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So we’re up to Volume 2. The titles collected here are: Amazing Spider-Man #’s 395-399, Spectacular Spider-Man #’s 218-221, Spider-Man #’s 54-56, Spider-Man Unlimited #8, Web of Spider-Man #’s 120-122 and Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus #’s 1-3. These titles were released in early 1995. I’m not going to go crazy and detail every issue and who worked on it but I’ll give a rundown of the writers and artists here. On the writing side you have Tom Brevoort, Tom DeFalco, JM DeMatteis, Todd DeZago, Mike Kanterovich, Terry Kavanagh, Tom Lyle & Howard Mackie. For pencils you have Mark Bagley, Sal Buscema, Steven Butler, Phil Gosier, Stewart Johnson, Ron Lim, Tom Lyle and Tod Smith.
This volume continues with presenting the stories in order of the story instead of in order according to their release dates. As with last volume I will review these by arc instead of by title. By this time in 1996 the two longest running Spidey titles (ASM and Spectacular) were dedicated to Peter Parker while the two other titles (Web and the Spider-Man title) featured Ben Reilly.
-Back From The Edge- This is a Peter Parker story from ASM #’s 395-396 and Spectacular Spider-Man #’s 218-219. Spidey had been teetering on the edge of sanity here and here the Spider was completely in control. Spidey ends up confronting Puma and Nocturne because Nocturne has found in Peter a kindred soul, one who has lost to his animal side like Puma. Nocturne tries helping Parker but Puma ends up going wild and Peter must stop him. Nocturne eventually using her powers to halt both of them. Spidey goes off on his merry way and runs into Daredevil (who was rocking his new gray costume) and wants to know how he can reinvent himself like Murdock did (even though DD is trying to convince him he’s dead). DD and Spidey end battling the Owl and Vulture and the two of them are defeated – but not before Spider-Man is poisoned with a deadly virus that is eating away at his life. Throughout the four issues we’ve seen Mary Jane reconciling with her father and sister and she feels a lot better about herself and returns home to New York City. I really enjoyed seeing the Bagley art and the new DD, which I completely forgot about. I mean I remember the Fall From Grace thing but it never occurred to me that he appeared in the Spidey story.
-Web of Life- This is a four-part series that ran in Web #120-121 and Spider-Man #54-55. We start with Scarlet Spider taking out Tombstone but that is just his warm-up for the real villain of this arc – The Grim Hunter. He’s Kraven’s son and he wants revenge. With Scarlet Spider around you know that Kaine isn’t far behind either. He’s been trailing Ben and he also has visions of Mary-Jane’s death. Ben visits with Betty Brant and eventually the Grim Hunter captures Reilly’s scent. Reilly is attacked by the Grim Hunter when he visits Betty again and after their battle the Grim Hunter sees that this Spider is not the one he’s hunting, he’s not the one who led to his father’s death. Meanwhile, Kaine keeps killing common thugs and draws the detective from Utah that we saw last volume to New York to find him. They find prints and their hunt for Kaine continues, although his prints are Parker’s prints and I’m sure that’ll lead to some trouble for Peter eventually. Kaine ends up fighting Scarlet Spider and defeats him yet again and Kaine turns his attention to Grim Hunter. He wants to keep him away from Parker. The three of them battle and they all get separated. Reilly heads off on his own while Kaine and the Grim Hunter both want to finish. They finish all right and when the dust has settled it is only Kaine who walks out alive. This was a good little story with Kaine showing how ruthless he is while keeping his own agenda and Reilly keeping his heroic run going.
