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ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #19
"Piece of Work"
Recommended (7/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.65 CAN |
This issue is a bit of a bump in the road for Ultimate Spider-Man
for me, I'm afraid, but that just means it was good instead of outright great.
I've come to sort of dislike Bendis and Bagley's take on Kraven, so his time on
the panels this issue left me a little cold. Fortunately, there's some great
development of the building Peter/Mary/Gwen triangle and more of the great
development of Justin Hammer and Doctor Octopus, and the story does seem to be
building nicely to a conclusion.
Honestly, I go back and forth
on my enjoyment of Bagley's artwork. There's definitely a distinctive design
from him on the various characters, but the stretched look of the faces and the
very thin design of most of the bodies is starting to grow distracting. In
addition, though the clear-cut panels make for very easy-to-follow storytelling,
it seems like it's been a while since we had a really exciting action scene or
big splash page. With that said, though, the interaction of the characters,
particularly the subtleties between Peter and Gwen and Mary, are carried off
better with Bagley's artwork than many artists would be capable of.
You remember how every Batman movie since the first one had two or more
villains, and so neither one really got the screen time they deserved? I'm
starting to feel the same way about this story arc, in which both Kraven and
Doctor Octopus have been reasonably cool, but neither of them really seem to get
enough time to develop. Given that Bendis has taken his time on most aspects of
this book, from the long wait to get Peter in the costume to the slow build of
the Peter/Mary relationship, I'm surprised that he's rushing the introduction of
two major bad guys. I have to admit to also being a bit annoyed that Kraven's
accent, a prominent feature when he first showed, has completely disappeared
from the book at this point. For that matter, Kraven seems to lack the majesty
that he always had, and maybe the lion's vest costume is as important to him as
the blue and red spandex is to Spider-Man.
For me, though, the selling
point of this book is less about the super-heroics and more about the teenagers.
I actually sometimes wonder if Bendis might do a book along the lines of Blue
Monday or The Waiting Place, but at this point, I'll settle for the very
believable and very entertaining look at Peter Parker's high school life. The
notion of a celebrity coming to school, and the various reactions, are a lot of
fun, for example. What really gets me, though, is the developing relationships
between Peter, Mary Jane and Gwen. Gwen's interest in Peter is a sweet side to a
somewhat tough girl, and the friction it's causing between Mary and Peter, while
unfortunate for them, is fascinating for the reader.
Also, Justin Hammer has always
been one of my favorite Iron Man villains, and I'm loving the take that Bendis
has on him in this book. While he's certainly dangerous and powerful, there's an
almost comical sense of him being out of his depth, and both Spider-Man and
Doctor Octopus have encounters with him this issue that show Hammer as not quite
sure how to deal with metahumans. The latter encounter, by the way, is a nifty
shocker of an ending, not at all what I expected from the confrontation.
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