| Posted: 08 July 2009 at 10:36am | IP Logged | 3
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Don't forget that at the time, plenty of Spider-Man fans were still KIDS, and
not just older continuity freaks. If you tell a 12 year old that the Spider-Man
he's been reading about for even 7 months (an eternity at that age) they're
going to be really angry.
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I was actually 11 at the time of the reveal and, oh yes, I was furious. JB had mentioned that few people give concrete answers on what sucks or sucked about the clone saga.
1.) Weekly storylines that resolved nothing: Maximum Clonage. Blood Brothers. Obviously designed to have some sort of conclusion (Maximum Clonage was designed to end with Ben definitively as Spider-Man; Blood Brothers was designed to end with Ben definitively revealed as the clone) but, in the end, their endings were changed, and they instead perform no purpose.
2.) Mysterious characters for whom no backstory (or an unsatisfying backstory) was given or planned: Judas Traveller, Scrier, Gaunt, Kaine. And an entirely new supporting cast of clones: Peter and Ben work fine, together. Peter, Ben, Kaine, Spidercide, and the smokestack skeleton, do not.
3.) So long, Peter Parker: At the expense of the most well-developed and rounded supporting cast in comics, one of the coolest professions as newspaper photographer, the perfectly designed costume, and his iconic identity, Marvel made Spider-Man a bleach-blonde waiter at a coffee house (that wasn't even the Coffee Bean!).
4.) Far-fetched Plans (even for a preteen): Miles Warren wants to destroy humanity and replace everyone on Earth with clones that he can control, because Spider-Man was involved with Gwen's death? Norman Osborn implanted Peter with memories of being a clone and took away his powers and then gave them back, to convince him that he was a clone (with the help of Miles Warren, who should be his arch enemy). Really? Even as a twelve-year old this was a bit preposterous
However, that isn't to say that there weren't some good - even great - things that came out of the storyline.
1.) The costume designs are pretty damn good: Ben's Spider-Suit is a good design and, surprisingly, holds up against the best designed costume in comics. Kaine's uniform and the new Goblin suit, and the Scarlet Spider Costume (it is a costume, he bought it at a store), although obvious products of the 90s, also work well.
2.) Best Death in Comic Books: Amazing Spider-Man 400.
3.) It was F'ing Crazy!!!!1: A Third Spider-Man shows up, for months claims to be the real Peter Parker (confirmed by the Jackal) and then transforms into a monstrous freak (Freak-Face; later Spidercide)! Dr. Octopus is killed by a random, new character, after the most well-developed storyline he had ever appeared in! Spider-Man possessed by Carnage! The Scarlet Spider defeats Venom in combat! Norman Osborn, who had been dead for, like 22 years, returns to kill someone who was unpopular because they returned after dead for, like, 20 years. It was crazy, some of it was awesome, some of it was weak, some of it was awful, but when the storyline was ballsy, it was, indeed, ballsy, and made it impossible to look away.
4.) It Contributed More Than It Detracted: Most will say, in retrospect, that Ben Reilly was a different character from Peter Parker and that their relationship added a dynamic to the books which was not there before and has not been seen, since. Ultimately, Ben's death lessened the books. I hope that the character is coming back.
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