WEB OF SCARLET SPIDER #2 - December 1995

True Deceptions

Credits: Tom DeFalco (plot), Todd Dezago (script), Tom Morgan (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin, Hector Collazo, & Don Hudson (finishers), Steve Dutro (letterer), Tinsley & Chi w/Malibu (colorists)

The Plot: Tso’s gang war with Dr. Octopus has destroyed his Noir club, forcing him to align with Alistair Smythe. Smythe uses his Cyber-Slayers to attack Dr. Octopus’ henchmen (Looter, Aura, and Override) at a children’s zoo during an alleged peace conference. Scarlet Spider faces both sides of the battle until the authorities arrive. Dr. Octopus’ henchmen are arrested and the Cyber-Slayers fly away.

The Subplots: Seward Trainer is trapped in the internet. When Tso’s lackey Orlando is suspicious of his new bodyguard Ben Reilly, he searches for information on him online. Seward Trainer senses the search and mentally creates a fictitious backstory for Ben Reilly.

Web of Continuity: Since the previous issue, Trainer has somehow been trapped in cyberspace, and Ben Reilly has gone from waiter to bodyguard in the Tso empire. According to the narrative captions, Trainer creates an elaborate history for Ben using computer records, including a Social Security number, driver’s license number, and high school and college records. Presumably, this was done to make Ben’s transition into a “real” life easier for the writers.

*See _________ For Details: Seward Trainer was “spirited away to the realm of cyberspace” in Amazing Scarlet Spider #1. Ben Reilly cancelled a date with a woman named Carrie in Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1, which also featured a failed attempt by Dr. Octopus’ team to retrieve the stolen computer chips from the previous issue. Alistair Smythe altered his own body to fight Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #368-373. He’s currently selling out the services of his Cyber-Slayers to fund more anti-Spidey operations.

Creative Differences: An added word balloon clarifies that Tso is waiting for Smythe in his lobby when they’re communicating via video-chat. Later, another added balloon has Scarlet Spider speculating that the Cyber-Slayers are leaving the fight because Tso remembers Scarlet Spider “saving his butt recently!”

Review: So, since the previous issue, Dr. Octopus and Jason Tso have continued their epic battle over computer chips, Alistair Smythe has gotten involved, Seward Trainer is trapped inside a free AOL trial disc, Ben’s somehow become a mobster’s bodyguard, and he’s grown out his hair and beard stubble in a tribute to ‘90s syndicated TV star Lorenzo Lamas. (I was never a fan of the bleached blond look, but this is even worse. Ben looks like one of the “manlier” glam metal lead singers; the ones that were too masculine to dye their hair but still wanted the ladies to know about their sensitive side.) We’ve also been introduced to Dr. Octopus’ goon squad in-between issues, and they certainly seem to be a sorry lot. Nothing in this issue makes it clear what any of their powers are supposed to be, and unfortunately, the Looter’s distinctive Ditko design has been replaced with generic ‘90s “cyber-armor.”

It’s honestly hard to find anything to like about the issue. I’ve enjoyed Tom Morgan’s work in the past, but this issue he’s only doing what are likely very loose breakdowns. Some of the anatomy and facial expressions in this issue are atrocious. Only in the final few pages (presumably Don Hudson’s section) does the art not look like a rushed mess.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #129 - October 1995

Time Bomb Part Two - By My Hand, Mary Jane Must Die!

Credits: Tom DeFalco (plot), Todd Dezago (script), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro (letterer), Kevin Tinsley & Malibu (colors)

The Plot: A genetic implant created by the Jackal has forced Spider-Man into stalking MJ with the intent of killing her. Scarlet Spider and the New Warriors team up to stop him, but they’re no match for his strength and reflexes. Finally, MJ escapes to Aunt May’s former home. Surrounded by photos of Peter’s loved ones, Spider-Man finds the inner strength to overcome his programming and spares MJ.

The Subplots: None.

Web of Continuity: This is the second chapter of “Time Bomb,” which began in Spectacular Spider-Man #228. The Jackal was able to implant the mental command to kill MJ into Peter because, of course, Peter is the clone. How exactly this storyline was explained when Peter was retroactively declared not the clone, I don’t know.

*See _________ For Details: The Jackal allegedly died in Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage: Omega.

Creative Differences: Another gem from Life of Reilly -- Glenn Greenberg on the “cancelation” of the Spider-titles and the debut of the Scarlet Spider line: The idea was to have each Spider-Man book retitled so that the Scarlet Spider's name would replace Spider-Man's - AMAZING SCARLET SPIDER, SPECTACULAR SCARLET SPIDER, SCARLET SPIDER, and WEB OF SCARLET SPIDER. We'd get four new number #1's out of it, and it would be a way to capitalize on the Scarlet Spider's popularity one last time before he became Spider-Man. What that meant was holding off Ben's debut as Spider-Man even longer. As I recall, the sales and marketing guys wanted us to do the Scarlet Spider books for four months, four issues of each title, just like the X-Men books did it. Bob Budiansky rejected that idea, and pushed for just one month, one issue of each book. We (the editors and writers) weren't thrilled by any of this, but we agreed that one month was certainly better than four. As I recall, Budiansky's plan was agreed upon, but then the sales and marketing boys decided that just one month wasn't enough after all, and pushed for more. A compromise had to be reached.

Ultimately, the plan became this: TWO months of each Scarlet Spider title, with the exception of WEB OF SCARLET SPIDER, which would run for FOUR issues - even though Ben Reilly would no longer be the Scarlet Spider, and would not even be in the book, after #2. I'm asking the same thing you probably are - Huh?! After all this time, I couldn't remember for the life of me why we would ever agree to this scheme, so I called my good pal Mark Bernardo, who was my fellow Spider-Man Group assistant editor back then. Mark was working directly for Budiansky, and was more at the "heart of the storm" than I was. As far as Mark can remember, WEB was extended because the sales and marketing guys felt that two more issues of a Scarlet Spider book would bring in a significant amount of revenue for those two months. They believed that the Scarlet Spider "brand", so to speak, was strong enough to support this idea - even though there wouldn't even BE a Scarlet Spider by the time these last two issues came out! Ben was going to be Spider-Man by then, with a big, heavily-promoted launch being touted as "The Return of Spider-Man," and an all-new monthly Spider-Man title to replace WEB. Why the hell, then, would WEB OF SCARLET SPIDER still be in existence, competing against Ben's debut as Spider-Man? From an editorial standpoint, it made absolutely no sense. But the sales and marketing guys rattled off their sales projections and their statistics and whatever else they had in their arsenal, and in the end, they got what they wanted - two more months of the Scarlet Spider. Well, not THE Scarlet Spider...

I Love the ‘90s: There’s a “hidden image” 3-D poster bound into the middle of the comic, promoting a tie-in with FOX’s Spider-Man animated series and Fruit Roll-Ups. You might remember these 3-D posters from late night re-airings of Mallrats.

Review: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the final issue of Web of Spider-Man. And it sucks. “Time Bomb” was originally intended to be the absolute final “Ben or Peter?” storyline, culminating with Peter’s decision to retire and Ben accepting his birthright as the one, true Spider-Man. And, like every other storyline that was supposed to do this, it did nothing of the sort. This is blatant filler, with no purpose outside of perhaps promoting the New Warriors’ title, which had somehow been shoehorned into the Spider-office’s domain. To the creators’ credit, they do at least have Peter verbalizing that he honestly doesn’t want to kill MJ, which perhaps lessens the impact of two full issues dedicated to Spider-Man trying to murder his pregnant wife. Of course, Peter isn’t the real Spider-Man, so who cares what ridiculous, insulting b.s. we put him through anyway, right?

The final, final, final resolution (for now) to “Who will wear the webs?” is the next crossover, "The Greatest Responsibility." And, even then, the titles undergo a fake cancelation and renumbering as the Scarlet Spider line before Ben officially becomes Spider-Man. Web of Scarlet Spider runs two issues longer than the other titles, and once the event is over, Web is no more. Viewed internally as the weakest and most easily disposable of all the Spider-titles, Web is replaced with a brand new book, a title that will usher in the new age of Ben Reilly as Spider-Man and showcase the talents of Dan Jurgens -- Sensational Spider-Man. Spoiler alert…it doesn’t end well.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #125 - June 1995

Lives Unlived

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro & Janice Chiang (letterers), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Spider-Man investigates the Daily Bugle morgue for information on Miles Warren. He tracks him to a suburban New Jersey town, unaware that the new Green Goblin has followed him. Spider-Man enters Warren’s home and is shocked to discover he’s married to Gwen Stacy’s original clone. Warren knocks Spider-Man unconscious and escapes with Gwen. Spider-Man recovers and follows their car. When Warren sees Spider-Man in the rearview mirror, he irrationally drives off the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man, with Green Goblin’s help, rescues Gwen, but Warren dies in the accident. His body degenerates, confirming that he’s another clone.

