The Clone Conspiracy Omega #1 Review

Clone Conspiracy Omega #1

Writing Team: Dan Slott, Christos Gage, & Peter David

Art Team: Cory T. Smith, Justin Ponsor, Mark Bagley, 

John Dell, Jason Keith, Stuart Immonen, 

Wade Von Grawbadger, Richard Isanove

Marvel Comics

Release Date: March 1, 2017

Cover Price: $4.99

Third Times a Charm!

Good things come in three’s ‘they’ say right? Well, hopefully ‘they’ are right, for what is essentially the third ending issue to the Dead No More: Clone Conspiracy event. So without further ado let’s see if this creative team, large enough to fill a banquet hall, has what it takes to finally bring this event to a complete conclusion. Swing on inside and find out fellow spider fans.

The first few pages tread familiar ground if your all caught up on the most recent happenings throughout Spider-Man’s world.  The only real new bits of information we pull out of this opening section are; first, we see the Rhino will obviously being given a little spotlight here, while second, Peter deals with a little Parker guilt over the fact he was unable to save everyone inflicted throughout the cloning process/carrion virus extravaganza. 

Things pick up towards the second act as Peter and Kaine start having a little beef with one another over the fact Kaine and Spider-Gwen kept Peter in the dark about the side effects the Ben/Jackal cloning process caused.  The start of a misunderstanding between Peter and Kaine here leads to further confrontation later over the fact Peter is taking the ‘ashes’ of Octavius and Ben Reilly as gospel for their passing. Meanwhile Kaine, remembering how this has all played out previously, still has his trepidations and now makes it his new mission to further pursue his clone counterpart.

Before long, when the situation is under control a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment unit arrives on scene to clean up the mess of deceased clones while others arrest long thought deceased villains. Amoung the chaos a group approaches a grieving Rhino, who flips out, forcing Spidey into action.  After a brief scuffle between the two longtime foes, they end up having a nice moment in the end, as Spidey shares that he has lost people as well in all this cloning chaos. They basically share a “Martha” moment if you will which calms Rhino down enough to comply with S.H.I.E.L.D. orders. Spidey holds true to his word and promises to check up on his ‘new pal’ with Rhino replying he looks forward to that moment.

Rhino isn’t the only old villain still lurking around to end this story as we also get a glimpse of the Lizard. We watch as Dr. Conner’s manages to smuggle his family down into a nearby sewer all with the possibility of a lead to keep them from suffering the same fate of the other lesser clones.  The issue closes out with another glimpse of Lizard, who has seemingly applied his “cure” to his family, turning them into one big happy Lizard family … who wouldn’t want that?!

To book end the issue we are also provided two teaser glimpses into both the books spinning out of this event. The first teaser is of Ben Reilly and Dr. Clarkson which leads into the fast approaching Scarlet Spider book coming soon.  The second teaser sets up Amazing Spider-Man #25, coming in at a whopping $9.99 price tag, as Kingpin provides Spider-Man a lead directly to the whereabouts of Normal Osborn as the issue finally comes to a close. 

This issue overall accomplished a couple things. It put a bow on the entire Clone Conspiracy arc which felt a little bit dragged out at this point in time.  At the same time the book was a lot of setup for future Spider-Man story threads and titles coming soon so felt like more of a jumping on point than an extended ending to an event with a heavy investment on the reader’s end of things. 

I can’t forget to mention the art team. Everyone does a very suitable job of blending the pages together to avoid any shocking changes throughout the issue.   

Bits and Pieces

Clone Conspiracy Omega #1 is an issue that, new and long-time Spider-Man readers alike, will find aspects to enjoy. There’s a decent story to read through and take in here albeit with some flaws. At the same time buyers are also treated to a few teases about the future of Spider-Man and where he’s headed next which is sure to draw some interest.

6.8/10