Spider-Man: The Clone Saga- The Final Adventure

PART 12

Writer: Fabian Nicieza

Artist: Darick Robertson

For what could've been offensive, this was actually a well-written story that pays respect to Peter's morals of responsibility!

Ranking: 4 stars

Welcome to the 12th part of CLONE MADNESS true believers, where we explore an era where Marvel was actually considering permanently replacing Peter Parker with his clone, Ben Reilly, as the new Spider-Man! In my last review of THE CLONE SAGA, I discussed how the writers were determined to permanently implement Ben Reilly as the new Spider-Man, and reboot the franchise as a whole. While most of fans were not on board with this idea, the creative team still felt that the idea possessed merit, and were willing to give the reboot a chance. As I stated in my review of MEDIA BLIZZARD, while the reboot did contain several interesting ideas, and some of the stories it produced like FAMILY PLOT, ALONG CAME A SPIDER, THE RETURN OF KAINE, WEB OF CARNAGE, and the aforementioned MEDIA BLIZZARD were pretty decent, it just didn’t work for me as a whole. This was primarily because most of the stories in it felt like filler that didn’t contribute to the overall CLONE SAGA narrative, the majority of the villains were bland, and it felt as if the writers were trying to transform Ben into a carbon-copy of Peter rather than let him be his own separate character at times. Still though, I could see genuine effort put into the reboot, and feel that I must give credit where credit is due, even if it didn’t succeed as a whole. In spite of the writer’s best efforts however, most fans at the time were unwilling to give the reboot a chance as while they did love Ben Reilly, they were not open to the idea of him permanently replacing Peter as Spider-Man. In fact, I think that this was the point in THE CLONE SAGA that actually managed to provoke several readers to not only stop reading Spider-Man, but comics as a whole. To a degree, I can understand why the fans were offended by the idea of Peter being cast aside, as I myself would rather have Ben’s role as Spidey be temporary rather than permanent. However, I feel that the fan’s reaction towards the both the reboot and the revelation of Peter actually being a clone was somewhat unfair and biased, as I feel that even though we might find some ideas offensive, we should at least try to give them a chance before judging them. This may seem hypocritical since I myself have been very hesitant towards buying any Spider-Man comics that take place after ONE MORE DAY (with the exceptions of SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN and Kaine’s solo SCARLET SPIDER series), but all stories deserve a chance even if we don’t agree with them, as you might end up criticizing something that actually turns out be good. Such is the case with today’s story arc, THE FINAL ADVENTURE. This 4-issue miniseries was created to make it that there was no chance of Peter returning as Spidey, as it portrays Peter Parker permanently losing his spider-powers. While the initial premise of THE FINAL ADVENTURE may seem offensive, to my surprise, it actually turned out to be a well-written and compelling story that respected Peter Parker and the elements that he stands for, rather than disregarding them. Written around the same time as SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #0, the story opens with Peter Parker working at the G.A.R.I.D. labs in Portland, Oregon. Since THE GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY and PARKER YEARS one-shot, Peter and Mary Jane have left New York to raise their soon to be born child while Ben Reilly would take over crime fighting activities back in the big apple. Peter has gotten a job at G.A.R.I.D as the company’s technology helped produce the original radiation device that infected the spider that granted Peter his powers all the way back in AMAZING FANTASY #15. Fearing the possibility that the baby might be born deformed by the radioactivity in his blood, Peter hopes to gain valuable information on his own physiological makeup in case that he has to develop a cure for both the baby, and possibly himself. Peter soon discovers that one of the scientists, Dr. Monica Staphos, has been developing an experimental synthetic skin derivative (or SSD) to help cure a deadly flesh-eating disease, and was testing it on a convicted psychotic named River Verys. After examining Verys blood samples, Peter discovers that the SSD operates on the exact same radiation in his blood, allowing it to act as an artificial skin that bonds with the patient and removes areas of infected tissue. Seeing this as an opportunity to develop a cure, Peter mixes some of his own blood with the SSD in order to perfect the formula. Trouble arises however when Dr. Staphos gets ahold Peter’s formula, and against her superior’s wishes, tests it on a dying Verys. Due to Peter’s tampering, the SSD causes Verys to transform into a hideous monster with skin that heavily resembles spider-webs. The mutated Verys then kills Staphos and escapes and goes on a killing spree all Portland. Since the product of both Peter’s tampering of the SSD and his own irradiated blood, Peter feels responsible for both Verys’ condition, as well as the victims he has slaughtered. As such, Peter feels that it is his moral duty to stop and cure the monster that he helped create, meaning that he must break the promise he made in THE GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY and don the mantle of Spider-Man one last time! Will the final adventure of the amazing Spider-Man end with Spidey finding a cure for Verys mutation, and even if he succeeds, will he walk away from it with his spider powers intact. As I stated back in my review of MEDIA BLIZZARD, the stories from the “Ben Reilly Reboot” often ranged from average