Alright. We’ve finished the 21st Century version of the origin. What next?
Gotta have a Bugle and a J. Jonah, of course! Bendis actually worked for a newspaper before (And, as I recall, during the beginning of) his comics career, so who better to handle this? Everyone looks somewhat younger, especially Ben Urich, who’s the guy with the longer hair and goatee.
I think it’s pretty commendable how different the cast of this book is compared to the mainline titles, visually, for someone who drew the real versions for so long. You know? Bags seems pretty locked in by this issue, and while his teenage cast is hard to compare to the older Marvel U versions, these guys are instantly recognizable as different people from the Marvel U JJJ and Robbie and so on. I don’t know how many artists would’ve bothered to come up with a different look for Jonah. And, I mean, it obviously reads as Jonah, also, but if you compare this to a Bagley JJJ from the mainline titles, it’s so clearly a different person. I just think that’s cool. One more consecutive page, because Bendis teed it up and it’s important…
Peter’s mind is racing as he tests hanging from the web, wondering if he can make it more or less elastic, wondering how long it lasts, wondering if he could sell the formula. Aunt May calls down ot warn him he should go to bed because he has school tomorrow, so we cut to him asleep in class. Jolted awake by his teacher, he destroys another desk. Which, I mean, that’s pushing it, to me. I don’t think people would necessarily think of Peter getting bitten by a spider immediately when a Spider-Man shows up… but he got bit by a spider in a fancy science lab, then started accidentally smashing desks and Flash’s hand and being great at basketball and all that. It could start to be too much. All he’s got going for him is, who’d believe he was Spider-Man? Anyway, as his teacher says if he doesn’t shape up, she’ll have to talk to the basketball coach, Peter says he quit this morning. Walking out of class, MJ says that’s good for him, but Kong is upset. The friendship he’d been showing Peter seems to go out the window over this news. But then everyone sees Harry walking down the hall.
Harry’s acting pretty weird, huh? Suddenly, explosions start ripping through the school. As the kids start scrambling to get out, Harry says he knows what this is. As Kong drags Harry outside, he keeps saying “He’s come for me. Then there’s another explosion and…
It’s the very same Bagley Spider-Man I referenced back in the tangent during the ASM V2. #7 post. As I showed there, this drawing is going to be everywhere, drawn by many different people, as the years roll on. It’s too bad the eyes are approaching John Byrne too-far-apart levels, but now that he’s in his final form, as it were, it’s worth noting this is not the Marvel U Spider-Man, either. He’s slighter, visibly shorter, even bent up like that. His head, hands and feet are bigger. He’s a teenager. Bags’ 2 Spider-Men are very different people. I just feel that’s worthy of respect. From there, we flashback 2 minutes to see how Peter got here. He ran into the bathroom to change, when he suddenly realized Spider-Man can’t be inside the school. It’s bad enough they all saw him get bitten, he thinks, that would be too much. So, in the heat of the moment, he had to sneak out a window, leap down to the ground and scurry off into some bushes to become Spider-Man there. He thought he doesn’t know how Captain America does it. All the references to the larger Ultimate U getting peppered into this book were, of course, extremely exciting to those of us reading at the time. Couldn’t wait to see more. So, then we get back to the present, and Spider-Man enters the school he just snuck out of. Stalking through the smoke and sprinklers, he sees a figure, and it’s revealed to be…
…probably the biggest mistake in the history of this series, to be blunt. For all its success, and for all that this title would continue to be one of Marvel’s very best books for basically its entire duration… Hulk-with-horns Green Goblin was and is a big swing and a miss. I understand the impulse, of course. A lot easier to get to than “I’ll then design a glider and costume and weapons and so on.” But it’s the first thing in Ultimate Spider-Man that’s an obvious downgrade. And, without getting too far ahead of myself, try as they might to refine it, they never really made this design work. And when it’s the guy everyone knows is Spider-Man’s most important villain, well… that’s a real shame. And, like, where’s he get the wrist wraps or the weird jeweled belt? We saw him put this tarp or whatever over his head in an alley last issue, but… what’s the deal, really?
The other thing is, his powers are hard to buy especially on this new, “more realistic” stage. He did more or less what happened to Peter, only with human DNA instead of spider, and it made him a Hulk who can fly and shoot fireballs? Not that Spider-Man makes any kind of scientific sense, but this is pushing it way further to me. Well, anyway, it’s too late. They battle through the high school, Spidey still trying to figure out the whole quipping thing, but as he tries to get some distance between them, the Goblin tackles him right through a wall.
Also only his head being green is really weird, but they at least fixed that later. Well. We’re gearing up for the actual end of the first storyline in issue 7! That’s a long one to start. The letter page is still full of raves, and they print a lot of one-sentence responses just to get as many in as possible. I must say, dear reader, I’m paying very close attention to these letters. By now, I was a devoted member of Bendis’ online community, and I keep expecting to see names I recognize. Maybe even my own. I don’t remember if I ever officially wrote something for print, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did. I guess we’ll see!