"Spider-Man: The Clone Saga" / "Miles Morales: The Clone Saga" Comparison

            The following piece is a comparison piece of the Marvel Comics Events “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” and “Miles Morales: The Clone Saga.”

            Hey, guys, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! My name just happens to be Tim Cubbin, and I just happen to be the writer of this blog. I might actually let someone else write for this blog, but for today, I’m your host!

            So, we have some fun planned for us right here, right now. To those of you who don’t know, I am a major Marvel Comic Books fan. I’ve been reading regularly since 2001, so by now that’s twenty years (I know, I’m so old). Over the past year, I’ve been doing this blog, posting reviews of Marvel prose and graphic novels. I have done several comparison pieces on graphic and prose novel with the same title and adaptations. This, however, is a first. I’m going to compare two COMIC book stories with similar titles. On July 25, 2021, I did a review of the Marvel Comics event “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” and a few hours ago on November 16, 2021, I posted a review of the Marvel Comics event “Miles Morales: The Clone Saga.” For those who don’t know, Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man. So these two reviews are the Clone Sagas of two different Spider-Men. If you haven’t read my reviews of the two events yet, I totally have to tell you to break now, then read the reviews by themselves (I gave you the dates posted for this express purpose), then come back and enjoy reading this comparison post. If you do this big favor for me, you are THE BEST!

            Okay, obviously I need to give you a little background on the Clone Sagas I previously wrote, for the purpose of differentiating the two Clone Sagas and preparing my comparison purposes.

            Let’s talk about the two Spider-Men to start this up. We’ll begin with the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Peter was a high school nerd, bullied and ignored by the other kids in his school. He went to a demonstration on radioactivity. While there, a spider got in the way of radioactive rays and became irradiated and bit Peter Parker and Cindy Moon before it died (Cindy Moon is the super hero Silk but has nothing to do with these stories, so she will not be mentioned in this review again). Afterwards, Peter Parker discovered he had spider-related powers. He has adhesive fingertips and toes; the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider; and a precognitive awareness of personal danger he calls “spider-sense.” He was orphaned as a boy and was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. At first he tried to use his powers for personal gain. One day, he let a burglar run by when Peter could have stopped him. This burglar broke into Peter’s home and shot and killed his Uncle Ben. Peter stopped the burglar, and decided to use his powers to help others. He truly became Spider-Man and lived by the mantra that with great power there must also come great responsibility.

            Miles Morales was a high school student. His Uncle Aaron was a criminal called the Prowler. One day, Aaron stole from Oscorp, and accidentally grabbed a genetically altered spider. While hanging out with his Uncle Aaron, the spider bit Miles. He discovered he had spider-related powers. . He has adhesive fingertips and toes; the proportional speed, strength and agility of a spider; the ability to direct a mild electrical charge he calls “venom blasts;” the ability to turn invisibility; and a precognitive awareness of personal danger he calls “spider-sense.” He decided to use his powers to help others who needed help, like his hero Spider-Man and became the new Spider-Man himself.

            Okay, those are the origins of the two Spider-Men. Let’s talk about the storylines leading up to both Peter and Miles’ Clone Sagas.

            In college, Peter Parker fell in love with fellow student Gwen Stacy. Secretly, their professor Miles Warren also fell in love with Gwen. Gwen was killed by Peter’s super villain enemy the Green Goblin. Warren was a geneticist and became the super villain the Jackal. The Jackal cloned Gwen and Peter. Both clones were presumed dead. Peter’s clone, however, did not die and left New York to live a life of his own as Ben Reilly. The Jackal was able to create more viable clones of Peter and Gwen. When Aunt May had a stroke, Ben returned to New York, and he and Peter originally fought, but were eventually able to live in coexistence.

            As for Miles Morales, Miles was abducted by the Assessor, who studied Miles to the point of torture and created a clone of Miles. Miles faced the clone, but the clone turned out to be inviable and fell apart. However, the Assessor managed to create three semi-viable clones. Miles was lured by his clones who began to commit crimes in his name, including a scientist to create a cure that would stabilize the clones, but not knowing this, Miles destroyed the cure, incurring the wrath of the clones Selim, Mindspinner and Switch.

            For more details of the actual events of the two Clone Sagas, read my reviews of both events (if you haven’t done so already). Okay, now I’ve got to compare the two Clone Sagas. I must say, however, there were almost no similarities between Peter and Miles’ Clone Sagas. Both had clones, and both had clones that were inviable and tried to stabilize themselves. Both had clones that tried to ruin their reputations. Peter’s clone Kaine committed murder and Peter was put on trial after a fingerprint match implicated Peter. Miles’ clone Selim stole equipment and kidnapped a scientist, who Selim went on to murder. And that’s about as far as similarities come.

            Okay, now you’re probably wondering which Clone Saga I preferred. If you read my reviews, you know I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten, one being totally awful, ten being totally awesome. You will also know at the time of writing the reviews, I gave Peter Parker’s Clone Saga a five, while I scored Miles Morales’s Clone Saga at a six. Please note I sometimes have a change of heart after writing my posts. But you may have read that I thought Peter Parker’s Clone Saga was too long, whereas Miles Morales’s Clone Saga was too short. There was just an imbalance on the length of the stories. Peter Parker and Ben Reilly both had solo stories and connecting stories. I felt that Miles Morales’s clone Selim just did not have enough time to be thoroughly established. Granted Selim was an evil clone, I thought more development of Selim, Mindspinner and Switch would have actually been more interesting if each clone actually had a story rather than just being deteriorating. So, yes, my promised preference. This is actually a very tough decision to make. Both had flaws. Both had good points. I have to say that, though being lower scored, Peter Parker’s Clone Saga was my preference, owing to each clone actually having a developed storyline rather than just eight issues solely focusing on Miles. It could have had much potential.

            Now I’ll revisit my accessibility statements in order to give recommendations. If you were to actually read these events, I felt that Peter Parker’s Clone Saga required a good deal of Spidey knowledge for optimal enjoyment, while I said that Miles Morales’s Clone Saga actually felt self-contained. I still, all these months later, stand by both statements. If you’re new to the Spider-Men and want to start a Clone Saga, I’d have to tell you Miles Morales’s is easier to pick up and read. At the same time, I’m not telling you to just read Miles’ Clone Saga as Peter’s was actually rather better developed. I just have to tell you if you either prefer Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider to Miles Morales/Spider-Man, go with whoever you like. Now, let’s get serious about something. I am NOT making your decisions for you. What I may like in comics are things that you have no interest in, or even dislike and hate, while you may like things that I don’t. That is ENTIRELY up to you. If you want to read either, both, or neither of them based on what I write, that’s on you, and I can’t force feed this on you. You make your own decisions. This is From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin, after all, not “From the Mind of One (Insert Your Name Here).” My opinions are my own, I can’t expect you to always agree with me. That’s the magic of free will.

            So if you either have read or go on to read either Clone Sagas, feel free to tell me what YOU think. I’d love to hear it. You can leave a comment on my blog page, message me on Facebook, leave a Tweet on this Twitter page, I’d LOVE to hear your opinions. And feel free to Retweet or Share with your followers and friends, that’d be awesome and you are totally THE BEST! I love the support, this blog is what keeps me going from day-to-day. I’m a certified journalist unable to get a job, which is why I do this. I’m semi-professional with this blog, and I do this just so I can share my opinions and encourage you to read and connect with me. You can also check out more of my blog posts if you enjoyed this. I do plenty more than just reviews and comparison pieces, I do essays about mental health (I happen to have bipolar disorder and am a mental health advocate), editorials about stupid things that bother me, short stories, poetry, and more. I post pretty frequently, so always expect more content, and I’ll say goodbye to you, and, as always, Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Spider-Man: The Clone Saga"

 

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics Event “Spider-Man: The Clone Saga” as presented on Marvel Unlimited. This was a long, intricate and highly extensive collection of comics with many storylines, and as such, I will only discuss the major points and specific highlights that I enjoyed and find pertinent as this is my review.

            We’ll obviously have to start with a little background that took place behind the story to clarify a few of the details needed to fully understand this review. We’ll establish for the record that Peter Parker is the superhero Spider-Man. He was bitten by a radioactive spider and now has adhesive fingertips and toes, enhanced strength and agility, and a spider sense that warns him of personal danger. He also created web shooters. His parents died when Peter was a child and lived with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. In his early days, he was only out for himself. He allowed a burglar to get by, and that same burglar broke into Peter’s house and killed his Uncle Ben. He then became a superhero because he learned the invaluable lesson that with great power there must also come great responsibility. He found out he had a clone, whom he battled and thought dead when the clone fell into a smokestack. But the clone didn’t die. Feeling like less of a man, he left New York (where Peter Parker lives) to establish his own life as Ben Reilly (named after his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, whose maiden name was Reilly) for five years. Ben had been hounded by a mysterious murderer named Kaine over these years, Kaine hating be for (well, that’d be a spoiler, some I’m going to stop there). What brought Ben back to New York was the news that Aunt May had a massive stroke and might not wake up or survive. That’s when Peter and Ben come face to face. Ben, establishing himself as not Peter and not Spider-Man did not want to be involved in the whole superhero shtick, but Ben also followed “with great power there must also come great responsibility” mantra and came to a rescue in a rather tacky costume. The Daily Bugle (the newspaper that Peter sold Spider-Man action pictures to) dubbed Ben “Scarlet Spider.” Ben hated that name, but you know how newspapers force names upon you, so he really at that point had to roll with it.

