[LIGHT SPOILERS FOR ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 to 6]
It’s been six months since the first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man came out, and now here we are with #6, the end of the first arc. It’s been such a sensational journey from beginning to end and seeing how things got played around with. I thought it’d be more interesting to look at the arc as a whole rather than just #6, whether it fares up to what I said in my review for #1 (which might read as hyperbole, but I still do stand by as genuine) and what it means going forward.
Honestly, what I feel about issue #1, I truly do feel for the arc as a whole. There’s a lot of criticism online about the pacing of the book, and while I understand where they’re coming from, I cannot help but disagree. The truth is, this isn’t Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checcetto, Matt Wilson, David Messina and co, it’s Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matt Wilson, David Messina and co’s Spider-Man. What that means is – it feels like a Hickman and Checchetto (and co.) book first and foremost, and that very much includes Hickman’s pacing. Sure, you can make the argument that Fantastic Four, Avengers, even House of X/Powers of X do have action sprinkled in between, but all of these (and his other Marvel work) are committed to first setting everything up, and then paying them off in small increments throughout. If you’re a patient reader, you’ll be fine, but for others, I think this book might be better read as a binge.
That’s where the whole arc comes into play also – it’s as much setting up the pieces as it is setting up our protagonist, the stakes, and the world. At the very center of it all, it’s about Peter growing into being Spider-Man, a journey that ends with the final panel of #6. That last page, and that last panel specifically, works really well because of how much time they take establishing everything, and I do feel like now that everything has been set up, they’ll finally kick into high gear and push the pedal harder going forward.
One of the coolest things about this book is truly the technical aspect of it. As I reread the whole arc, it is so cool how not a single panel is wasted. Everything is relevant, whether it be to set up a scene, or a conversation beat that will pay off later, sometimes just through pure visuals too! This book really allows the artists to tell a layered story on top of a very dense narrated story, and I think that rocks.
Speaking to that, initially I thought the opening pages (and in the case of #5, the last page) were just to show off random spots in New York, but upon further inspection, to me it seems like they’re indicative of a bigger story.
- Issue #1’s opening panels shows the island of Manhattan from a distance, followed by an overhead shot of the Parkers’ building. To us, at this point, the shot of the residence means nothing, similar to how even as we see Peter in the third panel, it means nothing, at this point, he’s just another guy in New York.
- Issue #2’s opening shows off two iconic New York City landmarks – the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, before showing us New York’s latest landmark, their newest hero, the man in black. It’s a layering that builds upon further as the issue progresses, where Peter is very much the distraction framed as the big story, while the real story, that of the Green Goblin, lies in the shadows.
- Issue #3’s has a bridge and a building in construction – which to me signifies that a relationship has strengthened, that of Peter and May’s now that she knows he’s Spider-Man, while one still is a work in progress – that being the fact that Peter has yet to tell MJ and Richard. It also doubles as foreshadowing, since the construction site is where the fight of the issue happens.
- Issue #4’s is that of the moon and a fancy place, with our primary couple, Peter and MJ in the third panel. They seem nervous, and you can very much tell that it’s a date.
- Issue #5’s is at the end, and while it doesn’t have the wide shots and is instead all panels of Harry talking, it very much follows that same structure of saying something – in this case it being what Harry’s state of mind is.
- Issue #6’s is a mix of #1 and #2’s with the Flatiron building – another famous Manhattan landmark, as well as the building the Parkers live in, while the third panel shows MJ, May, and Richard shocked to see Peter – it’s showing us that the two worlds are going to finally collide into one (and they do!)
The other fun, purely visual tidbits are mostly in issue #1, but they are interesting. Page 2 for example is a great silent way of showing us what kind of person Peter is without saying a word – with him wearing the slightly oversized clothes, the family pictures, the ring. The wall in Ben’s office tells us his position in the Bugle, while also teasing the existence of Roxxon and Mysterio as a hero if you look closely. The Mysterio beat is really interesting as they say he’s a hero, but given what we know of him being in the Sinister Six, how the media is corrupt, and Mysterio’s general shtick of being a con-man, we have an idea of how that goes. Peter returning the tie to Jonah without saying a word. The Green Goblin having “OSBSTRK” on his shoulder, telling us that Osborn Industries and StarkStane has merged into one without literally telling us. The look into May and Richard’s rooms – the former showing us that she’s really into drawing, the latter showing us that he’s not just into books, but also into space and astronauts. The final shot of the issue having Peter stand over a city, while still being towered by buildings taller than him, is an indicator that he still hasn’t reached his peak yet and that he’s just getting started.
