Here comes one of those talking heads issues that I love so much! And it’s pretty good, though more than a little weird. Miles and Ganke spend some quality time with Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy talking about Venom. Personally, I would have liked a more sociable conversation, but we’re kind of in the middle of Venom War, so it makes sense that the big, black gooey guy is the focus of the conversation. Though Bendis makes the unfortunate misstep of bringing up that whole Gwen Stacy/Carnage fiasco. I thought we’d all silently agreed to put it behind us and never mention it again.

Ultimate Spider-Man #21

Oh well, it’s still an entertaining comic, even if it’s really just a refresher course in Ultimate Venom. We haven’t seen the character in years.

Comic Rating: 4/5: Good.

We don’t learn anything new about Venom or why he’s going after Spider-Man or his dad. It’s clear that Venom knows Peter Parker isn’t Spider-Man anymore, so what reason might Venom have for going after Miles? Gwen and MJ take a pretty huge leap in logic to suggest a reason, and I can’t say how well it flies. I think Bendis could have come up with something stronger. But at least I like the idea of MJ and Gwen becoming helpers for Miles. Plus I like the vibe between them and Ganke. It would be pretty cool if Ganke, MJ and Gwen became Miles’ support staff for his Spider-Man adventures. If only Miles and Ganke weren’t so young. I think a Gwen/Ganke romance would be pretty awesome/hilarious.

Still, just having MJ and Gwen show up really twists the knife of Peter Parker’s death a little bit more. Man, that guy died far too young. It’s horribly tragic. But it’s OK. Miles is still awesome.

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

We open at a coffee shop in Brooklyn where Gwen has gone for a drink. Imagine her surprise when she reaches the front of the line and finds Mary Jane working behind the counter! A job’s a job, right? The two talk awkwardly for a moment because they haven’t spoken in weeks and MJ hasn’t been returning (or getting) Gwen’s calls. High school girls, amiright? But the awkwardness is interrupted by the TV in the corner. The news is showing footage from Spider-Man’s fight with Venom.

Hello! Miss Watson!

The girls decide to race off to help Miles, even if it means Mary Jane has to quit on the spot in front of her angry boss.

At the hospital, Jefferson is rushed into treatment with the doctors grumbling about all of the monsters in the city. They have a special protocol for such cases. Miles’ mother is left standing alone in the lobby without answers.

Across town, Detective Maria Hill arrives on the scene of the fight. Police have the whole place under lockdown, but nobody went off in pursuit of either Spider-Man or Venom.

Miles is sitting on the stoop of his home with Ganke there to try and comfort him. Miles blames himself. One of Spider-Man’s villains shows up on his doorstep looking for Spider-Man, and his dad got hurt in the process. Miles thinks back to Peter’s motto, of how ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. Miles thinks that instead of fighting Venom, he should have grabbed his parents and just fled the scene. But Ganke points out that Venom would have just chased him. Miles did everything he could, his friend says.

Miles wants to go to the hospital, but Ganke says they need to stay put. He tells the story of when his own dad died and the two of them went to the hospital. All they accomplished was to be told to stay out of the way. Going to the hospital now won’t help Miles’ father get better. What they need to do is start researching Venom so that nobody else gets hurt.

And it just so happens that they’ll have a little help.

Do teenagers really dress like that?

The kids all head inside, which does not go unnoticed by Maria Hill.

Elsewhere, Venom reforms in the sewers and eats a few people.

Back at the Morales homestead, MJ and Gwen give the boys a crash course in Ultimate Venom. He started as an experiment by Peter Parker’s father to cure cancer. The Venom goo is supposed to be worn by the sufferer and then kill the cancer cells. And the goo is genetically engineered to match the DNA of the sufferer. The original suit was matched to the Parker family DNA, which is why it’s always searching for Peter Parker. And when it tried to bond with Eddie Brock, it went wild and turned into the monster that is Venom.

That’s when it gets complicated. Because along came Ultimate Carnage, which was created when the Venom goo was combined with DNA from Peter Parker and Curt Connors. Carnage was even more of a monster, and it killed the original Gwen Stacy, absorbing her life essence.

This is probably not where they’re going to take Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Then somehow Peter Parker and other factors managed to separate Gwen from Carnage, giving her her life back. Bendis kind of glosses over that. Either way, she died and came back to life through Carnage. Ganke is a little curious about death and Gwen sheepishly tells him it’s endless nothinginess.

MJ explains that Venom might be after Miles because Miles and Peter got their spider-powers the same way, through a genetically altered spider at Oscorp. MJ believes that Venom might think that the spider changed Miles’ DNA the same way it changed Peter’s DNA, so maybe it would be happy bonding with Miles too. That’s a bit of a stretch, but let’s just roll with it. MJ also points out that Oscorp was mysteriously destroyed only a few days ago.

But that’s when the gang gets an unexpected visitor.

Teenagers hanging out together? Something fishy must be going on

Maria Hill just decided to wander into Miles’ house like that and flash her badge. Gwen points out that she needs a warrant to come into a house like this, and Gwen knows because her dad was a cop. But Maria lingers long enough to point out how suspicious it is that Peter Parker’s two best pals are suddenly here talking with Miles. She let’s it slip that she kind of knows Miles is Spider-Man, but wants to get him to come clean so that she can help him and they can stop this monster.

But MJ and Gwen get Maria out of the house since she is kind of breaking the law by barging in like that. Miles doesn’t look happy.

At the hospital, Rio is sitting in the waiting room before she’s approached by a nurse. The doctor wants to see her, and Rio just wants to know how her husband is. The nurse won’t tell her, says it’s not her place. But Rio just wants an answer…

She won’t get one though, because someone new has arrived at the hospital.

If he doesn’t have insurance, they’ll get rid of him quick

For some reason, Venom is going after either Jefferson or Rio. Is he targeting them specifically? Or is he trying to draw Spider-Man out? I guess we’ll find out next issue! I’d also like to see if Eddie Brock is still around. There’s no indication that he is, but I’m pretty sure Venom was still bonded to Eddie the last time they appeared.

Other than that, it was a solid downtime issue as Miles starts to build towards his rematch with Venom. Seeing MJ and Gwen again was awesome. I hope Bendis can keep them in the series, even if seeing them is a painful reminder of losing Peter Parker. Trust me, 21 issues into the series and it still hurts that we lost Peter. He was so young, and at the height of his awesomeness. Gwen and MJ would be cool additions to Miles’ supporting cast. They can help him out like they did in this issue, with information on Peter and his rogues gallery. Plus, again, Ganke getting to date one of them might be funny.

Mostly this issue was a transition from one part of the story to the next. We don’t find out the fate of Miles’ dad. We don’t yet get the Spider-Man/Venom rematch. Instead, they both retreat to lick their collective wounds and gear up for the next battle. Venom does this by eating people, Miles does it by researching his foe. And that look on Miles’ face at the end makes me think we might be in for one heck of an upcoming battle.