Category: Spider-Man comics
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I read this series when it came out, but I barely remembered anything about it besides it being really good–I didn’t, for example, remember the crimes against the comic book medium the colorists perpetrated. Suffice to say, I didn’t remember this issue. This perfect issue. I mean, it’s a perfect close to this limited series,…
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It’s a cute issue. It’s set during the black costume period, when Spidey was with the Black Cat. I sort of remember reading these comics as a kid and, from just the Secret Wars II crossovers I more recently read, they aren’t cute. It’s a strange approach for Slott to make–it’s an all humor issue.…
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And the coloring problems return. Not quite as bad, but whoever’s doing it–there’s no name just Sotocolor–thought adding three dimensions with color shading was a good idea. And is wrong. But it’s hard to care, because the series just gets better issue to issue. Here, Slott marries two very disparate elements of Spider-Man history–he relieves…
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Now, this issue doesn’t have the same coloring problems as the first. It has different ones, but they’re far less garish, thank goodness. This issue, for the most part, is a Human Torch issue. He and Spidey swap jobs for the day. Spidey messes up the Fantastic Four’s scientific exploration while the Torch takes on…
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Who let this comic out with these colors? I don’t usually go nuts, in support or against, over colors. I doubt I even know a single colorist’s name. But Felix Serrano is a criminal. He took Ty Templeton’s lovely retro-artwork–it’s supposed to be in the Silver Age style–and added this glossy Photoshop slime to it.…
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Bendis finishes the arc putting a gulf between Peter and Mary. They end the issue with them sitting with this big space between them, Peter too upset to talk to her. Ultimate Nick Fury just told him he had until eighteen before Fury would control him. Oh, and Peter might be upset over Harry losing…
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Whew, Mary Jane recovered immediately. What drama. Whose idea was it to turn the Green Goblin into an evil Hulk? Anyway, I suppose this issue is all right. It seems like Bendis has good intentions, with Peter trying to showdown with the Goblin (a couple times) only to discover anger might not be enough to…
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Really, Brian Michael, really? Makes him sound like a teenage pop star. So this issue was either written with the eventual trade in mind–since half of it is a retread of the previous issue (more on that aspect in a bit)–and the other half is a really boring chase sequence, only to end with the…
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Another half on, half off issue. Bendis writes this great scene between Peter and Nick Fury (Ultimate Nick Fury should definitely go undercover in a high school in a Bendis written series, it’d be hilarious), but then he skips out on finishing it. He’s then got a way too fast scene between Peter and Aunt…
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Again, not a fan of Ultimate Norman Osborn. Given I’ve never read the original series’s version of Norman Osborn, maybe I just don’t like the character. He seems like the “Saturday Night Live” version of Lex Luthor. Only one who turns scaly and green. Anyway, Norman isn’t the focus of this issue. Instead, it’s about…
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Bendis gets a double-sized issue–almost–and what does he with it? Well, he uses about the first part, twenty or so pages, to write a full comic book. Then he uses the second half to do some more of his speed storytelling. The whole Bendis “decompressed storytelling” term is so wrong–if it’s decompressed, it should take…
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I can’t believe I forgot the Kraven outcome. I also forgot about Doc Ock remembering Peter is Spider-Man. But I did remember, somewhat, the argument with Aunt May. Aunt May’s been something of a cursory character these last issues I’ve been reading, so it’s nice to see Bendis give her the attention she deserves. He…
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Oh, if only Stan Lee had thought of Spidey pulling down Doctor Octopus’s pants. Bendis doesn’t do a lot this issue. About half is dedicated to Spider-Man fighting Doc Ock–I can’t remember if his victory in any way resembles the one in Amazing–while the other half goes to Kraven getting ready for the hunt. Bendis…
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Well, I finally get my Mary responding to Gwen this issue and it’s… incomplete. Bendis cuts it off for dramatic effect, which feels wrong. It feels out of character for Mary Jane to sulk off on Peter here. This issue features more of the Ultimate Spider-Man than Bendis has shown lately. I just say Spider-Man…
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And Bendis is back to his old pacing tricks. This issue zooms past, even if there are some good things about it. Well, not Ultimate Sharon Carter; she’s really lame. But there’s Spidey getting his ass kicked during his first fight with Doctor Octopus just like in the original (though… back when Lee and Ditko…
