The Stop Button
blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
Category: Ultimate Spider-Man
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Immonen takes over the full issue and, wow, it’s definitely pretty. Wade von Grawbadger’s inks undoubtedly have something to do with it, but Immonen’s style pretty clearly separates the high school life of Peter Parker and the superhero life of Spider-Man. The superhero stuff is more grand, the high school stuff more manic. There’s crossover,…
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I think this issue has to be one of Bendis’s greatest successes with the series so far. It’s Peter and Aunt May talking about him being Spider-Man–is Bendis the first writer to ever do this scene?–and it’s absolutely perfect. He opens–with Mark Bagley pencilling his final issue–and goes through Peter and May talking about the…
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I’m kind of hoping Bendis realizes he can’t keep bringing Kingpin back. This issue “resolves” Ultimate Kingpin, but also features Spider-Man threatening to tattle on Kingpin to Nick Fury. It raises a big question. Why the heck hasn’t he done so already? If it’s such a big threat, why’s Peter protecting Wilson Fisk from Nick…
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It’s a little better than I expected. Bendis does the “grownup” thing again with Daredevil; only he and Dr. Strange kind of bumble through the issue. Strange is particularly unimpressive. Bendis ideas for Ultimate versions are too often to make the characters callous and occasionally dimwitted. The Kingpin versus Peter stuff isn’t terrible. It’s just…
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And here’s a Bendis misstep. Most of the issue’s spent in Moon Knight’s head–there’s nothing about Iron Fist selling out, because Bendis has found a way to make Moon Knight bad. Ultimate Ronin is a new personality of Ultimate Moon Knight–a bad guy. He beats up Kitty, he kidnaps Peter. Problems abound. First, Mary Jane…
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Wow, Ultimate Iron Fist isn’t going to get his own series if he’s buddying up to Kingpin. Jeez. Bendis splits the issue, mostly, between Peter and Kitty having a breakup conversation–actually, a post-breakup conversation–and Spider-Man talking Daredevil down from the idea of killing Kingpin. Maybe for the first time ever, Ultimate Daredevil works as a…
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Lots happens this issue. I guess crossing the hundred issue mark, Bendis has decided he needs lots of guest stars. Hulk for a panel, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four… Peter’s entering into the much bigger Ultimate Universe. Only about a ninety-eight issues later than the original did into the Marvel Universe. Anyway. It’s an okay issue.…
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Why doesn’t Ultimate Punisher just kill Ultimate Kingpin? I’m so confused. I’m additionally confused over Ultimate Daredevil. He’s just rude? Is there any other difference between him and regular Daredevil? Mark Brooks is the wrong penciller for this comic, just dreadfully wrong. Bendis is doing–as much as he can in Ultimate Spider-Man–a serious superhero crime…
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And there we have it. A somewhat new ground situation–Aunt May knows Peter’s Spider-Man, he’s living with Mary Jane, Kitty Pryde is mad–not much else though. There’s nothing on Doc Ock, there’s nothing on the U.S. government hiring bad guys to genetically engineer clones and kill teenagers, there’s nothing on… something else, I’m sure. I…
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Good thing the X-Men don’t have a fast jet because they might get there in time to see Peter and Mary Jane get their romance back on. I really hope Bendis comes up with some better result to this lame arc than them reuniting. There’s still Aunt May, there’s still an evil U.S. government out…
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Yep, Bendis turns out rather predictable. Especially with Richard Parker. The stuff with the X-Men is lame too, especially since they have a teleporting guy and a really fast plane. Instead, Bendis just does it to show he’s not entirely contriving this story, which is a complete cop out. Speaking of cop outs, he also…
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Very confused as to what Bendis is doing with this arc. The big reveal has to be the Spider-Woman isn’t a Mary Jane clone but a Peter Parker clone made female. There’s also this implication Richard Parker is just an illusion or a clone too. I suppose Bendis is keeping that revelation for this arc’s…
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Thank goodness Hennessy takes over as the only inker. He does a good job with it. Not sure what was going on when he was splitting the duties with Dell. There’s a lot of implications this issue. The Fantastic Four comes in to save Peter from Fury, who’s been planning on killing him (and his…
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Eh. So Gwen Stacy is Carnage. Yippee. And Aunt May is pretty nasty. Bendis doesn’t redeem her much, even if she has been through a lot apparently. She hasn’t been lying to Peter his whole life, just the last few years. It’s an interesting thing, making Aunt May unlikable. Has anyone else tried that gimmick…
