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Spider-Man: Ben Reilly Omnibus
Spider-Man: Ben Reilly Omnibus Vol. 2
As Ben Reilly settles into his new life as Spider-Man, Peter Parkeradapts to a life without powers. Ben takes on a rogues' gallery ofclassic foes as Peter and MJ prepare for parenthood -- but when a strange illness sends Peter to the hospital, is it the dreaded clonedegeneration, or something else? Revelations await as the epic CloneSaga reaches its cataclysmic conclusion! As Ben and Peter unravel thetwisted conspiracy that has manipulated them for years, the identity ofthe shadowy madman pulling their strings will shock both Spider-Men tothe core!
Written DAN JURGENS, TODD DeZAGO, TOM DeFALCO, HOWARD MACKIE, J.M. DEMATTEIS, EVANSKOLNICK, JAMES FELDER, GLENN HERDLING, KARL KESEL, GEORGE PEREZ, DARICK ROBERTSON, STEVE GERBER, GLENN GREENBERGER, MARK BERNARDO, ROGER STERN& JOE EDKIN
Penciled DAN JURGENS, LUKE ROSS, MIKE WIERINGO, MARK BAGLEY, STEVE SKROCE, JOHNROMITA JR. SAL BUSCEMA, STEVE GEIGER, JOE BENNETT, MIKE ZECK, DARICKROBERTSON, JAMES FRY, KYLE HOTZ, BEN HERRERA & MORE
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) 4-11, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 411-418,SPIDER-MAN (1990) 68-75, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 234-241,SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 12-14, REDEMPTION (1996) 1-4,DAREDEVIL (1964) 354, SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP (1995) 4-5, TPB (1997), THE OSBORN JOURNAL (1997) 1, 101 WAYS TO END THE CLONE SAGA (1997) 1, DEADMAN'S HAND (1997) 1
Written DAN JURGENS, TODD DeZAGO, TOM DeFALCO, HOWARD MACKIE, J.M. DEMATTEIS, EVANSKOLNICK, JAMES FELDER, GLENN HERDLING, KARL KESEL, GEORGE PEREZ, DARICK ROBERTSON, STEVE GERBER, GLENN GREENBERGER, MARK BERNARDO, ROGER STERN& JOE EDKIN
Penciled DAN JURGENS, LUKE ROSS, MIKE WIERINGO, MARK BAGLEY, STEVE SKROCE, JOHNROMITA JR. SAL BUSCEMA, STEVE GEIGER, JOE BENNETT, MIKE ZECK, DARICKROBERTSON, JAMES FRY, KYLE HOTZ, BEN HERRERA & MORE
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN (1996) 4-11, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 411-418,SPIDER-MAN (1990) 68-75, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (1976) 234-241,SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 12-14, REDEMPTION (1996) 1-4,DAREDEVIL (1964) 354, SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP (1995) 4-5, TPB (1997), THE OSBORN JOURNAL (1997) 1, 101 WAYS TO END THE CLONE SAGA (1997) 1, DEADMAN'S HAND (1997) 1
1304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 22, 2020
About the author
Dan Jurgens
2,235 books288 followersDan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 14, 2021
When reading this second “Ben Reilly” Omnibus, it soon becomes apparent that most of the stories contained were written after Marvel’s decision to undo everything from the “Clone Saga”. The supporting cast introduced in the last volume, Reilly’s new job and relationships, rogue’s gallery, and the enigmatic “lost years”… All this promise thrown away to editorial’s march to undo everything, good or bad.
Behind editorial mismanagement and lack of direction, the Reilly years, like the preceding “Clone Saga”, was a noble experiment occasionally reaching brilliance. ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ #400, from the “Clone Saga”, is an almost perfect self-contained story that isn’t mentioned in lists of the definitive Spidey stories of all time nearly as much as it should be. ‘The Lost Years’ and ‘Redemption’ miniseries by the same author, J.M. DeMatteis, are two of the most unique Spidey stories of all time, laying the groundwork for what could have been several years’ worth of adventures relating to Reilly’s mysterious past. But, tragically, nothing came from any of this potential.
