Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics Spider-man #3 (Spoilers)

“What am I supposed to do now?

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: David Marquez

Colours: Justin Ponsor

Letters: VC’s Cory Petit

Assistant Editor: Emily Shaw

Editor: Mark Paniccia

Spoiler Warning: Obviously this issue is a few months old now, but it does contain a major plot development which I had spoiled for me, so I want to give anyone whose currently unspoiled fair warning. This is that warning: I am going to discuss this major plot development in this review.

Plot: Flights heading for Newark Airport are approached by the US Airforce and ordered to turn around due to an unplanned Galatus attacked. Newark Airport along with the rest of New Jersey, have been obliterated.

Miles is forced to unmask in front of his father, Jefferson, while trying to convince him to leave New York. The ensuing argument is interrupted as an airliner crashes down over their heads. Miles swings off to help any survivors while his father looks on.

At the crash site Miles and Spider-woman team up and rescue an incoherent J. Jonah Jameson from the downed plane. Cloak, Dagger and Bombshell arrive and help escort the survivors of the crash to hospital.

Miles returns home to look for his father, but is interrupted again by a call from the Ultimates, requesting his help to save the world…

Thoughts: I often hear the complaint that the threat in some stories never feels real. It feels real in this issue. Miles, and his unofficial team, are out of their depths and facing a challenge which seems insurmountable as New York crumbles around them.

As a reader I felt for Miles when he had to choose between finishing his conversation with his father or saving the life’s of strangers. The scene between Miles and his mutant-hating dad is possibly the most important moment of either man’s life, and it had to be put on hold. Bendis and Marquez put Jefferson through a range of conflicting emotions during that scene, and as this plot is unresolved for now I’m desperate to know what happens next. This is superhero soap opera at its best.

In the second volume of Ultimate Spider-man Bendis used the conceit of Peter living with other superheroes as a set piece. That didn’t work for me, as I felt it distracted from Peter’s story and what made him special. Now Bendis is using a similar approach by giving Miles a group of superpowered friends, and I feel it enhances the story by showcasing how different people respond to having powers. Jessica (Peter’s clone) is a big sister, guiding the new heroes through the disaster, as Cloak, Dagger and Bombshell figure out how to save those around them. I understand this is a dynamic that is going to continue in the future and I am looking forward to it. In comparison to these fledgling heroes we can see that Miles is already a capable hero.

The disappoint for me is that the story I was enjoying, Miles’ story, is on hold now until the end of the Cataclysm event. The strength of the first 100 issues of Ultimate Spider-man was that it focused solely on Peter Parker’s story, and guest stars were used to develop that. Poor Miles cannot seem to go two story arcs without the world as we knowing coming to end. I hope that after the relaunch Miles and whatever is left of the Ultimate Universe will be able to focus on their own adventures with less need for crossovers.

Bendis and Marquez were meant to write and draw these characters. It seems effortless at this point, even when thrown into the most Sci-fi concept the book has faced to date, it remains focused on the characters and how they react in this unusual situations.

Grade- A: It’s only fault was being so good I want to read the rest of Cataclysm when I hasn’t planned to and making me wait to see the fallout of Miles and Jefferson’s conversation. Both of these mean the creators have be invested in the story, and that’s what I paid for after all.

Final thought: What was Jonah babbling about?