Tuesday, June 4, 2013

365 Comics...154: Spider-Men #4 (2012)

Spider-Men represents the first crossover between the Marvel 616 and Ultimates universe, and as big an epic as it could have been, it's instead a really nice character piece for Peter Parker, which is rather disappointing if only because Miles Morales kind of gets slighted in the equation.  Peter gets to learn about his Ultimate counterpart's death, he gets to meet Gwen Stacy and Aunt May (Brian Bendis' affection for Ultimate Peter's supporting cast is evident).  Miles, meanwhile, tends to stand in awe of his crimefighting namesake.  I was hoping that with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man creative team of Bendis, Pichelli and Ponsor on the mini that it would be more Miles Morales focussed.  I suppose the intent of the series was to use the "real" Peter Parker as a draw for new readers into the Ultimate side of things, acting as tour guide a little bit.  My favourite part of the mini series however is the gab session Gwen, Miles and Peter are engaged in as Aunt May wakens from her fainting spell.  It felt like a real moment despite the surreality.  I found the Peter and Aunt May scenes genuinely affecting...Bendis works so well on the human level of interaction.  The cover, with Peter cradling a dying/dead Ultimate Spidey in his arms (must've been something he said?) is a terrible fake-out, one that doesn't even come close to occurring in the books.  It's a talking heads book (a talking heads series for that matter) and it's pretty great... I just wish that we got more of Miles' perspective. This really would have made for a great arc in the current run.

No comments: