What are you doing? Don’t you realize that Spider-Man: Edge of Time is now out and available to play? The new game has been calling my name all day, but due to being out of town for a wedding this past weekend (congrats to my friend Gavin and his new wife Sarah!), I haven’t had a chance to play it. Instead, I’ve been working hard to get you the latest Ultimate Spider-Man review. Sorry for the delay, but now that the review is out I can finally pick up my controller and take the new game for a spin. Wait… what? You say that Ultimate Spider-Man #3 comes out tomorrow… sigh, we shall dance another time I guess Edge of Time. Hopefully some of you folks are luckier than I and have had the chance to play it for me. 🙁
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #2
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Sara Pichelli
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Art: Kaare Andrews
Plot: Miles is racing through the streets of Brooklyn. He launches himself over a large, flat screen television that is being carried by a set of movers and onlookers stare at the teenager in amazement. Miles conceals himself using his new camouflage power and escapes down an alley as the crowd shouts out that they just saw a mutant.
Later, Miles is walking down the street and is confronted by a gang of older kids. One of the gang members bullies Miles and grabs his bag. Miles defends himself by grabbing the street punk’s wrist, activating his new power, a spider-sting. The bully recoils, but attacks Miles again. Miles pushes the antagonist away, zapping him once more with his sting. The gang members call Miles a mutant and the young boy runs away.
Miles goes to visit his best friend Ganke. The teen confides in his friend, showing him his new abilities (at the expense of Ganke’s model lego ship) and Miles tells him about the spider that bit him. Ganke asks Miles if he is a mutant, saying how cool it would be. Miles disagrees and says he’s scared of being labeled a mutant in New York City. Miles’ father interrupts when he enters Ganke’s room looking for his son.
Miles and his father sit down on a bench and talk. His dad asks why Miles feels like he can talk to his Uncle Aaron and not his own father. Miles is shocked to learn that his father and uncle were both in jail for theft when they were younger, and while his dad has tried to turn his life around, Uncle Aaron has not. Miles’ father explains that Aaron doesn’t understand the difference between right and wrong and that he is not a good influence on Miles. The father and son get up and leave the park after seeing the Human Torch and Iceman fly overhead.
At night, Miles is awakened by texts from Ganke. Ganke shares a news article which explains that Spider-Man also received his powers from a spider-bite and Ganke asks if Miles is Spider-Man. Miles doesn’t respond but thinks about the wall-crawling hero. Miles gets up from his bed and successfully climbs his wall and hangs upside down from the ceiling.
*
Miles’ Morals: The best part of this issue is the father and son bonding which takes place in the park. The tension between Miles’ father and his Uncle Aaron is explained when Miles is told of his father’s shameful background. I liked that his father felt disheartened that Miles doesn’t feel like he can talk to him when he is bothered by something. Miles’ dad explains his path in life and how he now chooses to lead a good life as opposed to Uncle Aaron who continues to make questionable life decisions. Miles’ father’s speech about right and wrong was really well done, and is an example of great character development.
Miles reacts in a typically heroic way when confiding in Ganke. Like many heroes, he isn’t happy about his new found abilities. Miles’ apathetic attitude to his powers is a good counter balance to Ganke’s overly enthusiastic reaction.
*
With A Little Help From My Friends: One of the biggest differences between Miles and his predecessor, Peter Parker, is revealed in this issue. He has a close friend that he can confide in and I think that’s nice support for a new, young hero. It says a lot for their friendship that Miles felt he could trust Ganke as quickly as he did. It seems a little too convenient again that Ganke just so happens to be going to the same prestigious school that Miles was trying so hard to get into, but that will allow Bendis to explore that friendship while the kids are in school, so it works.
My only question about Ganke so far is the Frog Man shirt. Maybe the Frog Man shirt is a little bit of foreshadowing, or a tip of the cap to something in the main universe, much like Kitty Pryde wearing a shirt with a dragon on it in an earlier Ultimate comic. Another interesting touch to the art was the tattoo belonging to the leader of the street thugs. The beetle tattoo may just be a coincidence, but it was displayed so prominently that I wonder if there was a reason Pichelli decided to show it off.
Pichelli and Ponsor are Bendis’ best friends in this run as the art continues to be impressive. Miles’ invisibility power is handled well and they do a great job of showing off this ability by having the background show through the transparent teen. The art isn’t as detailed as evidenced by the number of times they choose to omit a background and go with a plain color or strip to help the foreground stand out. Ponsor does a great job adding variety to those scenes by pixilating the background instead of using a solid color. I also enjoyed the last splash page depicting Miles on the ceiling as sort of an homage to a similar scene of Peter at the end of the first Ultimate Spider-Man comic.
*
Write Is Wrong: Bendis does a good job writing the dialogue in this issue, especially in the aforementioned scenes between Miles and his dad as well as the crowds’ responses to mutants. There were a couple of snags that didn’t win me over though. The way he wrote Ganke was a little too sophomoric for my tastes with lines such as “please don’t take off your pants” and “are you taking a dump?” when Miles was showing him his powers. I’m not sure if Bendis is in charge of the summary on the recap page, but I thought referring to the spider as “stolen” glossed over the convenience of the spider finding his way to Miles.
