The Life of Reilly

The other night on the Cinegeek podcast (which you can download at www.cinegeek.com) we talked a bit about the Clone Saga that ran in the Spider-Man comics in the mid-90s. I have been doing a little investigating these last couple days and found this: http://lifeofreillyarchives.blogspot.com

I won't go into all the gory detail on how this storyline nearly destroyed the Spider-Man mythos or how it has become the poster child for what was wrong with the 90's comic industry. Instead I want to focus a bit on the Scarlet Spider.



Ben Reilly came out of bad situation. Being a clone of Peter Parker can't be easy. I mean the pressure of being a superhero, not to mention being married to a super model, has to be hard on a man. But I liked Ben. He was a freer version of Peter. No wife, no elderly Aunt to take care of, no financial issues. really he did have the best of both worlds. I liked it even more once we doned the Scarlet Spider outfit. I mean, c'mon, that sleeveless hoodie screams 90's. And I love the 90's. Plus he eventually joined the New Warriors who were one of my favorite super groups of the 90's. Hell, the first issue of their comic said it all:



So, this new "Spider-Man" joins an up-and-coming superhero group and what happens? Not much really. The editorial staff at Marvel tried to replace Peter with Ben and the fans lost their shit. So Marvel back peddled and brought the original Peter Parker back into the role of Spider-Man and killed Ben Reilly. But we all know how this goes in the comic book world. rumor has it that Ben Reilly is coming back to the Spider-Man universe. for the first time since the "One More Day" debacle I am looking forward to a Spider-Man comic. If only Marvel would have the foresight to give the Scarlet Spider his own series and let Matt Fraction write it. A boy can dream....

Where A Kid Can Be A Kid

I spent the evening at Chuck E. Cheese's with my 10 year old cousin. This is our ritual when she comes into town but this time was a little bittersweet. I realized that she's not going to want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's for much longer because she's starting to grow up. On the upside of all this is that her little sister is gonna be big enough to start to want to go in a couple years. And the little brother on the way will be right behind her. So I guess my days of taking kids to Chuck E's will continue for some time.

I remember what it was like when I was a kid to go to Showbiz Pizza Place. (For those of you who do not remember Showbiz Pizza Place please go to wikipedia and search for their page) Showbiz was my favorite place in the world when I was a kid. It rode in on the wave of video arcades back in the early 80's and it was the best place to have a birthday party. Back in the day this was their commercial:



I know it looks lame but it really was a great place to be. I can't vouch for their pizza as that was a lot longer ago than I want to admit but the atmosphere was out of this world. Soon they had "better" commercials:



I remember when Chuck E. Cheese's hit town a few years later. I was not impressed. That first Chuck E. Cheese's only lasted a couple years and I really thought that I'd seen the last of Chuck. But as time wore on Chuck E. Cheese's overtook Showbiz Pizza Place and Billy Bob and the whole Rock-afire Explosion were shuffled off into the memory banks of adults like myself. Showbiz Pizza Place and Toys R Us both remind me of how great it was to be a kid. I miss that stupid bear.

I Am Whatever You Say I Am

I feel like I should be battle blogging or something these days. I think the internet is not being used for the correct things lately: porn.

I had a good day today. It was long. It was tiring. But most of all it gave me something new to look forward to. It's always nice when life randomly picks me to receive a new start. Even if that new start is a reboot of something from my past. I never realized how much I missed living in the upstairs at my house. Rather than take a step back I have reconnected with something that I truly loved. I have been doing that a lot lately. I've started listening to music more these days as well as getting the house re-arranged. And I have made connections with old friends. All of these things bring me great joy. Life loves me right now.