by Randy Lander

ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP #6 Highly Recommended (9/10) Marvel Comics Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Pencils: Bill Sienkiewicz Colors: JC Letters: Comicraft Editor: Ralph Macchio Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN Now that's what I'm talking about. While I enjoyed the Iron Man story in the last two issues, this is shaping up to be the best of the Ultimate Marvel Team-Up stories so far, as it plays directly into the strengths of the creative teams. This is a gritty crime drama, a more serious look at Punisher than the one Ennis and Dillon are currently giving us and a nice subtle tweaking of his origin, just like the one we got for Iron Man and Tony Stark. Also, the mood and style of the artwork is similar to the work that Ashley Wood did for Bendis on Hellspawn, only Sienkiewicz's storytelling fundamentals are much sharper. This hearkens back to Bendis's early phenomenal crime work on Jinx and Goldfish, and should be a treat for his long-time fans as well as fans of the Punisher. I really enjoyed the viewpoint of the criminals in the prison, talking about getting away with things and how they view the world. It's amazing how Bendis manages to make their dialogue come across as a couple of fairly regular guys talking, even when what they're discussing is reprehensible and definitely not "regular" behavior. It also makes for a nice build-up to our intro of the Punisher, where his psychotic behavior seems justified at least, heroic at best. There's a sense of horror and brutality that really works in the context of the prison setting, and that's down to the work of Bill Sienkiewicz and the colors of JC. Reaction shots from the crowd, the slow build of the Punisher's anger and a simple image of a bloody spoon really gives a feel for how ruthless and effective Frank Castle is, and Sienkiewicz is equally good with the tension that comes when Frank talks to his psychologist. Just as with Iron Man and Tony Stark, the Ultimate Punisher has been tweaked ever so slightly. Rather than tying him to a 30-year-old war, he is now simply an ex-cop, which makes his prowess a little less believable but also gives him a different background that shifts the way his worldview was formed. My only problem with this issue, and it's one that seems to recur in a lot of the team-up issues, is that this isn't really a team-up. Bendis is pulling double duty on this title, introducing ultimate versions of characters and also teaming them up with Spider-Man, and this particular issue features exactly one appearance of Spider-Man that seems a bit forced and brief. I wonder if perhaps this title would have been served better as Ultimate Showcase or something of that nature, letting Bendis play around in the Ultimate universe without having to work Spider-Man into every single story. Email Randy Lander comments about this review.