process. The sky was now the limit and the colorists went wild.
The thing about the writing that blows me away is how tight a ship editorial must have run at this time. Nearly every month was a four part crossover, running across all four titles, meaning that you had a new “chapter” each week. More amazing still is how there is not one continuity gaffe here, despite the fact that each book had it's own individual writer. That's just crazy. We saw something similar, albeit on more of a rotating arc basis, with the Spidey Brain Trust of writers in the Brand New Day era of Amazing Spider-Man. It must have sucked for fans in the '90s being forced to buy all four titles every month, though.
There are many enjoyable moments throughout the book. Peter Parker loses his super powers, seemingly setting the stage for Ben Reilly to take over as the one and only Spider-Man forever. The Mad Thinker/ Silver Surfer/ Quasimodo story in Spider-Man Team-Up # 2 was a blast. I love the juggling act of the “game” which involved Kane and the Rhino. The Spider-Man skeleton found in the smokestack where Peter dumped the clone comes back to haunt him. The skeleton is proven to be another clone. If you listen closely, you can still hear faint echoes of fanboys gnashing their teeth across the ether. Jessica is proving to be an interesting love interest for Ben. Things come to a head with her in the next book. The Carnage/Spider-Carnage arc is great. There is an overall sense of fun here, with heroes being heroic. Sad to say that this seems like a novelty in this day and age. Not everything is roses here. The Ravencroft Institute is blatant ripoff of the Arkham Asylum over at DC, for instance. There is more to rave about than complain about, though. This was a very enjoyable read. I can't see why fans hated the Clone Saga so much. Sure, it may have gone on for a good while, but the stories and artwork were solid enough. There is a huge uptick in the artwork in this book over volume 2.
The writing and artwork are good, although some dated aspects of the '90s rear their head every now and again. This is acceptable, since some of those pop culture references in the '60s comics don't hold up much better today. The biggest drawback that this material has going for it is the hand lettering. Lettering took a turn for the worse during this decade, so much so that Richard Starking and ComiCraft's computerized fonts were a breath of fresh air. The then-state of the art computer color separations look limited by today's standards, but one must take into account how revolutionary these were at the time. No longer were comics limited to four colors or even the expanded palette of the flexograph printing process. The sky was now the limit and the colorists went wild.
The thing about the writing that blows me away is how tight a ship editorial must have run at this time. Nearly every month was a four part crossover, running across all four titles, meaning that you had a new “chapter” each week. More amazing still is how there is not one continuity gaffe here, despite the fact that each book had it's own individual writer. That's just crazy. We saw something similar, albeit on more of a rotating arc basis, with the Spidey Brain Trust of writers in the Brand New Day era of Amazing Spider-Man. It must have sucked for fans in the '90s being forced to buy all four titles every month, though.
There are many enjoyable moments throughout the book. Peter Parker loses his super powers, seemingly setting the stage for Ben Reilly to take over as the one and only Spider-Man forever. The Mad Thinker/ Silver Surfer/ Quasimodo story in Spider-Man Team-Up # 2 was a blast. I love the juggling act of the “game” which involved Kane and the Rhino. The Spider-Man skeleton found in the smokestack where Peter dumped the clone comes back to haunt him. The skeleton is proven to be another clone. If you listen closely, you can still hear faint echoes of fanboys gnashing their teeth across the ether. Jessica is proving to be an interesting love interest for Ben. Things come to a head with her in the next book. The Carnage/Spider-Carnage arc is great. There is an overall sense of fun here, with heroes being heroic. Sad to say that this seems like a novelty in this day and age. Not everything is roses here. The Ravencroft Institute is blatant ripoff of the Arkham Asylum over at DC, for instance. There is more to rave about than complain about, though. This was a very enjoyable read. I can't see why fans hated the Clone Saga so much. Sure, it may have gone on for a good while, but the stories and artwork were solid enough. There is a huge uptick in the artwork in this book over volume 2.
February 2, 2020
This book was better than Book 2 of the series. The return of Kaine was cheesy but kept my interest. The mini-series with Carnage was the best story of the book but I wish it could have been longer. The mysterious skeleton arc is continuing into Book 4 and is interesting so far. Peter Parker's last adventure as Spider-Man was also pretty good. Overall this book held up well in terms of continuity.
May 10, 2021
This review is purely for the Web Of Carnage storyline, as I read this to down my knowledge of Venom and Carnage. Someday, when I truly want to punish myself, I'll come back and read the rest of this probably awful book.
This is the worst Symbiote story I've read so far. The idea is stupid, the dialog is trite, the pacing is poor. You could use this book as a template for How Not To Write Spider-man.
This is the worst Symbiote story I've read so far. The idea is stupid, the dialog is trite, the pacing is poor. You could use this book as a template for How Not To Write Spider-man.
December 24, 2021
I feel like my expectations were lowered -- to this collection's advantage -- by the reputation of the Clone Saga. But the reassessment in the last few years has held true: each volume is good, in isolation, it's only taken together as the behemoth it became that it falls apart. I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would.
February 5, 2022
Solid. Really enjoyed the Black Cat story and the Carnage one. VERY into Kaine being back despite the explanation for it being pretty dull.
March 8, 2017
Getting better and better.
May 21, 2016
My problem with the Spider-Man story arc called "The Complete Clone Saga" is that I read Dan Slott's The Superior Spider-Man before I read this one and frankly, that one is, well, superior. At least by this point in the arc, there is only one Spider-Man, so that's a plus (they take away clone-not-clone Peter's powers in a "last Spider-Man story" that appears at the beginning of the volume) but they also have a Carnage story arc and I think that the symbiote stuff pretty much sucks. The real problem here is that there isn't much difference between Ben and Peter, unlike in Superior where Otto Octavius is Spider-Man and you get a completely different take on the hero, even if it couldn't last forever. But this one was a bit of an improvement over some of the previous volumes, even though it is typical, convoluted super hero fare.
June 15, 2016
This was a bit better than previous volumes, but it feels like they are attempting to correct some of the crazy but at the same time they are dragging it out.
Not enough Bagley art is this volume. Some of the other artists leave some bad tastes in my mouth.
Not enough Bagley art is this volume. Some of the other artists leave some bad tastes in my mouth.
May 1, 2015
i think i really want this comic book.
May 13, 2012
At this point it's really diminishing returns.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews