Miles Morales vol. 5: The Clone Saga

There are some longtime “Spider-Man” fans who are going to see the title to this volume and feel a chill go up their spine.  The 90’s era “Clone Saga” was an infamous storyline that went on for much longer than it should have and turned off a whole lot of fans along the way.  This means that writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Carmen Carnero (with Natacha Bustos pitching in for the first issue) have a low bar to clear, quality-wise.  Which they do, because this isn’t so much a “saga” as a “five-issue storyline.”

The first two issues of this volume are one-offs featuring Miles teaming up with Starling to fight the Ice Pharaoh and a “King in Black” tie-in where he has to save a Knullified Kamala Khan.  Then we get into the “Saga” proper as it turns out that there’s another Miles Morales running around New York and this one is committing crimes instead of stopping them.  More than one, as it turns out, though he’s the only human-looking one.  They’ve got their own plans and they just need Miles out of the way so they can bring them to fruition.

Said plans turn out to be just one unexpected swerve to this storyline.  It’s also surprisingly efficient at introducing these new clones, their powers, and motivations into Miles’ world.  Ahmed also manages to work in some decent teen drama, in the form of some friendship issues between Miles and Ganke, without distracting too much from the main story.  The stakes are also never more than personal for everyone involved, which I think helps keep them relatable.  This is also helped along by art from Carnero which is appropriately detailed and energetic, if a little dark overall.  While the use of “Saga” in the title of this volume may have been a misnomer, the overall storyline stands out by being one where I actually wouldn’t mind seeing the clones featured here again.  Which is kind of an achievement for a “Spider-Man” story to pull that off.