Ben Reilly - My Spider-Man - Sime McDonald

PANEL ONE

We’re observing this scene from behind a panel of one-way glass, through the eyes of our mysterious foe. For the sake of dramatic tension – ruined by this sentence, really – I’m not going to reveal who until final panel of the page. Ben Reilly – alive, somehow - is sitting in a lavishly furnished room. It is a room that encompasses an aura of calm, of soulful deliberation. He’s sitting on a settee, relaxed, smiling, in the midst of genial conversation with the person seated opposite him. But we can’t see this person. Our view should be slightly obscured; maybe a piece of furniture at the forefront of the panel is blocking our view; maybe something else (never let it be said I don’t allow for artistic license!)

CAPTION (1)

Heartbeat remains steady.

No sign of elevated sweat production.

CAPTION (2)

We’ve come a long way since our first session.

PANEL TWO

Flashback! Reilly’s backhanded Norman Osborn across the room. The force of the flow makes it quite clear; Osborn’s dead. (What?!)

CAPTION (1)

No instinctive defensive movements.

No emotional response.

CAPTION (2)

(Good thing, too. I was running out of clones.)

PANEL THREE
Tight on our mysterious foe’s maniacal smile.

CAPTION

Success.

PANEL FOUR

Back on Reilly. He’s talking animatedly. He’s loving it, this simple thing, talking, socialising, entertaining. He’s happy. He’s at peace. And that’s a big thing, because this guy, he’s experienced so few truly happy moments.

CAPTION (1)

Years of conditioning, years of manipulating his psyche, years of gradually erasing his innate fear of me…

CAPTION (2)

Worth it.

PANEL FIVE

And now we see Reilly’s compatriot, sitting across from him. It is Norman Osborn. Not at all menacing; he is – rather chillingly – smiling genially, very much playing the part of Reilly’s buddy.

CAPTION

Because now, once again, I have my very own Spider-Man.

As much my ally as Parker is my foe.

PANEL SIX

Our mysterious foe steps out from the hidden doorway. Osborn, still seated, doesn’t react. He expected this, knew this moment was coming. His job is done. Reilly does react; he’s shocked, eyes wide, pupils dilated. Because although we’re staring at the back of our foe’s head, his identity is obvious. Who else has hair like Norman Osborn?*

CAPTION

And now, my clone can rest.

It’s time for Daddy to get to work.

Continued...

*Thanks go out to Rol who pointed out Harry Osborn has hair like his father. A feature the author conveniently forgot... **

**Sime is currently accepting applications to edit his work...

Ben Reilly - A Clone Again, Naturally - Rol Hirst

Panel One.

Ben Reilly stares into a mirror. His hair is dark, not the blond he dyed it in later appearances: for all intents and purposes he is Peter Parker.

CAP (Ben): This is not my face.

Panel Two.

Ben’s face or profile fades into a montage of memories. Spider-Man defeating the burglar who killed his Uncle Ben… Peter getting shouted at by J. Jonah Jameson… dancing with Gwen and MJ… Spidey holding Gwen’s body on top of Brooklyn Bridge while the Green Goblin flies overhead…

CAP (Ben): These are not my memories.

Panel Three.

Ben stands in a loft apartment somewhere in downtown Manhattan. There is no furniture, except the mirror he’s still standing before, no carpets or décor. There is however a large amount of scientific equipment – including cloning chambers – lined up down one side of the room. The loft’s skylight windows are open and we can see the Empire State Building or some other prominent landmark in the distance. It’s late in the day and the light is fading… shadows are creeping across the loft. Ben is wearing civilian clothes… because, let’s face it, if Marvel did resurrect the character for the 21st Century, the least they could do would be to give him a new costume… and clenching his fists at his side.

Ben: This is not my life. It wasn’t the first time, it isn’t now – it won’t ever be, no matter how many times you scrape up my remains into a petri dish and programme these phony cells to grow again…

Panel Four.

Ben turns towards the shadows. The Jackal steps out of the gathering gloom, his body twisted in one of those kooky Jackal poses. He’s grinning… but I’m not sure he can do anything else, wearing that mask. (Yes, he’s wearing his original Jackal costume – not the 90s “I am a Jackal, this is no costume” look. Because he’s had to regrow his own body as a clone and transfer his consciousness into that… again. All this would be explained. If I had to.)

Ben: …Professor Warren.

