Clone is like the “Rumble in the Jungle” aka the classic boxing event between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Hold on hear me out, also it’s not exact I just want to illustrate a couple of aspects of the fight in comparison to the story. Anyways, the reader is Ali and we’re getting hammered by Clone which is Foreman. This series is just body shots over and over and much like the actual fight Ali will win. Why? Because a great story will always favor the reader. Crazy how I made that work right? Well now I’m going to rope-a-dope you into reading the rest of the review. What’s noticeably different about this segment of our story is that it’s really happening in two parts. On one side we’re following Luke and on the other side it’s Amelia. The big difference is that aside from one of our new antagonists, they’re the only people we’re following. The narrative has calmed down significantly from the last story arc in which we were following numerous characters. I will say that I miss that though. The writers did a great job of keeping up with everyone and making it interesting, but I understand needing to take a break and build the main characters.

Remember the crazy blonde woman from the gas station in the last issue? Well we start with her at the moment the clones were revealed by the government. She’s in shock of the news as her clone husband walks in the door completely unaware of what’s going on. Flash to the present and Luke and his new clone buddy are hanging like meat waiting to be gutted in a slaughter house. Crazy woman shows up spouting bible verses out of context to the situation and so Luke decides to lie, saying the bum is the original hoping to save his life. It does for the moment. Meanwhile Amelia has taken their kid and left the safety of the compound to see her mom.

The strength of this issues story comes from the female characters. Our crazy lady Laura has an interesting journey to get to where she is. It’s interesting to see this once average woman become a murderer and cultist. The real heart of the story though comes from Amelia and her mother. I won’t ruin any of it for you, but it’s something else. It’s an emotional layer that hasn’t touched the story yet and it will have significant ramifications to the plot. Overall the writing is great as usual.

Every month I think I’m going to run out of things to say about Juan Jose Ryp’s art, but then he goes and does something like putting flies on the characters in the slaughter house. At first I missed them and I had to ask myself how that was possible? Because Ryp’s art is so realistic that something that actually happens in the world becomes expected of his art. That’s how realistic his art is, that flies on people’s clothing is accepted without a thought. Ryp is just incredible.

This was another story building issue, but even with that it’s still hitting you with heavy body blows to the kidneys. It may not be the action that’s constantly in your face this time around, but the story and plot are filling in and doing a better job of it. If you’re not reading this series I have to wonder why. It’s the best monthly title from Skybound by far and that’s saying a lot considering their publishing line-up.

Score: 4/5

Writers: David Schulner, Aaron Ginsburg and Wade McIntyre Artist: Juan Jose Ryp Publisher: Image Comics/Skybound Entertainment Price: $2.99 Release Date: 11/20/13