Ultimate
Spider-Man #48
“Suspended”
– Part
Written
by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencilled
by Mark Bagley
Inked
by Art Thibert
Reviewed
by Nick Akrivos
The
Plot
Things are going from bad
to worse fro our hero here. Last
issue ended with Peter being fired from the Daily Bugle, this issue, his
situation gets worse.
First of all, Peter gets
into an argument with J. Jonah Jameson about his sudden firing.
When Peter leaves, still jobless, it seems he isn’t the only one
angry, and Joe ‘Robbie’ Robertson questions Jonah’s actions.
Furious, Peter decides to pay a visit to Wilson Fisk, who is ,
right now, involved in a meeting. Suddenly,
Spider-Man crashes into the window – not even scratching it – and
barely manages to cling to the wall before he falls down to the street
below.
Meanwhile, Ben Urich is
busy interviewing Sam Bullit, who, after Ben questions him about a picture
hanging on the wall, gets rather annoyed.
The picture in question shows Sam, Walter Dini (the Kingpins
lawyer/legal advisor) and Wilson
Fisk…all rather chummy. What’s
wrong with this you ask? Well,
Walter and Sam are in fact law partners, sp you can see there’s a now
rather obvious connection between these guys.
When Ben asks Sam about this, Sam gets rather angry, and smashes
Ben’s tape recorder.
Back at the Bugle, and
Ben is telling Jonah all about the interview – especially the fact he
had a back-up tape recorder. The
problem is that Jonah (and hence, the Bugle) are backing Sam Bullit as the
next District Attorney, and it’s not going to look good if the same
paper that is backing him then run an article about ties to the Kingpin of
Crime. Problems, problems,
problems…
Likes
This story is really
great. It plays on Bendis’
strengths – character interaction and dialogue.
The argument between Peter and one of his teachers is a joy to
watch unfold, as Peter fights hopelessly against a situation that isn’t
going to let him win, no matter how illogical its arguments are.
Similarly, the opening scene with Peter and
Jonah is also wonderfully constructed, especially in the aftermath
of the scene, where we again see the stark contrast between Jonah and
Robbie Robertson, as Robbie is clearly against the firing of Peter.
May’s complete drilling
of Jonah is great here. It
was brilliant that last time, and is just as funny here.
Likewise, Spider-Man crashing into the window of Wilson Fisk’s
office and being squashed like a bird was hilarious.
Mark Bagley again does a
wonderful job of drawing the issue. With
an issue that has little or no action – and action being something Bags
is great at showing – he still makes the book a pleasure to look at,
clearly expressing the emotions each character is going through.
Dislikes
Although there was a
distinct lack of action in this issue, that’s not something I’m about
to complain about, because what we did get was superb.
All I can really say is that the last page was a trifle confusing,
but even that was nothing major.
Rating
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and give this issue another full 5 webheads out of 5. This story really is fantastic, and I’m looking forward how it will lead into the big fiftieth issue.
Ultimate
Spider-Man #47
“Suspended”
Written
by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencilled
by Mark Bagley
Inked
by Art Thibert
Reviewed
by Nick Akrivos
The
Plot
That King is back!
Well, at least the Kingpin is.
The King is probably up in space with his alien pals somewhere.
Anyhow, down to the business at hand.
Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, is back.
He’s been cleared of the charges against him (that Peter, as
Spider-Man, brought to Ben Urich, back in the books second story-arc), and
is returning to his empire. One
other thing: he’s very,
very angry at Spider-Man.
Meanwhile, Spidey is out
on patrol, and runs into the Enforcers again.
He thoroughly
embarrasses them, naturally.
Later, Peter finds out
that one of the candidates for mayor (I think) is 100% against
super-heroes, and J. Jonah Jameson is, of course, 100% behind him.
Not good. Later, back
home, Mary Jane has apparently taken a leaf out of the fans’ book and
compiled a list of everyone who knows Peter’s secret identity.
Then, back to the Bugle, and Peter over-hears some more talking
between Jonah and the new candidate.
He tries to reason with them, stating that Spider-man is one of the
good guy, but…all this ends up doing is costing Peter his job.
Jonah’s fired him! Ack!
Likes
‘Nother fantastic
issue. It looms like we may
have a Born Again on our hands, here.
Ultimate Spidey style, of course.
It’ll be very interesting to see how Ben Urich reacts to this.
We see him with his head in his hands here, but no talking.
And Jonah fired Peter! Man,
Bendis is sure portraying him as more of a £$&% than usual.
It was fun to see the different reactions of the rest of the Bugle
staff, too.
And it’s nice to see
Bendis addressing one of my (and many others) main concerns with the
series. And that, friends, is
the rather long list of people who already know that a one Peter Parker is
in fact the one and only Spider-Man.
I myself made a list back in the review of, I think, Ultimate
Spider-Man #36, and since then…well, let’s bring that list up
again, shall we?
Mary Jane.
Norman Osborn, the Green
Goblin.
Harry Osborn.
Otto Octavious, Doctor
Octopus.
The Kingpin, and we can
only assume a lot of people under his payroll (much like he and
Daredevil’s id in the Marvel Universe).
Nick Fury and, we must
assume, everyone else at SHIELD.
The entire X-Men.
All of the Ultimates.
Eddie Brock.
Curt Connors, the Lizard.
Quite possibly Sandman,
Kraven and Electro, if either
And, if we are to go by Ultimate
Marvel Team-Up, this bunch:
Doctor Strange and Wong.
The Fantastic Four (not
the UMTU issue, which Bendis
has said was a joke, but their appearance in Ultimate
Spider-Man Super Special, which may also not count, depending on what
happens in December’s Ultimate
Fantastic Four).
And there may be people
I’m forgetting about too.
Anyway, pretty long list,
huh? It’s good to see that
Bendis has recognised this, and is playing on it, in a great scene with
Peter and Mary Jane. Once
again, Bags’ and Art’s pencilling and inking are wonderful.
So, to summarise: I
loved this issue. I cannot
wait to see what
Dislikes
Again, very little to
complain about.
Rating
5 webheads out of 5. Superb issue and a promising start to the new story and the build to issue #50.
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