Issue #3 has the big splash of May holding onto Peter as they swing together, perfectly summarizing the stakes and status quo of this universe’s Spider-Man in one image. Issue #5 has that neat beat where we aren’t told that Peter and Harry went to “A Bar with No Name”, but if you remember the imagery from issue #1, it absolutely is the same place. There’s also the beat of Harry finding out about Bullseye having the exoskeleton as revealed by the tattoos on his skin in #5, which then we see on Kingpin in #6, but we don’t during the flashback in #5, telling us that it’s a new addition.
Even so, this book is a really good marriage of narrative and visual storytelling in terms of structure. As I said before, every panel matters, but so does every page. There’s a lot of 9 panel grids – especially in issue #4, and they’re all well executed. Issue #4 specifically is such a good usage of it, as we get perspectives from Peter, MJ, Harry, and Gwen on matters related to one another, the central point of which is always expressed in the middle panel of those pages. I recently stated that Amazing Spider-Man #50 plays with the medium really well, but Ultimate Spider-Man as a whole is the most interestingly a Spider-Man comic has played with comics technology in a very long time, and I find that excellent.
On a storytelling level, this book is spectacular. Once again, I absolutely adore that they took a whole first arc to build the character up. It’s reminiscent of the original Ultimate Spider-Man (by Bendis/Bagely) in that regard, but also in a time when decompressed storytelling does sometimes feel like spinning wheels for no reason, this Ultimate Spider-Man absolutely earns its keep, fleshing out every aspect of the narrative while setting up threads – whether directly or thematically in great fashion.
Thematically, the book has yet to waver too. What started as a book very much about oppressive systems where everything is used to control the common folk and how we need to actively be resistant is a book that is still about those things – about how being a hero isn’t just something you are, it’s something you actively need to do. Even if you’re not ready for it, you need to keep trying, you need to keep fighting, and I think it’s great that this book keeps doing that. There’s a good beat in issue #1 where we find out Richard is reading A Tale of Two Cities – a book that’s about revolution – the difference between those who hold power, the oppressors, and the oppressed, the common folk.
The metacommentary on superhero comics isn’t very subtle either. The one that’s been on my mind is the one from issue #4, where Gwen talks about sanitized, corporate stories that miss the point and purpose of the “masked man” or “hero” in this instance. On a purely narrative level it’s about journalism, and this book also is very much about how journalism is an oppressive system too that dictates what people should believe in (and Hickman dives deep into that in his first comic book – The Nightly News).
The characterization is also excellent. Yes, these are characters that we know and love, but they’re different in some ways. I love how Peter’s optimism is to a fault – to the point where it screws him over multiple times, and I also love how in subtle ways we see that in Ben too. Harry’s inner conflict of trying to be a hero, but also trying to grapple with what it means to be an Osborn. MJ being confident but also supportive of Peter, while also being able to get a good read on him at all times. Gwen evoking her Lee/Dikto era characterization by being assertive and cutthroat, practically wearing the pants in her marriage to Harry.
The dynamics between the characters are also so much fun. Peter and MJ are just as loving, understanding and flirty as they are when they’re written the best they can be. Peter and Harry have a good cop-bad cop routine (especially in issue #6). Jonah’s loud when Ben is more quiet, and also more of a realist while Ben is an optimist. It feels so much like classic Spider-Man in the best of ways, but also feeling different due to the status quo, and I love how they walk that tightrope perfectly.
The “month” gaps in every issue also really plays to its benefit. When I spoke to Deniz Camp about this, he said, “So it is very much more believable to me that these characters could be, let’s say growing as superheroes, you know, they’re all pretty new to this, and so their skills can be growing in their background, their feelings can be changing and it’s kind of believable because they have these whole lives that are going on between panels and between issues,” and that’s something that Ultimate Spider-Man absolutely uses to its benefit. A lot of the minor beats that are just “set dressing” are left to the background – frankly we don’t need to see a new Peter Parker’s training arc beyond the broad strokes, we’ve seen it all before, and Hickman and co. are very aware of this, so instead of wasting our time, they utilize the page space meaningfully.
But yes, it absolutely rules. I love that whole issues are dedicated to every step in being Spider-Man. The bite, learning the ropes, getting the costume, understanding what it truly means to be a hero, and then finally (after the interlude where we get an understanding of Harry), earning the name. It’s very cool that our protagonists and key antagonist (the Kingpin) all basically started at around the same time, but they all operated on different levels, with Peter still lagging behind, just how he kind of feels as someone who reclaimed a life he was supposed to live 20 years ago.
If you haven’t read Ultimate Spider-Man, once again, I truly do believe that you’re sleeping on not only the best Spider-Man book in a very, very long time, but also the best solo superhero book on shelves that isn’t Detective Comics from DC Comics. It’s a love letter in many regards, but also a Spider-Man book about something that feels like Spider-Man books should have been about, but weren’t necessarily until now. Read this book!
