Review - Ultimate Spiderman #111

Ultimate Spiderman #111
By Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and Stuart Immonen
Colors by Justin Ponsor, Letters by VC’s Cory Petit
Published by Marvel Comics, July 2007. $2.99

After two game-changing action-packed arcs - The Clone Saga and Ultimate Knights - Brian Michael Bendis has grabbed our shaken, frail bodies and forced us to sit with him and have a quiet chat. Between fighting various mutated freaks, dealing with the Ultimate love triangle, going to school and working at the Daily Bugle, Peter has had no time to deal with his disapproving Aunt May who once figured so closely to his daily life.

Aunt May’s guilt over Uncle Ben’s death became known in an issue similar to #111, "The Talk", the appropriately titled “Guilt,” issue #45. In “Guilt,” Aunt May talks to her psychiatrist about her inability to cope with a world where vigilantes run around in their pajamas doing whatever they want. She is relieved at the assurance her nephew is not involved in this fast growing trend. Issue #111 brings her growing concerns full circle. May has come to know the ugly truth: Peter Parker IS Spiderman. Yes, it’s time for that talk. I enjoyed reading Peter’s rationalization of the Spidey-sense, and Aunt May knowing the full story of the day the infamous radioactive spider bit Peter. In an odd, subtle moment, he tosses off the once traumatizing incident when Green Goblin threw Mary Jane off Brooklyn Bridge as mundane.

The one disappointment with this issue is a flashback to a battle with Ultimate Spot at the ROXXON labs just before picking up Aunt May at the hospital. The artist Stuart Immonen, to whom regular artist Mark Bagley is passing the Ultimate torch with #111, illustrates this sequence. The reader has the unfortunate position of only seeing their dialogue along the margin. I am disappointed this dull “staged reading” effect was implemented. While I love the witty exchange with May’s comical inability to understand what Peter is saying, and that the trashed lab hurt Peter’s young scientist heart, I would have expected a more ambitious execution of the conversation. Interspersing the intimate kitchen chat with the fight would have proved more engaging, especially if Bagley’s softer style had been integrated with Immonen's contrasting angular take on action sequences. This section felt like there was a last minute decision to include Immonen on the story; as a result, it felt lazy.

In the end, this issue delivered great moments for Aunt May. Her questions are just the right ones, as she feels increasingly nauseous the more she unweaves the delicate web of deceit. May discovers that Ben's familiar wise words of; "with great power..." is the great motivator for Spiderman. In her smile, I can see her relief. She can have a conversation with a superhero, thus providing the perfect bookend to “Guilt.”

Review - Amazing Spider-Man 541

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 541
By J. Michael Straczynski, Ron Garney, and Bill Reinhold
Colors by Matt Milla, Letters by VC’s Cory Petit.
Published by Marvel Comics, $2.99



Marvel recently announced they’ll be canceling the two regular Spider-Man titles that aren’t AMAZING in favor of a three-times-a-month schedule for their flagship title, edited by Steve Wacker of DC’s 52, presumably with a staff of writers and artists working in concert, much like the way network TV is created these days. The change is coming after the “One More Day” storyline, which threatens to “change everything!”, which, itself, comes after “Back in Black,” in which we are smack dab in the middle. That makes the next few issues of AMAZING the end of a long, storied, Spidey-chapter, and since I've written before that I love Spider-Man the character and not-so-much SPIDER-MAN the comic, I thought I’d stop by AMAZING and see how the end of everything we know is shaping up.

AMAZING, and most mainstream superhero comics, are already taking several cues from TV. Most every issue starts out with a “Previously…” page to get you caught up in case you’re a new reader, or maybe just confused by all the competing Spider-appearances since the last issue of your preferred title. It’s interesting that in a given episode of, say, RESCUE ME, the previouslies take a good two minutes, getting us up to date on the goings-on of the expanded supporting cast, but with AMAZING, with 540 previous installments over the course of 40+ years, the previouslies consist of:

-Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, and is now Spider-Man

-Spider-Man revealed his identity to the general public

-Spider-Man and Iron Man got really mad at each other

-Aunt May got shot because the Kingpin wanted to kill Spider-Man

-Spider-Man got really mad at the Kingpin

On a TV show, the actor portraying Mary Jane might pull the executive producer aside and mention her disappointing at being a series regular, and a recognizable cog in the Spidey machine, and yet left with nothing to do these days but sit in a hospital room and offer Peter Parker an ignored shoulder to cry on. At least Aunt May, unconscious she may be, is a plot point. As it stands, Peter’s supporting cast a) doesn’t seem to exist in this issue, and b) for those who are around, don’t have much to do but watch this installment of AMAZING happen around them. Some might say, hey, if you want Mary Jane, go read SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE, about to be handed off to the capable Terry Moore -- but really, if this is the flagship Spidey title, and has been for the aforementioned 40+ years, why can’t I get it all for my three bucks? The internets points to Morrison and Quitely’s ALL-STAR SUPERMAN as superheroes done right, with every 22-page issue crammed full of ideas, drama, and modern mythology -- but really, we should be demanding the same of all of our periodical entertainment. Here’s hoping the upcoming sea change gives Spidey and his cast the depth they deserve.

Tell me more: Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Comics.

Review - The Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 1
By Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca
Colors by Paco Roca, Letters by VC’s Cory Petit
Published by Marvel Comics, $3.99



Spider-Man is hands down my very favorite comic book character. And while most of my weekday afternoons were spent watching G.I. JOE, and then playing G.I. JOE, I was usually pretending that the figures were really Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

But the thing is -- most Spidey comics aren’t so great. When the Ultimate line started I thought, at last, there would be a Spidey title I could pick up from time to time, whenever I wanted to read 20-odd pages of web-slinging and witty rejoinders. In practice, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN is now 100+ issues into its own complicated continuity, with a lot of time spent crying around kitchen tables, I think. And that’s okay -- it’s a pretty good book, just not the ideal Spidey comic for me.

And this is the part of the review where I say: SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL is the ideal Spidey comic for me. I’m sure it will definitely be seen as a comic of its time, what with the main story involving Peter Parker, whose identity the world now knows, conspiring to turn himself over to the authorities to spare his family any more pain and hurt, just as his wife Mary Jane conspires not to be arrested (by a former flame at that -- that’s classic Spider-Man!) on account of being the wife of the outlaw Spider-Man. But the story’s real charm comes from the flashbacks, illustrated with a lovingly Romita-influenced charm by Salvador Larroca, where we see the old days -- when Peter and Harry were pals, and the boys were dating Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane, respectively.

I guess it’s telling of where the Spider-Man franchise is in 2007 that my ideal Spidey story is a sad one, looking back at the past through rose-colored glasses … but with all things considered, it’s still a story of hope, and of love, and of web-slinging and witty rejoinders. If Matt Fraction ever signs on to write a regular Spider-Man book, that might just be the one that makes it fun to read Spidey again.

Tell me more: Sensational Spider-Man, Matt Fraction