Back to USM for a vaguely patriotic cover. This is a bit of a wacky one. Our tale begins with Peter Parker in the library, being a nerd, when MJ runs in and asks if he brought his costume to school.
MJ’s complicated, realistic relationship with Peter’s secret is so well done. From visibly giddy about how cool it is that he’s a superhero to horror that he might get hurt in just seconds. Peter rushes to his locker, finds his suit in his bag, and then prepares to go into battle, only to round a corner and run into Aunt May. He is shocked to learn she’s here for a parent/teacher meeting, and before he can come up with a line, the teacher in question, his math teacher, appears and invites Peter to their meeting. He’s stuck.
Peter runs for an exit, but 2 more school officials are coming in, and he has to flee before he can get in trouble for not being in class. He finds himself in the cafeteria, where a TV tells him the Rhino is still rampaging. He runs out the back into an alley, but hears sounds coming from behind a dumpster.
Ultimate Mary Jane and Gwen are sort of the reverse of the originals (Except no one decided MJ’s childhood was all messed up until later). Peter runs through the yard and MJ sees him out a window. She calls to him to get going, and he tells her to go get Gwen. She is very confused, but seems like she’s going to go. Then Peter gets hit in the head with a football courtesy of Flash.
I believe all those signs say “Ringo” because this was around when Ringo Starr was photographed with Stan Lee pretending to read an issue of USM, something Bendis & Co found incredibly surreal. Pretty fun issue! Probably about as good a debut for Ultimate Rhino as you can get, really. And yes, that incredibly boring, ugly suit is what Iron Man’s wearing in the Ultimates. No one would expect them to go with the wacky retro suit Mike Allred came up with, but this is too far in the wrong direction. You know you’re in trouble when you water the design down so bad even the eventual movies, with their slavish devotion to “realism,” wouldn’t use it.