I never see it coming. Ever. I mean, with Bendis, you think he's going one way, you think he's going to zig, and then he zags. And suddenly the story is off in a completely new direction, true to Spider-Man's roots but really updated for modern times. This is a tough book to review, because I don't want to give away the surprises, so all I'll say in specific is that this has taken its place as one of my favorite Ultimate Spider-Man issues, and has pushed what was already one of the best stories in the book in my mind to maybe the best story in the book so far. If you really want to do yourself a favor, don't even read the review and try to guess what I'm talking about, just take my word for it that this is a great issue and read the review after you've read the issue.
The last couple of issues of this book have been relentless in the realism of what Peter would have to go through as a teenage vigilante. Accused of crimes because of some guy running around in his costume, having to deal with a gunshot wound from zealous cops, leaning harder and harder on his girlfriend because she's the only one who knows his secret, the pressure building has been made very clear. What I didn't expect is the direction the story goes this issue, a nice nod to one of the classic Spider-Man stories in terms of what it accomplishes for the characters but with different circumstances.
Mind you, there's still an element of the complications that Peter has to deal with in this issue. His difficulties at school and surprise visit from another Ultimate book was a clever way to deal with his illness, making it a temporary problem rather than one that would linger too long, and I'm really liking the strange friendship/jealousy dynamic that has developed between Gwen, Mary Jane and Peter.
Bagley does a solid job as always, with terrific action storytelling and nice work in conveying emotions as well. I was particularly impressed that he managed to make Peter look sick, like he's feeling a bit weak, which is not an easy thing to do in a subtle fashion. In addition, he has always had a capacity for displaying the heartbroken reaction to tragic circumstances, and he does that here as well.
As I said earlier, it's hard to really describe what made me like this issue so much without spoiling it. But I was shocked by the turn of events, and the cliffhanger ending that results has me anxious to see the next issue.
