Saturday Splash Page #65

 

"In the Spotlight," in Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Brooks (penciler), Jaime Mendoza (inker), Scott Hanna (additional finishes), Dave Stewart (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer)

First off, don't let the hair color confuse you, that's Kitty Pryde, not Mary Jane. Now that we've settled that, Ultimate Spider-Man had 3 Annuals, but I'd dropped the book six months before the third one came out.

While the Annuals did work as standalone stories, Bendis typically used them to set-up certain elements he'd go on to explore in the ongoing series. The first one was Peter and Kitty's first date, leading to their relationship, which lasted for, maybe 30 issues or so. Kitty's broken up with Iceman over, I think, him having something going with Rogue behind her back. Peter's distanced himself from MJ because he thinks he'll get her killed.

The 2nd Annual was Peter getting caught up in gang war territory stuff again, as Jean DeWolff encourages him to go after the Kangaroo, who is trying to make a play on the Kingpin's territory. Daredevil shows up, being a grumpy asshole. Moon Knight shows up as does the Punisher, who shoots DeWollf, because she was on Fisk's payroll. Or maybe he was sweet on her, as the issue ends with Fisk seemingly sad to learn of her death.

Honestly, I kept the Annuals because I enjoyed keeping all the issues that involved the Ultimate version of the Shocker, who Bendis kept having pop up as a minor nuisance for Spider-Man to easily beat down. He's actually the last guy Peter fights in the first Annual, where Kitty demonstrates that with her powers, Peter doesn't have to worry about her getting hurt. But in the second Annual, yeah, Spidey beats him in about one page while wondering how the guy isn't in jail. Which is when Foggy Nelson explains just leaving people webbed to a flagpole is not a good way to keep them in jail. So Peter takes the Shocker directly to the cops, which is how DeWolff gets the chance to point him at the Kangaroo.

Does that mean Foggy was secretly working with Fisk behind Daredevil's back, or perhaps working with the Punisher to draw out DeWolff so Frank could kill her? No, but I'm surprised Bendis didn't try either of those as a surprise ending at some point.

And with that, we come to the end of both Ultimate March, and the letter "U"!

Saturday Splash Page #64

 

"Called in a Ringer," in Ultimate Spider-Man #91, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), John Dell (inker), Justin Ponsor (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Ultimate Spider-Man , written by Brian Michael Bendis, drawn for 110 issues by Mark Bagley, then later Stuart Immonen, David LaFeunte, Sara Pichelli, probably some other folks, was the longest-running title in the Ultimate Universe by a fair bit. Probably the most successful, depending on how you want to grade versus Millar and Hitch's The Ultimates, which I imagine had higher sales, but also didn't have to sustain them long.

I started buying Ultimate Spider-Man when I got back into comics, shortly after I started college. I don't think I necessarily understood what the point was when I bought this, but it wasn't too hard to figure out. Taking Spider-Man to the beginning, revising and in surface ways updating Ditko and Lee's story. The spider is genetically modified rather than radioactive. Both the company that modified it (Oscorp) and the questionably legal governmental agency (SHIELD) are aware Peter got bit. Peter can't keep his mask on for anything.

I don't know if Bendis dislikes the idea of secret identities, or simply figured there was no way a 15-year-old could keep his shit together enough to maintain one in a world with as much surveillance as ours. When Nick Fury finally pops up, about 24 issues in, he rattles off a laundry list of different ways he knows Peter is Spider-Man. As someone who enjoys the secret identity aspect of superheroes, that trend was more than a little frustrating.

Bendis had I think made his name on street-level crime books, even if they included superpowers, such he and Michael Avon Oeming's creatively titled Powers. So a lot of the stories revolve around mob level crime, sometimes industrial espionage. Doc Ock worked for Osborn, but was actually a mole for Justin Hammer, who has his own program creating superhumans. His first confrontation with Spider-Man is Peter trying to stop him from tearing up Hammer Industries in revenge. Someone targets Roxxon for destruction a couple of times, and because Spidey stops them (just wanting to help people) he ends up targeted for that.

Daredevil never got above a supporting character in the Ultimate Universe, so Kingpin maintains a large (no pun intended) presence among Spider-Man's rogues' gallery whether Hornhead is around or not. Which does give Bendis the chance to show Peter struggling with how powerful people can escape justice, as even after he gets a recording of Fisk killing a man to the media, Fisk manages to beat the rap.

Granted that street-level is Spider-Man's bread and butter, it feels like it lost something that everybody was the product of what seemed to be a few concentrated experimentation programs, rather than people getting powers through weird accidents happening all over the place. Made the universe seem smaller. Even the symbiotes, rather than aliens, were something Peter and Eddie Brock's parents created as step 1 in a cure for cancer (which Curt Conners later got a hold of and was messing with before Peter found it). So you're back to the tight circle of genetic researchers being responsible for everything.

It wasn't always street-level stuff. Bendis had Spidey get tangled up in Dr. Strange stuff once, confront vampires a couple of times, probably a couple of other things I'm forgetting. There was a mini-series where I think Norman Osborn wanted to take over the country or something like that, but on the whole, not many stories about someone holding the city for ransom, or threatening to use an orbital satellite to wipe out half the country.

(There was also the jokey Freaky Friday 2-parter when Spidey and Wolverine wake up in each other's bodies thanks to Jean Grey being an asshole. Which does at least lead to Spider-Man cussing out the entire team of X-Men as a bunch of various expletives.)

Like I said, Bagley drew the book for 110 issues straight. With Bendis' writing style, that's maybe 37 issues worth of actual plot. Outside of the Green Goblin, who fans dubbed "Goblin Hulk" (and later the Hobgoblin, who stayed in the same vein), he didn't really change the look of the major villains. I guess Electro got turned into a very simplified hairless guy in a black leather suit/pants combo. Or maybe it was a tracksuit? I'm not sure. Doc Ock still looked basically like Doc Ock. Ditto for Kraven, the Vulture, etc. Probably just as well. I don't think people loved Goblin Hulk.

Much the same would be true for the supporting cast. Aunt May looked younger, as Bendis based her personality more on his own mother, moving away from the frail old woman always two seconds away from another heart attack. This May had a job, she eventually started dating again, she chewed out Jonah on the phone after he fired Peter. Mary Jane looked about the same, but was Peter lifelong friend who was more of a quiet bookish sort. Gwen Stacy came in as the wild child, with the piercings and carrying knives around.

As far as civilian life, Bendis kept things focused more at home and school. Peter worked at the Bugle, but as an IT guy, and as a high schooler among adults, he doesn't seem to interact with them much. No pep talks from Robbie Robertson or Ben Urich, no dating Betty Brant (none of whom every get much focus.)