Jackal: Ah, but Ben, my boy, this time the choice wasn’t mine. As they used to say in Nazi Germany… “I voz only obeyink orderz!”

Panel Five.

Close on Ben, glaring at the Jackal.

Ben: Really, Professor? Whose orders this time…? Norman’s?

Voice (off-panel): No. Mine.

Panel Six.

Looking over Ben’s shoulder (the lines of his Spider Sense are buzzing) we see a second figure step out of the shadows behind the Jackal. It’s Mary Jane Watson. She is Serious.

Mary Jane: I mean, to paraphrase a certain princess…

Mary Jane: Help me, Ben Reilly – you’re my only hope.

Ben Reilly - Return - Ben Rosenthal

1. We are looking down on a cell. Half of the cell is bathed in bright light, while half appears to be in darkness. We can see a faint outline of a bed, and a table. On the table is a large glass of water, with a glass. On the light side are some shabby rags in a pile. There is also a table with a large glass of water on it, however the water inside is visibly dirty. A single figure sits towards the back of the cell, knees pulled up to his chest. His arms are holding his legs, his head face down, resting on his knees. He is dressed in rags. An IV drip hangs from his arm, with enough length on it to surmise that this person could move around freely with it still attached. The IV drip goes into the wall.

REILLY (Caption)
A fight. Black. This cell.

REILLY (Caption)
Norman did it. Caught me by surprise. Replaced me with another clone, and killed it. Everyone thinks I’m dead. Peter...

2. A close up of the man, his head raised. It is a severely thin and malnourished Ben Reilly. His blonde hair has grown out and been hastily cut, with the original brown hair grown in its place. He once again looks identical to Peter (besides the severely thin and malnourished part).

REILLY (Caption)
May as well be...

REILLY (Caption)
I AM the clone. Norman told me that. Repeatedly.

3. Reilly is standing up, the best as he can. His gaunt frame almost folds under its own weight.

REILLY (Caption)
No way to think. Too weak to keep trying to escape. Just have to survive. Thirsty.

4. Reilly’s hand is touching the glass in the white.


5. Reilly being electrocuted, due to touching the glass of water on the light side of the cell.

REILLY (Caption)
YARGHHHHHHH!

6. Reilly looking towards the dark side of the cell. His face is that of a broken man.

REILLY (Caption)
I’m only the clone. It won’t matter. Just...just so tired.

7. Reilly walks into the dark side of the cell from the light.

REILLY
Sorry, Peter.

GREEN GOBLIN (off panel)
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

Why Ben Reilly?

I’m going to explain the Clone Saga as quickly as I can. Deep breath now....

He was Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man’s clone. An exact duplicate of Peter, implanted with his memories and feelings by the morally corrupt lecturer Miles Warren. Then he died in an explosion. Or did he?

No. Peter’s clone awoke from his death-like state and took to the road. Realising that he was but a replica of the person he believed himself to be, he hit the road, spending five years travelling from town to town, trying to find a purpose for his fake life.

On returning due to Aunt May’s rapidly deteriorating illness, the clone who was now calling himself Ben Reilly, could not resist the urge to web sling, donned a hooded jumper and became the Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man’s amazing clone. Or was he?

No! Tests confirmed that he was the real Parker, and the Parker who had married Mary Jane and was expecting a child was the clone! EGAD!

Do not fret – turns out that Norman Osborn was behind it all, and had been planning the whole thing since his apparent death. Norman revealed himself to Ben, beat him up, donned the green and told Parker that he was the real deal, not Ben.

Ben died saving Peter, and disintegrated as a result forever proving that the Peter Parker we knew and loved has always been the real deal.

Man, Norman is a douche.

That was as simple as I could make the Clone Saga, a storyline which was meant to run through the Spidey titles for two years ended up going for almost five. The reason? At the time, Spidey was the only character making money, and Marvel had a bankruptcy to (at the time) avoid.

So what’s the difference between Ben and Peter, I hear you think. Ben is a darker, more moody than Peter. He constantly reminds himself over, and over, and over, that he is nothing but a worthless clone as he tries to justify a life for himself.

Ben was originally designed to replace the married and soon to be father Peter, once again making Spidey single and carefree, while Peter went on to live happily ever after. Not happy with having cake and eating it too, fans cried out in anger, and the plan was scrapped. Thus ends a very confusing, but somewhat awesome chapter in Spidey’s history.

I’m just happy that we got Norman back, no matter how big a douche he is.