While I intended for this to be out this last week, mother nature kicked my arse, forcing me to not get my books from last week til this evening. Thus, I have been waiting to get my hands on Clone Saga’s 5th issue for several days. Upon Reading, it was worth the wait. I have never ever said this after reading the book in my car, in the Comic Shop parking lot. But in essence, I said this:

Holy <BEEP>!

Folks, this comic is that good. Because damn.

TOM DEFALCO & HOWARD MACKIE

TODD NAUCK

VICTOR OLAZABA

STORY:We open our issue with a comedic take on Peter Parker and Ben Reilly’s trying to build the little swing for little as-unnamed-child. Yes, we know that in the ‘616’ (The Marvel Universe) and ‘982’ (MC-2/Spider-Girl’s reality) her name is May Parker. But in this issue, Peter and Ben putting together a swing. MJ and Aunt May (not Anna like in Revelations) are dining at the Daily Grind coffee shop, and she goes into labor. And we see something that we never did see in the original Clone Saga: Peter, and Ben in their respective Spider-Man Costumes. Together, they fight Kaine, who’s job it is to distract them from helping MJ. Upon Arrival, They get to name her ‘May’ and Peter gets to hold his Child (As does MJ) before the witch known as Allison Mongrain steals her, and delivers her to Kaine. The Doctor is flabbergasted that she would do that, but Peter and Ben know who it is: Kaine, after a brief discussion between the two,  They split up. The ‘Mystery Man’ then revives Norman, telling him ‘there is no time for reunions’ and shows him the Mask of the Green Goblin. Cut to Ben who is attack by  a Green Goblin. After their short battle we get our FINAL splash Page:

Ben Getting impaled by a Glider. In the Back, no less.

THOUGHTS: My feelings are Mixed. While Issue One was ‘Power and Responsibility’, Issue two was kinda from the Amazing 399 area, Issue three was Maximum Cloneage, Issue 4 was from the early days of Ben Reilly’s tenure as Spider-Man, and this, Issue 5 is comparable to the first three issues of Revelations.

To compare and contrast, this issue has Peter and Ben’s male bonding being the swing set. Sensational 240 had Peter and Ben cleaning the attic, going through old stuff. Peter inviting Ben was due to him saying ‘these are your memories too.’ This obviously was played for laughs, as Peter is reading the instructions upside down. Cute, but lacking the powerful moments in SSM 240. MJ is at the Grind with Aunt May, as opposed to Aunt Anna. Good Call. Prefer May over Anna. Allison Mongrain is very well done here, and the fact that Peter and MJ held little May made it BETTER than Revelations.  Kaine’s involvement mirrored the Norman Osborn reveal, which was fine with me, given that Norman’s asleep. And Ben getting stabbed in the gut by Osborn (Harry or Norman) was actually both good and nice that Ben’s in Costume.

One of the things that we never saw was Ben’s Fight with Norman. We just See Ben beat all to hell in Revelations, because it happened off panel in the ‘Floppy’ Comic. In the Trade Paperback, we saw it, but you can’t find it, being out of Print and all. So it was nice. But HOLY CRAP did I not see the Ben getting Shanked by Harry Osborn.

That’s right, I’m calling the Goblin in this issue Harry, even though He seemingly gives the mask to Norman. The basis is that The sharp object on the Glider is from the Classic Spectacular Spider-Man 200.

Given how I throughly enjoyed every moment in this issue, I’m giving this a 4.75 out of 5.

For more on those ‘Lost Pages, check out Spideydude.com from today through Sunday’s Clone Pick of the Day.