But lots of dating melodrama at school. Peter tells MJ his secret early on, which was sort of a sweet issue about two dorky teens misreading each other. Bagley can handle facial expressions and body language. Peter and MJ date. Bad things happen, or nearly happen, Peter breaks up with her. They start to get together, he has another bad experience, they break up again. Kitty Pryde and Peter start dating. They break up, but she moves to the neighborhood anyway. Then she starts dating Kong (or Kenny) a new character Bendis created for the series who looks a bit like Bendis (at least the way Bagley draws both of them.) Liz Allen turns out to first hate mutants, then actually be a mutant (basically Firestar, seemingly so there could be a comic with Spidey and his Amazing Friends on the cover.)

I think sometimes the tipping point for the book was when Bendis tried to introduce Geldoff, the foreign exchange student who had the power to blow stuff up somehow, and used it to destroy the principal's car after he suspended some of the football team. Geldoff was new, was apparently not a mutant because he was experimented on in the womb (he was from Latveria), and apparently the fans hated him.

Bendis pretty much stuck to remixing the hits after that. More Kingpin! Carnage! Gwen Stacy dying! Black Cat and Elektra! A Clone Saga (ye gods he did a Clone Saga)! Aunt May having a heart attack! Harry Osborn being self-destructive! I mean, I guess it worked for a long time. Helps when you do a 9-issue Gang War story that has maybe 3 issues' worth of plot.

To be fair, Bendis does have Peter grow over the series. The progress is erratic and hard to trace, but especially by "Ultimate Knights" the last full arc Bendis and Bagley do together, Spidey is refusing to be pushed around by Daredevil, making a stand to keep Daredevil from killing an innocent woman to hurt Fisk, and finally using the fact that Nick Fury seems to like him as leverage to make Fisk back off. He seemed to have a better sense of himself, what he wanted, what he could do.

I gave up on the book at issue 122, for a host of reasons. Bendis' last couple of multi-issue stories hadn't done it for me, and the next was going to a) involve the symbiotes, b) draw elements from the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, and most damningly c) tie-in to Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum. After I left, Peter almost died in Ultimatum, then did die (I think keeping Punisher from killing Captain America). Then maybe didn't die, but Miles Morales was Spider-Man by then? Then the universe got wiped out in the run up to Secret Wars.

Random Back Issues #94 - Ultimate Spider-Man #91

Aw crap, I hated fighting this guy in Mega Man 4. At least I could make it to him. I had to rely on one of my friends to get me to Bright Man.

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)}

31 Days of Scans - Day 13

This was an easy choice. There’s an artist I’ve been a fan of since childhood, and even though it’s been awhile since he’s drawn a book I was really interested in, I’m always looking to see if he’s been attached to something I want to read.

So, Mark Bagley. I did a post about him many years ago, when it was announced he’d be leaving Ultimate Spider-Man, but that was 8 years ago, I think it’s fair to highlight him again. My desires with regards to an artist are pretty simple. I like clean linework, expressive faces and body language I don’t need words to interpret, and fight scenes that are easy to follow and have a sense of energy and motion to them. Cool panel layouts are nice, but not essential. First and foremost, I want the art to help tell the story, and I’ve always gotten that from Bagley. I suppose that seems like damning with faint praise, but I really feel he does all that well. And there are a hell of a lot of other artists that can’t manage it, and even fewer who can while sticking to a monthly schedule.

My introduction to his work was on the original New Warriors, where he and Fabian Nicieza had a two-year stretch together that cemented my affection for a lot of those characters (and both of those creators). Issue 2, to be exact, where Night Thrasher has a knock down, drag out with an old friend/enemy, Midnight’s Fire. Though I always had a fondness for the early part of the book, where the team is training/screwing around. Nova crashes into Speedball, sending Robbie bouncing into Namorita, who’s lifting a Nautilus for the hell of it. Marvel Boy tries to hold it up along with the vaulting horse he was already levitating, and it doesn’t work. I really like how casually Nita’s sitting there afterward, completely unharmed. I feel bad for Marvel Boy putting all that effort in for nothing, but the panel said a lot to me about her. Her complete ease and confidence in herself, as well as a little playfulness. Also the fact they’re still forming as a team, so Vance didn’t realize his effort was unnecessary, and Nita didn’t know how much of a strain that might be on him.

After that, Bagley took over on Amazing Spider-Man from Erik Larsen, and his Spider-Man is the one I most often see in my head (when I did the Favorite Characters post last fall, I said it was between him and Romita Jr., but really, it’s Bagley the majority of the time). It isn’t the most highly-regarded era, with far too much Venom and Carnage (though any Carnage is too much), the fake parents story, the Clone Saga’s beginning, that stretch where Peter starts thinking of himself as “the Spider”, but there’s still a lot I enjoy. The two-parter that starts his run, where Spidey and Nova team-up against the Tri-Sentinel. The Spider-Slayers story that featured plenty of Spider-Man fighting robots, and also got the Black Cat back into action (with a completely improbable costume, but young Calvin wasn’t complaining about that). The two-parter with the Hulk and Doc Samson. Peter’s reaction to learning MJ’s pregnant in issue 398. Aunt May’s death in issue 400, which is where the bit below is from. That shot of Ben Reilly, the guy who isn’t supposed to be there, who isn’t really May’s nephew, devastated at her passing and with no one to help him through it, and he just wants to scream, that got to me. None of those were revolutionary stories, but they were all solid Spidey stories that helped form my impression of the character more fully, and Bagley was a big part of that. A Spider-Man who is not a teenager, glad to be married, open with his emotions, be it happiness, sadness, or anger, who backs down from no challenge.

The seemingly endless Clone Saga (and similar convoluted nonsense in the X-books) combined with the rise of other interests to move me away from comics for several years. When I started up again, in the early 2000s, one of the books I picked up was Ultimate Spider-Man. Partially because it was Spider-Man, but in no small part because when I opened the book, I recognized the art I saw inside, and was glad to see it. Bagley’s art kept me on that book longer than I probably should have, through a lot of 6-8 issue arcs that only needed 3 or 4 issues. But I enjoyed how it looked, how Peter looked like a spindly kid (even after the spider bite gave him some musculature, he’s still noticeably shorter than a lot of people, and very thin), and how the fight scenes looked when Spider-Man actually got to fight someone. I don’t regret sticking around. There were some good points even in the latter half (after Gwen got killed by, sigh, Carnage), and I thought their last arc together, Ultimate Knights, was a strong ending point for their joint run (where Peter stands up to Daredevil, and starts making having ties to Nick Fury work for him when dealing with the Kingpin).

The other title of Bagley’s I’ve bought up for any extended number of issues was Thunderbolts, but I only got to that in the last few years, as a back issue hunt. Part of why I tracked it down was hearing good things about it, part of it was trusting Kurt Busiek, and later Fabian Nicieza’s, ability to write team books (from their work on Avengers and New Warriors, respectively). And part of it was the presence of Bagley. I normally like Patrick Zircher’s art, he did some excellent work on the Mystery Men mini-series with David Liss a few years ago, but I was always a disappointed when he stepped in for a couple of issues. I stopped picking it up after issue 50 (when Bagley left, for Ultimate Spider-Man, I think), but I’m thinking of starting up again, and we’ll see if I warm up to Zircher more when I know Bagley’s not coming back.

