Bendis opens with a lot of action–resolving the previous issue’s falling out of a plane cliffhanger–but Bagley does a couple double page spreads and it flops. It’s not tense, it’s not exciting. And it seems perfunctory. This issue isn’t about action, it’s about Peter meeting the X-Men.

On those lines, Peter hanging out at the X-Mansion while May freaks out about him sneaking out of school, it works pretty well. Bendis tries to hard on the science talk between the Beast and Professor X, but he does a good job showing Peter vacationing into the world of professional superheroes. Or whatever the Ultimate X-Men are supposed to be.

It’s so enjoyable, in fact, one doesn’t realize Bendis hasn’t really done anything the entire issue until the finish, which has a great cliffhanger.

Bendis is sometimes so good, he makes the reader forget all his tricks.

Bendis redeems himself (for now) with this issue. He turns the X-Girl guest stars into a decent story. Peter’s shocked to discover other superheroes–more famous ones, maybe–admire him. It makes for a good realization. But Bendis also drops him into what’s more of a present day sci-fi adventure. It helps he and Bagley still have Peter half in costume, half out, but when he falls from the X-Plane, it perfectly sums up the character.

He’s half in this super world, half not. It’s so sublime a moment I can’t imagine they intended it.

The rest of the issue is subplot stuff. Gwen might not be suspicious of Peter yet, but it’s hard not to see her suspicious of Mary Jane covering for him. And it’s great to see May interacting with both girls at once.

Bendis really does do better with the non-super stuff.

B+ 

CREDITS

Help; writer, Brian Michael Bendis; penciller, Mark Bagley; inker, Art Thibert; colorist, Transparency Digital; letterer, Chris Eliopoulos; editors, MacKenzie Cadenhead, Nick Lowe, C.B. Cebulski and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Thanks a lot, Bendis, I was really liking this issue–even with Geldoff’s eurotrash hair–until it turned out the whole thing’s just a set-up to bring in the X-Men.

Or the X-Girls.

Whatever.

The issue opens with Peter heading over to confront Geldoff, who he’s heard is blowing stuff up. It then turns into Peter (in costume, obviously) trying to understand Geldoff and explain the great power, great responsibility thing. The conversation turns heated a couple times and Bendis handles it. He handles the store robbery Peter adverts as an example of it all.

Then he brings in the X-Girls to save the day and the issue bellyflops. It’s the first time (I can remember) Bendis gets to have Peter talk these issues out and he invalidates it with a lame soft cliffhanger.

It’s still well-written, Bendis’s finale is just infuriatingly hackneyed and cheap.

In some ways, less than nothing happens this issue. Bendis resolves the previous issue’s cliffhanger, but without a Geldoff confrontation. The name’s a Pink Floyd reference, right?

Anyway, Peter, Gwen, Liz and Mary Jane run for it and basically have a talking heads adventure. It’s a comic about nothing and it’s utterly fantastic. Bendis gets to play Gwen and Liz off each other, but also have Gwen orbit around the quieter Peter and Mary Jane interaction. It’s great scene writing from Bendis. Ultimate Spider-Man is like a touching, sincere and often rather well-written sitcom.

Just a serious one.

Like Flash Thompson. Bendis is clearly building up to something big with Flash. At least he’d better be since he’s dragging it out so long.

The issue restores the status quo a little bit, bringing Bendis back into a comfort zone–but even if it’s narratively easy, it’s rewarding reading.

What’s a Geldoff?

Bendis skips Peter’s angst this issue, which still deals with the aftermath of the Venom arc. Instead, he concentrates on the practical. What’s Peter going to do about a costume?

For an Ultimate Spider-Man comic, there’s actually a lot of scenes. There’s stuff at school, stuff with Peter trying to get a costume, stuff at home, then stuff at the party.

But there’s a lot going on in those scenes. Bendis is laying a subplot with Flash, he’s still working through the Mary Jane breakup and he’s got a lot of great friend stuff between Peter and Gwen. She makes for an excellent sidekick.

Bagley runs into a big problem with Mary Jane in her slut gear, though. She’s utterly indistinguishable until it comes up in dialogue. Kind of kills the scene.

As for Geldoff, the car-destroying, longhaired “bad” guy?

I’m holding judgment on him.

It’s a talking heads book and not a bad one at all. First Peter talks to Nick Fury (either Nick lies to him or Ultimate Origins is a retcon),then he talks to Eddie’s roommate, then he talks to Curt Connors.

Peter’s unhappiness and indecision doesn’t make much sense until you remember he’s just a teenager. Bendis takes the issue to drive home that point.

In the finale, in what shouldn’t be a good moment, Peter is calling out to an unseen figure–presumably Venom–offering to help. The naïveté of Peter’s offer at first seems contrived, but it’s Bendis making it clear how–even with Bagley’s somewhat cartoonish art–Peter’s a real kid.

While the issue drags during some of the dialogue and Bagley doesn’t make it visual enough, the ending really sells it. In fact, Bendis’s ending makes the whole Venom arc seem better and far more cohesive.

It’s a lackluster finish. The issue reminds of the big fight issue with the Green Goblin, only with–in addition to Peter’s self-depreciating narration–Peter’s dad narrating it from a video tape journal.

Now, the video tape journal thing was big in the eighties. It’s a perfect device for a movie or TV show; I’m not sure why Bendis used it, instead of an actual journal (which seems more likely) here.

It does give a “voice” to the issue. Venom is a monster, not a villain. Eddie occasionally pops up, says something dumb, Peter says something quippy and the fight progresses. The narration grounds it.

As usual for Ultimate Spider-Man, even when Bendis isn’t doing anything original, he maintains a certain likability. He’s always believable, plot-wise, in the context of the series and Peter remains an appealing protagonist.

Just wish it had more meat on its bones.

And, almost immediately, it gets less impressive. Bendis wastes an entire page on a really bad monologue of Peter revealing himself to Eddie (and lying to him, which at least implies Bendis wasn’t napping through the scripting this issue). It’s not a bad comic, but it’s more of Bendis taking an issue to do what he could have in eight pages.

He’s also being reductive with Eddie’s character; once he’s revealed to be a bad guy, the interesting parts of his character evaporate too. Bendis squishes him down to be two dimensional.

Still, there’s a nice little moment with Peter and Gwen. They work well as roommates, especially given the oddness of the living situation.

It’s not a bad issue, it’s just mediocre. It’s the Ultimate Spider-Man standard.

The art’s real nice in the Gwen and Peter scene though. Bagley and Art Thibert subtlety emphasize the emotion quite well.

Bendis compresses about two years of eighties Spider-Man comics into this issue. Peter likes the black costume, he goes on varied night out of crime fighting, then discovers the costume’s dark side and zaps himself with electricity. The zap causes the suit to release him.

He ends the issue passed out, in a painful coincidence, on his parents’ grave. Someone should have thought about it–either Bendis or Bagley–because it’s a family plot and there’s no room for May.

Otherwise, the issue’s quite good. Peter’s in Manhattan for most of it (I think) and Bagley gives it an almost quaint, movie set feel. It works though, because it keeps the events relatively grounded.

Bendis’s narration is well-paced with all of Peter’s personal observations and he and Bagley get away with a big surprise in the appearance of the traditional Venom.

It’s good work; this arc’s surprisingly impressive.