REVIEW: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1

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Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1

ultimate_spiderman_1_001a

Written by Brian Bendis

Art by David Lafuente

So Ultimatum is done and over with and it is time to move on. That’s an awesome thing since, well, Ultimatum was quite possibly one of the worst big events ever published by a major comic book company. Now hey, I’m not the biggest fan of the Ultimate line, but I do have some respect for it. Ultimates 1 and 2? Love ’em. Ultimate X-Men? I have every issue starting from Bendis’s brief run, and hardcovers of Millar’s run. FF? I have the first 50 or so issues. But then comes the big daddy of the line, Spider-Man. We all know that the point of the Ultimate line was honestly just to give Bendis a sandbox to write a teenage Spidey in, and you know what? It worked.

Sure, I picked up and dropped that book sooooo many times during its intial run, but that never meant I wasn’t interested. Even if I hated the pacing, I did love the book, so when Ultimate Comics Spider-Man launched, I figured hey, why not give it a look?

Glad I did too. This book picks up six months after the events of Ultimatum and New York City is finally open for business again, according to Midtown High news reporter Mary Jane Watson. Meanwhile, we do get our first glimpse of the titular hero, Peter Parker, only a few pages in…..as he spends time at his new job selling burgers in a frog hat. Yep, he’s in high school!

Now I’m going to get to the point, the cover of this book sold it to me. With promises of Spider-Woman, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, the Human Torch, MJ, AND my precious Gwen. That’s a supporting cast that makes the book worthwhile. So I was very pleased to see Peter’s first home scene to find out he’s still living with Aunt May, Gwen is there too, oh, and by the way….

SPOILER WARNING! Scroll down to skip!

Peter and Gwen! Together! YAY! Ultimate MJ is SUCH a bore, and Gwen in any reality is preferred. So seeing them finally hooking up was a nice little touch, even if I have no clue what happened to him and MJ.

May still knows his secret and is VERY cool with it, doing his laundry, talking about his work, letting Kitty come over for dinner.

And then Johnny Storm shows up looking for a place to crash.

End Spoilers!

I love the supporting cast of this book, I really do. And I love how integral they are to the book, I mean, THAT is Spider-Man. Yes, I love my Peter Parker stories, but he’s one of those characters that is truly defined by his supporting cast more so then most any other Marvel character. Pete, especially in Ultimate, is meant to be our point of view character. We’re supposed to feel some degree of kinship with him, and to be honest, most of us have friends.Friends that we share secrets with, friends who will do anything for us, friends who are friends to the bitter end, and as long as there’s a record deal, they will always be friends.

But Ultimate Pete HAS friends, that’s the awesome part. 616 Pete has like, three of them, and while one is Harry fucking Osborn, the rest, well, they aren’t Gwen fucking Stacy and Kitty fucking Pryde!

Bendis is back on track after the devastationof the Ultimate line, and thankfully he hasn’t missed a beat. Even more thankful is the fact that his book was fucked with the least by the atrocity of Ultimatum, so the book gets to move on relatively unchanged.

Now how about the art?  Well, David Lafuente is no Mark Bagley, but I do think his art here is a MUCH better fit then Stuart Immonen. Understand, Immonen is my boy, I love his art, but I never got into it on Spidey. It just always felt….I dunno. Not to say that Lafuente is perfect, I mean, his Peter has what I call the Ramos skull, but his characters look like teenagers. Actually, this is the kind of art that I would be hoping to see on a book like Runaways where the entire cast is made up of kids, so it’s a very nice touch here.

And as for action? Oddly enough, while there are quite a few pages of action in this book, Spidey himself doesn’t throw a punch. Instead two new introductions show their badassness in their own unique ways. And I will say, the linework is fluid during it. Usually you get an artist who can do everything but chokes on one thing, and Lafuente choked on nothing! Really sweet deal, and the mystery around the cloaked figure is a good one. Is he the Hood? Is he the Crimson Cowl? Is he someone brand new? Would I be telling you this if it happened in the second half of the issue?

Answer to the last question is “No”

Also, I take it back, Peter does get an action sequence in…..against the old lady!

All in all, it’s a return to the normalcy of Ultimate Spider-Man, and Bendis is getting right back to where he left off. With any luck he’ll keep his pacing together, and the artist will keep looking this good, and this book will return to the upper echelons of greatness.

I mean hey, they made a believer out of me, that’s pretty cool.

8/10

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.