I’ve always been a big fan of Venom. Even when the character was over-exposed in the 90s, I still loved him. Heck, I even like Topher Grace’s Venom from Spider-Man 3. He’s just a cool character and a cool concept, where the super-character’s costume itself is the super-power. Plus he’s big, he’s colored black and he’s a pretty badass level of ruthless. So Venom has always been cool. And when Brian Michael Bendis introduced Venom into the Ultimate Universe, he made him even cooler. So it’s exciting to see Venom come back, though it looks like he might be a new character.

Ultimate Spider-Man #20

Miles faces off against Venom with his father caught in the middle. That is some absolutely perfect drama for Ultimate Spider-Man.

Comic Rating: 5/5: Great.

This issue has it all! Action, adventure, comedy and desperately high stakes. There’s absolutely no guarantee that Miles’ father is safe. Peter Parker’s whole career started with the death of his Uncle Ben. Just because Jefferson has survived this long does not mean he’s going to stick around forever. So when Jefferson involves himself in the fight against Venom, it’s bad news for everybody. But good news for us, because this story has real power behind it. Not to mention it’s incredibly entertaining. The fight is one of the best Miles has been in, with Venom more than a match for this novice hero.

The dialogue is especially great. Miles remains funny in his own special way. He’s not the quip-a-minute Peter Parker, but he’s still quite humorous. And Venom is fantastic. He’s not a mindless monster, no matter how he looks, and his deadpan lines are especially cool. All of the characters are fantastic in this issue, and with the action and drama attached, it’s a great chapter of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!

Venom has ambushed Jefferson on the street outside his apartment, believing him to be the new Spider-Man. Reporter Betty Brant had made a similar deduction, and Venom killed her for it.

He’s not selling cookies, that’s for sure

Venom sure is looking huge these days. He was last seen several years ago, still with Eddie Brock as his host. He absorbed Carnage and was kidnapped to Latveria. I’m not sure if Bendis is following up on that or not It was a long, complicated time ago.

Suffice to say, some version of Venom is after Jefferson and the news crew, which Miles and Ganke see from Miles’ bedroom window. Miles quickly changes into his costume and climbs out of the window, going invisible to climb down the outside wall. Before he leaves, Ganke hands him a new batch of webbing. He managed to complete the formula! So just before Venom is about to eat his dad, Miles leaps into the fray!

Pow! Zoom! Straight to the moon!

Miles quickly jumps down to his dad to warn him to get out of there. Miles is worried that his father will recognize his voice, so he adopts a horrid British accent for some reason. The news crew are still on scene filming the fight, and Miles’ mother runs outside to try and save her husband. She told Miles and Ganke to stay in Miles’ bedroom. Then as Venom begins to wake up, Miles stands between the villain and his father.

I’m a little confused

Venom thought Jefferson was Spider-Man, but that’s clearly not the case, as he can plainly see. Still, Venom wants to find out who Spider-Man really is, so he attacks! The fight is on as Spider-Man battles the beast. Miles recognizes Venom from his first fight with Peter Parker, which Miles watched on Youtube back in the day. He tries to remember how that fight went, how Peter Parker managed to beat him, all while avoiding Venom’s deadly tendrils. Spider-Man gets tagged a few times, so he brings out his secret weapon: the webbing! Thankfully, Ganke figured out the formula…or not.

Everything looks better on TV

The fight continues, with Spider-Man using his acrobatics to try and lead Venom away from his home. He grabs one of the tendrils and pulls, leaping over the tops of cars. Miles warns everyone else to run, and Jefferson runs straight to the news crew. The reporter asks if this has anything to do with Jefferson’s heroic battle against HYDRA, but he just punches her camera man.

Down the street, Venom gets his tendrils around Spider-Man and starts asking him about the spider that bit him. Venom knows it was a spider with a number on the back, but does Miles know which number? Does he know how many more there are? Miles doesn’t get a chance to answer because Jefferson throws the TV camera into the back of the monster’s head! Hooray for heroic fathers! But Venom smacks Jefferson away, with Miles’ father crashing into the back windshield of a nearby taxi. This angers Miles so much that he kicks Venom in the head so hard that the monster’s mouth explodes.

Miles falls free and sees his mother rush to his father’s side, asking for someone to call for the police or an ambulance. That means Miles has to step up and do his sonly duties!

Boom-shakka-lakka!

Spider-Man continues to lead Venom away from the battle, still trying to figure out how to beat him. Miles also wonders if maybe Venom can tell him more about the spider. They battle into a store and pass several drivers. At least Miles is keeping Venom busy while his mother and Ganke check on his father…who isn’t breathing!

The cops show up on the scene and tell Spider-Man and Venom to get on the ground!

The cops open fire when they see the monster, and Venom charges at them angrily. He grabs one of the cops and is about to bite off his upper body when Miles launches himself at the monster. Miles seems to slice straight through the top of Venom’s head, cutting off a layer of goo. But at least it causes Venom to let go of the officer, who manages to get away. Spidey and Venom face off again, and this time Miles uses his aptly named ‘Venom Blast’. It takes a few moments to sink in, and then the blast causes Venom to disintegrate! His gooey body simply breaks down and the remaining slime escapes into a sewer grate.

The cops don’t seem to care and they still come after Spidey, forcing Miles to leap up and out of the way. He turns invisible and climbs a nearby building to escape the cops. Meanwhile, the EMTs have reached Jefferson and are working on him on the street, trying to get him to wake up. His wife is very distraught as she tries to answer the EMTs’ questions. Miles shows up, out of costume, and she tells him to go home with Ganke. The tearful wife climbs into the back of the ambulance with Jefferson as it drives away.

Miles is heartbroken.

It’s not Spider-Man without dead family members and guilt

This issue had everything! The fight between Spider-Man and Venom was amazing. Sara Pichelli draws a fantastic Venom, especially this gigantic, monstrous Venom. Ultimate Venom hasn’t looked like the normal Venom in a long time, and now he’s truly his own beast. Pichelli definitely has a lot of fun with how much slimier Venom is in this appearance. He’s more goo than man, it seems. The fight scenes benefit from this new Venom. His mouth looks insane, but every punch and kick from Spider-Man is visually wild. Plus Miles doesn’t just win easily, like almost every other fight he’s been involved in. This should make for an exciting rematch.

Beyond the action, this issue is full of humor and real emotion. The scene with the faulty webbing is funny, as are the little bit here and there, like Miles telling the cops that he’s not with Venom, or Venom being confused about Spider-Man’s identity. It’s not the usual humor of Peter Parker, but it’s funny nonetheless. Bendis has always been a good writer of situational comedy.

The emotion at play here makes for very good drama. Twenty issues in and the action finally hits home for Miles, with his parents directly involved. Could this lead to Miles coming clean about his identity? Maybe! Could it lead to Jefferson actually dying? That’s entirely possible as well! Like I said, Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben was killed. Maybe Miles’ dad is killed. These are brand new characters. There is no precedent for what happens to Jefferson Davis. Anything could happen and that is usually unheard of for a comic book.