Ultimate Spider-Man #124

Hih? Wait, so go back. Can someone tell me where the "now" is in this book?The first page is "Several Weeks Ago." The next spread is "Months Ago," the next fifteen pages are "The Next Day" (still months ago) and the following three pages are "The Next Day" after that. And then the last page goes back to wrap up what happened "Several Weeks Ago." So we have an entire issue that is set in different time frames of the past. And I'm not sure that the time-frame story of the first and last pages have anything to do with everything in the middle unless it turns out that Silver Sable is working for Roxxon.

But this is not to say that I didn't enjoy this issue, nor that it is non-sensical in a time-frame sense. It's just a bit of a warping of and flexing or stretching of the usual comic-book convention of flashbacks and honestly would you expect Bendis to not do something like that in one of the best comic book titles ever? (That last sentence just gave me a headache, so skip if if you want.) The point is that sometimes it feels like Bendis is using this title as a Writing Assignment, but he does it so well and brings so much character development to the table that it never bothers me.

Spidey's quips with Beetle (or, The Wiggle) were great. The spider-fly chase thing was a lot of fun. Besides the fact that he's a villain (and he attacked Pete), I really kind of liked The Beetle and felt sorry for him in a way. Here's this annoying kid trying to make friendly while totally wrecking his play. Plus which, if he's messing with Roxxon, he can't be all bad. Uh, who is this based on, I forget? Is there a Beetle villain in regular Marvel? I think so but I don't remember much about him.

Anyway, the heart of this book is really Pete and Mary Jane and this issue delivers on that front with two really well-done scenes where MJ is nagging Pete that he needs to go to a doctor. Oh, and the art continues to delight. It's really interesting that I don't miss Bagley at all. Immonen has managed to take over from a great artist that had basically imprinted himself onto this title, and made the transition nearly seamless while still establishing his own style . When is Ultimate Cloak & Dagger coming? I really want this now.