Spideydude.com

Clone Saga Chronicles Part One: The Beginning.

WEBHEADS! It’s ME Zach Joiner. Yup, the guy who runs this website. Awhile ago, I started an ‘alpha’ edition of this very series of articles because A) I wanted a informal introduction, and B) I also wanted to poke fun at the Clone Saga’s ‘Jump into the pit of doom’ moment. Note that it’s not our ‘jump the shark’ moment, Because for fans of that, it comes a couple of months earlier.

Folks, since I’ve been around Spidey Boards, the Clone Saga is hated. I mean, hated. Imagine, if you will, a story where your fan base is divided, sales are slipping after a boost intitally, and you’ve got people leaving in droves.

Sound Familiar?

It does to me. Because take the Clone Saga out of this, and look at the current predicament.  These same people who left the book, more than likely are the same people who are leaving now. As an Administrator over at the Spider-Man Crawl Space Website, I have the… duty to stifle the hatred of Rabid Fanboys (and Girls!) and direct them to polite conversation. It’s a thankless job, but when your good buddy webmaster plugs your site every month on the #1 rated Spider-Man Centric Podcast on the intertoobs, then you gladly accept that as payment.

But with the Clone Saga, you got more of the same. If the internet existed back then, I’d be on the Pro-side, and the guys like the infamous Berryman would be on the Anti side. (Sorry  George.) It happens. But here’s the deal with the ‘Saga: It was one of the best selling story lines of the 90’s.  And it took a change of the guard for people in Marvel to finally admit it. Joe Quesada has said Numerous times that it’s the most requested trade paperback series at Marvel and if it was SO BAD, then why would it be so requested? (And that request was FINALLY granted.)

That’s what this series of articles is about.

We’re here to tie everything together, give some insight into what happened, and explain my notion of a simple conclusion: Ben Reilly is the only and the best person who could take the mantle from Peter Parker. Yes, as much as I am a fan of Mayday Parker, we’re talking about the 616 or main continuity.

To fully understand the Clone Saga, we have to go back to the 70’s. Originally the brainchild of Gerry Conway, the Clone Saga was a cute little one year arc that ran though Amazing (back when there was only one true Spider-title) that introduced the Jackal (Who was really Professor Miles Warren, Peter’s longtime professor at college), Gwen Clone, and even the Punisher. It’s climax was Amazing 149, where Spider-Man fought… Spider-Man! It is the story where if the Clone lived, he would have detonated the bomb strapped to Ned Leeds, it would bring down Shea Stadium. It’s also the story where we see a certain smoke stack that will come in handy later. As for Gwen’s Clone? She’d go into limbo. Harry Osborn took pictures of Peter and Ben, er Clone, and gave them to Jolly Jonah. It’s also the last time we see Jackal, for at least 20 years.

So how did Peter know it was him? Don’t gasp you anti MJ lovers, but it was his love for Mary Jane Watson!

That’s right. Peter deduced that the Clone’s implanted memories were from some time ago, due to Professor Warren getting samples way back when Peter and Gwen were still dating and she was very much alive. He cloned them for revenge, because a little bird told Warren his secret. (Okay it didn’t go down that way, but it sounded good.)

According to the Osborn Journals, Jackal was manipulated by Norman to do the dirty work. Osborn felt that getting out of the way and biding his time would be for the best and That and Harry started to come into his own at this time.

One loophole that enabled the Clone’s Return was the fact that Doc Connors results never were given on panel after Spidey went to him and asked for tests to be ran. Had that happened we wouldn’t have had as much story to work with.  So Kudos to Gerry for forgetting a plot point. (Or saying ‘Hey, I love MJ and therefore I am the original)

Flash Forward to the 90s. (Remember that show on Disney? Anyone?)

Some say that the Clone Saga was doomed to start.  It’s associations with the ‘who is FAÇADE’ debacle may scare people to death. Luckily, it was only a backup. You see, Ben at this point kept in touch with May though a series of conversations that he had with her, generally ‘sorry wrong number’. May was in the hospital seemingly dying of a stroke. (Whoo! The Dingbat’s Dead!) But let’s back up a little bit more shall we?

