Bendis must have been going light on the Gwen mentions to save up for this issue. Here we find out Peter’s studies have been even worse since her death–he’s cutting class to web-sling the grief away. This particularly day he runs into the Ultimates–which is a little odd, especially since Bendis tells most of it […]
MoreI just got it… Bendis is mixing Ultimate Marvel Team-Up with “Spider-Man No More” to show Peter why he can’t give up being Spider-Man. With yet another issue with no mention of Gwen. Bendis talks around it too much. Mary can tell Gandhi jokes but she can’t talk about Gwen. If it’s an intentional move […]
MoreJohnny Storm goes to Midtown High. Bendis is apparently on the guest star bandwagon right now. At least Gwen gets a mention, with Mary telling Peter to snap out of the funk but he really can’t because all of Ultimate is in one. Bendis is coasting along here, not really establishing anything–he previously mentioned May […]
MoreNot unpredictably, Bendis uses the silliness to bring up a series topic. It’s on the last page and only for a moment, but it’s serious and the lunacy of brain swapping makes it possible. There’s a lot of funny stuff this issue–until Peter (as Logan) calls the X-Men, I hadn’t even thought of it being […]
MoreWhen a comic opens with an illustrated version of the writer apologizing for the content… well, it’s not supposed to be a good sign, right? Bendis is going out of his way to ask the reader not to take the story seriously. The story is Logan (you know, Wolverine) and Peter swapping minds. Peter wakes […]
MoreIt’s a great Ultimate Spider-Man until the end. Bendis apes The Breakfast Club a little, putting Peter, Mary, Liz, Kong and Flash in detention. Then he flashes back to reveal what got them there, then he lets people say some things. Mostly Mary, put also Peter. It’s one of those awesome talking issues Bendis does […]
MoreSo Curt Conners let Ben Reilly know Peter Parker is Spider-Man? Wow, Ultimate Curt Conners is really a tool. Just when he at least tries to redeem himself, turns out he’s already set more damage in motion. Bendis does some of his creative plotting, maybe to try to convince the reader Carnage has assumed Peter’s […]
MoreIt’s as though Bendis knew he couldn’t concentrate on Peter’s mourning, so instead of he concentrates on the rage. I don’t think Peter’s ever been so angry and so uncontrolled in Ultimate Spider-Man as he gets at the end of this issue. One reads it worried he’s going to beat Curt Conners to death. Conners’s […]
MoreI don’t even think Peter shows up in this issue. Mary and Gwen get a good scene together, something Bendis’s two month fast forward makes problematic. It’s hard to believe they haven’t seen each other in that amount of time… not with Peter giving Gwen a message for Mary Jane. But anyway, it’s a good […]
MoreThe best part of this issue has to be how little time Bendis gives Ultimate Punisher. There’s a fight scene–not a particularly good one, Bagley loses track of the criminal the Punisher is after–but there’s no personality to Ultimate Frank. It’s all from Peter’s perspective, even though Bendis could have gotten away with a little […]
MoreBendis doesn’t have anything this issue. Well, he doesn’t have much. He introduces Ultimate Jeanne De Wolf, but otherwise… nothing. There’s a dream fight between Spider-Man and the Lizard, there’s a way too long fight–with Bagley wasting space on double page spreads–with some villain Bendis doesn’t even bother to give a name and then there’s […]
MoreThis issue is a prelude to Ultimate Six, with Bendis focusing on Sharon Carter and her take on the last time Spidey fought Doctor Octopus. Turns out Ultimate Sandman was there too. Bendis can get a little mileage out of it being an untold tale, but the comic’s fairly limp. Spider-Man’s outgoing personality comes across […]
MoreThe famous therapy issue. I remember it was a big deal when it came out because Bendis all of a sudden treated Aunt May like a real character and not a pawn to occasionally put in danger. He does a great job with the issue, especially the back and forth with her and the therapist. […]
MoreBendis 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 […]
MoreBendis 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 […]
MoreThanks 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 […]
MoreIn 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 […]
MoreWhat’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 […]
MoreIt’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. […]
MoreIt’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 […]
MoreAnd, 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 […]
MoreBendis 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, […]
MoreBendis does really well again this issue. Eddie and Peter’s friendship develops naturally, Gwen makes a fine, believable third. But then everything falls apart towards the end. Not bad enough to drag the issue down, but the narrative simply does not work. Peter’s watching his dad’s tapes and gets so upset about the Venom Project […]
MoreBrian Michael Bendis sure does like his coincidences, doesn’t he? If Mary Jane hadn’t broken Peter’s heart, he never would have found the boxes with the Venom Project stuff. Here’s what’s funny–Bendis makes it work. He gets emotionally honesty out of every scene in this issue, whether it’s Aunt May and Gwen hanging out or […]
MoreBendis 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 […]
MoreWhew, 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 […]
MoreReally, 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 […]
MoreAnother 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 […]
MoreAgain, 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 […]
MoreBendis 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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