@coreofthesun Venom is a better comparison to Kevin. I wouldn't be surprised either if the creation of Ben was inspired by Peter. Makes sense to me since that Man of Action were former Marvel writers before they formed Man of Action.
That's one of the things that made Ben at his best. When he's being cocky and fun-loving yet also mature and serious. This is something that I think the Original Series did well with and the sequel shows and the reboot show often fell short on. Ben was either too serious and therefore boring and uninteresting to watch or too much of a goofball and therefore became annoying and unlikable. I felt that the Original Series had a good balance between the two sides of Ben. In fact, I say that the Original Series had a good balance of a lot of things. The characters, the tone, etc.
I think it also helps that Ben had Gwen by his side. I think one of Omniverse's biggest mistakes was separating Ben and Gwen. Those two just work so well together. They balance each other out. They keep each other in check. They're like Batman and Robin, or on the topic of Spider Man, like Peter Parker and Mary Jane. I think Ben doesn't work well as a character without Gwen and vice versa. It's why I don't think Ben worked well as a character in Omniverse and it's why I don't think a Gwen spin-off show would work either.