Spider-Man: The Clone Saga- The Exile Returns
PART 2
Writers: Terry Kavanagh and Howard Mackie
Artists: Steven Butler and Tom Lyle
Ben Reilly’s triumph over Venom excels in exploring Ben's dilemmas, and establishing his identity as the Scarlet Spider!
Ranking: 5 stars
Welcome to the second part of CLONE MADNESS everyone, where we delve into THE CLONE SAGA, which was an era of Spider-Man history where everything was just clones, clones, and clones as far as the eye can see!
In my previous CLONE SAGA review, we got to take a look at the opening story arc of the saga, POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY, a story that should have been entirely focused on the return of Spider-Man’s long-lost clone Ben Reilly, but was instead more concerned with the boring and unnecessary machinations of Judas Traveller. What was sad about that story was that it not only foreshadowed how several of the story lines and characters that would be later introduced in THE CLONE SAGA would be completely pointless, but that had Traveller not been involved in the story, it potentially could have been a great beginning for what the writers planed to be one of the biggest events in Spider-Man’s history. Putting aside Traveller’s nonsense, the story was somewhat successful in conveying Peter Parker’s inner struggles with devolving into the dark vigilante known as “The Spider,” and was exceptionally well done in it’s handling of Ben Reilly’s character. However, if POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY was meant to fully establish Ben’s return and new status and Peter’s life, then the narrative of the story should have been focused primarily on Ben, rather than some uninteresting god-like being that has no place in Spider-Man’s mythos.
But the insight that we did get on Ben’s character in that story was handled very well in my opinion. What made Ben Reilly such an engaging character in POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY was that he not only served as a great foil for Peter’s recent struggles, but also expressed psychological dilemmas that made him a character in his own right despite being a clone. While Ben is a clone, he still retains all of the memories and experiences of the original Peter Parker, but acknowledges that they are not his own. Therefore, has been suffering an identity crisis, and has attempted to distance himself from Peter by traveling across the country in the hopes of forging his own individual identity. Ben’s struggles with accepting his status as a clone have made him more optimistic and hopeful, allowing him to gain a greater appreciation for what is precious in life, whereas was Peter currently succumbing to despair and madness in light of the recent tragedies that he’s endured. While this psychological dilemma makes Ben an interesting character in his own right, I felt that he was still Peter Parker as that he possessed not only the original's memories, but also his love for Aunt May and instinctive sense of responsibility. Had the entirety of POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY focused on these aspects of Ben’s characterization, I feel that it could have been more successful in setting up Ben return into Peter Parker’s life. Fortunately, the story arc that immediately followed, THE EXILE RETURNS, excels in not only properly establishing Ben’s permanent status quo, but also in developing his famous costumed identity, the Scarlet Spider, by having him prove his might against one of Spidey’s deadliest enemies, Venom!!!
Following POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY, the writers of THE CLONE SAGA at the time decided to divide the narrative focus the four Spider-Man titles between Peter and Ben, with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN focusing on Peter’s exploits during the saga, while WEB OF SPIDER-MAN and "adjective-less" SPIDER-MAN focused on those of Ben Reilly. THE EXILE RETURNS begins with Ben pondering to himself in the Natural History Museum. Having escaped from Traveller's occupation in the previous story arc, Ben is now determined to leave New York and distance himself from Peter and his family once again. This proves difficult for him however, as Ben is still unable to let go of his Uncle’s teachings of “with great power comes great responsibility,” and knows that he will eventually be forced to use his powers again to protect others. That moment soon arrives when one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies, Venom (aka Eddie Brock), returns to New York City. One of the few enemies to know Spidey’s secret identity, Venom once dedicated his life to destroying Spider-Man, but recently became a dark vigilante in San Francisco. Brock returned New York when he had heard about Traveller’s takeover of Ravencroft Asylum in the previous story, as one of the inmates being treated there was Carnage, Venom's symbiote offspring that he's determined to prevent from running free. Now that the danger has passed, Venom instead decides to unleash his rage upon the rest of the city’s criminals, potentiality endangering innocent lives caught in the crossfire. When Ben hears about Venom’s onslaught, he becomes determined to do what Peter was unable to do, take responsibility for Venom and permanently bring him to justice. Forming his own makeshift costume, Ben takes on the identity of Scarlet Spider and engages Venom in a brutal battle! Will Ben Reilly prove himself worthy despite being a clone and triumph over Venom, or will the Scarlet Spider fall to a villain that not even Peter Parker was able to defeat?
