EXCLUSIVE: Uncovering Spider-Man's "The Clone Conspiracy" With Slott & Lowe

[Prof. Warren]

Those Cheung pages look extraordinary. So excited for this event. Hopefully Cheung can rock out all five issues.

I'm so thankful for RYV by Conway. I can finally, and mercifully get off the ASM crazy train.

A great piece of comic book advice that I recently heard: Don't let Marvel force you into thinking you have to buy Clone Conspiracy to figure out what's going on it. Buy it because you want to, because you believe in the story. Not because you want to know how the story ends.

Is this actually new advice to anyone? And doesn't it apply to any comic? If you don't like something, don't feel obliged to read it.

[Zeitgeist]

Kill of peter, replace with RYV peter and give Kaine another series.

No; hell no; how many attempts at recent series does Kaine need?

[Webhead]

To be fair he only had one. New Warriors had barely anything relevant for him and his cast, and Scarlet Spiders was a mini.

[xpyred]

No; hell no; how many attempts at recent series does Kaine need?

And also, his series about an angry version of Peter Parker was overshadowed by Superior Spider-Man...another angrier version of Peter Parker.

[Tony]

About time.

The whole clone thing is never fully explored and allowed to breath, I'm hoping this story can be the books new direction for a few years.

[The BaRoN]

And also, his series about an angry version of Peter Parker was overshadowed by Superior Spider-Man...another angrier version of Peter Parker.

Kaine managed 25 issues as well, it was one of the best books about at the time and a fantastic supporting cast.

[poneley]

Yeah, that Kaine book was not bad. Enjoyable.

I'll be reading this. I enjoy Slott's work and I'm a big fan of Cheung.

[rward777]

I suspect that Peter will turn out to be a clone.

[Moral_Gutpunch]

I'm STILL confused about what Slott is saying about the Jackal.

Three times before the Clone Saga even started, it was established that clones (when were they 'fakes' and not real people?) are not the same person, which was The Jackal's whole motivation against Peter/Spider-Man.

So which is it, he CAN bring people back from the dead, or he clones them? If it's both...why would he even do that?

[Spidey5640]

Slott is right when he notes the word "clone" is divisive but fails to elaborate that the reason for it is because the use of "clones" is a cheap gimmick that only serves to undermine continuity and in some instances canon for the character. I mean if this storyline resurrects Uncle Ben and further makes the argument that clones are in every sense now the same human being from which they are cloned, then the defining moment that created Spiderman the hero is no longer valid. Same with his failure to save Gwen, or the death of anyone else he's lost along the way.

Slott says that's the way of comic, that everyone can come back. Maybe he's correct but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. In real life death of someone we care about shapes us and there's no do-overs. Marvel's success was based on humanizing their characters to include having them face emotional challenges all of us could relate to. Not anymore, just clone'em.

Cheap, unimaginative, overused garbage.

Yeah, I HATE clones stories....all of 'em...

[Moral_Gutpunch]

I mean if this storyline resurrects Uncle Ben and further makes the argument that clones are in every sense now the same human being from which they are cloned, then the defining moment that created Spiderman the hero is no longer valid. Same with his failure to save Gwen, or the death of anyone else he's lost along the way.

It's also a huge retcon for about a dozen characters, the Jackal included.

[Alkaidswrath]

Lowe: Jim hasn't done a ton of interiors. He did our "Civil War II" story for Free Comic Book Day, and he's done things here and there, but having him do this whole epic I think is going to knock people into next week.

Umm.... What? Cheung has done plenty of interiors over the years!

[Spider-Chan]

I think he meant a lot of interiors for the Spider-Man line.

[Alkaidswrath]

I think he meant a lot of interiors for the Spider-Man line.

If that was the case why would he mention the FCBD Civil War II story?

[Webhead]

Yeah, it's getting likely, but I hope the twist is not trying to sell "clones are pretty much the same as the people they're cloned from, so let's pretend they're the real deal!", cause that contradicts everything since the first Saga. Pete's gotten so savvy about clones over the years it wouldn't bring the huge emotional stakes into this at all. He knows he lives in a world where Uncle Ben and Gwen and so many others can be "brought back" by cloning -but he also knows clones aren't the same people (Reilly, Kaine). Which is why the sense of human loss remains intact despite the fantastic setting.

Now, if this were some sort of Wolverine healing factor tech thing, allowing to regenerate long-dead tissue from the same DNA... well it's far-fetched but definitely more like actual resurrection. And it begs the question: What about this person's soul/spirit/essence/whatever? Does that come back as well?