Brian Michael Bendis’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” work has been garnering plenty of press lately: first, he kills off Ultimate Peter Parker, then he introduces a new, black Spider-Man, and now he is introducing said new Spider-Man to the original, 616 Peter Parker. Underneath all the media hype, though, the question remains: is Bendis still telling the great stories that the title became famous for?
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Sara PichelliCan the Spider-Men stop Mysterio? Peter Parker comes face-to-face with the family he never had! One of the most powerful moments in the lives of both Spider-Men!
If Brian Michael Bendis’s first run on “Ultimate Spider-Man” taught us anything, it was that he “got” Spider-Man. That it wasn’t the “real” 616 Spider-Man didn’t matter; Bendis was able to do the unthinkable and harness and extract everything that made Peter Parker a character that spoke to multiple generations. The latest volume of the series, starring Mile Morales, has shown that the core ideas that make Spider-Man who he is can be translated from one character to another, otherwise almost entirely different one, and has already proven that Miles deserves the title, but this 616/Ultimate crossover has given Bendis the chance to revisit Peter’s character; granted, a slightly different Peter than he worked with before, but, as mentioned before, still the same Peter at heart.
Yet, for all of that, the Peter we see in “Spider-Men” #4 comes off as overly restrained. The tearful final page of last issue is the most emotion that we see coming from Peter regarding reuniting with his deceased first true love, albeit one from a different universe. Sure, the dialogue where Peter dances around the topic of 616 Gwen is believably crafted as straight dialogue, independent of its character, but it still doesn’t seem like the Peter we know. It all seems to come too easily to Peter; now would be the time for the “stilted” style of dialogue that some critics love to pick Bendis apart for. He should be stammering and pausing like someone who has met a younger version of the woman he loved and who died because of the enemies he had made, not using his words to dance around sensitive subjects like a parent whose child asks whether or not Santa Claus is real or not.
That, however, is the only major complaint to make about this issue. Sure, Miles once again gets the short end of the stick in terms of character-developing moments, but considering he did not show up until the final pages of issue number one, it has been pretty clear that this is more centered on Peter — besides, Bendis is doing a fantastic job with Miles in “Ultimate Spider-Man.” As was the case with the original “Ultimate Spider-Man,” the character who Bendis has the most firm grasp on, though, is Ultimate Aunt May. Characterization is the core of most speculative fiction, as it is essential to the suspension of disbelief. As such, we are able to believe in this whole outlandish situation — really, a boy is given the powers of a spider after being bitten by an irradiated one, dies, is replaced, and then is revealed to have an extra-dimensional counterpart? — because Aunt May reacts exactly as any given person would were this situation reality, and the boy in question their own son. Nearly every panel with May in this issue is a tear-jerker, if only because Bendis sells the core conflict of emotions that she would be experiencing so very well, without directly stating them: on the one hand, it is amazing for her to see that Peter grew up to be someone so great on another world; on the other, it is so very cruel to know that the Peter who grew up was not her Peter.
As in her issues of “Ultimate Spider-Man,” Sara Pichelli is turning out some top-notch work in this mini. Her unique style enables her to avoid perhaps the main problem that similarly “clean” artists often encounter: despite her sparse, only-what-is-necessary approach to line work, her faces never lack expression. However, while her faces may be plenty expressive, those expressions can sometimes be overused. Once again, we see Nick Fury make the same mildly contemplative face multiple times he made while talking to Peter in issue #2, while Tony Stark makes the same expression on one page in this issue, only viewed from multiple angles. That’s nitpicking, though; Pichelli’s craft has become even more refined, avoiding plain styles of panel layouts without sacrificing what is some of the most smoothly read storytelling in the industry. Justin Ponsor’s colors bring an extra layer of depth to Pichelli’s artwork, and match her lines’ polished quality in an expert example of line artist and colorist synergy.
Skeptics will say that “Spider-Men” is just a cash grab, citing that infamous quote about the possibility of a 616/Ultimate crossover. Even if it is, though, Bendis writing Spider-Man is nearly always a treat, and the presence of Sara Pichelli on art almost makes this an instant buy. However, from a practical point of view, $3.99 is an awful lot to pay for a comic with twenty pages of story, digital download included or not. If you are a fan of Bendis’s “Ultimate Spider-Man,” or of the character in general, this heartwarming issue is certainly worth a buy; however, if you do not care strongly about the character, there is probably a better choice for you on the shelves this week — and one with a better price-to-page ratio, too.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Pretty darn good, but only just barely bordering on great.
