Spider-Man

• Title: Ultimate Spider-Man #160
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
• Artist: Mark Bagley

I’ve largely stayed out of Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe. The revamped look at classic heroes never really caught my fancy. The one exception to this was Ultimate Spider-Man, which I read sporadically for a short while before eventually moving on to other titles.

The Ultimate Universe has gone through quite a few shakeups in recent years including the deaths of numerous heroes. This issue, however, delivers the death of the hero with the longest running on-going Ultimate title – Peter Parker.

Of all the choices involved in this version of Peter the best was took keep his youth intact throughout his run. This Peter never graduates high school, and after the events of this issue it’s clear he never will. This also makes his death, at such a young age, much more tragic.

I liked this Spidey, but I was far less impressed with the Ultimate version of the Green Goblin, who plans the villain of this issue. After taking a bullet for Captain America in the previous issue our wounded hero makes his way to Queens to save his loved ones from the Goblin’s latest attack. He’s successful, but at a high price.

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• Title: The Amazing Spider-Man #660
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer:Dan Slott
• Artists: Stefano Caselli

As the Future Foundation battle the Sinister Six on pirate island (or whatever you want to call it) a little misdirection lets other members of the team sneak into the Baxter Building to steal one of Reed Richards‘ pet projects. I’m going to go out on a limb and say whatever use Doc Ock has for whatever he stole isn’t going to be good for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Interesting moments (even if they are borrowed from a lackluster movie plot) as the FF find themselves shifting through each others powers (and Spidey gets a temporary makeover sure to give you nightmares). There’s also a nice scene of the FF showing old Web-Head some love and positive reinforcement after the battle (which, as he says, he’s unaccustomed to).

And, finally, the Carlie Cooper tattoo fiasco in a switcheroo that makes no sense whatsoever and yet is still better than what was shown in last issue with her brilliant idea of branding her body with the image of the man who threw Peter Parker’s first love off a bridge. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]

• Title: The Amazing Spider-Man #658
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer:Dan Slott
• Artists: Javier Pulido

With this issue we get yet another “first day with the Future Foundation” story. Not that I mind, but how much blood can Marvel squeeze from a stone? The story showcases Spider-Man being thrust into several missions all at once, but it does start off with a very questionable opening joke.

Spidey shows up for his first real day on the job wearing a modified Fantastic Four costume, much to the horror and disgust of his new teammates. Is it a funny joke? Sure, but it’s also completely oblivious and far from the what we’d expect from the current Peter Parker who took Franklin Richards under his wing and shared his grief with the rest of the FF.

I have to say the amount of whining Spidey does in this issue troubles me a little. It looks like the decision is to make Peter far more kid-like than we’ve seen him in recent years in an attempt to better the team dynamic (which I think is a really, really bad idea). We also get the first rumblings of a major problem with Peter and Carlie‘s relationship which could lead to a big confrontation in the next issue. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]