The "Clone Saga" is an extended comic-book storyline published by Marvel Comics, revolving around the superhero Spider-Man and clones of him, as well as of other characters. The second and best-known story arc of this name ran from October 1994 to December 1996, and quickly became one of the most controversial Spider-Man stories ever told. Although it was intended to wrap up in less than a year, the comics sold very well and the writers were encouraged to prolong the saga as long as possible. This led to some changes to the storyline that ultimately proved unpopular. Despite the controversy, the 1990s Clone Saga remains one of the most popular Spider-Man story arcs of all time. Although many people were involved in its creation, the Clone Saga is most closely associated with Terry Kavanagh, who proposed the idea, Howard Mackie, who worked on the majority of the smaller crossovers involved in the overall story arc, and Gerry Conway, who devised the original story. Executive editors on the storyline included Tom DeFalco, Bob Budiansky, and Bob Harras. Story arcs There were two "Clone Sagas": the original storyline in the 1970s and the second saga which consumed all the regular Spider-Man series, several limited series and one-shot issues between 1994 and 1997. Between the two, there were also two smaller storylines that dealt with elements from the original saga. The original Clone Saga In the summer of 1973, writer Gerry Conway made the decision to kill off the girlfriend of Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, in The Amazing Spider-Man #121 because the editorial team felt that Gwen had become stale as a character and they wanted to instil an additional element of tragedy into Peter Parker's life. In the follow-up arcs, Conway introduced a new villain called the Jackal and let Gwen Stacy seemingly return from the dead. The Jackal was the villain identity of Gwen and Peter's biology professor Miles Warren, who could not cope with the death of Gwen, with whom he had a secret infatuation. As an expert on cloning, he creates clones of both Gwen and Peter, discovering Peter is Spider-Man as a result. The Jackal blames Spider-Man for Gwen's death and wants to kill him. The Jackal kidnaps Spider-Man and forces him to fight his clone. Both men believe they are the real Peter Parker. The two Spider-Men soon decide to work together, but one is seemingly killed