I'm a little surprised it took me this long to land on an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, but the wait is over! Remarkably, we got the first issue of one of Bendis' swifter stories, clocking in at a, by his standards, economical 4 issues.
At this point, Spider-Man and Shadowcat are dating, as the Council of Kitty Prydes (fewer pipes and less ethically compromised than the Council of Reeds) continue their long-standing goal of dating Peters across the multiverse. As far as it goes, I'd rate Ultimate Peter Parker ahead of Pete Wisdom and Peter Quill (certainly the movie-inspired, idiot man-child version of Star-Lord Kitty dated), and maybe Colossus, depending on what point in time we're talking and their respective ages.
Anyway, our power couple are bonding by fighting crime together. In this case, the terrible Ringer, who has Spidey in a bit of a bind. Of course, metal rings don't work against an intangible person, but Kitty can't figure out where the mechanism for the suit is, and the Ringer bails once she starts phasing her head through his skull. That gives her a chance to free Peter, he webs the Ringer's gauntlets, the mechanism (on his back) overloads. Turns out the Ringer is from Ohio, not Maryland. I assume he was just trying to throw people off his trail. No one could think claiming to be from Maryland makes them cool. The cops show up, Peter gets them the heck out of here.
As for Kitty's costume, it does have the advantage of not looking a thing like her X-Men outfit, but it's kind of. . .not great. Costume design has never been what I'd describe as a strength of Bagley's. Immonen gave her a much improved look when he came on as artist, but I can't give him too much credit because he basically just changed the colors on Hellcat's costume. That's 25 issues away, however.
While they webswing, which Kitty really enjoys, they discuss Peter's lame villains. He responds his villains are better than the Ultimates, and Kitty counters they just fight each other. I mean, you're both correct. That's why their villains are so lame, because they, themselves, all suck. The conversation turns to their relationship and the possibility of going on a date in public, as Peter Parker and Kitty Pryde. Peter's worried it will cause his aunt more stress, but Kitty points out having a girlfriend gives him more excuses not to be at home when he needs to fight villains. Maybe Kittys dates Peters because they're all dumber than her.
Kitty has to leave, because the X-Men sent the plane of remote to pick her up. After a kiss which ends awkwardly by Kitty phasing partially through his face to cut it short, she heads home, worrying she screwed everything up. The mansion seems deserted when she arrives, except for Wolverine. Which would be good until I remember this Wolverine was originally a double-agent sent by Magneto who dropped Cyclops off a cliff once.
Man, why couldn't it be Marvel Universe Scott Summers getting dropped off cliffs?
Wolverine tries to cut Kitty with a knife, which fails, but another attacker with some sort of taser is able to at least partially hurt her, even while she's fazed. Then Storm tries the same thing, while not recognizing her own name. Kitty's frantic escape attempt fries the communications array, and while she's able to launch the jet, she's zapped before she gets to it.
Peter eventually notices said jet back hovering over the warehouse, goes to investigate, and is whisked back to the mansion. Where he is tased by. . .Deadpool! Working with a bunch of cyborg guys who are supposed to be the Reavers. This version of Deadpool is long on the amoral craziness, but low on the comedy. Also, I think he may actually talk less than regular Deadpool. Staggering when you consider he's being written by Bendis.
{11th longbox, 220th comic. Ultimate Spider-Man (vol. 1) #91, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), John Dell (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)}
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