Next January, comic book fans will get the chance to return to the era when Ben Reilly was the one, true Spider-Man in the all-new limited series, Ben Reilly: Spider-Man. Written by iconic Amazing Spider-Man scribe J.M. DeMatteis with artwork from David Baldeón, Marvel Comics has now unveiled a hidden piece of Ben Reilly history: artist Dan Jurgens’ unused Ben Reilly costume design!
Jurgens' original design sheet and sketch art from 1995 will adorn issue #1 as variant covers and it's said this costume may also play a surprising role in Ben Reilly’s saga by the end of the new series.
"Back in 1995 when we were launching the new Sensational Spider-Man series with Ben Reilly taking over as Spidey, we decided to tweak his costume," Jurgens explains. "Mark Bagley and I each took a swing and Mark’s classic design - quite appropriately -was the winner."
"I filed the art away and pretty much forgot about it until the new series came up in a recent conversation and I happened to think of it. Definitely cool now that, after all these years, this other version will finally see the light of day as one of the variants to Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #1. It’s even more cool to be drawing Ben again, with regular variant covers for the duration of the series!"
You can check out Jurgens' design below along with all six covers for the series (including variants by superstar artists like Skottie Young and Alex Maleev). Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #1 launches on January 19.
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