Apparently, not only is Scarlet Spider going to be steeped in Clone Saga lore, but writer Chris Yost is also going to cover another mostly hated Spider-Man story: The Other. Why? Who knows. Seems like a silly course of action to take on a series like this. I don’t know the numbers that Scarlet Spider is pulling in, but I have to imagine any series starring Kaine is in constant danger of being canceled. So why try something so risky as to have Kaine tap into his inner spider from The Other? It’s a weird story choice, but this is an alright issue.

Scarlet Spider #14

Scarlet Spider #14 also features possibly the first in-panel appearance of Ben Reilly in, like, a million years. That’s got to count for something, right?

Comic Rating: 3/5: Alright.

I’m just not sold on this exploration of Kaine’s inner-spider. When writer J. Michael Straczynski first introduced the idea of Peter Parker having some kind of totemic connection with arachnids, it was a neat idea that led to some really good stories. Then the writers took it a little too far with The Other, which featured Peter Parker dying, his body being turned into a cocoon and all manner of other strange transformations. It was intended to give Peter some new powers…but the writers immediately moved on and ignored all of those new powers almost completely. Nobody particularly liked The Other and it had no lasting effects.

Until Scarlet Spider came along. I realize that Kaine pretty much has all the powers that Peter did in the wake of The Other, but that doesn’t mean The Other was a good story or needs to be revisited. Especially not so early into Scarlet Spider’s run. I’d rather see him being an awesome hero at this point, not having an existential crisis of person.

But this is probably neither here nor there. Personally I’m against the whole general idea, but Yost hasn’t steered us wrong yet with Scarlet Spider, so I should definitely give him a shot. At least the art is better in this issue.

Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!

Kaine is dead, and Aracely is on the run from the Wolves. She charges through the crowds of Houston, her empathy running wild as she infects normal civilians with her fear. It even works against the Wolves when they catch her.

I guess wolves are good at tracking

Aracely is able to get the male Wolf to feel enough fear that she escapes into a taxi.

Meanwhile, in death (or whatever state Kaine is in), our hero finds himself in some kind of church for some reason. I’ve never known Kaine to be religious in any way, but he’s quickly turning to God in the afterlife. He stumbles around the dark church until he sits in for a confession. So Kaine’s Catholic? That’s good to know, I guess. And as such, Kaine is mocked by the spirits of a priest, the Jackal, a woman he killed and Ben Reilly!

This series as a whole needs more Ben Reilly

Always good to see the original Scarlet Spider in a comic book again.

Kaine gets mad and confronts the specter by smashing the confessional. The specter priest reveals himself to be some kind of spider totem god who taunts Kaine. Why do they always do that?

Now that is a real ‘spider-man’

Kaine, of course, punches the thing, but it just continues to mock him. It tells Kaine that he’s only fighting himself, that this thing has always been inside of him. Kaine is wrong to think he’s a man. He’s always been a spider. The god grows huge and lifts Kaine up, retelling the story of how The Great Weaver chose Peter Parker to become Spider-Man and embrace the spider within, but Peter rejected that destiny. Well now the totem has picked Kaine. And the totem is responsible for bringing Kaine back to life after he was killed by Kraven. And as such, the spiders begin to wrap Kaine’s body into a web cocoon.

Looks cozy

Meanwhile, Aracely has fled to the Third Ward in Houston. She’s still running and hoping that someone finds her. She’s in luck, because the Wolves find her immediately. The male grabs her while the female reverts to human form and says the Coyote has warned them about Aracely. Aracely asks who the Wolves are and what they want from her. The female smiles and calls Aracely a “little god”. She says the girl’s full name is Maria Aracely Josefina Penalba De Las Heras, or quite possibly Huitzilopochtli reincarnated. Options vary, apparently. But could Aracely be some kind of Mexican goddess? It’s possible.

The male, Carlos, says they should just kill Aracely since she is the most dangerous of all of them. The female thinks they can use Aracely to help them against Coyote. But Carlos doesn’t want to betray Coyote, since he returned their powers to them.

Fortunately, just then, Aracely gets rescued by some unlikely heroes.

They’re just a neighborhood watch group

I’d really be curious to know if there was a gang called The Sharks living in the Third Ward, or even if the Third Ward was known for gang activity in general. Either way, it’s a fun turn of events. I only wish we’d known of The Sharks in advance, then their sudden arrival would be even more exciting.

Still, their sudden intervention is funny enough. The Sharks seem to know the Wolves and a big gang fight erupts, with the gang members holding their own against the Wolves…for the most part. The leader of the gang, who calls himself the Shark, attacks the Wolves directly, holding them at bay while Aracely flees. Though I think he was more into hurting the Wolves than in actually helping Aracely. I hope this guy survives. I think The Sharks, and the leader specifically, could become awesome reoccurring characters.

Aren’t sharks from San Antonio?

Elsewhere, Kaine is still arguing with the spider totem. It tells him that he’s always been a spider, a monster, and now he should embrace it. All Kaine has to do is say ‘yes’ and embrace the spider totem, and he’ll have more power than ever before. Well Kaine being Kaine, he says ‘no’ and chops the totem’s head off. He says he doesn’t care about Parker or the Great Weaver or spiders or any of this nonsense. If he’s dead, just let him die!

But then he thinks of Aracely and how she’s alone out there with the Wolves. Kaine can’t let that stand, so he says ‘yes’ and he’s embraced by the spider totem.

This leads to Kaine waking up out of his web cocoon as some kind of spider monster guy.

He needs to see a barber

I don’t think artist Khoi Pham was the best choice to draw that spider monster man. It mostly looks silly. But then I’ve been against Pham since he took over this comic. Fortunately, it looks like Scarlet Spider is going to get a new artist in May. I can’t wait. Still, the art was better than the previous issue, I’ll give it that much. Pham drew an appropriately creepy spider totem, and has the action well in hand with the Sharks.

As I said before, I’m not too keen on Kaine exploring The Other storyline. It just doesn’t interest me. I want to see Kaine as a hero, I want to watch him save Aracely, but not looking like that. It just feels a little disappointing, like he’s not the Scarlet Spider, he’s going to be this other thing. This is only the 14th issue and a bit too soon for Kaine to be questioning his very soul. Or maybe not. I dunno. I’m feeling very wishy washy on this whole topic. The issue isn’t bad, and if this is the story Yost wants to tell, so be it. But I’m not particularly sold on doing something like this so soon.

Still, I’m going to be along for the ride. Next issue should be a good one.