Ultimate Spider-Man #122 Review

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #122
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen

This was a fun done-in-one issue that fleshed out a long time recurring villain in the series. Yes, the Shocker is, in fact, the villain de jour that gets the proverbial drop on Spider-Man in this issue and he does his best to take revenge on the insult hurling and joke cracking hero that's been sending him off to jail every other week.

Surprisingly, for a Bendis plot, this story's pacing is incredibly good. The way it cuts in and out of scenes and flashbacks just really jelled together in this issue. Immonen's art has been fantastic lately and he's really hitting his stride, too.

Another "shocker" was the fact that Peter atually gets unmasked by Shocker in this issue. It's just some random punk kid to him, so no real risk or big deal about it, but I was surprised a villain was actually smart enough to do that for a change.

Most of the issue deals with Shocker explaining his origin, if you can call it that, and building up the long running Roxxon Corporation subplot, of which I believe started sometime around Omega Red's first appearance, maybe earlier. Seems Shocker developed weapons for Roxxon, a drug company, and Spider-Man stops him mid-rant to try and get him to explain why he was making weapons for them. We don't find out all that much, but Roxxon is definitely going to be playing a bigger part in the future of this title.

In the end, Peter manages to escape when Shocker takes his torture tactics too far and the chains snap, but Kitty shows up just in time to stop Peter from doing something he'd regret as he nearly loses control in taking revenge on his captor. I'm not some super feminist type of person, but it was a little odd how they showed all this build up for Kitty and MJ tracking down Peter's whereabouts, Kitty storming the place with the cops and then having Peter, the big strong male lead, busting himself out. Just seemed like the story should have ended with Kitty and MJ saving him for a change.

There was a fun little easter egg hidden in the issue, which I'm sure everyone saw, where someone who looks like Echo was screaming in the police station, "Who can you trust?". I thought it was funny and it made me chuckle when I read it.

Verdict - Must Read

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