Spider-Man Clone Saga #1 (OF 6)

YEAH! Roll on the Scarlet Spider!

"You've been asking for it..."
Who? WHO?!? I want names, damnit!

@captbastrd lol.......so this isn't just a reprint its an alternate ending? 

Couldn't they just reprint the Ultimate Spider-Man version?

It seems like a re-telling, not a re-print. And as far as who has been asking, I have. Ben Reilly and the Scarlet Spider got me into comics as a kid and I couldn't be happier that some talented creators are stepping up to the plate and dealing with argueably the most taboo story in super hero comics.

I think it's a Claremont's X-Men Forever kinda thing. Which sucks because, truth be told, when I saw this cover a while back (around when that annual or special or whatever where they introduced that character that's hunting Ben Reilly), I thought this was to be a new story. Granted, I wasn't around for the original Clone Saga, but I like clone stuff and enjoyed the Ultimate version, so I was into the idea of bringing back the Scarlet Spider. This whole, "the way it was originally intended!" is bullspit! 'Bullspit' I say!

i vaugley remember seeing a cover somwhere i think that had the scarlet spider as host to the carnage symbiote but i was pretty young at the time....anyone know or am i just being crazy and pulling story ideas from nowhere

@Ajs3000
I was just Wiki-ing the story to see if there's any truth to the "as they originally intended" stuff (turns out there is, I still say 'bullspit!'), but yeah, you're not crazy.

thank god for that

Everyone who doubts that the story didn't pan out as the creators intended needs to read this blog, it's been on the web in various forms for years, lots of good interviews with key people

http://lifeofreillyarchives.blogspot.com/

I think originally DeFalco and Mackie had Peter find a magic hammock which made clones but editorial made they change the story

them

Totally brolic that they're revisiting "the story that almost killed comics".  Still, any press is good press, even awful I-can't-believe-they-cloned-Spidey press.

I'm on the fence. It will be a game day decision!

To anyone on the fence about getting this, next week's ASM starts an arc called "Who Was Ben Reilly."  Looks like this mini -might- be important.

@slockhart,

I think Marvel are testing the waters. Marc Guggenheim (writer of Who Was...) said is more about a case of mistaken id rather than trying restart the clone saga.

On a  podcast, Mackie and DeFlaco said this series was a stand alone, but if sales were good Marvel might commision a Ben Reily series. 

It sound like the two stories are not connected, I would suggest that if you want a Ben Reilly on-going...buy this book

@slockhart

I doubt its going to be important, this is just a retelling of the Clone Saga the way the writers wanted to do it, its more of a "What If" mini and has no impact on continuity.

p.s I'm looking forward to this, the begining of the Clone Saga was actually pretty good, but it got bad near the middle and so terrible at the end that I quit reading comics for a while.  Hoping they can do some good stuff with this.

Hm...

I dug the initial parts of the Clone storyline, like the death of Aunt May and the reveal of Kaine.  But the storyline was dragged on for too long and I didn't like the Main Character switch.  Also, Maximum Clonage sucked.

man i would kill to have 3 or 4 huge ass clone saga trades just so i wouldn't have to dig through my longbox. the entire saga, which i have most of, takes up half of a longbox. from the first appearance to the reveal of norman as the mastermind

Does anyone else think that the Clone Saga was the precursor to One More Day? I mean, it seems like it was another attempt at taking out married Peter Parker and replacing him with a hip, single Peter Parker without the baggage that the character was carrying. I dunno DeFalco's stance on the Spider-Marriage (I'd assume it's less negative than Quesada's since DeFalco's Spider-Girl is based around Peter being married, although he may think that the only place for married Peter is in an alternate universe), but it really seems like it.

@captbastard  that was the exact thinking at the time. it's all in the blog link i posted earlier

@edward - nice Simpsons reference.  Unless its not a Simpsons reference at all and it was actually the Simpsons referencing something else.  It could happen...

Some of my earlier memories of reading comics, and not just looking at the pictures, is the Clone Saga.  I will be as excited as Ron was regarding X-Men: Forever.  

@roivampire - I'm with you.  I have all the issues but would love a huge Clone Omnibus!

So how is this? I'm intrigued but it just doesn't seem right.

Well I thought this was pretty decent, overall. It does have a very 90s feel to its storytelling, but it's concise and interesting enough to stay onboard. I'm in.

Hmmm, we've finally gotten the taste of one of the most hated storylines in all of comics out of our reader's mouths, what should we do now? I know, bring back the only storyline that is hated even more!

 Seriously though, I'll probably check this out. The clone saga idea was interesting, and if it wasn't for poor editorial decisions to stretch the story out at the time, probably would have ended up ok.

This is pretty good, it seems a bit rushed, but thats to be expected since they are going to tell the whole thing in 6 issues.  It def has a 1990's feel to it.....takes me back to Jr. High....

Eh, didn't really enjoy this all that much. It wasn't absolutely terrible, but it wasn't *good* either. Completely passable. 2/5. Dropped.

I enjoyed it.  Obviously trying to put it all into 6 issues is going to make it feel rushed but I had a lot of fun with and can't wait for the rest.

I didn't care for this at all.  Art or writing.

Only reason I would not suggest dropping this is that the first issue will prob be more rushed than the others since (I think) they are redoing this to change how it ended....this would suggest to me that the later parts of this story will be more in depth and hopefully shocking and suprising as it was advertised.  If not then congrats to Marvel on getting me to drop even more money on Clone Saga nonsense.