Clone Saga
The "Clone Saga" is an extended comic-book storyline published by Marvel Comics, revolving around the superhero Spider-Man and clones of him, as well as of other characters. The second and best-known story arc of this name ran from October 1994 to December 1996, and quickly became one of the most controversial Spider-Man stories ever told. Although it was intended to wrap up in less than a year, the comics sold very well and the writers were encouraged to prolong the saga as long as possible. This led to some changes to the storyline that ultimately proved divisive. Despite the controversy, the 1990s Clone Saga remains one of the most popular Spider-Man story arcs.
Although many people were involved in its creation, the Clone Saga is most closely associated with Terry Kavanagh, who proposed the idea; Howard Mackie, who worked on the majority of the smaller crossovers involved in the overall story arc; and Gerry Conway, who devised the original story. Executive editors on the storyline included Tom DeFalco, Bob Budiansky, and Bob Harras.
Story arcs
There were two "Clone Sagas": the original storyline in the 1970s and the second saga which consumed all the regular Spider-Man series, several limited series and one-shot issues between 1994 and 1997. Between the two, there were also two smaller storylines that dealt with elements from the original saga.The original Clone Saga
In mid-1973, writer Gerry Conway made the decision to kill off the girlfriend of Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 because the editorial team felt that Gwen had become stale as a character and they wanted to instill an additional element of tragedy into Peter Parker's life. In the follow-up arcs, Conway introduced a new villain called the Jackal and let Gwen Stacy seemingly return from the dead.The Jackal was the villain identity of Gwen and Peter's biology professor Miles Warren, who could not cope with the death of Gwen, with whom he had a secret infatuation. As an expert on cloning, he creates clones of both Gwen and Peter, discovering Peter is Spider-Man as a result. The Jackal blames Spider-Man for Gwen's death and wants to kill him. The Jackal kidnaps Spider-Man and forces him to fight his clone. Both men believe they are the real Peter Parker. The two Spider-Men soon decide to work together, but one is seemingly killed by the same bomb that kills the Jackal. The surviving Spider-Man determines he is the original because he is in love with Mary Jane Watson, which did not happen until after Warren created the clone. Spider-Man drops the body of the clone into an incinerator. Gwen Stacy's clone disappears to find a new life for herself.
The Amazing Spider-Man #149, the climactic installment of the original Clone Saga, leaves it ambiguous whether it is the original Spider-Man or his clone who perishes in the bomb explosion. Conway said this ambiguity was unintentional, as at the time he took it as a given that Marvel would never replace the star of The Amazing Spider-Man with a clone.
Clone stories in the interim between the Clone Sagas
A few years later, Spider-Man encountered Carrion, who claimed to be a degenerated clone of Warren.The clone of Gwen Stacy reappeared many years later when she was being pursued by the High Evolutionary, who was determined to discover how Warren had been able to perfect cloning. In the process, he discovered that Warren had not, but had instead created a genetic virus which transformed already living beings into supposed clones of other people. It was claimed that the Gwen clone was really a woman named Joyce Delany who was seemingly cured of the virus and left to lead her own life once more. Later, Spider-Man investigated Warren's old laboratory and discovered that Carrion was another former student of Warren's, Malcolm McBride, who was infected with the virus and became the new Carrion. Many years after that in Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1, this story arc was molded to fit into the New Clone Saga.
The second Clone Saga
More years passed before Spider-Man's clone reappeared. He had survived the battle and for five years had lived an existence under the name Ben Reilly, and develops a superhero identity of his own as the Scarlet Spider after returning to New York City. A series of chaotic events followed, in which Peter and Ben were plagued by both a resurrected Jackal and by Kaine, who was an unsuccessful first clone of Spider-Man. In the process, another clone of Spider-Man became the villain Spidercide. Matters were further confused by the interventions of the mysterious and seemingly all-powerful Judas Traveller, a psychiatrist and Scrier, later revealed to be a cabal.The revelations made by the High Evolutionary were revealed to have been inaccurate, driven by a determination to discredit Warren, who had formerly worked with him.
Medical tests indicated Peter was actually the clone and Ben the original. Peter temporarily retired as Spider-Man, leaving the mantle of Spider-Man to Ben while he prepared for his new role as a father after the discovery that Mary Jane was pregnant; Peter even lost his powers for a time during his 'retirement', although they eventually came back after a near-death experience. The climax revealed that Peter, Ben, the Jackal, Judas Traveller and many others had all been manipulated for years by Norman Osborn, who had returned from the dead. Osborn said Peter was the original—having faked the evidence that revealed Peter's status as the clone as part of a plan to break Peter's spirit—a claim that was confirmed when Ben died saving Peter's life and his body degenerated like any other clone.