to mediocre, and those with higher quality such as the aforementioned MEDIA BLIZZARD, FAMILY PLOT, and WEB OF CARNAGE were good, but nothing phenomenal. Because of my dissatisfaction with most of the reboot, I’ll admit that the sheer quality of the writing in THE FINAL ADVENTURE took me by complete surprise when I first read it. While I still feel that CLONE SAGA stories like THE LOST YEARS, THE EXILE RETURNS, THE GIFT, and WEB OF DEATH are stronger, this one easily earns a spot among my favorite stories produced during the saga. While the concept of Spidey permanently loosing his powers may come across as offensive, the method in which it is handled not only allows the story to be highly compelling, but also respectful and faithful to Peter’s character and the morals that he stands for. I think a large part of THE FINAL ADVENTURE’s success can be contributed to comic’s writer, Fabian Nicieza. Nicieza is a writer that I have heard several people give praise towards, but up until this story, I had not yet been exposed to the quality of his writing. I feel that this is because while Nicieza is widely known for writing great comics, he’s unfortunately also written some terrible ones to, particularly during the 90’s. Of the comics I have read of his, DEADPOOL: CLASSIC VOL. 1 was merely okay, while the CABLE: BLOOD AND METAL miniseries was a prime representation of everything that was wrong with comics during the 90’s. As such, I’ve never had a strong opinion on Nicieza’s writing, so I was completely stunned by how well written his work on THE FINAL ADVENTURE was. Even though Nicieza was not involved with the rest of THE CLONE SAGA, the story is perfectly incorporated into the ongoing narrative of the saga, and doesn’t contradict any events that had previously taken place. Nicieza also makes all the characters extremely compelling, fleshing them out with believable dialogue and three-dimensional motivations (particularly with Peter, which I’ll cover later). It’s also very clear that Nicieza has great knowledge of Spider-Man’s history and mythos, as nearly all of the elements in this story pay homage to Spidey’s first appearance in AMAZING FANTASY #15. This is especially conveyed through the company that Peter works for as not only is it the exact same one that appeared at the science demonstration where he first became Spider-Man back when he was in high school. Not only does this provide a “book-ending” nature to THE FINAL ADVENTURE (as this was intended to be Peter’s final hurrah), but also allows elements from Spidey’s origin story to play prominent roles in the story. The same device that made the radioactive spider radioactive plays a prominent role in curing both Verys and Peter, but the elemen's like the head scientist of the company being the same one that was present at Peter's high school science demonstration (the artwork on him also makes him look exactly like Steve Ditko’s original illustrations), and the fact that the monster Peter creates heavily resembles a web-like spider provides symbolism as it was a spider that granted Peter his powers, and his last adventure has him take down a spider-like creature. The amount of symbolism and parallels towards AMAZING FANTASY #15 not only made the comic highly engrossing and faithful to Spidey’s mythos in my eyes, but it also showed that Nicieza both understood the character’s history, as well as respected and admired it. I know this as both the LIFE OF REILLY essay and an afterword by Nicieza in THE COMPLETE BEN REILLY EPIC BOOK 3 show that he had wanted to get involved in the Spider-Man books for awhile, and when he was offered to write THE FINAL ADVENTURE, he immediately accepted the project. Overall Fabian Nicieza’s writes a compelling story through both realistic characterizations as well as great symbolism to Spider-Man’s origin story. Speaking of Spider-Man, Nicieza’s handling of Peter Parker’s character is the area in which I feel THE FINAL ADVENTURE excels at the most. As I stated earlier, readers at the time were still angry about the revelation of Peter actually being a clone, and as a result, they were unwilling to accept the fact that Ben Reilly was going to replace him. Because the premise of THE FINAL ADVENTURE is that Peter loses his spider powers, this story was basically saying that there was no chance of Peter coming back. While this could have easily come across as offensive, I feel that any concept or idea has the potential to be good so long as the correct writer is brought on board. Nicieza was undoubtedly the perfect choice in this regard, as he writes Peter’s character in such a respectful manner that THE FINAL ADVENTURE feels like less of an abandonment of Peter’s career as Spider-Man, and more like a tribute and farewell. Just like in THE GREATEST RESPONSIBILITY, where the catalyst for Peter’s retirement was his fears of becoming a neglectful father, Nicieza connects the loss of Peter’s powers to the character’s central theme of “with great power comes great responsibility.” While this phrase has become cliched over the years, the reason it stands strong to this day is that it is the basic summary of the morals that Peter stands for; the moral philosophy that those who have power should not use it for selfish gain, and that one should accept responsibility for the actions caused by said power. This theme has been ever-present in Spider-Man’s history since the beginning and it’s a dominant theme here as well. The themes about power and responsibility are conveyed through the Verys being mutated into a spider-like monster from the experimental SSD. While Peter was not directly responsible for this, he feels that it is partially his fault as Verys' current condition was the result of Peter adding his blood to the SSD. This reminded me of how back when he first became Spider-Man, he was indirectly