The Clone Conspiracy #1 Review

The Clone Conspiracy #1

We came back once again as the Amazing Spider-Man has returned with a brand-new saga, written by Dan Slott (Superior Spider-Man, The Thing) who continues an ongoing tale of Peter Parker with artist Jim Cheung (Avengers – The Children's Crusade, New Avengers – Illuminati). This time he brings the Spider-Man event 'Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy'. The comic opens up in a graveyard and we see Peter telling himself that everything he’s ever defended, every foe he has ever defeated, there is one that he cannot defeat and that is the fact that everybody dies and today is no different because they are all at a funeral of John Jonah Jameson, Sr.

During this time Peter also manages to catch up on everybody else that he has lost. Gwen Stacy, Uncle Ben and many other people important to him and made him what he is today. What is really great about this is the fact that Peter just feels terrible because Aunt May just lost the second husband and he was there all along but couldn’t do anything to help at all. He is carrying this huge burden while May was crying in his arms.

The Burden of Death

J. Jonah Jameson however decides to be very vocal about it. During the funeral he attacks Peter with words and what he said did no actual harm to hi but he blamed Peter for all of this. Because he was the one who told them that they should take this new experimental cure that was supposed to save Jameson, Sr. and now his son is blaming Peter for his demise. After everyone leaves, Peter was the last man standing there at the graveyard and he was quiet, eluded in his own thoughts.

The Burden of Failure

Then we see Anna Maria walks up to him and she wants to talk because she knows who he is. She knows that he is still Spider-Man. So, the two are going to stroll through the graveyard and have a pretty good conversation about everything that’s going on. Following their talk we are cut to Edmond, Oklahoma with Peter and Anna and they are knocking on the door of a house that belonged to former Parker Industries employee Jerry Salteres, who was injured in an accident at a Parker Industries plant. As Emma Salteres opens the door, Peter asks her how her husband Jerry and son Leo are doing. But the moment he starts talking about Jerry, Emma gets frightened.

The story of New U Technologies

She said, she cannot talk about him or his condition which obviously gets Anna Marie and Peter very suspicious. In the course of the conversation, we find that Jerry didn’t take his medicine when the family went camping and the mom wanted to go back but he insisted that he’d be fine for the weekend without these pills. Now what exactly did these pills do? Because next we see Peter actually tinkered around with a gadget that reveals that he had cellular degradation that was going on and it was very rapid. So they are all currently concerned and every clue points to New U.

Jerry's Story

Then the story transited over to California, San Francisco to the New U Headquarters where we see Peter is on the prowl as Spider-Man. He is going to investigate what is exactly happening and we see Spidey even has a few new gadgets at his disposal, such as acid webbing so that he can break into places a lot easier and get through vents. Now, while he is doing this we still see that Anna Maria is actually investigating everything that is happening. She’s doing all the scientific research while Peter is in the inside. She believes she’s finding some sort of answers but she is nowhere near a conclusion yet. Then as we switch back to Peter, it shows that he had a plan if something like this ever happened. He stuck a Spider-Tracer that is going to lead him to the exact location of Jerry Salteres.

No Industrial Espionage

As looking around inside, he actually finds a tube which is holding someone inside and this just so happens to be Jerry but it’s not too long that Peter Parker could take a moment to himself because we see that his old enemy Miles Warren aka The Jackal is here. Making the bet and quickest decision of his life, Warren yells for security, which brings in the entire team of guards but Rhino and Electro also showed up, whom Warren actually called for. However, the Electro that appears alongside Rhino is a female named Francine Frye, who actually died at the hand of Max Dillon; the original Electro. Without wasting a single moment Peter gets into subduing his opponents and we get a pretty decent action scene here.

Here Comes The Big Guns

But the worst of it had yet to come as he gets distracted when he behold the first love of his life; Gwen Stacy (died in the "Death of the Stacys" storyline) apparently back from the dead standing right in front of him, wearing that familiar outfit we all know and in that moment of Peter’s distraction, we see the situation turns into Miles Warren’s favor as he sets of the formerly deceased Doctor Otto Octavius (Dying Wish) to apprehend Spider-Man.

The Shocking Return

Well, this is right where the first issue ends and by now it’s no secret that our most hated Spider-Man nemesis Jackal is back and so does his clones. It has me interested as it is written by Dan Slott and its way better than what he’s been doing into the current Amazing Spider-Man run for Marvel which I’ve always dropped from reviewing. It was like stalking into the same mediocrity and that has just changed with The Clone Conspiracy issue #1. The art of this book is absolutely awesome and it serves as a compliment to the writing of Dan Slott. Even though I haven’y liked the “Clone Saga” in the first place, I’m feeling more and more interested in this book’s continuation. This may turn out to be something actually well done and I recommend you this book for that.

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