Ultimate Spider-Man 90 (April 2006)

270270 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, just a way for Bendis to introduce Ultimate Tinkerer, who’s probably a waste of time too.

Silver Sable’s team isn’t in it as much, which is both good and bad. Good because Bendis wrote them so poorly, but bad because it means he’s got no dedication to making his plot flow. He jumps from character to character, only briefly pausing on Peter (who’s in the middle of it all).

Actually, it reads more like Peter’s guest starring in The Ultimates than leading his own title.

It’s not terrible, just not any good. Bendis’s struggling again.

CREDITS

Silver Sable, Part Five; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, John Dell; colorist, Justin Posner; letterer, Cory Petit; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley Boose and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 89 (March 2006)

270269 And then Bendis gets around to introducing an Ultimate villain who I guess hasn’t had an Ultimate version yet. Even though I assumed he had one long ago. In Ultimate Six maybe?

But before he gets to that reveal–which is the hard cliffhanger–Bendis gets cute. He has these storybook retellings of the issue’s main characters, starting with Silver Sable. He doesn’t explain why he writes her sidekicks’ dialogue like it’s a PG-rated Tarantino knockoff though.

And none of the revelations make her a better character.

The Roxxon guy gets a flashback too, which is a page burner. Bendis is either trying to get to the big reveal or he realized he needed something mildly interesting to finally happen this arc.

The good Peter Parker moments don’t really make up for the rest, but Hanna’s back; the action’s reasonably good.

It’s a weak issue in a tepid arc.

CREDITS

Silver Sable, Part Four; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Justin Ponsor; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) #88

Ultimate Spider Man 88

I think John Dell took over inking. It has his name on the cover but not the interior credits, but the art looks totally different. There’s a long scene with May ranting about how much she hates Spider-Man (weak scene for her) and she looks totally different.

As for the rest of the story, the end’s a little funny–once again, Peter only gets in trouble because he’s irrationally dumb; he’s supposed to be a genius, yet he falls for an obvious trick. But before he gets in trouble, it’s funny.

Silver Sable is still a terrible character.

Kitty, however, is getting more amusing. She’s a knowing confidant for Peter, a sympathetic ear with experience. Bendis only has her in the issue for a bit, but she’s definitely starting to feel like a regular cast member.

It’s on the low end of okay.

Terrible, trite and ugly Ultimate Vision.

Ultimate Spider-Man 88 (February 2006)

270268 I think John Dell took over inking. It has his name on the cover but not the interior credits, but the art looks totally different. There’s a long scene with May ranting about how much she hates Spider-Man (weak scene for her) and she looks totally different.

Silver Sable is still a terrible character.

It’s on the low end of okay.

Terrible, trite and ugly Ultimate Vision.

CREDITS

Silver Sable, Part Three; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, John Dell; colorist, Justin Ponsor. Ultimate Vision, Visions, Part Five of Six; writer, Mark Millar; penciller, John Romita Jr.; inker, Jimmy Palmiotti; colorist, June Chung. Letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 87 (February 2006)

270267 The Flash Thompson thing is a somewhat funny distraction–Silver Sable kidnapped him instead of Peter–but it doesn’t make up for Ultimate Silver Sable being the worst villain in this comic since Geldof or whatever. Bendis tries real hard on her and her sidekicks too, which makes his failure more obvious.

But this issue also has Peter dating Kitty Pryde and being utterly insensitive to Mary Jane. As she was utterly insensitive to him quite a bit, it should read like just desserts but it doesn’t. Bendis never gave them closure. I’m hoping it’s intentional and not Bendis forgetting about something else.

Kitty’s a vaguely fun addition to the cast, but she doesn’t seem to have any depth. I was hoping she’d meet May but no luck there.

The Ultimate Vision backup is a short, boring galactic history lesson. Whoever decided to make her visually female is a moron.

CREDITS

Silver Sable, Part Two; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Justin Ponsor. Ultimate Vision, Visions, Part Four of Six; writer, Mark Millar; penciller, John Romita Jr.; inker, Jimmy Palmiotti; colorist, June Chung. Letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 86 (January 2006)

270266 Maybe not everything should get an Ultimate version.

For example, Bendis opens the issue with Ultimate Damage Control. Does there need to be an Ultimate Damage Control… probably not. But Bendis uses it for exposition and to frame his flashback. It’s okay enough.

Except the arc’s not about them, it’s about Ultimate Silver Sable, who’s apparently a corporate espionage person. Does she need an Ultimate version? Hard to say, but definitely not the way Bendis writes this issue.

She has all these morons working for her (the Wild Pack, I think) and Bendis is clearly enjoying writing their dialogue… but it’s all for a useless comic. He’s impressing himself again, which never goes well for the series.

The twist at the end, which should be played for laughs, ends up being vicious. The arc’s a misfire so far.

And the Ultimate Vision backup? Pointless but inoffensive writing; truly hideous art.

CREDITS

Silver Sable, Part One; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Justin Ponsor. Ultimate Vision, Visions, Part One of Six; writer, Mark Millar; penciller, John Romita Jr.; inker, Jimmy Palmiotti; colorist, Jonathan D. Smith. Letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 1 (October 2005)

284351 So if Peter can’t date Mary Jane, who can he date? Kitty Pryde, of course. Kitty Pryde? Why Kitty Pryde? Presumably because she’s age appropriate and is a superhero too.

Bendis opens the issue juxtaposing Kitty and Peter, showing how alone they are… and establishing Kitty has always had a crush on Spider-Man.

It’s silly and forced.

Then they go on a very cute date. Bendis overwrites it. Lots and lots of dialogue and nothing of consequence said. There are a few superfluous action scenes too; Bendis just doesn’t seem to know what to do with so much space.

Mary Jane doesn’t make an appearance, neither does Aunt May or anyone to play off Peter. With the Mark Brooks pencils, it barely even feels like Ultimate Spider-Man. The Flash and Kong cameo isn’t enough.

Bendis had an idea and, after this issue, it seems like a bad one.

CREDITS

The Date; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Brooks; inkers, Jaime Mendoza and Scott Hanna; colorist, Dave Stewart; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 85 (January 2006)

270265 Good issue. Finally. The last few have been trying.

Bendis still has his pacing problems, but at least the comic’s amusing. The scene where Black Cat meets Peter Parker had me laughing out loud, even if Bagley and Hanna’s art for it is weak.

The resolution to the big gang fight works well too, though it’s unclear why Bendis brought in so many new characters for it. None of them get a resolution, which makes the time Bendis spent on them earlier even more pointless.

And the soft cliffhangers are good. There are a couple, one for the Kingpin–Bendis really didn’t use him enough this arc as it turns out–and one for Peter. The Peter one just shows Aunt May should probably get half the comic to herself.

She’s definitely more interesting than Ultimate Moon Knight.

Bendis’s finish makes up for the arc’s weaker issues. Well, pretty much.

CREDITS

Warriors, Part Seven; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Jonathan D. Smith; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 84 (December 2005)

270264 Wow, the pacing’s actually worse with this issue. Frighteningly, it’s not even Bendis worst pacing on Ultimate Spider-Man.

The issue opens with a fight scene. There are maybe ten recognizable characters and then Hammerhead’s thugs. Bagley can’t make the fight scenes look interesting; it’s just an incompressible jumble of activity.

There are occasional pauses for banter–Peter keeps flirting with Elektra as they fight, Moon Knight keeps acting psychotic, Hammerhead keeps threatening everyone. The only interesting part is when Peter calls the cops for help–as Spider-Man. It’s a great honest moment.

But it doesn’t end well for him, as he’s just used a McFarlane amount of web fluid and conveniently forgotten to keep all the people webbed.

Bendis also has an odd moment when he acknowledges Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, which I thought was out of continuity….

The issue could run a third of its page count.

CREDITS

Warriors, Part Six; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Jonathan D. Smith; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man 83 (November 2005)

270263 Still with the pacing problems. Bendis does get around to a good conversation between Peter and Mary Jane, but there’s also a lot of rubbish with Moon Knight–Ultimate Moon Knight apparently has four multiple personalities who hang out at a swing set and banter with each other–and some with the Ultimate Kung Fu duo.

Oh, and Elektra going after some of Kingpin’s misbehaving flunkies.

Bendis front loaded the arc with all the actual content and is now just padding it out. Even Black Cat, who’s seemingly making an impression on Peter, is really just more padding. They’re not going to hook up or anything because Bendis still keeps things very chaste. The flirting’s just flirting, it’s all safe.

I can’t think of anything else in this one. Except the ending when it’s obvious Bendis has overloaded the arc with guest stars. Even the villain finds it all exasperating.

CREDITS

Warriors, Part Five; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Scott Hanna; colorist, Jonathan D. Smith; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, John Barber, Nicole Wiley and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.