I seriously considered buying Justice League, simply because of Bagley, but James Robinson had a pretty bad stretch as a writer around then, and it sounded like a messy run (Blackest Night tie-ins among other unpalatable things), so I passed it up. Since he’s returned to Marvel, I’ve kept my eyes open, but he’s usually paired with writers – Fraction, Bendis – I’m not much interested in dealing with these days. I’m hoping for something, though I’m not sure what “something” will be.

Speedball punches Terrax like he told Robbie about his Penance phase in New Warriors #16, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler, obviously), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), and Joe Rosen (letterer). Namorita cares not about your exercise equipment budget in New Warriors #2, by Nicieza, Bagley, Yanchus, Al Williamson (inker), and Michael Heisler (letterer). Ben Reilly proves even a clone. . . can cry! (with apologies to Roy Thomas) from Amazing Spider-Man #400, by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Bagley (penciler), Mahlstedt (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), and Bill Oakley (letterer). Clint can’t resist telling people who he is, even if they already know, and it’s why they’re trying to kill him, in Thunderbolts #21, by Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), and Richard Starkings and Siobhan Hanna (letterers). Spider-Man fights Doc Ock while some reporter narrates dramatically in Ultimate Spider-Man #21, by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Bagley, Art Thibert (inker), Transparency Digital (coloring), and Dave Sharpe (letterer).

Patience Has To Pay Off Sometime

I was talking on Thursday about how it used to be common for me to keep buying books for a long time after I'd stop enjoying them. Some of that I'm sure was inertia - I'd been buying the book for awhile, and it was just routine by then - but most of it was that treacherous foe, hope. You know, thinking "It's gonna get better any minute now." So I keep buying it, and it keeps not getting better, and eventually I catch on that things aren't going to improve.

Here's my question for you. Has staying with a book you were disappointed/dissatisfied with ever paid off? Has one ever actually gotten better for you?

I've been trying to think of one myself, but it's tricky. These days most titles don't last long enough for it to be an issue. They either get canceled before quality hits a lull, or before they've been in a rut long enough I can think about dropping it. For a lot of the rest, I ended up dropping them, so if they turned around, it didn't happen fast enough.

I considered Nova, because there was a stretch when he returned to Earth for Secret Invasion that persisted for several months that I wasn't a huge fan of. I'm pretty sure there are multiple issues I reviewed where I mentioned how badly I wanted him to get back into space. Eventually DnA did send Nova back into space, and the book picked up for its last year. That being said, the book wasn't ever in any danger of being dropped, because it wasn't bad, just not as good as it had been.

The best example I could come up with was Ultimate Spider-Man. There was a period, '04 and '05, something like 20-30 issues, where the book went through this dark patch I didn't love. Ultimate Carnage, Gwen dying, Peter breaking up with MJ, the Hobgoblin arc, the Warriors arc. Those last two weren't bad, but they were too padded out, even by Bendis' standards. Warriors was an 8-part story that could have been 5, easy, and Hobgoblin could have 4, probably even 3, and I think that killed the impact of what could otherwise have been a pretty affecting story. The one slightly more upbeat story in there was that Freaky Friday deal with Spidey and Wolverine, which wasn't a bad idea for a 2-parter, but doing it immediately after Gwen died was poor timing.

There was definitely some dissatisfaction there, but the Silver Sable story was a little better, I really liked the Deadpool story (even if I hated Ultimate Deadpool, which looking back, maybe that was the point), There was a Morbius story that was, not bad, and hey it was only 2 parts, so it wasn't stretched out! Clone Saga was, well, that was overlong and kind of a mess, but it had some good parts to it, and I liked the Ultimate Knights arc that was Bagley's send off. It's not my favorite stretch on the book (I think that might be the 20 issues between Ultimate Venom and Ultimate Carnage), but it was a significant upswing, so I'm glad I stuck around for that. If X-Factor is any indication, once I drop a book, it's even harder to start buying it again than it was to stop.

That's my story, but what about you?

Secret Identities, Easy Or Hard To Maintain?

When it comes to superheroic secret identities, what's your pleasure?

The old school, Silver Age I guess, style, where the hero is able, though not without difficulty, to keep people from learning who they are in their civilian lives? This doesn't mean no one would know, necessarily. The hero could decide to tell someone, or there could be a member of their cast that's just really on the ball. Captain Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man, Lois Lane for Superman, though she had the deck stacked against her considering all the powers, robots, and Batman assistance the writers pulled out of their butts to help Superman keep her guessing in the Silver Age*.

Or, I guess I'd call it the Ultimate-style, where it is really hard to keep a secret identity. Especially if you are, for example, some teenager from Queens who gained spider-powers then fairly quickly jumped into the deep end of fighting insane businessmen, and mad scientists, while being harassed by well-funded and well-equipped spy agencies.

Some blending of it, where some heroes keep it secret from everyone, while others don't hide it at all, plus some heroes who just aren't good at keeping it secret, or they trust someone who isn't (Karen Page might fall in that category for Daredevil), would probably be the best, if just because it offers the most avenues, but assuming we live in a horribly strict universe, where there are only two options, and you can't mix-and-match, what would you prefer?

I'm in favor of the old one myself. Yeah, it was funny to see how bad Peter was at keeping his mask on, especially when MJ handed him a list of everyone who knew who he was, and it hits home just how bad he's been about keeping the mask on, or not blurting out his name to the X-Men just because they've seen his face. I grew used to it there, because that was a generally consistent law of the universe. The X-Men were in the open, Kingpin knew Murdock was Daredevil, Dr. Strange was on late-night TV, and everybody knew who Spider-Man was. I could roll with it. But I feel it's an attempt to put too much realism into a situation that doesn't necessarily call for it.

It might be unrealistic for these heroes to manage to keep their secret identities hidden, but considering all the other things I suspend my disbelief for, it's not hard to swallow. I accept Peter Parker not only didn't die from a radioactive spider-bite, he gained awesome powers. I accept his Aunt can survive 700 heart attacks (may be an exaggeration), but needs magic help to survive a bullet. I accept the idea of stupid little blue men handing out rings that do anything if you will it hard enough. I'll buy that heroes (and villains if they're good enough at getting away) can keep people around them from figuring things out. Some of them will be better at it than others, or have more resources to help them out, be it powers or money.

Another part of it, is the problem-solving abilities most heroes tend to demonstrate. I've seen a lot of heroes apply their resources quite creatively to deal with a particular threat. Between that and their witty banter, they seem to possess excellent abilities to think on their feet, and devise solutions quickly. So while I believe I'd have some trouble explaining why I was always covered in bruises or missing whenever Hood Guy** appeared, the heroes seem more on the ball, so sure, they can come up with some quick excuse that saves their bacon. For a little while, at least.