The Subplots: Ben Reilly, who’s taken Peter’s place in jail, reflects on recent events. Meanwhile, MJ asks Black Cat to find Peter, who hasn’t told her about his trip to New Jersey.

Web of Continuity: The new Green Goblin’s full identity isn’t revealed, but we do learn he’s Ben Urich’s nephew. The climax at the George Washington Bridge is an obvious callback to Amazing Spider-Man #122; however, the bridge in Gwen’s famous death scene is supposed to be the Brooklyn Bridge. It was misidentified in the original story, but corrected in subsequent reprints. (Original dialogue from Amazing #122 was even altered to remove any references to the G. W. Bridge.)

*See _________ For Details: Ben took Peter’s place in prison in Spectacular Spider-Man #224. Black Cat visited Ben in prison, thinking he was Peter, in Spider-Man Unlimited #9. Spectacular Spider-Man annual #8 had a “super being named Dreamweaver” convince Gwen’s clone that she was a woman named Joyce Delany who had been infected with a virus that caused her DNA to imitate Gwen’s. She now believes Dreamweaver was committing an “act of mercy” to disguise the real truth.

Forever Young: Peter wonders if he would’ve settled down in suburbia by now if he had married Gwen instead of MJ.

Creative Differences: Two added thought balloons cast doubt that Peter can trust Miles Warren’s notes, opening up yet another door for even more retcons (although I believe this Gwen’s status as the original clone remains unchanged.) Almost the entire final panel of the story is completely re-lettered. Aside from misspelling Gwen’s last name, the captions emphasize that Gwen now realizes she is a clone and must deal with the truth.

“Huh?” Moments: The Daily Bugle ran a story on Miles Warren, who’s publicly known as dead, marrying Gwen Stacy, who’s also publicly known as dead, at some point in the past and no one, not even Peter Parker, noticed. Later, Warren comments that he and Gwen have changed their identities over the years, but that contradicts the very first scene of the comic. Peter finds their home by searching for Miles Warren’s name in the Bugle’s files.

Gimmicks: This issue is forty-eight pages, printed on slick paper, with a special “holodisk” cover. The cover price is an appalling $3.95. Editor Glenn Greenberg on the holodisks, as quoted on the Life of Reilly: “The holodisks were yet another in a long line of gimmick covers that were all the rage back then. We had just done a gimmick cover for AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #400 that did not turn out very well, and these holodisks were not much of an improvement. They looked GREAT in the prototype stage, but when we got the final versions, it was clear that you needed to view them under a light that was about as powerful as the sun to really get the full effect of the 3-D live action. Strike two!”
Someone must’ve realized that the cover gimmick had problems, since this issue’s hype page encourages fans to ask their retailers about the Spider-Man penlights that have been manufactured especially for these covers.

Review: I remember shopping at a local bookstore’s going out of business sale when I was fourteen. I swear to you, they had a comic book rack stuffed full of unsold copies of Web of Spider-Man #125. Now, this is a bad comic, but was it bad enough to kill a small business? Reasonable people would say no, but sometimes I wonder (not really) if this overpriced collection of dead trees and its lumpy, blurry hologram were the breaking point for the struggling storefront.

One of the many reasons why the clone saga wasn’t exactly the best idea in the world goes back to Gerry Conway’s late ‘80s run on Spectacular Spider-Man. Conway was apparently never happy with his work on the original clone storyline and used his return to Spider-Man to smooth over some of the more absurd points of the story. Conway dismissed the idea of instantaneous cloning, revealing instead that the original “clones” from the ‘70s storyline were actually full-grown adults who had been injected with a genetic virus. A virus that happened to morph their DNA into a copy of someone else’s. Spider-Man’s clone was actually another ESU student named Anthony Serba, for example. Still implausible, but in terms of comic book science, it’s perfectly reasonable.

A few members of the ‘90s creative team realized that Conway’s retcons needed to be addressed if they were serious about reintroducing Miles Warren’s cloning process. Apparently, this issue was supposed to address the problem. Clearly, it does not. Kavanagh’s dismissal of Conway’s retcons is to reveal, over the course of two panels, that Dreamweaver (a minor character from the “Evolutionary Wars” crossover) just made up the lie and sold it to Gwen…to be nice, apparently. This is not how you retcon a retcon. I believe Howard Mackie was given another pass at addressing Conway’s later stories, and fared about as well. Finally, Glenn Herdling, assistant editor of the Spider-titles when Conway’s retcons were initially published, penned a Spider-Man Unlimited story that resolved the problem. Why exactly was it so hard to resolve this? Beats me. Why is this storyline still dragging on, anyway?

Now, if Marvel really wanted to revive the original clone, Conway’s Spectacular Spider-Man run wasn't that much of a hindrance in the first place. Why is it so important that the “clone” who apparently died back in the ‘70s actually be a clone? Couldn’t the story work just as well if Ben Reilly was a “genetic duplicate” instead of a clone? Wouldn’t it add another layer to his characterization if he had another life before coming into contact with Miles Warren and Spider-Man?

Anyway, there’s more to this comic than sloppy continuity. It’s the touching love story of the clone of a pervy college professor obsessed with his teenage student, and the clone of said student who decides to marry the professor’s clone when she realizes she has no life of her own. Okay, maybe Peter Milligan could do something with this…but, yeah, we don’t have Milligan. Kavanagh handles the story about as well as you would expect, right down to the cliché “Gwen falls from the bridge” scene. The debut of a new, heroic Green Goblin during the scene is an ironic twist, I suppose, but even that’s too obvious to work. Of course that’s how they introduced the hero Green Goblin.

Shining Armor

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (plot), Mike Lackey (script), Tod Smith (breakdowns), Jimmy Palmiotti (finishes), Loretta Krol (letterer), Nel Yomtov (colorist)

The Plot: In the past, Miles Warren’s clone comforts Gwen Stacy’s clone. They grow close and marry.

Review: This brief backup just spells out the details hinted at in the main story, only now with uglier art. Hooking Miles Warren and Gwen Stacy up could be a disturbing, creepy idea if executed properly, but there’s no chance of that here. Apparently, no one cared enough about this backup to notice that a narrative caption describes Gwen’s eyes as green when they’re clearly colored blue in the same panel. That’s the level of quality we’re dealing with.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #124 - May 1995

The Mark of Kaine Part One - Walls

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro (letterer), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Peter Parker is placed on trial for murder, while Ben Reilly and his friend Dr. Seward Trainer look after an expecting Mary Jane. When an inmate accidentally starts a fire with a cigarette, Peter pulls open his cell bars and performs CPR on the dying prisoner. He narrowly returns to his cell before the firefighters arrive.

The Subplots: Jonah Jameson is secretly paying for Peter’s high-profile lawyer, and attempting to bury the story in the Daily Bugle. The third Peter Parker returns to Aunt May’s home, distraught over her death. Stunner is convinced that Peter is innocent. She turns to Detective Jacob Raven for help, certain that the true killer also killed Doctor Octopus. Kaine, still convinced that MJ is destined to die soon, drags her into the sewers to warn her. She runs away and crashes into the third Peter Parker on the street.

Web of Continuity: Aunt May passed away in Amazing Spider-Man #400…or so we naively thought. A few years later, the perfectly logical explanation that she had been replaced by a dying, genetically-altered actress is given. Norman Osborn, who of course has been secretly alive since Amazing Spider-Man #122, arranged the deception and kept the real Aunt May prisoner in a secluded hunting lodge in upstate New York.

*See _________ For Details: Ben Reilly convinced Peter and MJ to trust his friend Dr. Seward Trainer in Spider-Man #57.

Review: I’m not sure if even hardcore Clone Saga fans like the trial of Peter Parker storyline. Aside from slowing down the overall story arc, it’s based on the premise that mimicking the OJ trial with Peter Parker as a stand-in is somehow a good idea. Wasn’t everyone absolutely sick of OJ by this point? Did we really want to be reminded of the never-ending trial while purchasing the latest ill-conceived Spider-crossover? I realize the creators had to stretch things out during this period, but I can’t believe this is the best they could generate.

