Honestly? This is the kind of book I wasn't sure Bendis could write, the big widescreen action book that feels very much like the adrenaline ride that is The Ultimates. What's really impressive to me about this issue, though, is how easily Bendis and company transition Peter Parker into the world of The Ultimates, and manage to make it feel like none of the characters are entirely out of place, despite the fact that the two books have completely different tones. I'm getting a huge kick out of seeing a Spider-Man/Avengers team-up that is completely different, and Ultimate Six not only highlights what works about the Ultimate universe, it's a good example of what makes it different, all the while giving off that cool "Spider-Man meets the Avengers for the first time" vibe.
The Sinister Six have a certain cache with me. Despite the dorky names like Doctor Octopus or Green Goblin or Electro or the spandex costumes, I grew up with these guys and I can see them as dangerous bad guys. However, while their style may be a bit more generic in the Ultimate universe (honestly, I miss the costumes) these guys come across as about ten times more dangerous in their presentation here. The gathering of a bunch of Spider-Man villains isn't just a danger to him, it's a danger to the world, and the opening scenes, full of carnage and a sort of red alert status, make that loud and clear. When we see that Fury, who has been the epitome of cool, is upset and surprised by what's going on, we know that the shit just hit the fan.
It doesn't hurt that Hairsine and Miki deliver some just drop-dead gorgeous artwork here. There seems to be a much tighter, more photo-real look to the faces than I saw in the first two issues of Ultimate Six, and it's matched by a level of spectacle that puts it right up there with Bryan Hitch's work on The Ultimates. Hairsine uses a lot of double-page and full-page splashes, a lot of big panels, and while this can seem like a cheat for an artist, in this case it looks like more work, and has more effect. The double-page splash of the Ultimates being called in speaks volumes about the urgency of the thing, and the trashed complex that the bad guys left behind them also says a lot. I also love the impressive look that Hairsine gives the Trikelion when Peter Parker first sees it, or the impressed look that Peter has on his face.
Much as I enjoyed the setting of the scene and the impressive spectacle of the first half of the book, though, what really won me over was Bendis bringing Spider-Man more fully into the mix here. I've been a fan of the sort of foster father relationship that Nick Fury has developed with Peter Parker, and I love how Peter, a high school kid, has to keep dealing with these black ops agencies coming to him for help. Bendis just takes the absurdity of it and runs with it, and the dialogue between Quartermain and Peter is priceless. In addition, the introduction of Spider-Man to the Ultimates was just perfect, indicating what a jump between worlds Peter has just made. Fury's willingness to help Peter out with his secret identity troubles and his off-hand dismissal of any snobbery from the Ultimates, shows a certain level of respect that I enjoyed.
Originally, I had thought that a crossover between the Ultimate titles, especially Ultimate Spider-Man and one of the others, was a bad idea, because they seemed to take place in totally different universes. As it turns out, though, as long as the crossover is handled by one of the architects of the Ultimate books (and that means Mark Millar and/or Brian Bendis, in my book) and features top-notch art talent, it seems that this kind of thing can work.