So old-school for me, because I like the idea the heroes are smarter than I probably would be about it.

* I know Morrison and Quietly used it in All-Star Superman, though I don't think they started it, but I really like the idea that Clark Kent carries himself completely differently when he's Clark, compared to when he's Superman, so it isn't just the glasses. He really seems like a completely different person. Along those lines, how easy do you think it was to figure out Hal was Green Lantern? Setting aside how little of his face the mask covers, I can't see him behaving any differently from identity to the other.

** Though I like Spider-Man's costume, I think my love of hoods would cause me to design a costume with a hood. Or, more likely, get someone else to design it for me, because I know squat about fashion design.

A Potentially Interesting Conversation

I have a question for those of you that kept reading Ultimate Spider-Man after I jumped ship. Relax, the question is not 'Why did you stay?'

I was wondering if Peter and Kong ever had a discussion about Kong knowing Pete was Spider-Man. Kenny originally hit upon that flash of inspiration in Ultimate Spider-Man #14, which lead to his attempt in the next issue to prove it to Flash, and Pete having to play the weakling and get kicked into his locker, which lead to Gwen Stacy threatening to cut Kong. That whole scene seemed to settle things. Peter Parker, who started crying after getting kicked in the rump, was definitely not Spider-Man.

Then in #118, Kong's doing some push-ups, worrying that he'll botch his chance to date Kitty Pryde, and he starts wishing that Pete would tell him he's Spider-Man so they could talk about Kitty, and Pete could maybe give Kong some pointers on what to avoid*. Just out of the blue after 103 issues. By the next issue, Kong tells Peter he knows, when he tells Pete to suit up and go talk to Liz about her powers manifesting. It's never one thing out of the blue for Peter Parker.

I would have liked to see Pete and Kenny talk, how he figured it out, why didn't Pete's performance work, when, why he hadn't said anything to anyone else. Looking at the people who know who Spider-Man is, Kenny's I think the only one to piece it together that didn't have a vast intelligence network at hand, or was involved in the spider bit**. So that's sort of noteowrthy, and maybe they would talk about how Pete screwed things up with Kitty, which is one of those things I was in favor of Peter being reminded of fairly regularly. The possibility of that conversation, and Gwen coming back, almost made me keep buying the book. But Venom was coming back***, and I was fairly convinced that the title would be wrecked just because Bendis and Immonen would have to play along with Ultimatum, and here we are.

* Here's a big one: Don't start kissing your old girlfriend when Kitty is standing about fifteen feet away, especially after she rushed to your house to help you through a crisis. She's not fond of that.

** Osborn and Octavius were responsible for the experiment, and they told who knows how many guys. Clearly Otto blabbed to all those damn feds and scientists working on the clone project. Pete blurted his name out to the X-Men after they unmasked him. He told the FF. Wolverine and DD tracked him with their senses. Harry came in on Pete and Norman fighting when Pete's mask was torn. Fury had the aforementioned vast intelligence network, but Kong just had himself. The Kingpin knows what Peter looks like, but he never got his name, and he's the freaking Kingpin of Crime!

*** In a story tying into the video game, which had really frustrated me when I owned it, so consider that another strike.

The Foundation Revisitation Is Meeting WIth Complication

Only In America! *removes Don King wig* Enough of that! In June I did a post relating how I reread Foundation for the first time in several years. Well, at the same bookstore I found The Bridge Over The River Kwai, I also found a copy of Second Foundation*, and I polished that off last night. Second Foundation actually comes after Foundation and Empire, but I know what I need to from that book to be able to read this one, so it wasn't an issue**. {Beyond this point is both possible spoilers for the book, and considerable ranting}

At this point the Foundation has been conquered by a powerful mutant who calls himself the Mule. He's an empath, but also able to manipulate people's minds, make them loyal to them, in such a way they don't really question it. At the start of the book, he's ceased his conquering for the last five years as he searches for a Second Foundation, which Hari Seldon (who established both Foundations) only alluded to once. No one knows who these Second Foundationers are, or if they exist, except that the Mule can perceive that some of his advisors have been subtly (not subtly enough, though) altered, to make them less inspiried, lacking of something. So he is understandably concerned. The first half of the book deals with his attempts to find the Second Foundation, and his eventual defeat, though it doesn't lead to the complete collapse of him or his empire, interestingly enough.

The second half of the book comes 50 years later, as certain members of the First Foundation begin a dedicated hunt for the Second. They don't like the idea that there's a shadowy organization out there which can manipulate their actions, and thus they resolve to find the Second Foundation and do something about it. Into this falls one of the conspirators' daughter, Arcadia Darell, who decides it would be a great adventure for her to tag along and try and help. So she does, and ultimately she discovers the location of the Second Foundation! Or not.

I mentioned it in my discussion of Foundation, how some of the main characters are not the most moral people, and that their actions are borne of less than noble desires, like greed. Well, the motives are somewhat different, but no less noble. The Mule and the First Foundationers are both driven by fear of this mysterious group of mind manipulators. I get that. I like having a sense that my choices are my own, and if I learned there were people out there manipulating me without my consent, I would probably want to find some way to stop them.

The Second Foundation is driven by survival instinct, which comes from a self-importance they have. Really, Second Foundationers are religious fanatics, except they pray to math. They have their precious Seldon Plan, which they intend to see through to the end, and they are the only ones who can, so by Space, they must survive! And if that means there have to be sacrifices, then there will be sacrifices. When its members of the Second Foundation allowing themselves to be captured, so the First Foundation thinks they've succeeded in their hunt, well that's not so bad, though I note the high up muckety-mucks are not the ones on the chopping block. When the Second Foundation also deems it acceptable, as part of a trap for the Mule, to convince him a planet called Tazenda is their base, and the Mule goes Scorched Earth on it with his military, and they're prepared to let him destroy another world, and wage a battle against the sections of his forces he left at home, which they will have freed from his control, all of which would add up to a lot of deaths***, I'm less enthused. Sure, they see the Mule as having caused a divergence from the Plan (When really he's just being less subtle about his using his pwoers to consolidate territory under one banner than they were), and the Plan must be preserved, but it's rather presumptiuous of them to decide, "Eh, it's OK if everyone on these planets die, because it'll get the PLAN back on track!". Oh the Plan! Perhaps I should genuflect when I say that.

