The Real Clone Saga Hardcover Trade
Don’t go adjusting your web settings, true believers. You not at the wrong place and this is Walter, TSChamp and That Guy! here at Spideydude.com. Zach a.k.a. Spideydude asked me to do a review of The Real Clone Saga Hardcover Trade. Since Zach as always answered my call when I ask him to guest on my podcast, I told him I would do it by the end of the weekend. Well, I am late. Anyways, this is my review of The Clone Saga the Hardcover Trade.
Spider-Man: The Real Clone Saga
Written By Tom DeFalco and Howard Mackie
Art by Todd Nauck
Inked by Victor Olazaba
Lettered by Dave Sharp
The Story: This is a revisit of the Clone Sage based on the notes of Tom DeFalco and Howard Mackie. This isn’t your dad’s Clone Saga folks. The basic story here is Peter’s clone returns because Aunt May fell ill due to a mysterious illness. Mary Jane Parker finds out she is pregnant. Peter learns about his Clone fight, make up, and become brothers. They battle Kaine and the Jackle together before facing off against the mastermind behind everything Harry Osborn. Ben heads off into the sunset to find his way in the world as Spider-man while Peter and Mary Jane Parker set about to raise their daughter May Parker.
The Good: When I was reading this in monthly format, I had hard time adjusting to the leaps in time. In this format I found that was less of the case. The story flowed smoothly and kept me turning the page for more.
I was shocked that I found that I cared about the character of Ben Reilly now and want more stories based off this take of the story. In this age of “putting genies back in the bottles” and shock tactics used by writers, this was a refreshing breeze of classic storytelling.
Todd Nauck art captures the feel of the original Clone Saga with still having a modern touch. The art enhanced the story and didn’t distract you from the story. Todd Nauck was a good choice for artist of this series. He really impresses me.
The Bad:
The little time jumps that sometimes happen. It isn’t that distracting, but I can see someone needing to read it twice to understand what happen. That is the only thing I found fault with series, but it is less of factor when you read it in TPB.
HHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I couldn’t do this review without bringing up the hoodie. Which oddly enough wasn’t really present in this book, Peter does say something about it to Ben. However, it wasn’t clearly drawn in the Scarlett Spider costume. Odd?
I know this is a modern take on the Clone Sage, but the references to modern shows and celebrities did throw me. The mentioning of America Idol brought the thought of “that was around during the Clone Saga” to my mind.
Overall, it was a nice way of rewarding these guys for the long service at Marvel. It was chance to tell the story their way and nice nod to the fans of the Clone Saga for defending it. (Still no excuse for Maximum Clonage which made me drop the title back in the 90s) The really thing I hate about this book is that I wanted this story to be one in continuity than one we got back in the 90’s. No OMD. No Drunken hook-ups. No masked sex with Black Cat. Oh well, I got one Spider-man story this year that doesn’t have Ultimate in the title that made me happy. Well done sirs!
4.5 out 5 baked clones recommend you buying this trade paper back
