This review will be on Ultimate Spider-Man issue 2. The second issue in the close to a reboot series by Brian Michael Bendis and David Lafuente. It's an action filled issue with plenty of witty banter and keeps the Ultimate line of comics going strong.
This month's issue sees very little of the new faces that were seen in issue before, but new villains are introduced and Spider-Man has his hand full dealing with them for most of the issue. Johnny Storm and Aunt May get closer and talk about the events of Ultimatum. Kitty Pride is even given some time in this issue to reveal that things aren't looking so good for mutants. Finally Mary Jane is given some time for the reader to see what has been going on in her life as Peter Parker is no longer a part of it. Overall this issue has a fair balance of action and story that makes it an intriguing read even if not to much of the plot was pushed forward.
The writer on this issue is Brian Michael Bendis that continues his run with Ultimate Spider-Man with witty dialogue and fast paced action. I must admit that I am not a big fan of the wall crawler, but Bendis to me captures of character of a teenage kid that has been thrust into the responsibility of a superhero. Many times Spider-Man can seem to whiny to me instead of funny, but Bendis manages to keep the humor high in this issue mainly through Spider-Man and the wacky situation he keeps finding himself in. Bendis does a great job of balancing action and comedy with very somber and serious moments in the issue. As much as I enjoyed this issue it felt to me that very little was revealed in the way of plot and that it hardly advanced at all. The new Mysterio gets a couple of pages, but that it and the new hero from last issue is completely absent. The story just doesn't seem to progress much in this issue and this could be Bendis position his characters for things to get going. Right now there is a lot of characters with a lot going on, but nothing really happening. If this is just preparation for what is coming next then that's great, but still doesn't detract from the feeling that this issue just set up more questions and gave no answers.
The art in this issue is done by David Lafuente and being completely honest I am not the biggest fan of his art. His anime like style just doesn't suit me and I feel it makes things oddly more awkward then they are supposed to be. Spider-Man looks ridiculous in some panels. Why is Spider-Man's head so big, but when he's Peter Parker it's normal? He seems to have trouble with consistency and also seems to choose to draw the characters with the almost awkward looking expressions. My complaints aside I do feel that he does action scenes very well. His placement of "the camera" is well done and his continuity seems to work best in these action scenes. On the whole I am not the biggest fan of Lafuente's art and to me is the weakest part of this issue.
All in all this is a very solid issue. If you are a fan of Ultimate Spider-Man then this is the series for you. I will be picking up the next issue to see where Bendis takes the story and would recommend those Spider-Man fans out there to do the same. |
