|
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #13 (Best of the Week!)
"Confessions"
Highly Recommended (10/10)
|
Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: JC
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
This is either the end of the second story arc or the pause between the second and third, depending on how you look at it. It also marks a milestone of sorts in the Spider-Man story. More importantly, it continues the best part of this title, the examination of Peter Parker as a teenager first, and a super-hero second, and if you haven't been reading Ultimate Spider-Man but have been wanting to give it a
try, you could definitely do worse than to pick up this standalone issue. As a
bonus, you'd happen to be reading one of the best stories the book has offered
up so far.
Bendis has created in the Ultimate titles a
Peter Parker who is so believable and endearing that he might even be better
than the original. He's certainly more realistic, as a result of the
sophistication of modern comics relative to the Silver Age in which the
character was birthed. And so this issue, which really doesn't rely much on the
costume but more on Peter and his relationships, reads less like a super-hero
book and more like an episode of a television teen comedy/drama. Although it has
better writing, and much better cinematography, than most.
The cinematography comes as a result of the
much-criticized but always solid Mark Bagley, who does some incredible work with
camera angles in this issue. Close-ups, rotating shots, a constantly moving
frame of reference helps to keep what is essentially a talking heads story
interesting. As always, he manages to convey that though being Spider-Man is a
responsibility, having those powers would be incredibly cool and fun for a
teenager. When you see Peter using the powers, especially out of costume, you
get a sense that this is fun, and that's part of what makes the comic book so
much fun.
Another part of that is Bendis's always
amusing dialogue. He's given us many lines over the past storyline that are good
for a few laughs, including the "Find this Carson Daly and destroy him" and the
tirade of fat jokes at the Kingpin's expense. This issue the dialogue
effectively conveys the relationship between Peter, one of his friends and his
family, and as a side bonus, helps to explain another of those big questions
that folks have always asked about Spider-Man and the way he operates.
It's really hard to write the review of
this issue without spoiling anything, but I do have to mention one specific
thing. I've always disliked the Aunt May character, with her compulsive worrying
and frail state, and this issue once again reinforces what I like about Bendis's
take. She's a real person, a strong parental figure, and she's actually allowed
to be annoying at times, just like a real parent would be to a teenager.
This is an important story for Peter
Parker, and it's told extremely well. It might be my favorite issue of the title
so far, and it's certainly one of the best super-hero comics I'll read all
year.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
