Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Ultimate Spider-Man #114 Review

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #114
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

Another strong showing from Stuart Immonen in the wake of Bagley's departure. As a huge fan of Nextwave, I've loved his art for a while and it was a major factor in my picking up MCP #1 last week, despite him only doing a couple pages. I didn't get a review out for that book, but it was definitely worth checking out for any readers that still haven't picked it up. I could see a weekly style format fitting it perfectly if Marvel chose to go that way.

Enough with MCP talk though, this review is about Ultimate Spider-Man. This was a great continuation of last issue's Norman Osborn-centric tale. Here, we get Peter's reactions and the excellent scenes with MJ and May. Those personal touches have been the best part of this series and one of the main reasons Bendis' Spider-Man is so much better than the 616 counterpart. He gets that Spider-Man is about Peter Parker and his family and friends, not just a guy in a suit with powers. If people wrote the 616 version like this, we wouldn't even need One More Day or other retcons.

Back on topic from another tangent, the fight with Electro is perfect and Spidey is at his best. Electro is naked here and not even trying to fight Peter. He just wants to get away and this, combined with his nakedness, makes for some great laughs with the talkative Spidey throwing out the quips.

Bendis seems completely re-energized after the Ultimate Clone Saga and USM is firing on all cylinders these days. With the fresh new pencils from Immonen, this book is back to its former glory and I'm loving it.

Verdict - Must Read


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