10 Comics You Loved As A Teen (But Should Never Return To)

2. The Clone Saga

Spider-Man Clone Saga Ending
Marvel Comics

This might come as a shock, given folks who read the Clone Saga as it released probably hated it with an unending passion for the constant back and forth over whether or not Peter Parker was a clone, or just how many clones there were, or whether it was the Jackal behind the whole thing or Norman Osborn, but here's the thing - everyone who was young back when the comic released absolutely adored the Scarlet Spider, for little reason other than he had a denim hoodie overlaid on a blank red costume.

Frankly, it all sounds ridiculous, but literally everyone adores Ben Reilly for the simple fact he looked really cool as the Scarlet Spider. Even the name 'Scarlet Spider' sounds impossibly cool, and while it's easy to look back at Ben today and recoil in horror at the context that brought him into our lives, it's still the case even today that the Scarlet Spider boasts major appeal amongst fans who grew up with the Clone Saga in their periphery.

And that's the thing! Ben Reilly is cool. His suit as the main Spider-Man designed by Mark Bagley? Super cool. The older costume? Also cool, and it's with that in mind that the character's continued survival starts to make sense, even when the Clone Saga itself is probably the messiest superhero comic ever published.

Still, even if you consider yourself a Reilly aficionado, it really isn't worth going through the dozens upon dozens of issues from the Clone Saga to complete his story. The memory is much better than the actual thing - trust me.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.