Then we learn near the end that they've had one character as a sleeper agent of sorts, since their birth. Namely, they modified this character's brain when they were still an infant, so they would be more likely**** to react in ways beneficial to the Second Foundation's strategies. And it's hunky-dory because a) it helps maintain the Plan, and b) well, it gave them a precious and intelligent personality (the First Speaker's own words). Well I guess it's just the swellest thing ever then. Rereading that admission last night, the first thing I was reminded of was the Geldoff character from Ultimate Spider-Man, who had been the subject of genetic manipulation while still in the womb. It was done because it suited some person's purposes to do so, and if it just so happened to help Geldoff be popular with people, well, whatever, the manipulator doesn't give a damn. As Xavier explains it to Spider-Man, it's presented as a troubling thing, not a good thing, and here we've got these guys, who are ostensibly protectors of civilization or something, doing the same damn thing. Makes it hard for me to think the Foundation is any sort of a positive force, all these actions that are excused under the auspices of being for the greater good*****.

It also occured to me, while trying to arrange my thoughts on the book, that to the individual, it probably doesn't matter one way or the other whether the Seldon Plan succeeds or fails. There will be people living in opulence, and others in squalor, either way, so what the hell does it matter. Yes, they avoid 30,000 years of anarchy, cutting it to only a thousand, but that's on a galactic scale, since the end of that time is marked by the rise of the Second Galactic Empire. On a planetary or citywide scale, does that really matter. The underpinnings of one's life might change, if there's a shift from one energy source or standard of currency to another, but life is going to continue. How much does being part of an Empire that spans a galaxy really matter to most people? And who says the Second Galactic Empire will be a good one? All we ever know is the Foundation is designed to bring about its rise in a shorter time frame, but nobody ever discusses what sort of Empire it will be, or what will happen in the time after its ascent.

You know, I didn't have all these cynical thoughts when I read the book the first time. I'm not sure whether that's better or worse.

*Total cost for the two paperbacks: $6 dollars. Love those used bookstores.

** Also, Asimov is nice enough to give you the gist of the relevant things that happened before the book started through the course of the story.

*** The latter two don't come to pass, but they were factored in as possibilities, and deemed acceptable.

**** Because it's all about probabilities with the Plan, trying to manipulate events so the outcome you desire has the highest possible porbability, then ensuring it comes to pass.

***** I'm reminded of an issue of GrimJack from the Trade Wars story arc, where Mayfair justifies his actions with that phrase and Gaunt replies that everytime someone says 'Greater good', he hears 'Personal gain', which is certainly true of Mayfair, and probably true of these Second Foundationers, who have learned to manipulate others mentally, and hoard the skill for themselves, keeping themselves above the rest of the galaxy, which is just a mass of people to be manipulated as they see fit.

This Is All A Big Damn Conspiracy

So it's Thursday. Time for comics, right? Wrong. Due to some sort of snafu between UPS and Diamond, Ken (and if what they told him was correct) all the other shops that get their wares from the Memphis distribution center, got jack all today. So, no new comics today. Another day of waiting.

So what to discuss to fill the gap. Well, I would like to say that The Dane was correct, and Ultimate Spider-Man reads a lot better when you read large chunks all at once. I went from #2 to the end of the Warriors arc, which was about #82, yesterday, and the pacing does feel better that way. I think it was better off when the title for each issue was different, even if they were part of the same arc, because when I was reading "Warriors" and I noticed I was on Part 7 I had this reaction of "Jeezo this arc seems too long." When the cover doesn't tell me it's a specific chapter in a single story, I don't notice it as much.

One thing I noticed was the changing role of Patsy Walker in the book. Her first appearance (that I noticed) was #12 when Peter's contacted the company the supplies security cameras for Fisk's building. He gets a e-mail with an attached video presentation, and Patsy was the chipper presenter. Then she showed up on the cover of a Maxim Kong was reading when he first concluded Peter was Spider-Man*. Sometime after that, she was an on the scene reporter (I forget which arc), and the last time I saw her was #113, when she was the correspondent listening as Norman Osborn portrayed himself as a victim of that awful Nick Fury. I kind of like her moving between professions (assuming these are all meant to be the same human**), given 616-Patsy Walker's varied careers prior to being Hellcat.

I still wish he hadn't killed off Gwen Stacy. Really, why can't Peter Parker have a friend, who happens to be a girl, but is absolutely not a romantic interest? It's not like Pete was Mr. Popular at the time. He had MJ and Gwen, maybe Liz as friends, Flash and Kong as tormentors, Jonah and Urich as mentors, and Fury as that jerkass "friend" that's always trying to bum a couple of bucks or a ride from you. What's really curious is they kill Gwen, then follow it with that 2-parter where Jean Grey pulls a Freaky Friday on Peter and Wolverine***. Then the story where Johnny Storm tries to go to normal high school****, then back to dark with that Dr. Strange/Nightmare story that left Peter a bigger emotional wreck than usual. I'd say that he was trying to mess with Peter, let him get past Gwen's death a little, then sucker punch him, but it didn't seem like there was enough time for Pete to start getting past it, so instead you just had these abrupt tonal shifts.

* Which was #14. Geez, I'd forgotten he put it together that early on. That led to Pete letting Kenny boot him right in the hind end to allay his suspicions, which lead to Gwen threatening to shiv Kong.

** I say that, because I noticed in the first Doc Ock story that there was a reporter for the Globe named Eddie Brock, then about 20 issues later we meet another Eddie Brock, a childhood friend of Pete's, and he winds up as Venom. I recall Bendis really wasn't interested in bringing Venom into play, but the fans wouldn't stop asking for him. I wasn't one of those fans, for the record, and I kind of wish Bendis would have stuck to it.

*** In true teenager fashion, it didn't occur to Jean that putting Wolverine in someone else's body, and leaving that person stuck as Wolverine, is really a pretty crappy thing to do to that other person, until after she'd fixed it. Twit.

**** And looking back, can't believe I didn't see Liz as having fire powers. MJ told Johnny that Liz thought she made him light on fire.

Liz, Magneto, Ultimatum

I've been thinking about Ultimate Spider-Man, and Liz having her powers suddenly flare up. She's probably a mutant, but for some reason I think she's actually the result of some genetic tampering, like Spider-Man, or Geldoff. Poor Geldoff, so disliked by the fans it drove him to the miserable 616 reality, where he probably got killed by KIA in Avengers: Initiative. Just a hard luck case. Where was I?

I guess I'm thinking of Peter mentioning his concerns to Aunt May about all the people with superpowers that have been appearing. And there was the Geldoff thing, which is several years in the past now, but I wouldn't put it past Bendis to go back to it now. And Ultimatum is going to have something to do with all that, isn't it?

At any rate, Magneto seems likely to appear soon, and I'm curious how he would react if he thought Liz was your everyday, run-o-the-mill mutant, and instead found out her powers were the result of genetic engineering. First off, would that make Liz feel better or worse? She thinks people with powers are freaks, or at least puts on a facade of feeling that way. It probably wouldn't make a difference to the kids that would heckle her, because teenagers are jerkasses regardless of the circumstance.