Clone-Man was left to die. He was worthless and a failure sent off to die a horrid death while his genetic twin was off doing who knows what, after his ass was just kicked, by said twin, and you and I would be feeling pretty down right? Right. So Clone-Man does what everyone would do. He lashes out, not only that, but in a vain attempt at killing himself, he realizes that he can’t do it. Peter Parker, the man who haunts him with his memories won’t let him do it. Clone realizes that his reason for being, that Responsibility thing that drives him to wear the red and blues, is the only thing that keeps him sane. You see, Ben Reilly as he would later call himself, at this point of his life is no different than when his Twin was bit by that little spider. He had no life experience, none, the only thing he knew was what he was programmed to know, so essentially, at this point, Ben Reilly’s adolescence ends here. The moment he left the world of New York behind, with only webshooters, a mask and gloves, he was crossing the stage and graduating to becoming his own man. Meanwhile, we find that there is a man stalking him. A man who would rather make Clone-man, who is also his genetic twin, suffer. He’s a failed first attempt at cloning, and he can’t stand the ‘perfection’ that is before him. You see, he too was manipulated by evil men into thinking for certain that the man who rode off into the night was the real deal, while his other brother, the ‘clone’ is having the life he could never have. It’s sick an twisted, but when your entire existence is that of nothingness, and pain, that’s exactly what happens to you.

Now, many I don’t think see this as the stepping stone. I view this part of the story, the real beginning, the backup story that was running though ASM 400, SM 47 and Spec. 223, where we get most of this reference material, as the true beginnings of the story. Ben Reilly became Ben Reilly when he adopted the name of his adoptive parents. It still had the connection to Peter Parker, but it was shedding that past and moving forward. He was on the road a lot. He finally met Steward Trainer and the man saved his life. Steward set up the walls that were helpful, i.e. a Social Security Card, Birth Certificate, and establishing the life that he would lead.

But old impulses die hard. He saved a family’s life (Lost Years), and continued to be helpful to the communities that he was staying in (Unlimited 14). Eventually, something or someone would bring him back into the fold. Enter May Parker.

She has her 34^th Medical Problem, and she’s in the hospital for the 185^th time, and this forces Ben to come to New York, Ben feeling such a connection to May through the phonecalls and his memories, feels compelled to come back and we finally see dynamic duo together for the first time.

But lets go back again. Stop Groaning, as there is a reason.

We need to further understand what motivated this turn of events. Because if not for the decadence of the 90s, we would’ve never seen this story hit the printers. Lets go back to DC. DC killed Superman. Broke Batman’s back. And the Ball was punted to Marvel to produce, and boy did they return it well. Look at it this way: The Clone saga started on the 1 yard line. It moved to about  the 50. Then, after throwing a long bomb, got picked off and returned deep in your own territory . After holding off the defense, you got running again and finally in a Hail Mary moment, you score a legendary story in the end: with it’s most lasting impact being the very very end.

But  enough about Football.

Terry Kavanagh was the one guy you can either kiss his feet, or want to shank in a back alley.  This is the one guy who is largely responsible for the Clone Saga. And so who better to start this than in Web Of Spider-Man 117, where he handled the writing duties, and Steven Butler handled the Art Chores. We meet a big player early on, Judas Traveller, who wanted to look into the mind of the super criminal, and eventually Spider-Man. He leads Peter there to Ravencroft, and starts messing with his mind. Ben then feels compelled to do something and helps Peter out.

Ben Reilly goes to see May, and after being summoned to Ravencroft, we see Peter and Ben finally meet up. Ben and Peter both go on to defeat Carnage with perfect harmony, among other things, and fight some dude named Traveller.

It’s at this point we start to see why these two work so well together. Even Rusty, Ben Brings his A-game, and does well against Carny. And we also see another aspect of Ben: his inability to decide whether or not to say. It’s the classic Peter Parker ‘I shouldn’t be Spider-Man!’ Shtick, and it works well here and is refreshing.

But you have to understand, there was several reasons for the way the Power and Responsibility story was done: we introduce the Clone, May gets a visit from Ben, and we also get our Mystery Man, which is a phrase that will come common for the next year of books, so get ready to get tired of that word.

But really, in the first 3 months, we got the sense that this was moving at a fast pace. The one thing that was great about the saga was the unpredictability of the books, and it will play a big role in this series. While I want to get back to the story, You have to get the story that this was the BIGGEST SECRET that was going around the Marvel Offices. Bringing back the Clone was huge. And we get his name in the first arc.

It’s nice to see Peter in the role of coming back from the edge, which is a bit of a preview for next time.

NEXT: “Back From the Edge” And “Exile Returns” all the way to the Classic Amazing Spider-Man 400!