ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #2

You’ve seen the new Spider-Man, now see what he does next!

Will Miles follow in the footsteps of Peter Parker or will he choose a different path?

Story by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Sara Pichelli
Cover by Kaare Andrews

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 8.2%

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blkassassin10610/02/11NoRead Review
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Avg Rating: 4.5
 
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Comments

  1. I loved the first issue of this. I thought it was a great retelling of the Spider-man mythos from the prospective of a different character. I am really looking forward to seeing how Bendis and Pichelli (amazing artist) continue to develope Miles’ world.

    I am a little worried that we aren’t going to see the custome for another few issues, but I did enjoy the character building from the last issue. Hopefully Miles will get a little more development here. I feel like I know his mum, dad and uncle, but I need a little more from Miles himself.

  2. This is good, hate that it double ships this month

    • Yes. God forbid we get two awesome comics in rapid succession. Curse our corporate overlords!

    • I hear you dogprod. Marvel’s double-shipping strategy does not help my wallet. It’s the reason I only get this and Daredevil and have dropped non-essential Marvel books.

    • The first issue was a week late also.

    • Do we know what the schedule for this book is? Is it a monthly and they’ve just screwed up the first few issues or is it on a bi-weekly schedule?

    • As far as i know i believe this is a double shippign title for the most part… which im pretty pissed about.

      I really enjoyed the first issue and although i want to continue with this its going to be hard to do at 4 bucks a book twice a month after my Dc additions to my pull list. Im hoping that this isnt the case and that it goes monthly after the first arc.

    • I’ve gotta say, I’m confused about the double shipping rage. Nobody seems to mind when X-Force ships 17 times in a month. For that matter, Ult. Spidey was practically bi-weekly back in the day! Bagley would draw an entire issue before Bendis even finished writing it!

      Plus, and this is important, you don’t have to buy it right when it comes out. If you really like the monthly schedule better, or if it’s lighter on your wallet, just wait two weeks and get it then. It’s not going anywhere. I don’t understand getting angry at Marvel for producing a product faster than expected.

      Whenceforth the rage, my friends?

    • I’ve never had to buy a duble shipped comic before. I tried to get into Amazing Spider-Man with Big Time and mt budget couldn’t handle the extra issue a month. I would have had to drop another book I love. Same with this, though I heard it may only double ship this month and then in December. So I may be able to do it.

  3. Double shipping is genius.

  4. The first issue sold out so I didn’t get it. So if this is at the store when I go I’ll be one issue off and might be lost.

  5. I really enjoyed issue #1…hope the great storytelling continues in issues #2.

  6. …already? awesome!

  7. Holy crap this was good! I find myself getting sucked into the story and these new characters! Also Sara Pichelli’s art is INSANELY good.

  8. I can’t imagine complaining about double shipping, UNLESS the storytelling suffers as a result: in this case, it ABSOLUTELY has not. I’d read a new issue of this every day, if the qualtity of this title continues.

  9. This, like issue one, was very underwhelming for me. I’ve preached of how awesome Bendis is when he writes, even telling people at the Shop to buy Brilliant simply based on Bendis and Bagley being the creative team. This just seems lazy compared to his other comics. I’m all for changes and I can cope with Pete dying, but at least replace it with a good story.

  10. Color me stupid, but I thought the story was 5-star all the way. Bendis is pulling all the emotion out of this child’s situation and I am completely taken. Miles’ tension with his Dad over his uncle’s past and his own (now undisclosed) powers is palpable. And the expressiveness of the artwork in some of these panels was incredibly effective in representing the character’s pathos. I’m loving this book … even if I’m not loving the price and shipping schedule so much.

  11. Yawn… This wreaks of Miguel Ohara (spiderman 2099)- a spiderman not named peter parker that nobody cared about.

    I just don’t see this series lasting more then a year, Sorry Bendis you effed up here.

  12. This is called storytelling, friends. There was no action in this book, yet I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Why? Because I have no idea where this is going. Spending all this time getting to know the characters only makes me care more, and leaves my teeth chattering for the inevitable tragedy that will lead Miles to become Spidey. More, every week, forever.

    • Agreed. When this book kicks it into high gear it is going to be something really special.

    • Agreed.

      Going on the comments here this seems to be polarising the readers. File me under: loved it.

      Special nod to Pichelli’s interiors. All the block color, half-tone backgrounds were ace.

    • i only kind of agree with you. 2 issues and we’ve only had talking. I dunno…i’m getting good backstory and stuff, but this is not exciting. Call me old school, but looking at those two covers i expect that character to appear sometime soon. I want a superhero adventure.

    • You know what, you’re not the only one who doesn’t know where this is going, lol. Bendis is attempting to force us to love Miles by making us read more about his personal life. We didn’t fall in love with Ultimate Peter Parker because of his name, we did it because over time he proved to be his own character. We never needed a half a six-issue introduction into his life.

      I think Bendis is screwing this one up big time.

