Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #150

Background

Peter and Gwen had been cloned by the Jackal. While the Gwen clone survived the battle at Shea Stadium, the Spider-Man clone did not. But were they certain that Spider-Man was the real one?

Story 'Spider-Man... Or Spider-Clone?'

Peter had been able to forget his existential crisis while Mary Jane was at his apartment but after she left, he was alone with his fears. He went web swinging to clear his head and reminisced over the previous day: How he parted ways with the Gwen clone, burned the Jackal costume to protect Dr. Warren's reputation and hid the body of the other Spider-Man. To finally find out for sure who the clone was, he made his way to the lab of Curt Connors. As he did, a silhouetted man at a computer panel gloated that he finally caught up with Spider-Man after escaping prison.

In the lab, Spidey rationalized that he couldn't risk his ID by barging into a general practitioner to find out more about his situation, especially not without Blue Cross. As he pondered how to go about beginning the investigation, he was surprised to be confronted by Dr. Connors, who just happened to have arrived back in New York from Florida. He explained the situation and Connors was happy to help, especially since he'd otherwise be practicing a boring speech for a convention. Spidey was put under a barrage of tests before Connors had him rest, as even someone like Spider-Man could be exhausted by them. Connors had him rest after the testing was finished, saying it would be several hours until the results were ready.

Spidey woke up by hearing his name called and saw the Vulture calling him out from across the street. The fight was tougher than usual as the webhead was weakened from the medical tests. Oddly, Vulture exploded into dust after hitting the side of a wall, making Spidey wonder if he was losing his mind. He didn't have time to query it out since he was immediately attacked by the Sandman who was beaten after a water tower fell on him. Again, Spidey's enemy seemed to disappear when he knew that there should have been some sand left over. It was all too weird for him and as he made his way back to Connor's lab, he was accosted by the Kingpin. After punching Fisk into an alley, he too vaporized. Spider-Man wondered if he was having a nightmare on Dr. Connors couch, like the hallucination he'd had after taking the serum to eliminate his spider powers.

Another enemy appeared behind him; this time it was Spencer Smythe in an arachnid robot. Spidey was too worn out to keep up the fight and tried to blind Smythe by covering the observation bubble with webbing but had used up his supply. The robot used it's own webbing on him and the steel tentacle battered him around. Meanwhile, Smythe explained that he'd created humanoid robots of Spidey's other enemies to exhaust and confuse him. They were designed to self-destruct after suffering impact, then the acid capsules inside dissolved them. Spidey knew his time was short, began to accept his fate and realized that his last thoughts were of Mary Jane.

This gave him a realization: he had to be the real Spider-Man, because he loved MJ and not Gwen. This gave him the resolve to break free from the tentacle, smash the observation bubble and knock out Smythe. Spidey went back to Connor's lab and took the lab results from the sleeping doctor before throwing the papers into the street with glee. He already knew his answer.

Spidey took the body of the clone to an incineration dump and ruminated on the prior week. He'd faced a deluge of bad guys, been betrayed by a trusted teacher, lost Gwen a second time and had to deal with disposing of his clone. He took one last look at the unmasked clone before his spider sense went off, warning him that he was being watched. He saw no one, making him feel paranoid. He dumped the body down a smokestack, telling it that it was his wish to be cremated, so he assumed it was the clone's wish, too. As he swung away, he wondered if the clone was the lucky one.

General Comments

Lots of thoughts on #150.

It's just not an exciting issue. There are four bad guys that Spidey faces but none of the fights, or the story in general, are all that interesting. Spencer Smythe was a one-dimensional mad scientist who is best known for fathering Alistaire Smythe, a slightly more entertaining mad scientist. The clone plotline needed to be wrapped up and this issue accomplished that but it feels halfhearted. I notice that Marv Wolfman took over as writer from Gerry Conway, so I wonder if that is part of the issue. Was he tasked with wrapping things up?

On the other hand, we can't deny what a turning point this issue is. Peter realized that he loved Mary Jane, believed that he was the real human, that the Jackal was dead, that the clone was dead and he disposed of the body in the incineration tower. He and MJ later got married, and the rest would all come back to bite him years later.

Peter was pretty dumb to unmask the clone needlessly, feel that someone was watching him and then do nothing to investigate the situation. That situation was wrapped up in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #169.

Overall Rating

It's a forgettable issue that is also a starting point for decadess worth of stories.