In a way, these collections are victims of their own grandeur. By collecting every comic published during the Reilly years (the way the “Clone Saga” Omnibuses did with that story), we’re left with a hodgepodge of stories and threads from multiple creators of extremely varying quality. As always, the issues by DeMatteis are some of the best Spidey comics ever. The rest are either mildly entertaining, albeit hilariously superficial (this was the ‘90s after all) or, in the case of the ‘Spider-Man Unlimited’ issues and various filler miniseries, pure torture.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the extra pages added to the grand finale from the ‘Spider-Man: Revelations’ TPB are included here, providing much-needed closure to Reilly’s story not provided the first time round. This collection also contains some interesting interviews from the time, as well as a couple of post-Reilly one-shots tying up some loose ends and a rather amusing “Clone Saga” parody. One, perhaps unnecessary, addition was the first issue of DeMatteis’ return to ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ after the finale. Though one of the best comics in the collection, setting the stage for the post-clone Spider-Verse to come, this issue ends on a cliffhanger and doesn’t add anything to Reilly’s story. I hope that this somewhat puzzling inclusion means Marvel plan to collect this underappreciated run in its entirety.
Re-reading this gigantic saga after so many years was a frustrating experience, due equally to having to read some truly awful comics as to seeing such promise thrown out the window. Although I can’t possibly give this book more than two stars when so much of it is so bad, it does prove what I always assumed – that the “Clone Saga” doesn’t deserve the negative reputation attached to it.
Behind editorial mismanagement and lack of direction, the Reilly years, like the preceding “Clone Saga”, was a noble experiment occasionally reaching brilliance. ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ #400, from the “Clone Saga”, is an almost perfect self-contained story that isn’t mentioned in lists of the definitive Spidey stories of all time nearly as much as it should be. ‘The Lost Years’ and ‘Redemption’ miniseries by the same author, J.M. DeMatteis, are two of the most unique Spidey stories of all time, laying the groundwork for what could have been several years’ worth of adventures relating to Reilly’s mysterious past. But, tragically, nothing came from any of this potential.
In a way, these collections are victims of their own grandeur. By collecting every comic published during the Reilly years (the way the “Clone Saga” Omnibuses did with that story), we’re left with a hodgepodge of stories and threads from multiple creators of extremely varying quality. As always, the issues by DeMatteis are some of the best Spidey comics ever. The rest are either mildly entertaining, albeit hilariously superficial (this was the ‘90s after all) or, in the case of the ‘Spider-Man Unlimited’ issues and various filler miniseries, pure torture.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the extra pages added to the grand finale from the ‘Spider-Man: Revelations’ TPB are included here, providing much-needed closure to Reilly’s story not provided the first time round. This collection also contains some interesting interviews from the time, as well as a couple of post-Reilly one-shots tying up some loose ends and a rather amusing “Clone Saga” parody. One, perhaps unnecessary, addition was the first issue of DeMatteis’ return to ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ after the finale. Though one of the best comics in the collection, setting the stage for the post-clone Spider-Verse to come, this issue ends on a cliffhanger and doesn’t add anything to Reilly’s story. I hope that this somewhat puzzling inclusion means Marvel plan to collect this underappreciated run in its entirety.
Re-reading this gigantic saga after so many years was a frustrating experience, due equally to having to read some truly awful comics as to seeing such promise thrown out the window. Although I can’t possibly give this book more than two stars when so much of it is so bad, it does prove what I always assumed – that the “Clone Saga” doesn’t deserve the negative reputation attached to it.
July 9, 2021
This second Ben Reilly omnibus volume, collecting most every comic from the latter years of Ben Reilly's stint as Spider-Man, starts with some promise but ultimately ends up feeling muddled, unfocused, and chockful of filler.
This muddled, directionless feeling almost assuredly comes from the contention and general chaos behind the scenes of the Spider-Man franchise. The omnibus itself collects issues and commentaries from the writers and creators of the time attesting to the mess that Reilly's position as Spider-Man created, alongside the mounting complexity of the 'Clone Saga' in general. Therefore, the first (rough) quarter of this volume feels somewhat more assured in what it's doing: Ben Reilly is firmly the main character of the book, with glimpses into Peter Parker's continuing existence as a periphery. However, somewhere soon after the rather well-written "Lost Years" issues, there was a clear change in priorities.
