Tag Archives: Brian Michael Bendis

This 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 as forced and unlikely.

Carter is an awful protagonist for the comic, alternating between unlikable and mentally unstable. Of course, Bendis understands she’s a weak lead, so he gives Bagley maybe six double page action spreads to do.

The best part of the comic is probably Flint Marko’s expressions and it’s unclear who came up with those, since he doesn’t talk.

All Bendis had to do was a solid prequel to an event and he flops. Ultimate Carter is just a lousy character. The issue makes one want to avoid Six at all costs.

The 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. It also gives him a chance to hold up Ultimate Spider-Man and look at it from a different angle, to give the reader a chance to feel like the series exists a tad more substantially.

Sadly, Bagley isn’t up for the job. His art’s about as good as usual, but not really. He gets lax on some of the faces and the book is mostly just talking heads and it needs to look great throughout. And he’s rushing.

Still, it’s an excellent concept issue.

But why didn’t May ask about the X-Men shirt?

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.

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.