In a completely selfish hope that Marvel Comics' new high end collectible Wolverine Adamantium Edition may be followed by a Spider-man Web Slinging Edition I’m taking the opportunity to highlight the stories that I think are representative of what makes Peter Parker “Amazing”. I’m sticking exclusively with the mainstream Spider-man most people know of and worked hard to keep the page count as close to 720 as possible. I’m also working in publication order so that we can see the character growth and development as it happened. Last week I chose Amazing spider-man #121 "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and #122 "The Goblin's Last Stand"
This week I’m exploring the original Clone Saga from Amazing Spider-man #143 – 150, running from April to November, 1975. Not being the first multi-part story it was certainly the first in it's execution and far reaching results. Starting as little teaser threads in the background of the books even before this set that I've selected, this is where it all starts coming together. My embarrassing little admission is that I believe this is the first use of a clone in mainstream comics continuity, despite hours of exhaustive research which left me unable to confirm or deny that fact.
Gwen Stacy had died at the hands of the Green Goblin nearly two years before and now Peter’s starting to see her while walking or swinging around the city. When he finally meets 'Gwen' face-to-face, he has a little breakdown and believes that everything his life has been since the spider bite has finally caught up with him. He works through it only to ultimately discover that his Gwen was cloned by their biology professor, Miles Warren. Warren assumed the masked guise of The Jackal when his mind snapped at the idea that he could be a killer. Miles wasn’t what The Jackal was, and as The Jackal he knew Peter’s secret. He had also cloned Peter Parker and discovered that he was Spider-man.
As a puppeteer, behind the scenes, The Jackal manipulated events in Spider-man’s life leading to the inevitable conclusion featuring the fight of two Spider-men. The Jackal had kidnapped Ned Leeds and attached a bomb to him saying that only the true original Spider-man could save him. The bomb was rigged to go off if the imperfect Spider-man handled it. The Gwen clone, horrified at what was happening, tore the mask off of Miles Warren. The shock of which undoing his previously damaged mind. Warren jumped up and freed Leeds at the last moment apparently dying in the blast of his own trap. One of the Spider-men also seemed to perish.
The last issue of the arc is a character study of why the Peter Parker that survived is the real Spider-man and how he knows that. It was a classic series that tested the boundaries of an identity crisis and firmly stood on the shoulders of the Peter Parker character. As important to the mythos itself, the clone saga returned and consumed the spider titles for two years in the 1990’s and continues to affect the storyline to this day.
Not only was this a great series giving Peter some real depth of character but the visuals were provided by Ross Andru, largely considered one of the top talents to have ever worked on Spider-man. I chose this arc because of how deeply it effected Peter, and how he was developed as a result, and its far reaching ramifications in the stories that came after.
Michael R. Murray has been buying and collecting comics for over 35 years. At one point his collection included two copies of Amazing Spider-man #1, and one copy each of Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #2, Avengers #4, Showcase #22, and dozens more high grade and key issues. The collection has grown to include original art pages, as well as statues and busts, with the current emphasis on collecting original drawings from appropriate artists on the inside of his hard covers. His personal collection of graphic novels consists of over 2,000 hard covers and trade paperbacks. He has attended all of the Boston and New York Comic Cons and experienced Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Diego. He has championed comic books in the local schools and was very proud that both of his children read at least three years above their grade levels, due nearly exclusively to comics. He’s quick to point out that none of this makes him an expert, but that his love of comics is most enjoyable when he can share it. Follow on Twitter at mycomicstore001 or like his Facebook page.