This month (And I can say that, this is the 2nd month in a row where Bags only had to do one issue of USM, after producing 9 issues in 5 months with 80-88) sees the end of this Silver Sable story. It’s been a pretty twisty one. Despite the whole controversy over the game tie-in, it’s a very strong arc. USM was really back to firing on all cylinders by now. And this last issue is a milestone, because it brings in Bagley’s last inker on the book, John Dell. My memory is John Dell made Bags look even better than his predecessors. Let’s see!
Heck of a spread to open your tenure on this book with! As Spider-Man chases the Vulture, SHIELD agent Sharon Carter, having ditched her usual trench coat and glasses for a SHIELD suit (And having turned her hair from red to brown for some reason) reports to the boss man about what’s happening as she engages a cloaking device. Tony Stark is there, and offers to go become Iron Man, but Fury says to let it play out. In the blown up building, Sable’s guys really want to leave, but she says not yet.
Ultimate Peter doesn’t just use a lot of Yiddish, he often sounds like a grandma when he does.
Blackie Drago! First of all, it’s 2006, don’t use that name! Second of all, surprised it’s not Toomes. I didn’t remember that.
Blackie looks like he enjoys his work.
What’s Fury up to? Back at the fight, Spidey gets Vulture with a real Gil Kane action punch shot, and then Vulture throws knives from his wings, like Archangel does. Spider-Man says “Go back to the grenades!”, which is pretty great, as Fury instructs Carter to keep an eye on Sable, and Roxxon gets a phone call. He tries to tell whoever’s calling to send help, but they are not on his side. In short order on a tense 2-page spread, the mystery voice taunts Roxxon, SHIELD gets a lock on the caller’s location, Iron Man is deployed, and Sable lines up a shot at the Vulture’s famously vulnerable power pack.
What a sequence! The big battle in this issue was really great. So much going on at once. I really love how often poor Ultimate Peter ends up with no idea what he’s even been doing. It seems very realistic. Nick Fury and Iron Man get some closure, tho, as they arrive at the lab of one Elijah Stern (Who does not immediately give his name, but when asked if he’s an inventor, says “I tinker”) which is full of throwaway references to Marvel villains like the Unicorn and Jack O’ Lantern and even a Ditko Vulture suit. We learn he found a way to use Vibranium as a powersource, and Roxxon fired him, “throwing away the future,” and he wanted revenge. Pretty standard. Tinker soon finds himself pressed into Nick Fury’s service to avoid being killed. As we pull out, Nick asks what that thing over there is, and Stern says it’s “a slayer.” Uh-oh.
So now both Kong and Flash have benefitted from Spider-Man in ways Peter never will. Guy can’t catch a break. As we see, next: Deadpool. It’s… not great! But John Dell sure is. This issue looked fantastic. You know, I think Scott Hanna is one of the great inkers of all-time, but not everyone is perfect for everything, and Dell just seems more right for Bagley to me.