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Who was the Scarlet Spider? Well you see, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, turned out to be a clone. The “real” Peter Parker returned as Ben Reilly, and would call himself the Scarlet Spider. Confused yet? Fans hated this so much that the story was altered to reveal that Ben Reilly was actually the clone and Peter Parker was the original after all.
All this took place around the time the comic book industry crashed. Coincidence?
In the world of comic books, where convoluted storylines and outrageous twists are the norm, the Scarlet Spider saga stands on its own pedestal of absurdity. As if having a character like Spider-Man wasn’t intriguing enough, imagine throwing in a surprise identity crisis and cloning debacle. The creative minds behind this bizarre plot surely had a field day, leaving readers to scratch their heads and chuckle in disbelief. Yet, amidst the chaos and confusion, some die-hard fans found a way to embrace the Scarlet Spider, reminding us that in the realm of comics, anything is possible – even defying logic with a web-sling.
I found the comic Scarlet Spider #1 in my collection of comics from when I was a kid who used to collect comics. (Did that sound redundant? Whatever.) I am so glad I saved it all these years because it is worthless in value (Affiliate Link). The Scarlet Spider’s costume with his hoodie and ankle pouches wasn’t cool enough for him to be a lovable character, it seems.
Scarlet Spider 1 is part 3 of 4 of the story Virtual Mortality. His mentor or something literally lost his mind while connected to the internet and attacked by “the new doctor octopus”. Ben Reilly also takes a job as a waiter to pay the bills, and encounters an assassin.
What is interesting about this comic… perhaps even more so than the story itself… is that the comic panels are printed completely to all edges of the page. So much so that the top of the page obtrudes the panels with that colored rectangle thingie, obviously an undesired result due to the printing process.
On the back cover, there is an advertisement for Ball Bark Fun Franks. They were basically microwavable miniature hot dogs. Seeing this ad brought back a lot of nostalgia. I loved those things. Has anything I discussed bring back any nostalgia for you? Such as Scarlet Spider’s Hoodie? If it has, let me know in the comments below!