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This issue might be the most content-filled one so far. Bendis has a bunch of scenes in it–he’s got the classroom scene where Gwen comes back and Mary Jane gives Peter a somewhat inexplicable dirty look then Liz Allen goes nuts. But before that scene, he has one establishing Ultimate Kraven. Then there’s a scene…
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Recasting Kraven as a reality TV boob might have been one of Bendis’s greatest achievements (so far) in Ultimate Spider-Man. It just works perfectly. But this issue really isn’t about Kraven, it’s about some lead-up to stuff. The time Bendis takes to create “cinematic” scenes… it sort of wastes pages, yes, but it also makes…
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This issue has some Spider-Man, even has some Spidey messing with Jonah, but it’s a really light read. Peter convinces Kong he’s not Spider-Man by taking a kick in the rear–I like how Superman always had to go through great lengths, while Kong is easily convinced. Gwen is revealed as a troubled youth–probably because her…
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There’s a scene missing from this issue, the one where Mary Jane and Liz react to Gwen Stacy. Bendis gets in the boys’ reaction, but not the girls. Maybe, as I did, they were admiring her manly physique. Whatever Bagley was trying, he fails on her brief appearance. She looks like an Aryan She-Hulk. Actually,…
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On the other hand, Tobin seems to think the last issue is a useful place to totally waste not just the reader’s time but his or her money as well. This issue is an imaginary story. It’s a few pages of Spider-Man having the power of the Beyonder, then it’s all about how Doctor Doom…
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Can we get one introspective Spider-Man story without the burglar or Gwen Stacy? How’s this comic an all-ages book if you’ve got Gwen falling in it? It doesn’t seem like something a six year-old would really engage with. Anyway, more expanding and updating from Tobin here–Spidey talks text messaging, which they didn’t have in Secret…
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Tobin switches gears here (and breaks continuity with his first issue, no less) with an untold Secret Wars story. It’s the kind of aside I’m not sure ever would have occurred to Jim Shooter as he was writing the originals (or whatever his scripting is called… not sure writing is an appropriate term). It’s about…
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I wish I remembered Secret Wars a little bit better, not enough to go read it again, of course. What Tobin’s doing with this series–it’s a retro book masquerading as an all-ages book; if it really were an all-ages book, I don’t think Patrick Scherberger would be going so far to show how eye holes…
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Peter appears to be pushing Betty away at this point, but he might just be obtuse. The first appearance of Mysterio is decent, but not anything special. Lee spends a lot of time on Mysterio’s origin and the nature of his outfit–Lee’s pacing is great here, the amount of story he fits into the issue,…
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Who made the Mary decision? Not Mary Jane, not MJ, but Mary. Was it Bendis or Jemas? I suppose someone’s said something about it online so I could find it, but I don’t care. I also don’t care about some of Bagley’s worse talking heads in this amazing talking heads comic. It’s the confession issue.…
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Where Lee had Peter do his homework for supervillains–research, science stuff–Bendis has his Peter write jokes. It’s a good scene, Spider-Man taunting the Kingpin with a bunch of jokes (did Ultimate Daredevil ever get mad Spider-Man outsmarted him in getting Kingpin in the most mundane way ever–I mean, security tapes? It’s like getting Capone on…
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Bendis wastes two pages on an advertisement for a security system this issue. It’s kind of important to the story, but something we could have picked up along the way. He’s padding. He’s got a forty-five second conversation over three pages and he’s still padding. It’s kind of frustrating here because he’s skipped something. Mary’s…
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Spider-Man meets the Kingpin… and gets his butt kicked. Amusingly, of course. Bendis makes superhero defeat humiliation amusing like no one else. Whereas Lee had defeat really hit Peter hard, Bendis just lets him roll with it, learn from it. He doesn’t give up, doesn’t even think about giving up. Finally, Aunt May is coming…
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Ultimate Spider-Man is kind of like Death Wish. The movie, I haven’t read the book. Let me explain. When Uncle Ben dies, Peter goes after organized crime, since he’s already got the guy who actually did it. And there’s no connection between organized crime and Uncle Ben’s murder. Peter’s just doing it because he thinks…
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So Uncle Ben’s murder doesn’t have a name? Didn’t they give him… oh, right… Anyway, I didn’t realize we were dealing with the Joker or something here. I guess it never occurred to me (in the Lee issues, the burglar exits, Bendis uses him here as a link to the Kingpin). This issue brings Peter…
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