If Parker Won’t Go to Ultimatum, Then Ultimatum Will Come to Him
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! WOW! While I may not like what is happening to Marvel’s Ultimate Universe – namely killing everyone and everything – Marvel has done one thing in the Ultimatum event that DC didn’t do in Final Crisis; creating the feeling of an epic disaster where the fate of the world is at stake.
While there have already been several Ultimatum issue that have hit the shelves, Ultimate Spider-Man #130 is the first time we see the events spilling into the title proper. And while we’ve seen glimpses of Peter getting involved in the carnage, readers haven’t had the chance experience the catastrophic events from his point of view.
What Brian Michael Bendis does best in this issue is show readers how utterly useless Peter Parker is when confronted with a major disaster. While he is doing his best to help those that are in his immediate vicinity, he’s really using a bucket to try and bail the water out of the Titanic. You end up feeling for the guy as he tries desperately to make some sense of what is going on.
Readers also get to see Kitty, Kong, Mary Jane, and Gwen react to the cataclysm and to mutant hatred as Kitty attempts to rescue passengers from the train.  Meanwhile, Aunt May is able to get out of her police interrogation, but things get worse when she is assisting one of her interrogators and Spider Woman shows up and calls her by name.
Bendis Loeb is killing of major players left and right in the Ultimatum series, so there is a definite possibility that we could see beloved characters from the Ultimate Spider-Man series bite the bullet as well. With the curious cover to USM #133 and the solicitation information hinting that it might be the final issue of USM as well, I’m a bit saddened that the only Marvel series I’ve read regularly is going through such a shake-up.
Unlike Final Crisis, where I could give a flip what grant morrison jerked out on the faces of the gobbling fanboy, I actually do have concerns on what is going to happen to a universe that started off as a way of attracting new readers to the company. There may be good reason to end the Ultimate Universe at this time, as certain titles (X-Men and Ultimates) are telling stories that make it much harder for new readers to jump on. However, Bendis’s decompressed story telling in Spider-Man still make this series fresh enough that a new reader can still jump on without being completely lost. Here’s hoping at least USM continues after Ultimatum #4.
The fact that readers feel the desperation in all of the characters involved make Ultimate Spider-Man #130 a well written piece. Throw on top of that the fantastic Immonen art that I’ve come to love in the last couple of years, and Ultimate Spider-Man #130 is one heck of an issue. Ultimate Spider-Man #130 made my jaw drop and earns 5 out of 5 Stars.
4 Comments
Uhh Jeph Loeb is writing Ultimatum not Bendis (hence why it is so sucky).
I believe that what is happening in the Ultimate Universe is slightly reflecting what has gone on in the Marvel Universe regular. Spider-man has for the most part (Barring the clone saga) been a title where anyone could begin reading and follow what is going on. There have been arcs, but the premise has always been the same.
The X-Titles have been confusing fo years. There have been plot threads off of plot threads off of plot threads that have not been resolved and probably forgotten because the first chainlink was in Uncanny X-Men 23 and the 3rd gen thread was the one covered but since the 15th writer afterwards didn’ know the origin they never covered it.
This confusion has become standard in X-titles. Most of us live and deal with it because we do not care who Bishop spoke to off panel when he said “Huh?” 75 issues back; the ride is enjoyable but we do not always need to know how it works.
The flip side makes it more difficult to follow or get the history or personalities of the many mutants who get a cameo once every 15 issues. This is the difficult part for new readers, whch is why you throw Wolverine into every issue of Non-X-titles, drum up business.
History repeats itself, unfortunately some of the least fouled up titles in the company are getting the axe.
I hope Ultimate Spider-Man is in fact ending, for the sole reason of me wanting Stuart Immonen on a book that I’ll actually read.
I really hope that don’t cancel USM. It’s the only comic that I have never missed an issue. It’s the best selling Spidey comic out there and I doubt they would cancel it now. Besides, that would probably tick Bendis off since he has put more time into it than anything else.