            Okay, that’s a good point to separate from now. “The Clone Saga” then divided stories up. At the time there were five major Spider-Man titles, so two of the titles originally followed Peter Parker, two originally followed Ben Reilly, and one originally featured Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider.

This, not surprisingly, led me to quite some discord. Having all the different writers involved in the whole event telling all the different storylines went quite wonky, and some of the artists did not appeal to my eyes. There were also several times where other superhero titles were added to coincide with Peter and Ben’s storylines, such as the New Warriors (a team I actually know little about, surprisingly), as well as one-shots and limited series. As they say, there’s no pleasing everyone (is there that saying or something like that, and if it isn’t, it totally should be and I will take the credit?). There was also a three-part limited series called “Funeral for an Octopus” (spoiler alert, Doctor Octopus is killed by Kaine) and five one-shots containing the story “Planet of the Symbiotes.”

I think now would also be a good time to tell you a little about the stories involving Peter Parker’s wife, Mary Jane Parker. The first is that she’s pregnant. Now, Peter having irradiated blood immediately brings concern as to what this could potentially do to Peter and Mary Jane’s baby. Fortunately, Ben knows a geneticist name Seward Trainer, the two do have history of working together, so Seward knows Ben’s need for discretion. We’ll get back to that because this yields something very important. Kaine has followed Ben to New York having had visions of Mary Jane’s death, which is possibly precognitive.

            Okay, now back to that point I left hanging. There is now a discovery that Peter Parker may not be the real “Peter Parker” but a clone of the man who has gone by the name “Ben Reilly” for the past five years. In other words, Peter might be a clone of Ben. Or there’s now the possibility that neither of them is the real “Peter Parker” and both Peter and Ben are clones.

Now, I stated there were several storylines, so let’s talk about my favorites and least favorites. I can’t honestly remember every story’s title, so I’ll just discuss events. First off, I loved the first story, where a mysterious man called Judas Traveller lures Peter and Ben to Ravencroft Institution (essentially a prison for crazy supervillains who can’t be held in a regular prison or mental hospital because of their powers) and threatens to either blow the place up or release all the patients (make your choice). I also liked the story of the trial of Peter Parker. Kaine has now framed Peter Parker for murder, to which Ben decides to stay in lockup while Peter as Spider-Man tries to clear Peter’s good name. I also enjoyed the planet of the symbiotes. I always love a good symbiote story, and Carnage is my all-time favorite supervillain, so a clone story with him was a total treat.

Okay, early on, I hated how Peter behaved. Now some people are familiar to “Spider-Man no more.” Now we were essentially presented with “Peter Parker no more,” which just did not appeal to me. I also disliked the story where the Vulture poisoned Peter Parker and Peter had to team up with Doctor Octopus to save Peter’s life, and then for his trouble Doc Ock is killed by Kaine. As a side note, Doc Ock had a girlfriend called Stunner, and this relationship made no sense to me, and maybe not even to you if you read this too. I also thought the outcome of Ben’s first encounter with Venom was wrong as Peter always had difficulty beating Venom and here Ben kicks Venom’s butt way too easily.

Okay, I know you now want my rating. If you’ve read me before, you know I discuss my opinions of the story (which I literally just did), then accessibility (if you don’t know what I mean, just keep reading) and a numerical score (one to ten, one being so awful I regret I ever read this, ten being I will totally read again). I always hate to give a low accessibility ranking, but this definitely has it. Intimate knowledge of Spider-Man is required to understand this. If you are a casual Spidey fan and thinks this sounds great and want to read it, your best bet is to get Disney + and watch the Spider-Man animated series from the 90s. That was totally the series that got me into Spider-Man in the first place and is totally amazing, spectacular, whatever other Spidey adjective you want to tack to it. I’m thirty-three and still watch cartoons (make fun if you must), but honestly anyone any age could find something to like about it. If you watch it, you’d totally understand this story, but it’s sixty-five episodes and some people just don’t have the time. Honestly if all you know of Spider-Man is from the movies, this is not for you (and I hate deterring people from reading anything I review based on that, but I have to do it). Alright, the moment you’ve been waiting for for the past however long it is you’ve been reading this: my number score! I’m going to stick this down the middle and give it a five because there were parts I liked and parts I disliked, and lumping the whole reading list together as an event, while an amazing attempt was a little scattered, and the ending leaves much more to be desired because you will read this and still feel this is only half of the story (I’m not going to spoil the reason why, but you will).

Well, I guess this’ll be all for now, but I’ve got plenty more reviews, editorials and B’ings planned (and if you don’t know what a B’ing is, totally read more of my blog as I put a lot of work into this), so I’m just going to say: Tim Cubbin… out!