Customer Reviews

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 17: Clone Saga

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I approached the "Clone Saga" that makes up "Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 17" with great trepidation. After all, it was the cloning plotlines that became for me where "The Amazing Spider-Man" jumped the shark and I stopped reading it and the rest of Marvel's Spider-Man titles. Then there is the way that writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley have consistently come up with creative twists and turns on the original Spider-Man stories, which becomes an additional concern when you are getting up to issue #100 of "Ultimate Spider-Man" because the first time around Stan Lee came up with Peter Parker creating a formula so he would no longer be Spider-Man and it backfired, ironically making him more like a spider by giving him two additional pairs of arms. So you link "Spider-Man" and "clones," and I start getting really nervous.

"Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 17: Clone Saga" collects issues #97-104 (which means it does not include #105 containing the epilogue). At this point Peter is dating Kitty Pryde and since everybody knows her identity as Shadowcat, when she is seen romantically with Spider-Man that means Kitty cannot be seen dating Peter. However, the fact that Peter is still seeing Mary Jane is driving Kitty crazy: what she calls "hanging out" he calls "going to school together." Their relationship is not helped when MJ drags Peter to the mall so they can talk and he can get back on his game and Ultimate Scorpion shows up and a fight ensues. The ante is upped considerably when Spider-man unmasks the Scorpion and sees his own face looking back at him. Meanwhile, MJ is suddenly abducted from her own bedroom. Spider-Man takes the unconscious Scorpion to the Baxter Building so that Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four can run tests. The results show a 94.2% DNA match with Peter Parker and now the fun begins in earnest.

Bendis and Bagley really pour it on in this story line. In addition to the debut of the Ultimate Scorpion we have the first appearance of the Ultimate Spider-Woman, the "return" of Gwen Stacy, and another even more surprising appearance by somebody who is supposed to be dead. When Aunt May finds Peter and the late Gwen Stacy in her kitchen you figure that things could not be getting any more complicated, but it does, and all before we actually get to issue #100. We still have Ultimate Carnage, Ultimate Six-Armed Spider-Man in a Black Costume, and Ultimate Kaine (sort of), so there are more than enough clones to shake a stick at in this story arc. The net result is, in a word, excessive. I have not yet listed all of the clones let alone all of the major players that make up the "Clone Saga." In these issues Bendis and Bagley get to one of the landmark moments in the history of Spider-Man and because it happens in the middle of everything else that is going on the effect is rather diminished. Or maybe I was just numb after reeling from all of these things being dumped on our young hero.

One of the strengths of "Ultimate Spider-Man" has been the use of multi-issue story arcs so that Bendis and Bagley do not have to come up with a different villain each month (that is how you end up with the likes of the Terrible Tinkerer). If you count multi-part stories in "The Amazing Spider-Man," the Scorpion also showed up in the 17th Spider-Man story, which was issue #20, towards the end of the second year of Lee and Steve Ditko's run on the title. Taking multiple issues to tell a story involving Spider-Man versus the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus or whoever, allows for more depth in the story telling. Here the piling on of characters and plot lines provides a sense of density rather than depth. The "Clone Saga" is certainly ambitious, more comparable to the "Ultimate Six" mini-series than anything else, but I actually found it to be the least satisfying volume to date.

Next up is the Ultimate Knights story arc, which will be significant because it will be the last "Ultimate Spider-Man" stories drawn by Bagley, which has announced he would leaving the title with issue #110. This ends one of the longest continuous runs by a creative team on a Marvel comic book, technically beating the record set by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on the "Fantastic Four" (I understand ignoring the "FF" annuals that would mean Bendis and Bagley fall short in number of stories, but anything in triple figures is impressive since we are talking eight-plus years of work). Of course, Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones did ten years on "Groo the Wanderer" for Marvel, but the witless barbarian was never one of the flagship characters of the company.

I got started reading Ultimate Spider-Man a few years back. I liked the idea of being able to jump right into the story without reading 40 years of back issues.

While I have a lot of respect for the original Spider-Man (go Stan Lee), Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley have put together an awesome retelling of the Spidey legend.

The Clone Saga is the best volume yet! The storytelling is excellent; many twists and turns, yet not too confusing to follow. Many rewarding surprises and conclusions.

And the artwork is outstanding! I get tired of comics where every guy is super-ripped, and every girl is busting out of her clothes.

Mark Bagley's characters are attractive, expressive (love the eyes), and instantly recognizable (every guy and girl doesn't look exactly the same with a different color hair and outfit).

If you've been following the Ultimate Spider-Man series, you will love this book. But if you're just getting started, you will want to read some of the back story first.

NO SPOILERS
I stopped reading Ultimate Spidey before this trade. I then re-read the series and picked up where I left off. I was shocked to discover that the clone saga holds some of the best material in the series. I was losing faith in Bendis after Hobgoblin and Carnage. This trade totally redeemed the stale parts of the run, and now I'm freshly re-addicted to the series. NO SPOILERS DO NOT READ SPOILERS IN OTHER REVIEWS.

Clone Saga brought a very strong mystery element. I couldn't guess who was behind what was going one the entire time. I won't give away details, but some really crazy stuff happens, and Spider-man is really brought to his breaking point. This by far is the most sadistic attack on Peter in the history of Ultimate Spider-man. The appearances by other heroes becomes crucial to the great story, and I was happy to see a struggle between Spidey and Nick Fury. Without a doubt, Clone Saga is one of the top three trades of the series.

My advice, keep reading. You may have felt uninterested after Deadpool, but trust me it gets a whole lot better. Clone Saga has convinced me to finish the series, by giving me something incredible to read and something incredible to look forward to.

Length:: --:-- Mins

More than any previous TPB, the clone saga proves that the Ultimate Spider-man comics are not about regurgitating the original Spider-man characters and plots. The Scorpion and even Dock Ock featured in the Clone Saga are not at all the same characters conceived in the 1960s. The Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy, and Aunt May are also very different characters than we would expect from the mainstream Spider-man universe, and they have very different relationships with Peter Parker. This is not at all a bad thing. It means that instead of grasping at someone else's vision, Brian Michael Bendis is telling the story that to him and his present-day audience is fresh and meaningful.

Don't get me wrong, though. This is still good comic book fun, with all the ludicrous, over-the-top twists and turns the genre implies; in fact, it is even more extremely so. But if you are the kind of person that can suspend your sense of disbelief for a little bit and enjoy some pure entertainment, it doesn't get better than the Clone Saga.

Penciller Mark Bagley is in top form here--there are some truly steller panels in this TPB. As Bagley leaves Ultimate Spider-man for other projects, his contributions to Ultimate Spider-man, and especially his work in the Clone Saga, will not be forgotten.

Loved this book, thought about getting after reading it at the library several times. The artwork and the story-telling were top-notch...otherwise wouldn't have bothered to pick this TPB up as I just don't have the room for stuff most of the time. The Jessica Drew character rocks-funny how she was still thinking of herself as Peter a few weeks later. And when will Peter quit telling others who he is?

It takes what the clone wars sort of was and reworks it into a modern day mini adventure. Works well and satisfies.

I've collected all the Ultimate Spiderman books now and just finished getting through the Clone Saga. One thing I enjoy doing with graphic novels is to thumb through initially and see if I can guess to story from the images... I'm usually off-base and this was no exception. Like everything I've read from the Bendis/Bagley team, the story sucks you in and holds your attention and the panels are second to none. If you like Spidey and enjoy new twists on previously told stories, you have to get not only this book, but the entire series!
Must admit this did not fulfill missing Gwen from the line up though...

Picked this up from the library.

These are my observations:

i) there are too many Spiderman comic series out there. Spiderman has gone down the dismal route of Batman. Soon, we shall have a revival of the Spiderman family, similar to Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Superdog, Superchimp, Superhorse, you remember those?

ii)Marvel has somehow decided to keep Spiderman in a state of permanent teenager angst, a sort of Peter Pan character who will never grow up despite the various artists and writers working on him.

iii) bearing the above in mind, a clone saga compounds the confusion on multiple Parker wannabees. This issue features various clones of Parker, including a convenient explanation of how the Jessica Drew clone (Spiderwoman) is actually the female transmofiguration of Parker with a double dose of the X chromosome. Why they did it is not explained. Parker is also cloned as his own father, who learns the truth before he expires. I am not sure why there is no expiry date on Gwen Stacy, brought back to life as a clone in this issue.

iv) Boy, is Peter whiney. Never mind that. Here, even MJ gets transformed into a "thing" with superpowers. If you cheapen the idea that everyone and anything can have superpowers, then the comic is truly burdened with trying to give every clone and character a cameo appearance. equal time appears to be shared, so you have a plot where all the two-bit characters share equal billing with Peter. But given the fact that Peter is soo whiney, any distraction helps.

v) the terrible manga drawings are the reason why I don't buy this series.

Bendis makes it nice and clear and doesn't go into a convoluted backstory of people twisting parkers DNA, replacing him as peter parker, coming back 20 years later to do it again, and a clone wondering around with an evil clone chasing him, only to black mail peter later on, blah blah blah.

Nope! Bendis gives us some clones, shows us some interesting "ultimate" takes on villians and leaves us with a very cool unexpected ending with a character that will play heavily into spiderman and ultimatum. Great story here!