Mercifully, Terry Kavanagh doesn’t seem too interested in the trial, either (or perhaps he’s been told to buy time and delay the actual start of the trial for a future chapter). So, we get a healthy dose of subplots, leading in to new storylines that of course aren’t resolved in this title. Ben and Dr. Trainer, who bizarrely dresses like an X-Man circa 1991, check on MJ’s baby, which turns out to be yet another hard sell for Ben, allowing him to take care of Peter’s fatherly duties while he’s in jail. MJ’s pregnancy is more of an excuse to write her and Peter out of the book than a story in its own right, so I consider that another strike against the idea. I do like Jonah Jameson’s scenes, which have him exhibiting his often-hidden paternal feelings for Peter. The Stunner/Detective Raven subplot sets up the resolution to the murder mystery, which is so obvious anyone should be able to guess, yet it somehow manages to be several chapters away. Kaine’s story is essentially a lie, since apparently no one at the time honestly planned on killing MJ (I seem to recall the resolution to his “vision” is particularly bad). And…what else? Oh, yes. The third Peter Parker. Another idea that’s a needless time-killer, and a gratuitous way to screw with the readers. So, this is by and large a sorry lot, even if we are spared the courtroom scenes.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #122 - March 1995

Smoke and Mirrors Part One - The Call

Credits: J. M. DeMatteis (plot), Todd Dezago (script), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro (letterer), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Peter Parker and Ben Reilly are suddenly assaulted with visions of the past. A subconscious prompt sends Ben to the mountains. There, he encounters Jack, a diminutive clone of the Jackal. Another deformed Peter Parker clone attacks him, leaving Ben for dead in the snow. Meanwhile, Peter tries to fight off his hallucinations, until he has a vision of Ben’s lifeless body. He declares that he won’t turn his back on Ben.

The Subplots: Kaine watches Ben’s battle with the clone from a distance. In New York, MJ and Anna Watson keep vigil over Aunt May. MJ’s adamant that May will live to see her baby, but Anna prepares her for the worst.

Web of Continuity: Peter has visions of awakening in the Jackal’s lab, causing him to question for the first time if he is in fact the clone.

*See _________ For Details: MJ announced her pregnancy in Spectacular Spider-Man #220. The next chapter of “Smoke and Mirrors” is Amazing Spider-Man #399.

Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year as 199,708 copies with the most recent issue selling 152,500.

Review: And now begins the clone saga phase that has every ridiculous idea from the original storyline exhumed and hauled into modern times. I can understand why the creators would want to revive the Jackal in a storyline about the original clone, but I consider it one of those ideas that is so obvious it's not really worth doing. The Jackal already did everything he needed to do for this storyline back in the ‘70s. He created the clone. And as Gerry Conway revealed while he went out of the way to make his silly old story a bit more respectable, the Jackal wasn’t even capable of cloning in the first place.

Hardly anyone even remembered the Jackal at this point -- his true claim to fame was hiring the Punisher for his first appearance -- so what exactly was served by bringing him back? Apparently, someone thought it was a good idea to give him a tiny clone, a drastically altered “funny” personality, and a ridiculous new motivation that changed his desires from “hot blonde co-ed” to “world domination.” He’s the Jackal in name only, and yet he’s just as pathetic a villain now as ever. I can’t imagine the people invested in this story, the ones who were dying to know about Ben’s past and whether or not Peter was a clone, cared anything about the Jackal, his annoying clone, or his stupid genetic time bombs. He’s just a distraction that unnecessarily stretches the story out for a few more months. Unfortunately, he won’t be the only one.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #121 - February 1995

Web of Life Part Three - The Hunting

Credits: Todd Dezago (writer), Phil Gosier (breakdowns), Sam De La Rosa & Randy Emberlin (finishes), Steve Dutro (letterer), Kevin Tinsley (colorist)

The Plot: Kaine encounters a gang of thugs who are terrorizing a homeless woman and murders them. Meanwhile, Ben Reilly races to Peter Parker’s home, hoping to catch the Grim Hunter. He’s soon confronted by Kaine, who knocks him unconscious. When the Grim Hunter arrives, Kaine faces him.

The Subplots: Gregor, a friend of the late Kraven the Hunter, fears for his son’s sanity. Elsewhere, Detective Jacob Raven has tracked Kaine’s fingerprints to New York.

*See _________ For Details: The Grim Hunter ended his pursuit of Ben Reilly in Spider-Man #54 after discovering that Ben wasn’t the same Spider-Man he faced earlier. The conclusion to this story arc occurs in Spider-Man #55.

Creative Differences: Portions of Gregor’s monologue are lettering corrections, and an added thought balloon emphasizes that Grim Hunter escaped from Ben in the previous chapter.

Review: Terry Kavanagh isn’t officially gone at this point, but apparently some behind-the-scenes disagreements will soon lead to his departure. Todd Dezago will show up during the early days of the clone saga as a fill-in writer before taking over Sensational Spider-Man after Dan Jurgens’ brief stint. Just based on this issue, I would say he has a better ear for dialogue than Kavanagh, but there’s no noticeable improvement in the plotting. Since Web is released during the first week of the month, it’s placed in an odd position during the crossovers. It always starts the storylines, but never finishes them, leaving every other issue as the third chapter in a four-part storyline. In other words, every other issue is largely “Middle.”