As for Magneto, would he make a distinction? Powers obtained through unusual DNA sequences are powers obtained through unusual DNA sequences, regardless of how the DNA got like that, after all. Would he feel bad for her, that she was being experimented on by callous humans, or angry at this sign that humans were trying to usurp Homo sapiens superior's birthright through technological means?

Well, DC Isn't Using Young Justice, So Why Not?

So the cover for the upcoming Ultimate Spider-Man issue showed Magneto with Spidey, Iceman, and Liz (Ultimate Firestar, I guess) charging towards him. I'd really like to see those three, plus Kitty and the Human Torch all trying to throw down with Mister Master of Magnetism to stop him from, I presume, getting his hooks into Liz. I have to say, given Liz' expressed feelings about mutants (assuming she is a mutant, and not the result of genetic tinkering like Sandman or Electro), Mags is going to have a hard sell, trying to convince her to hook up with his mutant supremacist group.

Magneto: Join our noble cause of destroying humanity.
Liz: No! Mutants are gross freaks!
M: *blinks* But you are a mutant, child.
L: Ugh, don't remind me. It's so awful, my life is over.
M: *takes deep breath, squeezes stress reduction ball*

That would probably go for some time, given the writer involved, but I'd hope for at least one panel of Magneto looking flabbergasted at Liz' dislike of her current situation.

If that's what Magneto's going to be up to, as opposed to, say, trying to attack the Triskelion after the damage it sustained during Norman Osborn's most recent escape. Per Ultimate X-Men, one of his followers (Mastermind?) is stuck there, posing as him, and maybe Magneto wouldn't see any reason to leave him stuck there any longer.

But I think it would be kind of nice to see a group of teenage heroes trying to take on what is presumably the greatest villain on Ultimate Earth these days. Remember, Dr. Doom is in the Zombieverse, Osborn's dead (still a little surprised over that ending), Fury is on trial in the Supreme Powerverse, Kingpin's under arrest, and Apocalypse hasn't done anything yet. Other than Magneto and maybe Ultimate Namor, the cupboards are a little bare for serious baddies in the Ultimate Universe. Hmm, maybe it's time for Shocker to up his game a little. There opening is there, if he could just stop losing so easily.

Anyway, I think the battle of those five teen heroes against the big bad would be fun, given the different powers involved, and with all the interpersonal relationships between the good guys. And perhaps Kong or Mary Jane (or both) could play some sort of pivotal role.

I really just want some sort of grand "dogpile on the villain" story, I think. It would be a nice change of pace for Spider-Man, since he's frequently outnumbered, or in the middle of some mess where there are dozen different people involved, and either they're all on separate teams, or they keep switching allegiances (I'm thinking of that fight with Spidey, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Elektra, Hammerhead, and the Black Cat, with the cops outside just waiting for somebody to shoot. That was a crazy fun fight, though). This time he'd actually have numbers on his side, and it wouldn't be seemingly incompetent SHIELD agents for once. Whoo!

Share And Share Alike

Once, long ago, I theorized about what Aunt May was really up to when she got all dressed up to 'get together with friends'. First off, I can't believe this has been getting strung out that long. It's been like 18 months, and we've finally met the guy! Sure, it's probably only been three weeks for them, but geez. Yeah, I know. Bendis. Right. Got it.

Second, and more importantly, is the speculation as to what the deal is with the boyfriend, this Miles Warren. There is a deal, you know. Those familiar with the original clone stories probably know the name as the secret identity of the Jackal, the jerk that started the whole clone thing in the first place. But then again, the original Ben Reilly was a clone of Peter Parker, while Ultimate Ben Reilly was a colleague of Curt Conners' (and the one that made off with what was left of the Carnage-thing, which probably makes him the Ultimate Universe's version of Warren), so names may not mean all that much. Besides, I think Bendis is pushing too hard for us to think that Warren is evil. He wants us to think Warren's call was about Osborn, hinting that Warren is involved with SHIELD or something, but I'm not buying it. It's too pat. So what do we know?

He's a doctor of some sort. We know he says he has a patient acting up. He has a sporty red car. And we know he wears dark glasses indoors. From this, I have concluded he is *drum roll* Charles McNider, the original Dr. Mid-Nite.

McNider was a doctor, and he couldn't see in normally lit conditions. That's why Warren wears dark glasses indoors, to allow him to see, but go out in public normally more readily than his special visor would. The glasses aren't as effective as the visor though, which is why May has the lights dimmed a bit from what I could tell.

What? More romantic that way? Fah! It's for his benefit, probably because he complained of "migraines". A man's got to protect his secrets, you know.

What's he doing here? Well, he's getting new lease on life, after Extant so cruelly extinguished it in Zero Hour. By the sound of it, he may have decided to change specializations, shifting to psychiatry rather than medicine. Well, the Ultimate Universe was supposed to be a chance for a fresh start, so I suppose that's fine. Also, I figure he's what DC gave in return for my donation of Uncle Ben to the Green Lantern Corps. I think that's a good deal on both sides, myself.

It Would Be Par For The Course For Peter

Thought: Norman Osborn said that the Oz formula is constantly evolving inside him. That he's changing and growing in new ways. Since Peter was also exposed to the Oz formula, does that mean we should expect to see him evolving as well?

There is another precedent for it, in the form of Doctor Octopus. Octavius was initially able only to control the arms that he was wearing when they injected Norman with the Oz, and things went to hell. Later, he's been able to call those arms to him from a distance, and and now he can seemingly form new arms out of any spare metal that seems to be laying around. If this is the result of the formula, and Norman's rantings in this issue suggest it is, then Octavius is evolving as well.

So where does that leave Peter? He's had the formula in his bloodstream, as far as we know, longer than either of them. He hasn't shown any changes since then. No organic web-shooters. No sprouting four more arms, or transforming into the Man-Spider. However, if his clones are any indication, the genetic potential for all those changes and more are there. So should we expect Peter to start getting a little freakier, or is the formula in his body stabilized, as a result of being transmitted through another organism? As far as I know, Norman just took an injection of the formula directly, Octavius was likely the same, but Peter received it from the spider that bit him. So maybe that makes a difference. I guess we'll see.

It's The Oddest Thing

So as you might recall, I dropped Amazing Spider-Man after last month's beatdown on Kingpin. I concluded that the Spidey books in the main Marvel U. were just too grim for me, and I'd stick to ones that were a little more upbeat/hopeful when it's all said and done, Amazing Spider-Girl and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Then I stopped and thought, Ultimate Spider-Man, upbeat and/or hopeful? That can't be right. But then I started thinking about the Clone Saga story, and what's come since, and it really does seem like Peter Parker's life is pretty good.

His Aunt May did have a heart attack, but she's doing better now. She knows he's Spider-Man, so he doesn't have to sneak around behind her back, and even though she isn't thrilled about his using violence to solve problems, she's trying to adjust, and she still loves him.