Selected bibliography
During the mid-1990s, Marvel consistently published four monthly Spider-Man series, roughly one every week. For the most part, the Spider-titles were treated during this storyline as a single weekly series, although occasionally they would separate, pair off, or have special anniversary editions. The Clone Saga ran through all four titles from October 1994 to December 1996, in addition to a multitude of spin-offs, one-shots, and ancillary issues. The relevant issues are:Ongoing series:
- Web of Spider-Man #117–124, Super Special #1, #125–129
- Web of Scarlet Spider #1–4
- The Sensational Spider-Man #0–11, Wizard mini-comic #3
- The Amazing Spider-Man #139–151, 391–401, Super Special #1, #402–416, Annual '96 #1, #417–418, 435
- The Amazing Scarlet Spider #1–2
- Spider-Man #48–58, Super Special #1, 59–63, Holiday Special #1, 64–75
- Scarlet Spider #1–2
- The Spectacular Spider-Man #25–31, 142–143, Annual #08, #149, 162–163, 215–224, Super Special #1, #225–241
- The Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1–2
- Spider-Man Unlimited #7–14
- Scarlet Spider Unlimited #1
- Venom Super Special #1
- Giant-Size Spider-Man #5
- The New Warriors #61–62, 65–67
- Spider-Man Team-Up #1–5
- Green Goblin #1, 3, 10, 13
- Daredevil #354
- Backlash/Spider-Man #1–2
- Marvel Fanfare #3
Special one-shot issues and miniseries:
- Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha #1
- Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Omega #1
- Spider-Man: The Lost Years #1–3, 0
- Spider-Man: The Final Adventure #1–4
- Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1
- Spider-Man: The Parker Years #1
- Spider-Man: Redemption #1–4
- Spider-Man: The Jackal Files #1
- Spider-Man: The Clone Journal #1
- Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus #1–3
- Venom: Along Came a Spider #1–4
- Spider-Man/Punisher: Family Plot #1–2
- Spider-Man: Dead Man's Hand #1
- Spider-Man: 101 Ways to End the Clone Saga #1
- X-Men/Spider-Man #3
- What If? #30, 86
The third Clone Saga
Assessor ends up creating three clones of Miles: Selim, Mindspinner, and Shift. Miles eventually convinces Shift to reform and turn on his brothers, later inspiring Mindspinner to do the same. Left to fight Miles alone, Selim creates a massive Venom Blast that kills him, as well as Mindspinner, leaving Shift as the only surviving clone.
During the "Miles Morales: Beyond" storyline, it is eventually revealed that the cloning of Miles was actually a set-up by the Beyond Corporation, the same company who made Ben Reilly's new Spider-Man suit, contracting the Slingers to work for them, imprisoning one of Spider-Man's former and current rogues, hiring supervillains, and attempt to kill Peter Parker, Miles, and Ben should the latter defect from the company.
Production and development
Conception
The second Clone Saga sprang from Marvel Comics's determination to produce a strong Spider-Man "event" story that would rival DC Comics' "The Death of Superman" and "Batman: Knightfall," both of which sold extremely well. Spider-Man editor Mark Bernardo said "Marching orders we were given by upper management to come up with something similar in scope to DC's "Death of Superman" storyline, which at the time was breaking sales records left and right. Thus, no outrageous idea was out of bounds. Terry Kavanagh was cajoled into blurting out his clone idea, which first met with groans and indifference, until someone suddenly realized the radical possibilities of such a storyline." Several of the Spider-Man creators believed that the character had drifted too far from his original portrayal and sought a way to restore the Spider-Man of old, in particular jettisoning his marriage to Mary Jane. Howard Mackie revealed "When the story was begun we knew it would be controversial, and that was part of the point." He also commented "The return to the single Spider-Man did enter the conversation eventually, but it was not the intent of the story when pitched."Bernardo added that the length of the arc was initially planned to be short. "The whole arc was supposed to end in Amazing Spider-Man #400, and leave 'Ben Reilly' as the one and only 'original Peter Parker' and forge a new beginning," he noted, adding that the whole storyline was supposed to bring Spider-Man back to basics.
Eventually, editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco gave the final approval to begin the story.