Ultimate Clone Saga
Contains issues 97-105.
The Clone Saga is one of Spider-Man's many controversial storylines besides One More Day and One Moment in Time. At the time, it was an attempt to bring life back into the series. While it did introduce some new characters like Ben Riley and Kaine, the overall plot was so ridiculous and ill-conceived that most fans could hardly take it serious. Now, it's Bendis' turn to bring the story in the Ultimate Universe.
This is Ultimate Spider-man's longest story arc. With everything going on in Peter's life, seeing clones of himself proves to be his ultimate challenge so far. And they're different variations of Peter to go along with this story. While there are plenty of references from the original story that make its way in the Ultimate Universe, Bendis manages to add his own twist to things. There's no clone calling himself Ben Riley (as Ben Riley was already introduced as an African-American student working for Kurt Connors), but there are other of surprises. An ultimate version of Scorpion makes his appearance that starts this mess in the first place, a female version of Peter called Jessica, or Spider-Woman, a Spider-Man in a black suit with four arms, a deformed Peter who's obsessed with Mary Jane to protect her, and a surprising clone that isn't revealed until near the end.
Along with Peter trying to make sense of situation, other factors causes him problems: a woman calling herself Gwen Stacy appears with something inside of her, Peter having no choice but to reveal to Aunt May that he's Spider-Man, his Father, Richard Parker appearing after supposedly being dead, Peter dealing with Nick Fury and his squad of Spider-Slayers, and trying to find Mary Jane after she was kidnapped by one of his crazed clones. It's enough drama to make anyone snap.
There's a huge cast of characters to also fit into this story. Returning characters like Nick Fury, The X-Men, and the Fantastic Four make an appearance. The mastermind behind all of this is a returning villain, but not who you'd think. He also has some new abilities as well.
As always, Bendis brings his A-game with the artwork.
Overall: The Clone Saga in (Ultimate) Spider-Man is another one of my favorite story arcs in this series. I would even go as far as saying this version is better than the mainstream story. It's also great to note that Ultimate Spider-Man reaches over 100 issues! This is an awesome achievement.
