Trade Marks: The Original Clone Saga

This is one big book, coming in at nearly 500 pages. It also has a hefty price tag and I likely would have passed had I not found it for $20. I was not reading Spidey books during the whole Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider era, but I was intrigued to revisit some of these older stories to see how the origins of the whole saga. As a child, I had read many of the individual stories through a combination of Amazing Spider-Man and reprints in Marvel Tales. For some reason, the Jackal always freaked me out when I was young. He came across as wild and insane and reminded me a bit of Gollum from the Bashki animated movie. Some of my earliest comic book memories involve the Jackal. Getting back to this volume - the storyline goes on and on and includes just about every story with a tenuous link to the Clone story. Some are more engaging than others, and I began to lose interest as we moved into the 80s and early 90s and became more focused on Carrion and Hobgoblin. I'm a pretty big Sal Buscema apologist, but some of those later issues looked quite terrible. Let's blame the inkers, shall we? All in all, the artwork is beautifully reproduced and the stories are mostly enjoyable. Most importantly, it reminded me of a few things. First, nobody draws NYC streetscapes like Ross Andru. Spider-Man and Andru-drawn buildings go together like webbing and a flagpole. Secondly, the Tarantula was an awesome villain. There's a reason many of my favourite Spidey stories featured this sharp-toed foe. It is worth adding to your bookshelf if you can find it at a reduced price, but far from essential. Trade Mark: B-