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Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #2
It’s like we never left. Sure, Galactus the Devourer of Worlds tried to eat the Ultimate Universe in one sitting, leaving New Jersey a wasteland. But that’s not going to stop Spider-Man from worrying about his girlfriend or struggling with clones. That’s just the way of the world. And the new issue of Ultimate Spider-Man continues the way of the world as if that Galactus storyline never even happened – I’ve already forgotten what it was called. The event still gets a little bit of lip service in the new issue, but more than anything, the adventures of Miles Morales continue unabated this issue, and I’m more than happy for that.
Ultimate Spider-Man #2
Marvel may have gone to all the trouble of relaunching Ultimate Spider-Man with a new title and a new #1, but writer Brian Michael Bendis clearly didn’t care, to our benefit.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
The big surprise at the end of last issue was that Peter Parker had mysteriously returned! So Miles has definitely got his hands full with this issue, because resurrections are not part of the normal course of business in the Ultimate Universe. Where did he come from? What does he want? How many more issues before we find out? Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #2 is very much just a chapter in an ongoing story. All the the various plot threads that Bendis is currently playing with move forward, but without any real twists or revelations, at least not yet.
Still, not every issue needs to be read on the edge of your seat. We don’t always need a big surprise or a mind-blowing moment to make an issue good. Bendis instead delivers another solid outing easily supported on the shoulders of Miles Morales and his entertaining supporting cast. As always, the new Ultimate Spider-Man is a quality comic, and while bigger, more interesting events are surely around the corner, this is still a solid issue.
Review: Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1
About a year ago, for my friend’s wedding, I bought him his first Miles Morales comic (I also bought him a toaster that burns the Spider-Man logo into the middle of the bread, but that’s beside the point). I bought him the hardcover collected edition of Miles’ debut. My friend is a diehard Spider-Man fan, especially Ultimate Spider-Man. He’s also the kind of casual comic book reader who didn’t know in advance that Ultimate Peter Parker was going to die, and when it happened, he felt a real, emotional loss that still stings to this day. The dude loved Spider-Man.
Ultimate Spider-Man #1
He was hesitant to give Miles Morales a try, but he finally got around to reading the comic earlier this year. When he told me he liked it, I told him to keep reading, because it only gets better.
Miles Morales is back, and even though the comic has a new title and a new #1, I’m very happy to say that it’s business as usual for the Web-Slinger.
Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Forget everything you know about Cataclsym…mostly. A few of the events from that story, like the death of Captain America and the disappearance of Miles’ dad, play into this new issue, but for the most part, people seem to have moved on from Galactus threatening to destroy the planet. Life goes on. Ultimate Spider-Man goes on, and for that I’m grateful. I said it all the time in the build-up to Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is too damn good to get caught up in all that other nonsense. But at least when Bendis does get wrapped up into that stuff, he handles it with his standard aplomb.
Miles and the gang are back and up to their old tricks, the major events of the past few weeks barely even registering. Miles is still Spider-Man. He’s still dating Kate Bishop. Ganke is still hanging around. The only real change is that Miles’ dad has taken off. I thought Miles’ reveal to his father during Cataclysm was rushed, and a poor place to insert such an important moment, but it happened and we have to live with it now. And like I said, Bendis handles it superbly. He makes Jefferson’s abandonment a real sticking point for Miles. I’m confident Bendis will turn this into a quality storyline in the future.
Even though Marvel has slapped yet another mouthful of a title on this series, it remains the same Ultimate Spidey we know and love. Though I feel bad for my friend who’s going to have to wade through Cataclysm, Divided We Fall and any other Big Ultimate Events that I’ve forgotten about.
Review: Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #3
If you haven’t already heard the good news, it seems that Miles Morales’ life as Spider-Man gets to continue in the Ultimate Universe. He’s not jumping over to the regular Marvel Universe. He’s not dying. Miles gets to live on and continue having adventures, which is fantastic news. I want to keep reading Miles Morales comics for the rest of my natural born life. I want to read Miles as an adult Spider-Man, like normal universe Peter Parker. That’s all I’m about: want, want, want! Unfortunately, I have been denied the excellence of Brian Michael Bendis’ original plans for Miles revealing his identity to his father, and that’s a shame.
Spider-Man Cataclysm #3
The final issue in this 3-parter is a bit of a let down, if only because not much really happens. The emotional confrontation between father and son is short and bittersweet, and the issue ends with just a continuation into the main Cataclysm series. It doesn’t serve as a finale to Ultimate Spider-Man or as much of a finale to this 3-parter.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I don’t know what Bendis originally planned for the moment when Miles reveals his identity to his father, but I can’t imagine it was this. There’s no way Cataclysm was on the table back when Bendis was putting together his plans for Miles. So to have such an important moment wasted in the middle of this big mess is kind of disappointing. The confrontation happens in a logical and reasonable way, but it leaves a lot to be desired, and a lot on the table. That makes sense, considering the story is going to continue, but for a single issue, it’s just disappointing.
