Writer J.M. DeMatteis goes back to Ben Reilly’s first run with the webs for new book

Classic Marvel Comics scribe J.M. DeMatteis is back with the publisher, and set to take fans back to the 90s clone-era of Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man.

Gotta get back in time

If you don’t recognize the name J.M. DeMatteis, then you might not be a longtime Spider-Man fan. The writer penned one of the best-held Spidey arcs ever, with Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt.

That classic aside, he’s actually just a huge name in the comics industry. He’s done other work with Marvel, a bunch of indie stuff, and loads of comics and animated work for DC. Now though, he’s back with Marvel, and it’s once again for the wall-crawler. A very specific version of the wall-crawler.

If you read the headline, then you know where this is going; the 90s. Yes, and in-specific, the closing days of the Clone Saga. Perhaps the most hated Spider-Man tale of all time, the Clone Saga and its clone of Peter Parker is the setting and star of this new book.

Darkness looms over New York City as murders begin to pile up…but how are they all connected? Meanwhile, a mysterious figure from Ben’s past has crawled his way back into Ben’s life—does the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane hold the key to their identity?

Marvel Comics

DeMatteis will be telling new tales based on this time, and following Ben’s version of Spider-Man as he fights crime in NYC.

“What I’ve always found fascinating about Ben Reilly is that he’s Peter Parker—and yet he’s not. Life has taken Ben on a strange, twisted path and altered him, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse; but, like Peter, he’s a man who’s constantly striving to do the right thing, even if he doesn’t always succeed. Ben is wonderfully, painfully human, immensely relatable—and our new BEN REILLY: SPIDER-MAN series allows me to dive even deeper into Ben’s psyche, to explore him in new and, I hope, interesting ways.

“Having David Baldeon bringing this story to visual life has been the icing on the cake.  David’s work is incredibly dynamic.  Fluid and powerful.  He nails the big moments—we’ve got some major antagonists going up against Ben—but he always holds tight to the characters’ humanity, so that even the smallest, quietest moments shine and have resonance.

“It’s been a true joy returning the Spiderverse and reuniting with my old friend, Ben.”

J.M. DeMatteis

From DeMatteis and artist David Baldeón, Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #1 hits stands this January.