I’ve been clear that I hate and am boycotting the Clone Saga, and these issues cross into it–so I’ll skim them, just for the sake of this project.
But I hate Ben Reilly. I hate the whole idea of him. The only nice thing I have to say about the Clone Saga is that mid-’90s Marvel mostly sucked ass, and at least in the Spider-Man titles you didn’t have to wonder whether you should still buy the books. It was obvious that you shouldn’t.
The saga introduced literally hundreds of Spider-Man clones, including the unkillable master villain Spidercide.
When you behead him, he keeps on going.
He does some mayhem at Genetech, which is what pulls in The New Warriors. Reilly teams up with them (literally joining the team).
The story also introduces Helix, who was mutated by a virus created by Jackal, and got the ability to adapt his body to meet any threat.
At least I think that’s his power. It’s vaguely defined. He’ll joins the group and will stick around for a few more issues after the clone saga crossover. There’s also an attempt to make me give a crap about Speedball by introducing a subplot where his cat is kidnapped but it doesn’t work. I just don’t care.
New Warriors was a book that started out fresh and different, and now has become folded into–and a casualty of–the mid 90s rudderless Marvel world.
Issue #68 is not part of the clone saga and Ben Reilly is not in the group anymore. I didn’t read the issue of Web of Scarlet Spider (or whateverthefu(#) to find out why he quit, I’m just thankful he did.