    • This backstory could be sprinkled through the first few arcs and balanced with actual action. I thought the first issue was fine, but second issue i needed some action. Even if he’s just discovering his powers jumping around the neighborhood and having a very mundane local adventure….just a little something.

    • @Jonny I’m not sure I understand your point. The first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man started with a bunch of issues focused solely on Peter Parker’s personal life. We didn’t see the actual Spider-man costume until something like issue 4 or 5.

      This is par for the course, and like ten years ago, I think it’s excellent.

    • @ken–well using that logic (and you are correct sir) do you think just copying an old storytelling structure with a new charaacter a good or a bad thing?

      I read USM in collections and loved it…so i guess this decompression in issues is wayyy slooooowwwwwer.

    • As much as i have loved some of the new 52 books, i prefer this pace to a lot of the books i read from DC in september, and i get why they were paced that way, but think that the pay off will be much sweeter in UCS then most DC books.

      I think copying the structure of USM is a smart idea, you can already see that Bendis is using it to show how miles is different than Ultimate Peter. in this issue miles and his father have an uncle ben/peter great power great responsibility conversation that isn’t really about that, but about something that Miles’ father believes in, thats the wanting to do something better for someone else that will play into Miles becoming his own spider-man. And i think that will be a great thing about this series, that anyone can be a spider-man, but each person has a different version of what their spider-man would be about.

    • I totally understand why some folks are not into this style of storytelling. It’s not the standard pace of a superhero book, by a long shot. For my part, I’m usually the first guy complaining when a book goes for 2 issues without any action *coughInvincibleIronMancough*. This is different, though, and I’m not sure that I can really explain why. Maybe it’s Bendis’ ability to write insta-relatable characters, maybe it’s the fact that I don’t know where this is going, maybe it’s the heartfelt emotion in the words and pictures. I honestly don’t know, but it’s knocking my socks off.

    • @wally – I’m a subscriber to the concept that there are only a handful of plots out there in the world. I can’t come up with an example, but I’m confident that it’s been a VERY long time since anyone successfully invented a brand-new narrative structure. I mean, how many zillions of stories (especially in comics) are based on a Messiah myth, or the basic Hero’s Journey, or the Fish Out Of Water plot?

      The fact that these structures are rehashed over and over again in new settings with new characters is what makes them enduring……(here it comes)….when skillfully executed. I like the new USM setting (it feels like a different NYC), and I like the new characters (maybe it’s because I’m a middle-class white guy from the midwest, but I’m fascinated by Miles and his family/friends), and I think Bendis and Pichelli are really bringing the goods so far.

      So while I can see that some people might feel that Bendis is not executing to their standards, and I can’t argue with you if you just don’t care for Bendis’ pacing, I think it’s moving along nicely.

      I’m pretty sure Marvel is using this as an opportunity to make Ultimate Spidery a legacy character, so if that’s true then — love it or hate it — the similarities between Peter and Miles are to be expected and even welcomed.

    • @ken–yes yes i know..i think we were in the same high school AP lit class. haha

      thats the thing with this book…i enjoyed it on one level, but then was disappointed that we have no superheroes on another… and i hate the covers because they basically lie…..but i liked it overall, even though it made me frustrated… Am i neurotic? ha

    • @wally – you’re here posting articulate comments about comic books like the rest of us, of COURSE you’re neurotic!

      I don’t think I want Bendis to pick up the pace…but honestly, I wouldn’t have been opposed to USM just being a bi-annual OGN series. I prefer Bendis’ work in large chunks, but this looked too good to wait for (not so much with Ultimates, and Ultimate X-Men — I’m interested, but I can wait).

  13. I loved this! Most of the time I get bored with intro arcs, but I’m loving this. It’s really fun seeing Miles develop Spider-Man powers with some variations. The characterization and art are just awesome.

  14. I really liked how Bendis took a dig at his “i don’t need to read this to know Obama made him turn Spiderman into black and gay” media critics early on with the mover’s dialogue. Well played.

  15. I love that Miles’ freind’s avatar is FingFangFoom. Love this book. And I love that New York is actually portayed with some ethnic diversity.

  16. If this was one of the new 52, it would be getting so much attention and praise. It’s a shame the DC frenzy is overshadowing it so much.

    Pichelli is so good, it’s crazy. And I’m really impressed at how Bendis was able to instantly refresh this book and give Miles a personality entirely of his own.

  17. Did anyone else notice the rather bad choice of article used in the scene with Miles and Ganke texting? They replaced the title, writer and picture and blurred the text a bit but… yeah. Opens with ‘The dismembered body…’ and just gets worse.

  18. This book was great unlike some people I like the fact that Bendis takes the time to introduce the character and Sara Pichelli’s art is beautiful

  19. This is good stuff. I get mixed feelings on Bendis’s avengers books, but I read this and it feels so right and natural. The guy just keeps fucking with my emotions.

  20. I feel like Sara Pichelli snuck into my room and took photos of me because Miles Morales looks just like me.

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