The Spectacular Spider-Man #217

Name: The Spectacular Spider-Man #217
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Oct 1994 · Marvel · 1.50 USD; 2.05 CAD

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“Power and Responsibility, Part 4 of 4: Higher Ground!”

★ 1st appearance — Judas Traveller

About this Issue

Spectacular Spider-Man #217 is the concluding chapter of 'Power and Responsibility,' the four-part crossover that formally opened the 1990s Clone Saga — one of Marvel's most sprawling and debated Spider-Man storylines, running across all four monthly Spider-Man titles from late 1994 through 1996. The issue delivers the first sustained team-up between Peter Parker and his clone Ben Reilly within the saga's framing, dramatizing the central identity question — who is the real Spider-Man? — that would drive two full years of storytelling. The issue also plants an early, carefully worded clue about Mary Jane Watson-Parker's pregnancy, a plot thread that would escalate through the arc and reshape both characters' futures. Its flipbook format, pairing the main story with a J.M. DeMatteis and Liam Sharp backup retelling Ben Reilly's origin from the clone's own perspective, made it one of the more ambitious single-issue packages of the era.

writer Tom DeFalco · artist, inker Sal Buscema · colorist Kevin Tinsley · letterer Clem Robins · cover Sal Buscema

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History

The issue was written by Tom DeFalco (lead story) and J.M. DeMatteis (flipbook backup), with pencils by Sal Buscema on the main feature and Liam Sharp on the backup, all under editors Mark Powers and group editor Danny Fingeroth. It arrived on shelves August 23, 1994, carrying an October 1994 cover date. The Clone Saga itself was conceived after Marvel editorial, seeking an event comparable to what Age of Apocalypse was doing for the X-Men line, embraced a proposal by Terry Kavanagh to revive the Spider-clone concept from 1975 — though, notably, no firm endpoint or resolution for the new saga was mapped out in advance, a fact that would cause mounting creative turbulence as the story expanded. DeFalco was still Marvel's editor-in-chief when this issue was published, though he would be removed from that role a short time into the saga's run, a reorganization that further complicated the saga's editorial direction.

Trivia · 8 facts

Final chapter of the 'Power and Responsibility' crossover (Part 4 of 4), which also ran through Web of Spider-Man #117, Amazing Spider-Man #394, and Spider-Man #51.
Written by Tom DeFalco (lead story, titled 'Higher Ground') and J.M. DeMatteis (flipbook backup, 'The Burial'); penciled by Sal Buscema and Liam Sharp respectively, with inks by Sal Buscema and Robin Riggs.
Edited by Mark Powers, with Danny Fingeroth as group editor; on sale August 23, 1994, with an October 1994 cover date.
The issue is a flipbook: the main story concludes the Power and Responsibility arc at Ravencroft Institute, while the backup tells the origin of the Spider-clone from Ben Reilly's perspective, recapping the events of Amazing Spider-Man #149 and #151.
Features the first joint appearance of Peter Parker and Ben Reilly within the Clone Saga proper, forced together by villain Judas Traveller and his entourage (the Host) inside Ravencroft Institute.
Contains an early in-story clue — later confirmed in Spectacular Spider-Man #220 — that Mary Jane Watson-Parker is pregnant, a development that would become a major plot engine throughout the saga.
Judas Traveller — whose first appearance in the saga was in Web of Spider-Man #117 — appears here making his Spectacular Spider-Man debut, testing both Spider-Men alongside his allies Scrier and the Host (Medea, Mr. Boone, Mr. Nacht, and Chakra); Carnage and Wild Whip also appear.
Reprinted in Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic #1 (Marvel, 2010), the Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection #27 – The Clone Saga (Marvel, 2013 series), and the Spider-Man: Clone Saga Omnibus #1 (Marvel, 2016).