Oh Miles. Poor, poor Miles. In this issue, our young hero finally learns the price of being Spider-Man. And it’s not just a dead uncle. Miles learns the hard way that Spider-Man can’t save everyone. That no matter the power or the responsibility, you’re going to let people down, and that not everything is under your control. And that there will always be giant rampaging monsters to contend with. They never go away. Writer Brian Michael Bendis gives us the most emotionally devastating issue of the new Ultimate Spider-Man yet, and it’s as powerful as you’d expect from such a great comic.

Ultimate Spider-Man #22

I’m saddened by both the actual loss and pain Miles goes through, and the loss of potential that I don’t think this series managed to sufficiently explore. Still, amazing issue nonetheless.

Comic Rating: 5/5: Great.

I’m not going to spoil the big moment just yet. I’ll save that for the synopsis. Suffice to say, it’s a doozy, and I’m excited to see what it does for Miles’ growth as a hero. Granted, that sounds a little morbid, but you’ll see what I mean when we get to it. I’m also disappointed in what this moment takes away from the series. Some people might say this moment was inevitable, but at 22 issues into the series, I didn’t think anything was inevitable. And even when the previews started hinting that something bad was going to happen, I definitely didn’t imagine this.

I read somewhere that this might be the end of the unofficial Act 1 for Miles’ superhero career, and I can believe it. Bendis has been telling a fantastic story over the course of these 22 issues. Miles has been an incredible hero, from humble beginnings, through a lot of highs in his superhero career, and with the occasional lows. I definitely look forward to seeing what comes next.

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

We open with Maria Hill leaving Miles’ home, and everyone is convinced that she knows he is Spider-Man. So Miles storms outside to give her a piece of his mind…but it doesn’t really go the way he thought it would.

Miles and Maria ‘shippers, get to work!

But suddenly, there’s a radio report that Venom is at the hospital! The one where they took Miles’ father, but Miles isn’t sure what to do. He’s frozen with panic. Hill tells Miles that he’ll get to the hospital faster than the cops can, but he’s still frozen! So Maria Hill gives him a good, strong kick in the rear.

Go, Miles! Go! Go!

Venom is indeed attacking the hospital. He’s a giant, monstrous beast of black tendrils and a humongous mouth, and he wants Jefferson Davis! Everyone is running in panic, including Miles’ mom Rio. She and dozens of other people run screaming down the hall, and Rio even stops to help push a woman in a wheelchair into a room for safety. A security guard tries to stop him, but Venom just destroys the guy. No one is safe. He fills up the whole hallway, his tendrils stretching out in all directions to hurt and kill anyone and everyone. The nurses in Jefferson’s room are worried, but they just turn out the lights and try to hide.

Venom wants Spider-Man!

So Miles delivers.

Miles is about the size of an appetizer

The fight is brutal. Miles overdoses Venom on his venom sting, causing his suit and tendrils to flare up. Miles demands to know who Venom is, but Venom just smashes him through a wall into another room. Venom realizes his mistake, that Spider-Man is just a boy, and not Jefferson Davis, though I’m pretty sure he figured that out last issue. Venom grabs Miles with his tendrils and gets close to eating the boy…until Rio shows up with a gun and plugs Venom a few times in the head!

Miles gets out of Venom’s grip and jumps on his head, hitting him with a wheelchair. He tells his mom to run, and that moment of hesitation allows Venom to grab him again. Rio pulls the trigger again, but the gun is empty. Venom uses his tendrils to start pulling Miles into his body, hoping that, by bonding with Spider-Man, he will become whole again.

In that moment, that crucial moment, we see that part of Miles’ mask is broken. We see his eye…and the single tear streaming down from it…and Rio sees it as well.

Maybe!

She knows.

Venom sucks Spider-Man into his body, then looks down at Rio.

Eat her brains!

She begs Venom to give back her son. She’ll do anything. But Venom isn’t interested in that. His tendrils reach out and wrap around her. He starts to pull Rio into his body as well, complaining that her family has caused him a lot of trouble. But something isn’t right…his head hurts…

And Miles comes blasting back out!

Venom explodes in a shower of venom blast. The symbiote is torn off its host, its human host, and Miles lands triumphantly. The cops show up and open fire, showering the host with bullets. He dies in a naked heap. Miles grabs his mom and dives to the floor. The cops surround the body and nobody knows who the host is. Then they shoot at a few of the tendrils that are still wriggling. Miles grabs his mom to get her up, but…oh God…

No…No!

Maria Hill pushes her way into the room and sees Spider-Man holding his dead mother. Likewise, Ganke, Mary Jane and Gwen reach the hospital as well and come upon our fallen hero. It’s horrible.

Why did it have to be Rio? Of all the characters, she is one of the least defined. We didn’t even know her name until the issues were in the double digits. I wish more time had been spent with Rio before something like this happened. I wish Bendis had taken more time to build Miles’ relationship with both his parents. Peter Parker never had parents like this, but Miles was always running off to fight super-villains and couldn’t spend time with his. Granted, there probably isn’t much quality time going on between an independent 13-year-old and his stuffy parents, but I would have liked to have seen much more interaction between everyone. I know she’s Miles’ mom, but she doesn’t really have the same connection to him that Uncle Ben had with Peter Parker.

But then I can’t really expect Bendis to spend all of his comic book time writing scenes about Miles hanging out with his mom.

We cut to a news report revealing the host to have been Dr. Conrad Marcus, a scientist at Roxxon. I don’t think we’ve ever heard of him before. And I don’t remember what else Roxxon has done in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man, but it was probably definitely evil stuff. I think they were in the video game, which also dealt with the symbiotes. The news aren’t sure much about Dr. Marcus or Venom, and Roxxon is denying any and all involvement. We then see the sinister Roxxon CEO – Mr. Roxxon – who spouts off a bunch of evil lines about Roxxon having total involvement with the symbiote, though Dr. Marcus was acting on his own, it seems. But Roxxon reveals that his company might be trying to create their own Spider-Man.

The next morning, Miles wakes up in bed feeling pretty good. He steps out of his room to see his mom, only to realize that he’s staying with Ganke and his family. His mom is really dead.

Miles rushes back into his room and makes a big decision.

Spider-Man, no more!

That’s pretty drastic! But what do you expect? All Spider-Men must give up the costume from time to time. We should get a couple awesome issues out of this story.

But this issue was pretty great anyway. The fight with Venom is epic. Sara Pichelli is drawing the hell out of the beast, and Venom hasn’t looked this villainous in a long time. He’s a monster of epic proportions! His battle with Spider-Man is fantastic, with the tendrils stretching in all directions, and then exploding when Miles hits him. It’s great. And the stakes are huge. The previews alluded to some great loss, and I thought it would be Jefferson. There’s no reason to think that Miles’ family was safe…as we can clearly see at this point. So this fight is a big deal. None of these characters have any sort of normal universe counterpart. Bendis is treading on new grounds. So characters can be killed without the guarantee than they’ll come back someday. And I’ve always said Miles needed some tougher fights.

The issue is also filled with wonderful dramatic moments. I loved the scene where Miles is sucked into the symbiote, and his mother can see his single tearful eye, immediately recognizing her son. It’s a powerful moment, as is the one that follows, when she begs for his life. And, of course, her death scene is very dramatic.

But like I said earlier, I’m disappointed at the loss of potential. So much more could have been done with Miles’ mom, and so much could have been done with her knowing that her son is Spider-Man. Instead, we’re just going to get stories about Miles’ dad as an angry widower, with Miles sneaking behind his back to be Spider-Man. That sounds far less appealing.