THE EXILE RETURNS succeeds in accomplishing the goals that POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY failed in doing: permanently establishing Ben Reilly’s return into Spidey’s mythos while also giving us deep insight on his character. Whereas the previous story arc replied upon a boring antagonist like Judas Traveller to set up a conflict, here the writers instead use Venom as the threat that motivates Ben to take up responsibility, which makes the character’s return feel more engaging and important. This is because Venom is one of Spidey’s most well-known and dangerous enemies, as he not only had all of the wall-crawlers powers and abilities, but was also knowledge of his secret identity. Because of Venom's power, Peter was never able to truly defeat him, and they ended up making a truce to not get in each other’s way. By having Ben Reilly defeat a major-player like Venom, the writers were not only able to convince readers that Ben was going to remain a permanent character in the Spider-Man comics, but also lay some ambiguity that Ben may actually be the original and not the clone. Ben’s triumph over Venom was a more successful establishment of the character’s return, as it not relied on a well-known villain to set up the threat, but also because of the development of Ben’s psychological dilemmas.
The build up of Ben deciding to take on Venom is expertly handled, as he believes that Venom’s relentless vigilante activities could easily endanger innocent civilians, and Ben cannot comprehend that Peter neglected to bring Venom to justice. Further conflict is added to this dilemma because Ben had previously accepted he’s a clone, and as a result, feels that he doesn’t have the right to interfere in Peter’s life. This puts Ben in a situation where he is forced to choose if he should continue running, or instead take up responsibility and use his powers to protect others. However, since he still has all of the original’s memories, he is motivated to stay in New York because of his love for Aunt May (whose comatose state prompted his return in the first place), and is inherently bound to the morals that Uncle Ben taught Peter. And because of Ben and May's lessons in responsibility, Spidey's clone feels that it his moral duty to bring a dangerous criminal like Venom to justice whereas Peter neglected to. These elements provide engaging depth to Ben's dilemma as they not only convey that Ben is both Peter Parker and his own separate character, but also that although he is a clone, he's still a human being that has evolved into a strong, noble, and optimistic individual through the suffering he has endured. Whether or not you hate THE CLONE SAGA as a whole, one cannot deny that Ben Reilly will forever be one of the most three-dimensional and well-developed clones in comic book history.
Other aspects of THE EXILE RETURNS that I feel I should elaborate on are Ben Reilly’s new costumed identity, the dualism between Ben and Venom, as well as the introduction of another new villain in THE CLONE SAGA. When Ben decides to challenge Venom, he creates a makeshift costume that’s out of skin-tight red garments that lack the web designs of Peter’s costume, web cartridges over his arms, and a sleeveless blue hoodie with a Spider-symbol at a 60-degree angle. The design of Ben’s costume, along with the name “Scarlet Spider” was met with groans by both readers and the writers working on THE CLONE SAGA, who thought it was cheesy and stupid. I actually do like Ben’s costume however, and feel that it not only holds up well as a classic Spidey-outfit, but is also cool while holding a bit of novelty value to it as well. Another area that I found intriguing was how Venom’s vigilante activities acted as a parallel to Ben’s conflict. Because Eddie Brock had previously made a truce with Peter, he vowed to never get involved in New York City again, and attempted to redeem his sins by becoming the “lethal protector” of San Francisco. But when he chooses to get involved again, he does so while simultaneously questioning if he should be doing so or not. I felt that this made Ben’s battle against Venom more engaging as both were struggling with similar issues and acted as a parallel towards each other. The final element that made THE EXILE RETURNS an entertaining story was that it also served as the first appearance of Kaine! As I’ve stated in previous reviews, Kaine is the other character from THE CLONE SAGA that I felt had great development and potential, and was the only new villain that served a purpose to the storyline (unlike Traveller and Scrier). Although Kaine doesn’t become directly involved the events of THE EXILE RETURNS, and his true identity is still a mystery (its later revealed in THE TRIAL OF PETER PARKER arc) he does make a grand entrance that helps build up what will transpire later during the saga. Kaine makes his appearance when he is being pressured by mobsters to assassinate the leader of a rival gang, but ignores their orders and kills them all when he reads about Ben’s return in the newspaper. Not only is the scene where Kaine kills the mobsters totally bada**, but it along with scenes of him watching Reilly from the shadows help establish that he not only holds a grudge against Ben, but that he is possibly an enemy from Ben’s travels, setting up the ambiguity of what events had transpired before Ben’s return. It not only serves as an awesome entrance for my other favorite character from THE CLONE SAGA, but also shows the reader that Ben, like Peter, has his own history, and gives further reason for the reader to want to know more about his past.
Overall, THE EXILE RETURNS ultimately accomplishes what it set out to do! The reader is given further insight into Ben Reilly’s character through his engaging dilemma, the character is able to properly establish his return by defeating one of Spider-Man’s deadliest enemies, and Kaine’s debut helps build up both future events and Ben’s mysterious past. While the saga itself would ultimately become one of the most hated comic events ever published, there are still readers to this day who hold deep love for Ben and wish that he could have remained a part of Spider-Man’s universe. THE EXILE RETURNS helps convey why Ben Reilly is such a well-developed and interesting character, and how he has been able to stand strong to this day despite the overall failures of THE CLONE SAGA!
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
-Thomas Paine
