Clone Madness (Finale): Spider-Man: Revelations

Writers: Todd DeZago, Tom DeFalco & Howard Mackie

Artists: Luke Ross, Mike Wieringo, Steve Skorce & John Romita Jr.

Although controversial, I honestly didn't mind Norman Osborn’s revival, and felt this was a suspenseful finale to the saga!

Ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

(DISCLAIMER: This review will not only be providing my analysis on REVELATIONS, but also my final verdict on THE CLONE SAGA as a whole.)

Welcome to the final part of CLONE MADNESS ladies and gentlemen, where our long look at one of the most infamous and controversial stories in comic book history finally comes to a conclusion…

Well folks, we’ve finally reached the last story arc of one of the most hated and controversial Spider-Man comics of all-time, THE CLONE SAGA. Despite the infamy surrounding the saga though, I came across more good elements than I originally expected to, which have helped make reading all of these stories a genuinely worthwhile experience for me. Reaching the saga’s ending was an extremely hectic experience for the writers and creative team however. Because the saga was stretched out and delayed, the writers were desperate to end the saga in a quick, yet satisfying manner. As such, they fought tooth and nail with each other over several proposed endings, some of which were absolutely absurd (you can read about them both in THE LIFE OF REILLY, as well as the humorous parody comic 101 WAYS TO END THE CLONE SAGA). Around the time that BLOOD BROTHERS came around, the writers ultimately decided to reveal that a mysterious mastermind had manipulating the entire CLONE SAGA since the beginning from behind-the-scenes, with the sole intention of destroying the life of Spider-Man. When this route was decided, the writers expressed great difficulty in determining which of Spidey’s enemies would have the resources and motivations necessary to pull of a scheme as massive and convoluted as THE CLONE SAGA. The person they ultimately decided to choose as the mastermind however would prove so controversial a choice among not only the creative team, but also fans and critics alike, making REVELATIONS one of the most controversial stories of the entire CLONE SAGA. While REVELATIONS remains fiercely divided to this day, I thought it was not only a suspenseful and satisfying conclusion to THE CLONE SAGA, but also felt that the controversial elements were effective in tying up all loose ends.

(WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD)

The story opens on Halloween inside the underground laboratories of the Multivex Industrial Complex, where Dr. Seward Trainer is preparing the final stages of Gaunt’s rejuvenation process. Seward is quickly interrupted however, by the arrival of Gaunt’s employer, the ultimate mastermind behind all of the recent events in Peter and Ben’s lives. Knowing that Peter and Ben are now in grave danger, Seward attempts to flee and warn Ben, whom he still cares deeply for despite having betrayed him back in BLOOD BROTHERS. Before Seward can reach the two Spider-Men however, he is assassinated by Gaunt, who is no longer forced to rely upon his life support suit, and has now dawned advanced cyborg armor. Meanwhile, Peter and Ben are reflecting on what has recently happened in their lives, while Mary Jane, who is now in the final stages of her pregnancy, is having lunch with her Aunt Anna at the Daily Grind cafe. Unknown to Peter, Ben, and Mary Jane, all three of their lives will change forever as the mysterious mastermind finally makes his move, sending Gaunt out to attack Peter and Ben, while another of his operatives drugs MJ’s coffee, causing her to go into labor prematurely. As Peter and Ben battle Gaunt, Peter receives word about his wife’s increasingly worsening condition. After helping defeat Gaunt, Peter leaves to be by MJ’s side, while Gaunt’s employer attacks Ben. After MJ’s baby either dies from a miscarriage or is kidnapped, Peter is also captured by this mysterious mastermind, who is revealed to be none other than Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin who was thought to have been dead since the classic NIGHT THAT GWEN STACY DIED storyline back in the 70’s. Having manipulated the entire CLONE SAGA since the beginning, Osborn reveals that he actually rigged the tests back in THE TRIAL OF PETER PARKER that declared Peter the clone as a means of psychologically screwing with Peter’s life and identity, meaning that Ben Reilly was the clone all along. With the truth finally revealed, will Osborn finally achieve his goal of destroying Peter Parker’s life, will Ben Reilly or MJ’s baby make it out the Goblin’s onslaught alive, and will Peter return as the one true Spider-Man? Either way, it is a night of revelations, and a night of goblins!

