Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), David Marquez (Artist), Justin Ponsor (Color).

Spoiler Alert!

The Story: In the wake of Cataclysm Miles attempts to find his way as more than one familiar face returns.

The Review: Damn! after 200 issues this series continues to just run like clockwork, it’s rarely if ever less than good and the most recent volume of Ultimate Spider-man continues to deliver. In the aftermath of Galactus destroying New Jersey and attempting to consume the earth, Miles Morales is attempting to make sense of his life now that his father has abandoned him.

While his new status as an orphan is at the forefront of his mind so too is his ongoing romance with Katie Bishop, this marks an enjoyable distinction from the previous volume where the relationship was relatively underdeveloped. While it’s nice to see more of a renewed focus on the romance of this book, Katie is such an unknown factor compared to MJ, Gwen and Kitty in the Peter Parker days that it’s hard to buy that Miles is considering coming clean with her. Hopefully readers will get to learn more about Katie and who she is as a character in upcoming issues.

Miles dealing with his father’s abandonment of him is pretty interesting now that Miles has no parental figure in his life, it further separates and distinguishes Miles from Peter Parker. It can be rough for a teenager to not have the adult guidance that a parent can provide and so it’ll prove interesting to see how the character deals with this absence moving forward. As of right now Miles has a support group that consists of Ganke, Katie, MJ and Gwen but the lack of an adult presence in the book does make it feel like a critical element is missing, Spider-man is about youth but it’s hard to make that point without contrast.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Dave Marquez (Art), Justin Ponsor (Colors), VC’s Cory Petit (Lettering)

Review: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man is enjoying some well-deserved attention at the moment. And about time. It’s surely been one of Marvel’s best ongoing titles since…well, since #1 pretty much…and yet it’s hardly been given the same levels of praise and publicity as the company’s other top tier books – your Hawkeye’s and Daredevil’s. This is probably down to a combination of two things: 1) it has ‘Ultimate’ in the title, and 2) this Spider-Man ain’t Peter Parker. A shame, as it’s a consistently beautiful-looking book that draws the best from Bendis each and every month. With the last issue seeing an end to the Venom War storyline and, with it, the death of Miles’ mother, there’s been a surge of interest in the series that’s seen it hesitantly take centre stage. But it’s what it does under the spotlight that matters…and luckily this issue puts on a pretty good show.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Sara Pichelli (Art), Justin Ponsor (Colors), VC’s Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Review: You may not have noticed but Bendis is putting out another event book at the moment, a small indie title called Age of Ultron about a robot looking for love in all the wrong places. It’s pretty cool, and I recommend you check it out if you’ve not already done so. But away from that side-project, Venom War rages on in the pages of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man; and it’s awesome. While it remains to be seen just how much of an impact AoU will have on its universe, Venom War marches confidently ahead, creating several key moments which are sure to echo down the halls of Ultimate Spider-Man continuity for an eternity. Or maybe not. After all, this issue does end with Miles’ tearing his costume to pieces and shouting “No more!”

Is that a spoiler? Not really. This aspect of future issues has been relatively well publicized by the cover to next month’s issue, a homage to the classic Romita ‘costume in a trashcan’ image from Amazing Spider-Man #50. And as interesting as that destination is, the more interesting thing is the action-packed, heart-wrenching journey that gets us there.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #20 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Sara Pichelli (Artist), Justin Ponsor (Colors), Cory Petit (Lettering)

Review: When I look at the triumvirate of titles that currently makes up the Ultimate universe I can’t help but give thanks for Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Brian Wood’s Ultimate Comics X-Men has me somewhat on the fence; on one hand I admire the courage taken in burdening its cast with such a dour outlook, but on the other I find it exasperating waiting for something – anything- truly exciting to happen. As for Sam Humpries’ Ultimate Comics Ultimates…well, the less said about that the better; alas, I’m down with the 1610 ‘til it – or I – suffer an inevitably gore-soaked death, and will plod along by its side loyally until then.

But Ultimate Comics Spider-Man is a different beast altogether. Brilliantly scripted by a revitalised Bendis and illustrated by a small rotating cast of top-flight artists, I’m hard-pressed to remember a time when a comic from The Big Two has consistently delivered the goods for this long.