It’s obvious that this issue has a lot of time to kill. Kaine’s opening scene just reiterates the character’s brutal nature (even towards the person he's allegedly saving), while Ben’s introductory action piece is just an elaborate setup for a Miracle on 34^th Street reference. A few more pages are eaten up with a monologue by Gregor, a character who’s never appeared in this book before, but apparently has a connection with the Kraven-spawn that’s about to be killed off. Exciting. We’re halfway through the issue by now. A Kaine subplot establishes that the police are on his trail, so that’s at least one plot advancement. Ben and Kaine then trade off monologues for a couple of pages before having a fight scene that drops a few vague hints about their shared past. Of course, we’re still several months away before any true revelations are made, so this is more stalling, really. Finally, Kaine and Grim Hunter face off on the final page, leading us directly into a different comic that will actually resolve this story. Would even a hardcore completist want to keep buying a comic with stories like this? At the very least, a competent artist could’ve redeemed the action scenes, but the rushed, faux-McFarlane style art just drags the material down even deeper.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #120 - January 1995

Web of Life Part One - Lure of the Spider

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Steven Butler (breakdowns), Randy Emberlin & Don Hudson (finishes), Kevin Tinsley (colorist), Krol, Powell, & Crespi (letterers)

The Plot: Ben Reilly fills in for the missing Spider-Man, defeating Tombstone and the terrorist group A.R.E.S. on the same night. After spotting Ken Ellis and Betty Brant during one of his fights, Ben visits Betty and considers offering her his story. Instead, he changes his mind and leaves. Meanwhile, the Grim Hunter follows Ben’s path.

The Subplots: Kaine keeps a vigil near Aunt May’s hospital room. He suddenly has a vision of MJ’s death. In Pittsburgh, MJ says goodbye to her sister Gayle.

Web of Continuity: Gayle comments that MJ is “positively glowing,” a subtle hint that she’s pregnant (which is apparently no longer in continuity, regardless of Marvel’s claims that all of your old Spider-Man comics still happened with a shacked-up Peter and MJ). MJ traveled to Pittsburgh to reconcile with her family a few issues earlier in Amazing Spider-Man.

*See _________ For Details: Tombstone’s previous attempts to become a crimelord occurred in Spectacular Spider-Man #204-206. A footnote corrects a narrative caption’s claim that Kraven’s mansion has been abandoned since his death with a reference to the “Pursuit” storyline. A brief shot of Peter Parker near death is accompanied with a plug for the Amazing/Spectacular crossover “Web of Death.” Finally, this story is continued in Spider-Man #54, and a very special announcement will be made in Spectacular Spider-Man #220.

Gimmicks: This is a forty-eight page flipbook. The other side of the comic is a reprint of “Cold Blood” by Greg Cox, a Spider-Man vs. Morbius prose story from the Ultimate Spider-Man collection.

Miscellaneous Note: Ben’s rooftop meeting with Betty is a pretty obvious homage to the Superman/Lois Lane interview scene in the original Superman movie.

Review: Well, if nothing else, there’s a lot going on here. Defenders of the clone saga will always point to the increased sales of the storyline’s opening issues, which is a fair enough argument. After years of lackluster spinoffs and an occasionally bland lead title, the return of the clone (prefaced by the degeneration of Peter Parker into an irrational lunatic) absolutely kicked some excitement back into the titles. That doesn’t mean the idea itself was particularly good, but it was ostentatious enough to make anyone pay attention.

When Mike Sterling says that he sells more clone saga back issues to kids than current Amazing issues at his shop, I’m not surprised. These issues are filled with crazy events -- new mystery characters, death prophesies, numerous villains, a potential replacement for Peter Parker…and somehow, the supporting cast is actually receiving a little more attention as well. (Setting Betty up as a potential love interest for Ben is a far better use of the character than abruptly turning her into a tough-as-nails butch reporter.) A few issues prior, the big drama was whether or not Peter would accept a job taking publicity photos for MJ’s soap opera. Now, he’s undergoing an emotional breakdown while his clone (who might not be a clone) has come out of retirement to fulfill his responsibilities. Even if you think this is a train wreck, it’s hard to ignore.