From this point onward, Peter and Mary Jane become somewhat more in the spotlight, to the point that they are essentially sharing star status with Ben. Each of Ben's supporting characters quickly fade away, to the point that multiple love interests drop away practically by the issue. Peter, Mary Jane, their baby, and their position in New York gains more and more importance to the narrative, and Ben starts to almost fade into the background until the obligatory Spider-Man action scene (which Peter would often also be involved in). It is here, it seems, that Peter's path to returning as Spider-Man was decided, and Ben was to be on the way out.
That all said, however, the solution that the writing team was able to find was, I suppose, as clean as it possibly could have been. Obviously, writing Peter and MJ out of the story entirely and committing wholesale to Ben in the first place would have been cleaner, but would have left most fans livid. As far as returning Peter to the mantle of Spider-Man, and explaining all of the contradictions, complexity, and confusion away... this was likely as elegant a solution as the team could have come up with. Though it somewhat undercuts one of the most iconic Spider-Man storylines of all time, there is really no other character to blame everything for than Norman Osborn. Muddy and reactionary and rushed it may be, but the "Revelations" arc manages to right the ship at least enough to almost make this entire, drawn-out 'Saga' worth it. Almost.
This muddled, directionless feeling almost assuredly comes from the contention and general chaos behind the scenes of the Spider-Man franchise. The omnibus itself collects issues and commentaries from the writers and creators of the time attesting to the mess that Reilly's position as Spider-Man created, alongside the mounting complexity of the 'Clone Saga' in general. Therefore, the first (rough) quarter of this volume feels somewhat more assured in what it's doing: Ben Reilly is firmly the main character of the book, with glimpses into Peter Parker's continuing existence as a periphery. However, somewhere soon after the rather well-written "Lost Years" issues, there was a clear change in priorities.
From this point onward, Peter and Mary Jane become somewhat more in the spotlight, to the point that they are essentially sharing star status with Ben. Each of Ben's supporting characters quickly fade away, to the point that multiple love interests drop away practically by the issue. Peter, Mary Jane, their baby, and their position in New York gains more and more importance to the narrative, and Ben starts to almost fade into the background until the obligatory Spider-Man action scene (which Peter would often also be involved in). It is here, it seems, that Peter's path to returning as Spider-Man was decided, and Ben was to be on the way out.
That all said, however, the solution that the writing team was able to find was, I suppose, as clean as it possibly could have been. Obviously, writing Peter and MJ out of the story entirely and committing wholesale to Ben in the first place would have been cleaner, but would have left most fans livid. As far as returning Peter to the mantle of Spider-Man, and explaining all of the contradictions, complexity, and confusion away... this was likely as elegant a solution as the team could have come up with. Though it somewhat undercuts one of the most iconic Spider-Man storylines of all time, there is really no other character to blame everything for than Norman Osborn. Muddy and reactionary and rushed it may be, but the "Revelations" arc manages to right the ship at least enough to almost make this entire, drawn-out 'Saga' worth it. Almost.
June 18, 2024
I now get to be one of those people who can say they've read the entire Clone Saga.
What the fuck Marvel?
You have to bring in Ben Reilly to make a more lightheaded comic book because Peter had gotten to dark and then
spoiler
Kill Reilly and have Peter and MJ's baby die at childbirth? This saga had it's moments, and Ben is a genuine treasure but you can tell especially in this omnibus it was gearing Peter to get back as the focus. So all the people claiming this event is strung out are correct, a 2+ year 160+ issue event boiled down to no real change. Did I enjoy it? For the most part, yes. Can I recommend it? Fuck no.
What the fuck Marvel?
You have to bring in Ben Reilly to make a more lightheaded comic book because Peter had gotten to dark and then
spoiler
Kill Reilly and have Peter and MJ's baby die at childbirth? This saga had it's moments, and Ben is a genuine treasure but you can tell especially in this omnibus it was gearing Peter to get back as the focus. So all the people claiming this event is strung out are correct, a 2+ year 160+ issue event boiled down to no real change. Did I enjoy it? For the most part, yes. Can I recommend it? Fuck no.
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December 17, 2020some printing errors in spider man 75.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews