Ultimate Spider-Man #19 Review

This is my second Brian Michael Bendis book this week, which means that this has been a good week for comic book fans. In the Ultimate universe, the major "United We Stand" crossover event is finally over, so BMB can carry on where he left off with Mile Morales et al. I didn't hate the crossover event, but this is the only Ultimate range book I buy so I felt like it was stopping this series from being what I wanted it to continue being; which has been one hell of a ride.

The first third of this issue focuses on Miles, as he is back to his everyday life as a teenager. These are always my favorite parts of the series, as Miles is such a great character to read about. I am probably about 8 or 9 years older than him, but I love seeing what he gets up to while he is not being Spider Man. He is just a very likeable character.
Saying that, we saw a great scene where Miles was trying to use his web shooters so he could fly through the city. I have missed these comedic moments, and you can tell  that Bendis just loves writing them. I keep forgetting that Miles has not been under the mask too long, so when a scene like this pops up it really helps to put everything into perspective progress wise. He still has a long way to go, but he is doing just fine so far.

There was a big character moment in this issue that came kind of out of the blue for me. I did not read the last issues of Peter Parker as Spider Man in this series so I was not sure how JJJ felt about him. Needless to say, the explanation he gave in this issue for not printing a news story regarding the identity of the new Spider Man was very touching indeed. I also thought the art in this scene was the best in the issue; especially some of the facial expressions. You could tell from Maria Hill's face that she could feel the pain and anguish coming off JJJ.
Another great character moment was Miles' dad, and his reaction to be deemed a superhero by the press. His story seems to be getting deeper and deeper, and it is something I am really enjoying. Bendis is fantastic at adding depth to characters that you thought you had no interest in and making you care, so I am more than happy to go along for the ride on this one.

Of course this issue saw the grand return of Venom to USM. This issue was mainly teaser until the last panel, so it looks like we will be seeing a lot of more him next issue; which is just fine by me.  BMB knows what he is doing, and so does Sara Pichelli on art duties. These two are becoming a lethal combination, which makes me have no doubt at all that this Venom story is going to be something rather special. Bring on issue #20.


Rating: 9 / 10


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Ultimate Spider Man #18 Review

I have not really been a massive fan of the "United We Stand" crossover events across the Ultimate titles. This may be down to the fact that I only read Ultimate Spider Man. Anyway, I was very glad to see the back of it in this issue. Saying that, this was a really solid issue, and I think it made the event better than I first thought; concerning Spider Man anyway.

I really enjoyed the first page of the comic which gave a brief recap of the big battle between Hydra and SHIELD. Its not that I needed a recap, but it is good to have one seeing as I was not always too focused with this title while this event has been taking place. Plus the art for the battle panel looked epic.

I thought the fight between Miles and Giant Woman was pretty good.It was what it was; helping to fill a few pages, but regardless it was still very enjoyable. It also had some pretty good comic elements in it too that reminded the reader that Miles is a teenage boy at the end of the day, and that he does not see giant women on a regular basis.
Quite a big reveal in this issue was something that Miles' father had done. It is pretty shocking, and I don't believe the reader knew he had done this until this current issue. I am sure that this will start to have an effect on him in upcoming issues, which should make for some pretty interesting character development.

As mentioned earlier I am pretty glad that this event has been wrapped up, and I am pretty sure that USM will go back to being the book that has given it as much recognition as it has been receiving. Bendis did a great job in this issue, and I am very excited for #19 to come out in the new year; especially considering who has been advertised to be in it.


Rating: 8 / 10

Ultimate Spider-Man #16.1 Review

I have been dipping in and out of this series for a while now. Whenever I pick up an issue I always think "why the hell did I drop this". This point one issue has made that point even clearer. Miles Morales in such a great character, and a very suitable Spider-Man. However, he hardly features in this book, so what makes this issue so great?

This story follows the journalist Becky Brant as she stumbles across the identity of wall crawler after watching footage of the fight that broke out between Miles and his Uncle Aaron. It turns out she actually thinks that Spider-Man is Miles' father, which is something we do not discover until later on in the issue.

What I really enjoyed in this issue was the way Becky went about finding solid proof for her story. The pages that followed showed how a hungry journalist works, and the lengths that they are willing to go to to find a story. When she finally got all her evidence, she was once again rejected by Jonah as he did not feel that the story was in the public interest. The final panel sees her getting possibly killed by a certain Spidey favourite.

This book was great and really was utilised well as a point one jumping on point for new readers. The art once again was amazing, which has been a constant throughout this series. Some of the splash pages were tremendous, especially the one that saw Becky searching Uncle Aaron's old apartment. Personally I haven't seen anything like that before which made it a joy to view. The level of consistency that this book has is on a completely different level to most books out there. So go on jump on. I doubt you will be getting off any time soon.

Rating: 9 / 10