MJ did get turned into a weird monster-thing by a Peter clone, but she's better now (as far as Peter knows), and the people who helped her were Reed Richards and Dr. Storm, and they helped because Peter and MJ are friends of Johnny's and he wanted to help. Not only that, they got May to the hospital and stuck up for Peter when Fury came around being his usual pain-in-the-ass self. Not only that, MJ stood up to Fury, and made him do a little thinking about how much trouble he makes for Peter, given how hard Peter tries to help people.

And wonder of wonders, it actually seems to have sunk in a little. Sure, Fury's admitted in the past that he's looking forward to when Peter's 18, and working for Nick in the Ultimates (though, if Millar has made the Ultimates free agents in a sense, would that still be true? I guess it depends on whether Peter knows the Ultimates aren't run by the government anymore.). But this time Nick actually admitted how impressed he is that Peter's held up in light of the absolutely insane amount of stuff that's been dumped on his head in the last year or so, and he recognized that throwing Peter in jail for things he had nothing to do with would be really stupid, so he backed off. Of course, he's still got his scientists fooling around with Scorpion-Peter and Gwen/Carnage-Clone, but it's Nick Fury. Baby steps.

And Peter had Kitty, who cared enough to basically force the rest of the X-Men to get in their supercool jet and haul butt over to Queens to help him. And then was going to have the Professor wipe Peter being Spider-Man from May's memory, because she was sure that's what Peter wanted. That wound up not being true anymore, but it had been previously, and she wanted to help Peter enough to demand it.

And after his impassioned plea to not kill Fisk's wife, I'm betting Daredevil has a bit more respect for the kid he's given so much grief to in the past.

It's just odd to realize that in spite of all the garbage he has to deal with, Peter Parker does has family, he has friends, both tights-wearing and non-tights-wearing, he has the respect of most of the superhero community (excluding Wolverine and probably some of the Ultimates, but Wolverine is a jerk, and the Ultimates are all asses, so who cares what they think?). He has a really good support network, and I think he even recognizes that sometimes, which is nice.

Where's Geldoff?

You may not remember Geldoff; he was in Ultimate Spider-Man about 70 issues ago. He was a Latverian high school kid, with the power to make stuff blow up by looking at it (and concentrating). Spidey tried to rein him in, which led to his first meeting with the X-Men, and us learning Kitty had a crush on Spidey and so on. So it seems to be a pretty important arc in Ultimate Spidey continuity, but one very important piece seems to have been lost.

At the end of the arc we learned that Geldoff has been subjected to gene manipulation while still in his mother's womb, and that's how he got his powers. Xavier seemed troubled by it, which probably meant he was going to alert Fury.

And that was the last we heard of it. No follow up. Fury hasn't ever mentioned looking into it, Kitty's never mentioned to Peter (that we've seen) anything about the X-Men investigating on their own. My best guess is that Bendis was thinking about Ultimate Doom being behind it, but the way Millar set up Doom and the Fantastic Four's Ultimate origins precluded it. So he's just dropped it. That's too bad. It seemed like it might have been an interesting avenue to be explored. It's not really viable for Spidey, he's still just a teenager, and international intrigue is still a bit out of his depth. But for the Ultimates? Yeah, I can see them deciding nobody else should have genetically manipulated people but them and their allies, and trying to kick down some doors in an Eastern European nation.

Mistake Or Mistruth

To put it simply, Kitty's stated reason for leaving Xavier's school in Ultimate Spider-Man doesn't jive with the events as we saw them in Ultimate X-Men. In USM, Kitty says the school was getting crowded, and Xavier was displeased with her for demanding he wipe Aunt May's mind of "Peter is Spider-Man" knowledge, so she transferred. In UXM, we've seen that Kitty's been thinking about leaving for at least a couple of issues (spanning a few days), and that Xavier's death has made her realize that being in life-or-death struggles for mutants isn't really what she wants. She came to Xavier's to learn control of her powers, she can control them, so she's leaving.

Sadly, my first feeling on reading Kitty's explanation in USM was disappointment. I thought, 'Darn it Bendis, Kitty just explained her reasons in Ultimate X-Men last month! Pay attention!' I know most of the books in the Ultimate Universe just do as they please, which is probably a good thing, since I wouldn't want other writers to have to pay attention to Ultimates. But I kind of liked that USM and UXM seemed to at least keep in touch. So, a seeming continuity gaffe was disheartening.

Then I thought about it a little more. Does Peter know Xavier is dead? He wasn't at the funeral, and given the hectic pace of his life, it's possible he's missed the news broadcasts about it. So, perhaps Kitty's not being totally straightforward with Peter. It could be payback for Peter going back to MJ, but that doesn't really seem to fit. So why?

In USM, the last time we see Kitty and Xavier interact, Kitty's telling Xavier she hates him because he won't go to bat for her, because taking people's memories is wrong (though I could swear Xavier has done that kind of stuff to people before. They were evil people I suppose, so that makes it okay, maybe?). So I figure that it was shortly after that disagreement when Xavier bites the dust (pending current events in Ultimate X-Men). So Kitty feels guilty. Things between the two of them didn't end on a positive note, and now she's feeling remorse over that. So she changes the story to where she left, but Xavier is still alive, which means they could patch things up again someday down the line.

Personally, I'd much rather go with that line of thinking, rather than "once again Marvel books can't keep their stories straight", so I will. Good for me.

Time To Don The Man Pants

Mallet already mentioned this in his random thoughts for 3/28, but I wanted to discuss what I thought was a really nice scene near the end of Ultimate Spider-Man #107. I'm referring to Spidey standing up to Daredevil's little group and definitively stating they will not kill the Kingpin.

That seems like an important step for Peter. Too often, he's intimidated and freaked out by what's going on around him, which is understandable to a certain extent. He keeps getting in the middle of weird stuff, which is also usually life-threatening, and that can leave you feeling uncertain, making you easily mainpulated by someone who seems to understand the score. Whether it's Nick Fury, the Black Cat, the Kingpin (working through Jean DeWolff), whomever, Peter spends a lot of time jumping through hoops for other's benefit. Now he's put his foot down and said "Forget it, we aren't doing that. I'm on board with stopping the Kingpin, but we'll do it the right way, I don't care if you think it's a naive way of viewing things."

It shows the growth he's made as a person because in the past Peter has responded to the Kingpin by acting rashly, trying the violence route. Early on, he thought he'd bring Fisk down, so he sneaks into Fisk's penthouse to get some dirt on him, without bothering to do his homework about the building first. Result, he gets beaten, fried, unmasked, and dumped out a window. When Fisk started backing that political candidate on the anti-Spidey platform, Peter tried swinging right over and attacking the Kingpin in the middle of a gala party. Result, Peter goes SPLAT! on Fisk's nice shatter-proof glass, providing amusement for the patrons, as he slides down the window. And there's the whole thing with DeWolff being in Fisk's pocket, and getting Spidey to go after both Hammerhead and the Kangaroo. Spider-Man certainly has reasons for wanting Wilson Fisk's head, but he's not going to resort to killing, and even though his threat was to snitch them out to Fury, he won't let the other guys do it either. He wants to bring Fisk down the right way, get the information on his illegal dealings, disrupt them, try to make Kingpin nervous and reckless, so that he can be easily caught.