And there’s too much going on with Galactus destroying the world for anything else to matter. Everybody, especially Miles, is in crisis mode. Nothing slows down enough to be cherished. It’s all rush, rush, rush in every direction. So while that means the action is cool, all of the potentially important or interesting story beats are lost in the rush. And then, like I said, the end is just a ‘To Be Continued in the Rest of Cataclysm’ thing. So this issue is fine, and it’s well made, but everything is a little too discombobulated by Cataclysm to be really effective.
Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!
The Future of the Ultimate Universe Revealed!
Saints be praised, Miles Morales lives! In an article with the Associated Press, Marvel has revealed that the Ultimate Universe will continue beyond the current Cataclsym storyline, and it will be re-branded in April as Ultimate Marvel NOW!
The line will continue with three comics:
1. ‘Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man’ written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by David Marquez. The book is going to be about Miles’ continuing struggles as Spider-Man in the new post-Cataclysm world.
Said Bendis:
“You can look at this as kind of his Bar Mitzvah of sorts and, now, he has to take the reins of Spider-Man under the new world he finds himself in. His entire life as a human being has changed.”
2. ‘All-New Ultimates’ written by Michel Fiffe and drawn by Amilcar Pinna.
This book will feature Miles and a team of young superheroes trying to pick up the pieces after whatever happens to the regular Ultimates. Along with Spidey, the team will feature Cloak, Dagger, Kitty Pryde, Black Widow and Bombshell. So it looks like the little team Bendis has been building in Ultimate Spider-Man will get to live on after all! I’m very excited. Hopefully Fiffe can write them as good as Bendis.
3. ‘Ultimate FF’ written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and drawn by Mario Guevara. This book will be the Future Foundation, not the Fantastic Four. It will feature four of the world’s smartest people, including Sue Storm and Tony Stark, as well as a fifth, psychopathic genius – which probably means Reed Richards.
Those are the new titles coming out of Cataclysm. Based on the article, it appears that something monumentally tragic is going to befall the Ultimates, leading to this change in lineups.
Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso said this:
“Once again, we’re destroying something and building something new, but there’s an end game in sight,” he said of the move, noting that Marvel’s so-called Ultimate universe has always been noted by readers, writers and artists and editors for its “elasticity” and experimentation.
“We created the line to take chances,” he said.
“Dead is dead,” he said, so don’t expect any miraculous resurrections. “The long and short of it is this: The Ultimate (universe) benefits from a good, old kick in the butt.”
My guess is that Captain America is probably going to sacrifice himself to save the day in Cataclysm, along with a few other characters. That would definitely warrant the ‘dead is dead’ declaration, not to mention a shakeup to the Ultimates themselves. It also appears that Spider-Woman might die too, which would be a crying shame. She’s one of my absolute favorites!
But I like what I’m seeing here. I might even start reading All-New Ultimates when it comes out!
What do you guys and gals think? Let me hear it in the comments!
Review: Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #2
When this issue came out on Wednesday, writer Brian Michael Bendis made a plea to reviewers on the Internet not to spoil the ending. And as much as I want to follow his wishes, the ending is the only thing in this issue worth talking about. Plus, it’s been a few days now, and I don’t think Bendis reads my blog (but if he does, ‘Hi!’). I’ll spoil it when we get to it, just know that the ending says a lot about Cataclysm, and not in any way that I like.
Cataclysm Spider-Man #2
Based on this issue, it looks like Cataclysm is probably changing whatever plans Bendis had for Miles Morales’ story. And that’s a damn shame.
Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.
Of course, this is still a Bendis-penned Ultimate Spider-Man comic, so it’s still entertaining. But this issue is one big generic tie-in fest. Nobody in the world of Ultimate Spider-Man is going to stop Galactus, so this would be an opportunity to show Miles and his cast responding to the end of the world. It’s like that, in a way, but not in any sort of meaningful way. There’s nothing overly touching or very deep in the issue. It all just kind of happens.
Fortunately, the characters remain entertaining and worthwhile. We also get flashbacks to what they were all doing during the last Ultimate Universe catastrophe in Ultimatum, not that any of them were doing anything very interesting. But then was anybody doing anything interesting in Ultimatum?
As I’ve said before, Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man is just too good to be interrupted by a story like Cataclysm. This issue is my evidence why.
Henchman-4-Hire 