Ultimate Fallout #6 – Review

This is it, the final issue of the weekly miniseries Ultimate Fallout. Was it as good as what people have been saying about it? Will fans of the Ultimate Universe be satisfied with the ending? Who leaves, who stays and who blames themselves for Peter’s death? What are you waiting for, read the review and find out!

Ultimate Fallout #6

Writers: Brian Michael Bendis, Nick Spencer & Jonathan Hickman
Artists: Mark Bagley, Eric Nguyen & Mitch Breitweiser
Inker: Andy Lanning
Colorists: Paul Mounts & Mitch Breitweiser with Bettie Breitweiser
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover: Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary & Paul Mounts

Story: Aunt May & Gwen Stacy – Bendis, Bagley, Lanning & Mounts
Aunt May is in Peter’s bedroom when she wakes up, holding his Spider-Man costume before getting out of bed to see dozens of people standing outside of her home. Gwen shows Aunt May her new hairstyle. As they talk Aunt May asks her if she could go anywhere in the world where would she go and Gwen tells her France. After making a phone call to Tony Stark, Aunt May tells Gwen that Tony has given them his villa on the French Riviera.

Thoughts
I’ll just quickly say I’m not too fond of Gwen’s new hairstyle. Of course I’m not a hairstylist but it just looks weird with her. Moving on to the story itself, I’m glad to see that Aunt May is finally doing something that will benefit her. Getting away from all the crazy things that have happened to her as of late is the best thing for the character and I do like when Gwen tells her Peter would have been furious if she didn’t do this for herself. I’m betting down the road we will see Gwen and Aunt May again in the Ultimate Spider-Man title (as it would be great to see May’s reaction to Miles taking up her nephew’s mantle). For now I’m glad to see the two of them being written out of the books for the time being.

Mark Bagley, what can I say, I like his artwork. The only thing I would say again is Gwen’s new hairstyle but that just feels like I’m picking at a minor detail. It’s great to see Bagley drawing Peter’s supporting cast at least one more time.

Story: Kitty, Bobby & Johnny – Spencer & Nguyen
Kitty leads Bobby and Johnny through the sewers, taking them to a secret place. As they walk Bobby realizes where Kitty is taking them while Johnny asks them both where they’re going. Eventually Kitty shows them their new home: the Morlock Tunnels.

Thoughts
There’s not much to say for this three page story. The art is nice to look at (I dig it actually for some reason) and the writing is good for all three characters. It’s nice to see that Nick Spencer has done his research revolving around the Morlock Tunnels (i.e. remembering that Nightcrawler living there for a brief time). It’s good that we know where Kitty, Bobby and Johnny will be staying at as I was asking that question to myself when I read the solicits for the first issues when they first came out. Again, not much to say for these three pages but it does help setup Ultimate Comics: X-Men.

Story: Nick Fury – Hickman, Mitch Breitweiser & Bettie Breitweiser
Steve Rogers leaves Fury’s office before the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D meets with the agent outside the room. Fury tells the agent he’s going into the city and will be out of touch for a bit; he has something he needs to take care of. When the agent asks if something happened, Fury tells him that Captain America just quit the Ultimates.

Thoughts
Well we finally see that Steve has left the Ultimates (for the time being at least). It makes sense as he hasn’t taken Peter’s death all that well and this will possibly push him into mentoring the new Ultimate Spider-Man. Now onto this story; like the Amazing Friends story; there isn’t much to say. I don’t know why Cap is on the cover of the final issue as he barely does anything in this story but I do like the cover. The art is good enough to look at on these pages but Hickman only sets up Nick Fury for the next story that I wanted to go more into…

Story: Mary Jane – Bendis, Bagley, Lanning & Mounts
Mary Jane sits at her computer, her hands pressed against her face before hearing the chopper outside take off with Aunt May and Gwen inside it. As MJ watches, a voice behind her says that the two of them are moving to France. The ex-girlfriend of Spider-Man turns to see Nick Fury standing in her bedroom and says that they should talk face-to-face. When MJ sits down Fury sees the “How the world killed Spider-Man” article printed, sitting on MJ’s desk. After reading a few pages Fury tells MJ that he loved Peter and knew him since he was a baby when his parents were working for him.

Fury then goes on as when Peter got his powers he was excited about it. He was proud of the man Peter was becoming but says he should have taught him more. MJ tells him that she won’t send out what she wrote but Fury tells her that she needs someone to blame for this. He tells her with a teary eye that she should blame him as he says she’s absolutely right.

Thoughts
YES. YES. YES. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Bendis does an excellent job depicting both MJ and Nick Fury in this story. In a way, Fury looked at Peter as if he was the son he always wanted and he can’t help but blame himself for his death. What I also liked seeing was the panel where Fury addressed Peter’s parents working with him back in Ultimate Origins (another nod to the miniseries that is important to the Ultimate Universe). You can just feel the emotions of these panels flowing off the pages. I didn’t get teary but I did feel it and that’s being done by the duo that brought Ultimate Spider-Man to life in the first place. This was defiantly my favorite part of the issue.

I do find it odd that Aunt May and Gwen don’t even say goodbye to anyone in this issue, they just take off to France to never be seen again (again, for the next while anyway). As for Peter staying dead, I hope they stick with it. This is the Ultimate Universe so they may actually stick with it for the long run but if they do bring him back… a lot of fans are going to feel pretty cheated. As much as I liked Peter in this universe, don’t bring him back.

Rating
This issue was defiantly better than the last two that we’ve had. It didn’t blow my mind but it was a good read and had some good art. I enjoyed this issue. 4 out of 5 “We’ll miss you Peter” posters.

Overall, this miniseries gets a 3.5 out of 5 crying fans. It had its moments that were amazing, others not so much. This was just a setup mini; to draw us out of the regular Ultimate Universe and introduce us to what’s going to happen next.

Special Thanks
Special thanks go out to Brian Bradley who let me review this mini. Between the two of us we thought I was better fitted to review this book (I am the bigger Ultimate U. fan after all :lol:). Check out his reviews of the new Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man series that starts shipping out next month.