Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the best comics on the stands today, thanks to its new take on Spider-Man with plenty of nods to the original series. With its eight-issue out this week, the plot thickens nicely as Iron Lad confronts Spider-Man and Green Goblin, and Kingpin begins to make a move to wipe out Manhattan’s only heroes.
Ultimate Spider-Man #8 opens with Peter Parker talking to a black orb that turns into his suit. Set in August, Peter is being ushered to leave by MJ for their kid’s birthday party. The orb talks back, however, reminding readers it is a perfect copy of his personality. Creepy.
Cut to three weeks earlier, and the Iron Lad confrontation continues to play out where we left off in Ultimate Spider-Man #7. Writer Jonathan Hickman draws out some tension between Green Goblin and Iron Lad due to their parent’s squabbles (oh and Harry took over Stark!), which is a nice way to set up rocky ground. This scene also sets up that Spider-Man is the “chosen” one out of the two, with more rocky ground coming their way I’m sure.
The meat of this issue revolves around Peter’s daughter, May, and her birthday party. A key scene with Uncle Ben and Peter on the way to the party helps establish J. Jonah Jameson’s quirky and demanding demeanor, as well as some plot progression on the new newspaper company. Hickman continues to draw out a compelling dynamic triangle between Jameson, Peter, and Uncle Ben that’ll be interesting to see develop.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Credit: Marvel
Some much-needed development of Jameson at the party also continues to show subtle nuances in his character. He has some traits, but he’s also a bit more of a loving uncle to the Parker family.
The closing pages devote the story to Kingpin and the building of a new conflict for Green Goblin and Spider-Man to deal with. The Ultimate Universe continues to feel stronger with slight alterations to known figures like Kraven and Mr. Negative, just to name a few. The Sinister Six have a few extra layers of danger while also feeling like a homage to the classic team.
Marco Checchetto is back on art with colors by Matthew Wilson. When it comes to Spider-Man, it’s nice to see the communicative eyes on Spidey. The designs of the villains also add nice details, further connecting them to the original characters and adding new flavors. These are a grungy yet very dangerous-looking lot. While most of this issue features characters in street clothes, Checchetto is a master at realistic-looking characters with great acting.
If I had any gripes, it’d be the format that leaves you wanting more Spider-Man action. Th month to month issues add a layer of reality to the story, but they also leave out the undoubtedly superhero work of Spider-Man on the day-to-day. It tends to feel like we’re getting a higher level look at everything.
A slower issue on some scale, Ultimate Spider-Man #8 continues to flesh out new takes on villains, nuanced differences on classic characters, and a decidedly adult fresh look at Spider-Man.
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