In general though, the story and writing are picking up and gaining my interest. There are still some confusing plot points that I would like to see clarified, such as how this new spider-sting works. In one scene it’s shocking a thug, and then the next it’s blowing apart a lego ship. The number on the spider is mentioned again in this issue, so I’d like to see its importance clarified if it pops up again.
*
Rating: Great, characterization. Good, art. Meh, story and writing. Bad, action. 3.5/5 Brooklyn Visionaries
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#12 – But that definition of “forced on” is so broad that any form of fiction could be seen as “forced on” its reader.
@#10 and #11… I find it funny how you guys think Miles isn’t being forced on us. I get what you’re saying, but I think this whole concept is Marvel forcing a new character on the fans. Anybody who likes Ultimate Spider-Man is now being saddled with this new character because they killed Peter and decided to give his title to someone else. I find the forcing of Carlie Cooper on fans different because she’s still just a supporting cast member. Yeah, it’s annoying because we’re constantly told by other characters how great she is but she’s not the main character/hero. We have no other choice but to accept Miles because there’s no other Ultimate Spider-Man to read about. Miles benefits from being the hero and being the main focus which is probably why it seems more tolerable. We actually get insight into his background so we get to know him better and maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem like he’s being forced on us, but like I said, by taking this course of action, he is being forced on us.
I like Miles so far, even though I think he is a bit too young still, but I think he’s got potential. I think his origin being way too similar to Peter’s is kind of cheap, but his family history and his new powers are giving him enough of a twist that it’ll keep it interesting and fresh for a while. It’ll be interesting to see how things start going down once he gets the costume on and mixing it up with the baddies.
I really like that Miles is not just a Peter Parker clone. (As shown in Fallout)
He has his own set of powers and he’s reacting differently to the same situation that hit Peter back in 2001. (I think?)
I wish Bendis would speed up on the pacing but at the same time I’m SO appreciative of the fact that he’s not forcing these characters on us and telling us how great they are through former supporting cast members. He’s putting us in Miles’ world and letting the chips fall where they may.
I’m really interested in seeing how Miles’ powers will play out. Miles seems to be more powerful than Peter was…
I wonder if he will have limits. I hope so, cause I definitely don’t want to have to point out “Why doesn’t he just go invisible?” every issue. *shrug!*
This can work. Unlike Carlie Cooper, Miles is actually being sought up, instead of forced on us… although whether it WILL work remains to be seen.
@8 Sarcasmic… Could very well be 13 like Nate says… for some reason I thought they said 14 but they haven’t given an age in the comic yet I believe. I think I’ve been referring to him as a 14-year old. I think either age is still a bit too young though but it hasn’t been too big of an issue yet
@#7, I’ve read somewhere in an interview with Bendis that Miles is 13.
Oh and question Brian, did we catch Miles age yet?
@2: I skimmed it at the comic shop; No pesky Polybag to stop me this time. I did… not. I liked his best friend and the ending, but felt the father stuff was rather heavy handed and the mutant thing as well… I’ll read Spencer’s Ultimate X-men for heavy handed mutant stuff.
@4 Tonyd… the whole incarceration thing is what I’m banking on the reason being as well. Seems like they’re a pretty loving family though.. Seems kind of cheap, especially after 14 years of his life. if Brad Pitt can attach his name to Angelina’s adopted half dozen children or so, you’d think Miles real father would want to be involved like that. I probably have just too traditional of a view on family to understand it I guess.
@ #3 More than likely his father is not married to his mother. So he probably has her last name. Perhaps Miles was born during his father’s incarceration? Just speculating…
And… I mentioned this in the review but took it out cause I didn’t feel it was necessary, but I would like it thrown out there. Why is Miles’ last name Morales? If that is his father’s last name, and if so, wouldn’t he be more than half-Hispanic? Or does he just take his mother’s last name for some reason? To me it sounds like they are just giving him an ethnic sounding last name to cash in on his dual-ethnicity.
I do think it’s a bit suspect that during the Death of Spider-Man story the Tinkerer was seen working on the Beetle’s helmet and here a punk has a beetle tattoo. Maybe I’m looking to much into this but perhaps this is Bendis and crew foreshadowing the Beetle’s return. I really enjoyed the issue as well and loved the conversation between Miles and his dad. I was dissapointed we didn’t see and Uncle Aaron/ Prowler in this issue. 🙁
@ Sarcasmic
Did you pick up the issue? DId you enjoy it (if you read it I mean)?
Nice word play on the categories.
I didn’t catch the Beetle thing, but he was already shown in the Ultimateverse during the game tie ins and so unless this is a new generation of Beetle (Aren’t we on the third one in 616 anyways?), I don’t think him likely to be the Beetle.