It's Not a Shame About Ray

Scarlet Spider #1
Writer: Christopher Yost
Pencils: Ryan Stegman

I was super excited to find this book waiting snuggly in my folder at the comic shop. I was curious about this title the first time I heard about it a few months ago. I know what you are thinking……not the damn clone saga again. Well, it’s not. So don’t hate just to hate! So assuming you’ve been living in some other universe or just aren’t that familiar with Spider lore, let me run this down for you (cuz that’s how we roll at the Hammond Comics blog). Miles Warren, aka Jackal, created all three Spider-Man clones. The first was Kaine and he was defective; he had a cellular degeneration problem and that’s never good. The second was Ben Reilly and he became the original Scarlet Spider. Then came Spidercide and he was a bad guy that teamed up with Jackal. Ben Reilly was impaled by the Green Goblin’s glider and died a most horrible death. Now, fifteen years later, Kaine, reformed, would honor Ben’s memory by making the Scarlet Spider his own. Though somewhat reformed, Kaine still battles with being a hero or being a villain. Simply put, the Scarlet Spider is just a darker shadier (in a good way) version of Spidey.

So far, so good Marvel, but we both know you’re playing with fire with the whole clone thing. But, like I said, it seems to be going in a totally different direction. I noticed the first thing that happened was that they landed him in Texas, far from NYC and Spider-Man. So, hopefully Yost cooks up some fresh new villains for our fresh new web-slinger. Time will tell if this is just another ploy to get us to buy shit comics or if this title holds water.

The Ray: Books 1 and 2 of 6
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Pencilier: Jamal Igie
Inker (tracer): Rich Perrotta
Colorist: Guy Major

I’ve really been enjoying this series. The art is what really excites me the most. Lucien, aka The Ray, glows literally. He gets hit by some kind of particle beam of experimental light that accidentally fired across Earth’s surface. Now Lucien can alter the way he reflects light, hover in areas of concentrated light, and of course, move at what? You guessed it……the speed of light. Even though I have found this run to be entertaining and enjoyable, I’ve one major problem. In the first two issues he battles gigantic telepathic jellyfish, super-sized flying sting rays, and an army of giant metallic pill bugs who abducted his girlfriend…..oh wait….I like that part. Not bad DC, not bad at all.


By: Cody Miller