When REVELATIONS was first released, it immediately became one of the most infamous and controversial story lines to come out of the entire CLONE SAGA, even more so than MAXIMUM CLONAGE in some regards. Despite the hatred surrounding REVELATIONS though, I have to admit that I quite thoroughly enjoyed it. But before I talk about what I felt worked about REVELATIONS as a finale to the saga, I’ll discuss the major controversy surrounding this story. Similar to SINS PAST or IDENTITY CRISIS, the primary criticisms surrounding REVELATIONS are almost entirely centered on one major plot point, in this case, the decision to have Norman Osborn be the person responsible for THE CLONE SAGA. This plot twist was universally criticized not just by fans, but even amongst writers working on the saga as well. Glenn Greenberg was one of the most vocal opponents of this idea, as he stated in THE LIFE OF REILLY that not only did Norman clearly die back in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122, but that “he died in one of the most powerful Spider-Man stories of all time. It was a key event in Spider-Man's entire history! We would be totally betraying the trust of the fans if we went in and undid that story!” Greenberg also felt that Norman appearing just now would make no logical sense as if he were alive all this time, why would he let his son Harry become the second Green Goblin, or allow the Hobgoblin to steal his equipment? This is one of the few cases where I’d have to disagree with Greenberg and most of the fans, I thought that utilizing Norman as the main antagonist was not just the only effective method of ending the saga (as convoluted as it had gotten to this point), but that it also made logical sense as well.

My defense of Norman’s revival may come across as hypocritical as in my SMOKE AND MIRRORS review, I openly criticized the writer’s attempts to convince the reader that the Gwen Stacy in that story was not only the real deal, but had also been alive all this time despite contradicting past continuity. I hated aspect of SMOKE AND MIRRORS, as Gwen’s death was not only a pivotal moment in Spidey’s mythos, but also heavily affected the character development of Peter Parker, as well as the comic book industry as a whole. So if Norman’s death was just as pivotal as Gwen’s, then why am I not offended here like I was back in that story? For me, the reason I feel that Gwen should never be revived is because her death was not only the second greatest tragedy of Peter’s life, but it also led to him eventually marrying MJ. As such, Gwen always came across to me as a character whose significance to the story was greater following their death than when they were alive (similar to Aerith in FINAL FANTASY VII). While one could make the same argument for Norman, as his death caused Harry to become the second Green Goblin, Harry had previously died back in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #200, and therefore, there was more incentive to bring Norman back (also, I can get behind bringing villains back from the dead, more than I can supporting cast characters). Also, the reason that Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras specifically chose Norman was because he felt that Norman was the only villain capable of pulling off a scheme as convoluted and massive as THE CLONE SAGA solely for the purpose of psychologically tormenting Peter Parker. First of all, Norman was not only a wealthy business tycoon and industrialist, but he was also highly intelligent as well. As such he possessed the means and resources to conduct this plan, and Norman was also mentally insane, which would help explain why the saga had gotten so overly complicated to this point. 

I also felt that the writer’s provided a simple, yet effective motivation as for why Norman waited for so long to strike back at Spider-Man. While a single one-shot issue known as THE OSBORN JOURNAL was published to fill in all of Norman’s activities between his “death” seven years ago, and his return in REVELATIONS. Here, it is revealed that Norman was able to survive getting impaled by his own glider as the goblin serum provided him an accelerated healing factor alongside his superhuman strength. As such, he later woke up in the city morgue and replaced his body with that of a random homeless individual. While Norman initially intended to use his “death” as an opportunity to attack Peter when he least expected it, he suddenly came across Harry taking up the Goblin mantel for himself. Seeing Harry determined to prove himself and avenge his father’s death, Norman decided to let his son continue the war against Spider-Man, but promised to return if Harry failed. Since Harry had recently died back in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #200, Norman blamed Peter for driving Harry towards his death, and left Europe where he had been hiding for the past couple of years to finish what he had started. I found this to be an effective motivation for Norman’s sudden return, as previous comics and Spider-Man media have shown that Norman has a very unique relationship with his son. While he genuinely does care for his son, he also sees Harry as weak and incapable of standing up for himself. As such, when he saw Harry become the second Green Goblin, he felt closer to his son than he had in a long time, and decided to give him a chance to prove himself. This also means that when Norman’s return following Harry’s death it was not only to avenge his son’s death, but also to reclaim honor to the Osborn family name. This worked within the context of Norman’s character in my eyes, and gave his vendetta to screw up Peter’s life more depth and credibility than just simple hatred and revenge. Overall, while most people hated the return of Norman Osborn, I actually felt it was not only well executed and suspenseful, but that it was also warranted and logically fit within the context of the story. 

