Ultimate Comics Spider-man #28

Ultimate Comics Spider-man #28

Spider-man No More: Part 5

Story: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler/Inker: David Marquez
Colourist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Cory Petit
Cover: David Marquez and Rainier Beredo

The "final" issue of Ultimate Comics Spider-man is here.  I'm not even going to bother posting a lame pun or question here, this issue is fantastic.  Hit the jump to see why.


Summary:  Picking up right where the last issue left off, Spider-man, Spider-woman, Bombshell, Cloak, and Dagger crash through the window of Donadl Roxxon.  Spider-woman immediately places him under arrest (as a member of SHIELD) for experimenting on people.  Roxxon begins to taunt Spider-man, revealing that he knows who Miles really is and talking about his mother's death.  Spider-man snags Roxxon with a webline, where he hangs him outside of the window.  Miles sits staring at him, as Roxxon begins to rant, revealing that he was responsible for Miles becoming Spider-man (on accident) and also hints at some dark secret in his father's past.  At this point, the police show up, only to have Spider-woman use her status as a SHIELD agent to make them leave.  At this point, Roxxon's super-powered scientists show up, and a brawl between the heroes and the scientists breaks out.  The heroes are able to work together to defeat the villains, just as SHIELD agents show up to take over the situation.  The story then shifts to Miles sneaking into Ganke's room, where he apologizes for how he has been the past year and tells Ganke that he was right, proudly proclaiming "I am Spider-man".  The issue ends with Spider-woman explaining her actions to SHIELD director Chang, and suggests the formation of a new team, consisting of Spider-man, Spider-woman, Bombshell, Cloak, and
Dagger.

The good:  This was another fantastic issue all the way around, and if it truly is the last Ultimate Spider-man book (which seems unlikely) then it was a great ending.  Starting with the art, the cover by David Marquez and Rainier Beredo is quite stunning.  The contrast of the green on black looks really cool, for lack of a better word, and the test tube containing the heroes is a nice image to capture the feeling of being trapped and exploited that are central to the Spider-man and company's motivation in this issue.  The interiors are just as beautiful.  From the great fight scenes, to capturing the anger of Miles as the mention of his mother, Marquez really knocks it out of the park.  The best work, however, is the 3 pages of Roxxon hanging upside down as Spider-man sits quietly, stating at him and listening.  The credit for this sequence should also be shared by Bendis, who writes a great rant by Roxxon and ends it perfectly with Miles simply replying "You're under arrest".  Bendis is at his absolute best throughout the issue, giving both the readers and the characters some closure with
the Roxxon situation, but at the same time, subtly setting up some new questions to torment Miles about his father.  The team up against the super-scientists was handled perfectly, and the possibility that there could be more of this in the future is exciting.  Finally, Miles going to Ganke and telling him he was right the whole time, and proudly proclaiming "I am Spider-man" was one of those moments that was perhaps a little cheesy and cliche, but at the same time, was absolutely perfect and should not have been handled any other way.  Bendis is one of the few writers who can consistently deliver with these types of story elements because of his ability to write great, realistic dialogue, and he does it here again.

The not so good:  Are you serious?  This entire "Spider-man No More" story was one of the better Spider-man stories to come out in a long time, and this was a perfect ending both to the arc.  The only "bad" thing will be if this is truly the last issue of "Ultimate Comics Spider-man" (other than the "Cataclysm" event), but based on this issue I'm guessing this won't be the case.  You won't see a lot of perfect reviews here, but this issue gets one.

Overall rating: A+ (10/10)

Ads:

All of the ads in this issue have been used before, so here is a look forward to the "Cataclysm" event that will be taking place in the Ultimate Universe.