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Eh. So Gwen Stacy is Carnage. Yippee. And Aunt May is pretty nasty. Bendis doesn’t redeem her much, even if she has been through a lot apparently. She hasn’t been lying to Peter his whole life, just the last few years. It’s an interesting thing, making Aunt May unlikable. Has anyone else tried that gimmick…
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I’m not sure Bendis actually does good writing this issue but he sure does go out on a high point. He establishes Aunt May as a super villain. She’s been lying to Peter his whole life. She’s a bad guy. Wow. Bendis will never stick with it. It’s too much. There’s some good stuff with…
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I’m not sure Bendis actually does good writing this issue but he sure does go out on a high point. He establishes Aunt May as a super villain. She’s been lying to Peter his whole life. She’s a bad guy. Wow. Bendis will never stick with it. It’s too much. There’s some good stuff with…
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Bendis should have done more with the Fantastic Four this issue. They’re really funny. The stuff with Peter calling himself “baby” in his internal monologue? Makes me hope he’s a clone not the regular character but I think it’s more just Bendis laziness. There’s another big fight scene this issue; Peter fights some black costumed…
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Okay, great, John Dell has help from John Sibal and together they don’t ink Bagley well. I couldn’t even tell the guy in the Scorpion outfit was a Peter Parker clone. He just looked way too bland. Otherwise, the issue’s okay. Bendis is doing his rushing thing to get rid of Kitty Pryde, just like…
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Okay, great, John Dell has help from John Sibal and together they don’t ink Bagley well. I couldn’t even tell the guy in the Scorpion outfit was a Peter Parker clone. He just looked way too bland. Otherwise, the issue’s okay. Bendis is doing his rushing thing to get rid of Kitty Pryde, just like…
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First off my apologizes to Jimmy Palmiotti… his inks weren’t screwing up Bagley’s pencils last issue. This issue makes it clear John Dell–who is solo, so no confusion–really shouldn’t be inking Bagley or Ultimate Spider-Man. He ruins the tone at times. The issue concludes the Morbius adventure, but it’s pretty slight. Ben Urich is in…
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First off my apologizes to Jimmy Palmiotti… his inks weren’t screwing up Bagley’s pencils last issue. This issue makes it clear John Dell–who is solo, so no confusion–really shouldn’t be inking Bagley or Ultimate Spider-Man. He ruins the tone at times. The issue concludes the Morbius adventure, but it’s pretty slight. Ben Urich is in…
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I’m sure Bendis and Jimmy Palmiotti are buddies but come on… no one could think Palmiotti is a good inker for Bagley. I thought Dell was weak, but Palmiotti is something else. You have these pleasant Bagley high school panels and Palmiotti makes them dreary. And the hands… don’t get me started on the hands.…
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So the whole story with the island and the X-Men and Ultimate Deadpool is just to set up a payoff of Aunt May having a boyfriend and spending the night with him? This issue’s got some good moments. Bendis doesn’t use the TV narrative device too much (of course, when he does, it’s awful). He…
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So the whole story with the island and the X-Men and Ultimate Deadpool is just to set up a payoff of Aunt May having a boyfriend and spending the night with him? This issue’s got some good moments. Bendis doesn’t use the TV narrative device too much (of course, when he does, it’s awful). He…
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You know what isn’t a television show–specifically a reality television show? A comic book. Someone should have told Bendis because then I would have been saved this useless comic. Deadpool and some bad guys are hunting the X-Men (and Peter) on this island and it’s all for TV. So Bendis is cutting between the host,…
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Did Ditko start the thing where Spidey squints and his eyes change size? They overdo it today (and have since the late eighties) but there’s a little of it here and it works. He works rather well as a guest star. Bendis has a lot of fun writing Peter play off other superheroes. And by…
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Did Ditko start the thing where Spidey squints and his eyes change size? They overdo it today (and have since the late eighties) but there’s a little of it here and it works. He works rather well as a guest star. Bendis has a lot of fun writing Peter play off other superheroes. And by…
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Bendis writes first person exposition rounded rectangles–there’s just no good description for them like word balloons–for Kitty Pryde. She’s Peter’s girlfriend, after all, and she guest stars in about half the issue. Probably more. Oh, wait, Bendis never wrote those rectangles for Mary Jane. It’s a good issue and all, though the front is a…
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Dell’s back on inks. There aren’t as many close ups so it doesn’t get too bad, but it’s not great. The faces are too sharp. It’s mostly an action issue, with cuts to Nick Fury and Tony Stark talking in exposition to explain the comic to the reader. Ultimate Vulture is a waste of time,…
The Stop Button 