-Web of Death- I want you to take a look at the title of this story-arc (that ran through ASM #’s 397-398 and Spectacular #’s 220-221) and the title of the story that featured Ben Reilly. So Peter is dying. The Vulture’s toxin saw to that. Peter had been passed out and Doctor Octopus had seen him lying there and seemed a bit distraught. So he and his girl, Stunner, capture Spidey (after Stunner knocks him out) and Ock actually wants to save Peter. He unmasks him (and knows he’s Peter now) and Ock wants to cure his enemy because of his innate goodness and he’s someone who Ock has respect for. Ock makes a serum to save him but the effect was only temporary. Peter plans on telling a returning MJ about his issues but MJ has even bigger news – she’s pregnant! Peter runs into Ock again and this time Ock is able to cure him permanently. Peter goes through a little out of body experience before he’s saved. Ock can’t wait to fight Spidey again but he’ll wait until he’s healthy. So Ock gives himself up to authorities, with plans for Stunner to free him, but the plans go awry when Kaine shows up. He’d been in the shadows the whole arc, oblivious to Peter, and he shows up at the end and kills Doc Ock. Yep, he’s dead now. The story focusing on Peter being brought to the brink of death and coming back was interesting. I loved the Bagley art but the Buscema/Sienkiewicz art and finishes seemed too rough in contrast to Bagley’s and threw me off the story somewhat. It was just a huge transition between issues.
-Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus- So Doctor Octopus is dead Marvel had the great idea to shoehorn a three issue mini-series (entitled Funeral for an Octopus) in to honor him and line their pockets with even more cash. It’s a tactic that they still do to this day. This was an uninspired mini-series that finds Peter and Ben teaming up to stop the remnants of the Sinister Six (Vulture, Mysterio, Electro and Hobgoblin) from finding some sort of device for Octopus’ only living relation. The whole thing (Octopus’ video-tape will) was a fraud by Mysterio and this whole funeral for an Octopus was a cheap attempt to cash in on his death. This was by far the least inspiring story in the collection.
-Behind the Terror- This was a single issue story from Spider-Man Unlimited #8. Both Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider are drawn to an incident on the World Trade Center’s Skyline Restaurant (it’s so hard to type that given what happened to them) when a terrorist organization takes over the restaurant in exchange for lots of money. If they don’t get it they will blow up the city with a nuclear bomb. Spidey’s brought to the incident because MJ is in the restaurant and Scarlet finds his way over there after the terrorists bomb a shelter where his friend was working. His friend ended up dead. The two spiders do a systematic deconstruction of the crew – taking them out little by little until all the terrorists are beaten. This was a fun team-up and it’s not often you see Spidey taking people out by being sneaky and using his guile.
-Smoke and Mirrors- This was a three-part story that ran in Web of Spider-Man #122, Amazing Spider-Man #399 and Spider-Man #56. This is where the Clone Saga starts going downhill. Both Peter and Ben are drawn to upstate New York where the Jackal is hiding out. The Jackal lures the two into his lair and plays mind games with both of them. He tells Ben and Peter they are both the originals and then tells both of them that they are both the clones. Having witnessed other clones and a clone of Gwen Stacy melt into nothingness they decide they need to figure out some sort of cure. Kaine watched the whole thing in the shadows and he was further watched by Scrier, who was even further in the shadows. Now things start piling on and from here on out we’re in for mass confusion as the writer’s try to decide what to do on the fly as people react negatively to what they are doing.
-The Bottom Line-
This volume really starts showing how Marvel was becoming too big with its stories. The first three-quarters of the book were very good. There were a series of four-part sagas that focused either on Peter or Ben and the Peter stories that showed him slowly dying and then coming back and regaining his humanity featured some great stuff. Bagley’s art is incredible as usual and the two Peter stories are real highlights. The Ben story (featuring The Grim Hunter) wasn’t bad either. Then we had the pointless three-issue mini-series, a good team-up with the two Spiders and then the dreadful three-part Smoke and Mirrors that revealed nothing and was just a waste of three-issues. Okay, the Jackal is playing both ends. We get it. Did it need three issues? A real credit to the Clone Saga as presented here is that it is shown in order of the stories. Reading these month to month you only get a third or a fourth of the story at a time. Here everything’s complete. You read a complete four-issue arc and follow that with another four-issue arc and everything is flowing well. I think that makes this more enjoyable reading this now than when I read it in 1996 as monthlies. There was more good than bad here but the story took a turn towards the worse as concluded so I fear what Volume 3 is going to present (although here’s a super-spoiler, May dies in ASM #400). In terms of value you do pay $35 for this but at 19 books for even cover price ($1.50) this is worth it. Recommended in terms of value, but mildly recommended in terms of quality stories.
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