responsible for Uncle Ben’s death as he neglected to stop a criminal when he had the chance. In essence Peter was being irresponsible as he cared more about himself back then. While his tampering with the SSD are primarily out of a desire to help MJ’s baby, it’s still connected to Peter’s original selfish behavior, as he was doing it partially for himself as well, believing that it would provide him a means to get rid of his powers. Just like with the robber and Uncle Ben, Peter’s actions result in terrible consequences, in this case being that several innocent people die at the hands of Verys. This effectively motivates Peter to break his previous vow and become Spider-Man one last time, as he feels that since he had a hand in Veyrs’ mutation, it’s his responsibility to cure him. While this also homaged to Spidey’s origin, it also gave it a twist that while Peter was previously incapable of preventing his Uncle’s death as he neglected to take the opportunity he had to do so, he has the chance here to prevent Verys from killing more people, further adding to the “book-ending” nature of the story. The amount of emphasis on Peter’s moral beliefs in power and responsibility, along with the parallels to his origin story, makes THE FINAL ADVENTURE a respectful tribute to Peter’s character rather than offensive disregardment of him. It’s not as much of a simple statement that Peter will never return as Spidey, as much as it is a mature tribute and farewell that allows the character to grow up and move on with his wife and child. Another strong point about THE FINAL ADVENTURE in my opinion was a sub-plot involving Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis, relentlessly pursue Peter and MJ in the hopes of connecting them to Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider. Ken Ellis was another character created during THE CLONE SAGA that I felt played an interesting role in the story. He was originally created by Howard Mackie and Tom Lyle way back in THE EXILE RETURNS, and was the the first reporter to do coverage on Ben Reilly’s activities as the Scarlet Spider, as well as the one to give him that name. Glenn Greenberg stated in THE LIFE OF REILLY that Mackie forgot about Ellis as the saga progressed, and was mostly restricted as a background character until this story. According to Greenburg, Nicieza had a fondness for this character, and took the opportunity to utilize him whenever he wrote a Spider-Man story. In describing Ken Ellis’ personality, he’s basically the polar opposite of another prominent reporter for the Bugle named Ben Urich. Whereas Urich is ethical in his practices as he considers the potential ramifications that his stories might have, Ellis is more concerned about personal glory he might gain from his stories, and he could care less about the negative impacts that they could possibly have on others (just like modern reporters in real-life; LOL). While these traits weren’t obvious in earlier stories featuring Ellis, I never trusted this guy as there was just always something suspicious about his facial expressions and the mannerisms in his dialogue. Nicieza probably noticed these traits Ellis' character too, as Ken Ellis in this story is presented as a relentless reporter who could care less about morality and ethics, and will hound who ever he can in the hopes of gaining a good story. He does this to Mary Jane in the story, as ever since THE TRIAL OF PETER PARKER, Ellis has suspected a connection between Peter and the Scarlet Spider. When he discovers Spider-Man’s activities in Portland, Oregon, he comes to the conclusion that Peter is Spider-Man, and goes as far as to blackmail MJ with this knowledge when she refuses to give him information. Ken Ellis’ mean-spirited and unethical characterization not only made this subplot incredibly suspenseful, but it also made him a perfect foil for more noble reporters at the Bugle like Robbie Robertson (heck, I don’t think even J. Jonah Jameson was as much of an a**hole as Ellis). So while Ellis is an unlikeable a**hole, this was done intentionally on Nicieza’s part, which allows the character to be an interesting foil to ethical reporters, and effectively fulfill his role to the story’s subplot as a secondary antagonist. If I had any legitimate complaints with THE FINAL ADVENTURE, they would be that while Verys serves as an effective antagonist for the book, his personality feels a little too much like a rip-off of Carnage’s for me, and MJ’s complaints about Peter disobeying his vows to retire do come across as unnecessarily whiny at points (but to be fair, they are redeemed by the story’s ending). I should also mention that according to THE LIFE OF REILLY, the book’s ending was heavily rewritten due to the changing editorial direction of THE CLONE SAGA. While Glenn Greenburg said this created problems for the book, I personally did not notice them, and felt that the ending incorporated well with the rest of the book. But overall, THE FINAL ADVENTURE was a well written and compelling chapter of THE CLONE SAGA that I did not expect to encounter. The writing by Fabian Nicieza is expertly handled, as it provided three dimensional realism to the characters, as well as deep symbolism that tied back to Spider-Man’s origin in AMAZING FANTASY #15. This not only gave the comic a gripping sense of finality to Peter’s role as Spider-Man, but also allowed the story to act as a tribute to the character and give him a respectful farewell rather than offensively disregarding him. THE FINAL ADVENTURE is a testament to the fact that while some concepts may seem offensive on paper, ultimately, good things can spawn from them when they’re given to a writer who not only understands the characters that he is writing, but respects them as well. “It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.” -Hermann Hesse