I think this is an inevitable consequence of all the crap that resulted from the Ultimate Clone Saga, and Peter finding out that all that was due to the machinations of one Doctor Octavius. When you find out that this one evil fellow has been jerking you around for months, it probably spurs a desire to assert yourself a little more, to minimize the potential for that happening in the future. We saw it when he not only got his job back from Jonah (though that was somewhat a compassion move by Jameson), but negotiated more hours and a small bump in his salary. He didn't back down, but stood there, and politely explained the situation to someone who frequently intimidated him in the past, and it worked out.

It would have been nice if this had newfound confidence/independence had lead to Peter talking things out with Kitty a little sooner. But he is still a kid, regardless of how many times he's been through the wringer, and matters of the heart aren't easy no matter how old you get, I suppose. And he did try to sort things out with her this issue, so that's something at least.

Forging A New Path

There has been some criticism of Marvel's Ultimate line as simply rehashing stories from the original Marvel Universe, or giving them a minor tweak or update. And I'd say there's validity to this. I mean, did we really need another Clone Saga?

But I think the writers are aware of this, and I think that Bendis in particular may be getting ready to go a different way.

I believe that Aunt May is not going to survive the Clone Saga. Now by itself, that's not new. Marvel Aunt May died during the last Clone mess, but Peter at that point was an adult, married, living on his own. May was a loved one, someone he could turn to for advice when he felt lost, but he wasn't dependent on her.

Ultimate Peter is still a sophomore in high school. Smart as he may be, he can't live on his own. So I guess it's fortunate for him that his father is back. I'm thinking right now that Richard Parker is going to help Nick Fury, in return Fury uses his influence to get Richard loose from Gyrich and his government super soldier program. This would enable Richard to reenter his life, and resume his duties as Peter's father.

In that scenario, Pete's living with a parent who knows he's Spider-Man. In addition, he's living with someone he hasn't seen in years, that he thought was dead. It's going to lead to some difficulty in the two of them reconnecting. Plus, Peter probably won't like yet another tie to Fury, and Richard may want Peter to stop the webslinging and focus on school. After all, he's going to have to sign up with Fury's group when he hits 18, he might as well enjoy what time he has (to be fair, Fury advised him to do the same thing, so I guess Nick isn't all bad).

Peter's should have some problems with the fact his father seems to be involved in the appearance of GwenCarnage, or whatever the hell that thing is. And, I think that Richard would want to do some testing on Peter, which given what happened when he let Curt Conners do that, is probably a request Peter would refuse, which leads to more friction.

"But you let that other scientist, that Curt Conners, experiment on your blood! Why not me?! I'm your FATHER! Why won't you let me in, let me love you?!"

Uh...

That might be too emo, even for Ultimate Spider-Man.

My Obliviousness and Bendis' Treachery

Of the former, I ask this: Why would Sisyphus keep pushing the damn stone up the hill? He knows it's just going to roll back down as soon as he reaches the top. And he was already in the Underworld so what could they do, kill him? Sure, they could pull a "Prometheus Special" on him, and have vultures rip out his intestines every day, but at least then the horrible pain he's feeling is being caused by someone else. It seems like it would beat the spine-cracking agony you subject yourself to by pushing a boulder up a hill all day, every day.

Or maybe I'm underestimating Hades' punishment capabilities. He might be taking lessons from Garth Ennis in "Creative Pain Disbursement", at which point I'd say, go with the rock.

The things that occur to you when looking at a poster detailing what won the 1997 Nobel Prize Award for Physics.

As to the latter, I remember my freak out over Seward Trainer being name-dropped as the fellow Aunt May was staying out all night with in Ultimate Spider-Man. You might remember it, I was pleading with Bendis not to go there, "there" being the Clone Saga. Obviously he ignored that, but so far no Seward Trainer.

I'm beginning to think Bendis name dropped Dr. Trainer just to send those of us familiar with the Clone Saga into a panic. It dredges up all kinds of unpleasant memories: The lady Dr. Octopus, Ben Reilly in that stupid Spider-Man outfit (which as someone said, works much better on Spider-Girl. Why it does, I can't figure), Peter without powers trying to snoop around on Trainer, and so on.

But up to this point, he doesn't appear to be a factor. That would play into what BMB appears to be trying: take out all the extraneous crap the original '90s Clone Saga gathered over the two years it was going on, and just stick to a simple story about lots and lots of Peter Parkers, if such a thing can be simple.

As for how well it all winds up working, well, the jury is still out, with a couple of issues to go. The reappearance of his supposedly dead father does not bode well.

Wacky or Relevant?

That's the topic for today. With the release of Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2, I want to know how you like your annuals (if you even care about such things).

Do you want your annuals to be a part of the larger goings-on in the character's life, a continuation of what they're dealing with in the monthly title?

Do you prefer them to be an opportunity for the writer to put things in motion for later development, which is how Bendis seems to be using them. Heaven knows he couldn't speed up some of his arcs so that he could use an actual issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to set up the idea of Daredevil trying to organize the street vigilantes against the Kingpin. And maybe you prefer that he does it this way. I'm not against it. I liked this annual, and the one last year that established the Spidey/Shadowcat relationship. But it does feel like a bit of an excuse to rush that plot point in, without as much set-up.

Or do you prefer your annuals to just be completely wacky, random crap that won't be in continuity or have any lasting repercussions? Kind of like those Avengers annuals where everyone dies, but at the end they all get better.

I suppose for me it depends on a couple of factors. If the Annual costs more than a standard monthly issue, I wouldn't want it to be relevant to the monthly storyline, because I might not be able to afford it, and so I'd miss out. But the Ultimate line seems to be making annuals the same price as monthly issues, so that's not a factor.

To me, Annuals are probably best served to let a writer get some crazy out of his system, a story that wouldn't really fit in the normal tone of the book. For example, that two part story in Ultimate Spidey where Spider-Man and Wolverine got switched into each others' bodies? Yeah, that should have been an annual.

And off topic, just how much of an expletive deleted is Jean Grey for doing that? "Oh Wolverine had an erotic thought about me! I'll switch his brain with someone he'd hate to be, to teach him a lesson!" That's great Jean, but what about the person who gets stuck in Logan's body? In case you've forgotten, people regularly try to kill that hairy, drunken letch. Cripes, Jean must be taking lessons from Silver Age Superman or something. OK, off-topicness over.

Actually, I think that's all I got. So how do you prefer your annuals?