Another aspect that I felt made REVELATIONS a satisfying conclusion to THE CLONE SAGA was not only how suspenseful the book’s tone was, but also the amount of build-up to Norman’s return. In my opinion, the most important task of any finale is to not only effectively tied up all loose ends, but to also make it feel as grand and epic as possible. REVELATIONS definitely succeeds in that regard, as the feels of dread and suspense for the reader are present right off from the first page. The moment where Seward Trainer first encounters Osborn from the shadows is filled with suspense as the fear and desperation that Seward conveys tells the reader that this is a legitimate threat with power and weight behind it. Not only does this moment effectively establish the danger that Norman represents, but it also increases the reader’s investment and fear for the characters. The story’s suspenseful tone and build up is also present in the scenes where Peter and Ben are fighting Gaunt. Not only is Gaunt finally revealed to be Mendel Stromm, Norman’s old business partner (further building up to Norman’s reveal), but his presence exists solely to distract Peter while MJ is undergoing labor prematurely, therefore increasing the suspenseful atmosphere of the story. Other scenes that displayed effective build up in my opinion were those featuring the Daily Bugle preparing an unscheduled Halloween party. Not only was this party unplanned, but all of the people invited were friends of Peter’s, and the party was being funded by Osborn Industries and Multivex, both of which belong to Norman. Therefore, these scenes gradually build up to the book’s finale where Norman imprisons all of Spider-Man’s friends in the Bugle, and Peter and Ben are forced to stop him before the building is bombed sky-high. The amount of suspense and build up present in REVELATIONS not only made it an effective finale in my opinion, but it also kept me engrossed in the story from beginning to end. 

While REVELATIONS was an effective conclusion to THE CLONE SAGA in my opinion, there were two major flaws that make it feel bittersweet despite being a well-written and entertaining finale. The first of which was Ben Reilly’s death at the end of the story. I have very mixed feelings about the writer’s killing off Ben as while I do understand why they felt they had to do it, I feel that it could have been avoided. Since REVELATIONS was going to be the ending of the entire CLONE SAGA, the writers had to prove once and for all that Peter was the original, and that Ben was the clone, permanently putting all of the clone nonsense behind them. Although Norman stated earlier in the story that he had rigged the tests to label Peter as the clone and Ben as original, the writer’s felt that Norman words were not entirely trustworthy since he was the antagonist. As such, the writers decided that the only way to prove once and for all that Ben was the clone was to have him sacrifice himself for Peter, die, and then have his body undergo the clone degeneration process and disintegrate into dust. While understand the logic behind this decision, I feel that they should have thought of a way to keep Ben alive. While people hated the idea of Ben permanently replacing Peter, Ben Reilly was still a great character in his own right, and still has a devoted fan base to this day (which I myself am now a part of). Since he’s one of the most three-dimensional, lovable, noble, and optimistic comic book characters that I have recently encountered, I felt that the writers should have confirmed Ben’s status as the clone in a different manner than killing him off. For instance, the Green Goblin cut off one of Ben’s arms or legs, and that single body part would then undergo the degeneration process, confirming that Ben was undoubtedly the clone while still keeping him alive. So while I understand why the writer's felt Ben needed to be killed off, I wish they could have found away to keep him alive. The other major problem that I had with REVELATIONS was how ultimate fate of Peter and MJ’s baby was left unresolved in later stories. To be more specific, I actually liked how the writer’s made the baby’s fate unclear in the story. While MJ’s baby supposedly dies from a miscarriage, one of the nurses is later seen delivering a mysterious bundle to Norman Osborn, and is ordered to take it to Europe where it will never be seen again. This not only heavily implies that the baby is actually still alive, but also allows the writers to avoid explicitly having infanticide as a plot point in the comic. On its own, this plot point was actually well done, and easily increases the reader’s investment to want to continue and find out what actually happened to the baby. Unfortunately however, this plot point ultimately leads to nowhere in later stories, as any mention of the baby has been avoided by the majority of future writers, and the issue has never been resolved to this day (and considering ONE MORE DAY’S retconing of Peter and MJ’s marriage, I don’t think it ever will be). While these problems don’t necessarily hurt the story in my opinion, they do rob it of some of the satisfying payoff that I felt it should have amounted to. 

Overall, while REVELATIONS does suffer flaws with it’s handling on the final fates of Ben Reilly and the baby, I had absolutely no problem with the decision to resurrect Norman Osborn as I felt that his return not only made sense logically, but that it also provided the story with a good amount of suspense and build up, making it an effective finale to THE CLONE SAGA. While many people feel that REVELATIONS was a disappointing finale that THE CLONE SAGA, I personally enjoyed it as I thought it succeeded in wrapping up the majority of loose ends, and helped Spidey transition back to his original status-quo before the saga’s beginning. So while not a perfect finale, REVELATIONS was still a satisfying and entertaining one in my humble opinion, and as Glenn Greenberg stated, “it could have been a LOT worse. It could have [easily] been another MAXIMUM CLONAGE.” 

Thank goodness it wasn’t!

“Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and true progress.”

-Nicholas M. Butler