Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (discussion/spoilers)

I get that you guys like the teen angst angle, because undoubtedly that's been the book's strong point from the beginning. But I can't believe you guys don't think it's completely retarded to have Aunt May taking in super heroes like stray dogs. It's totally ridiculous.

But more than that - the art is killing any interest I might have in getting into this book. It's terrible. Everyone is emo, Peter's hair is RIDICULOUS, and the anime-esque impressions are poorly done and cliche. Blah.
 
You want anime-esque impressions that are completely cliché and ruins a book? Try the anime adaptation of the french comic book Valerian et Laureline. That's some bland and absolutely unimpressive anime style that completely destroys a series that had nothing to see with manga and japanese animation to begin with.
 
E said:
I get that you guys like the teen angst angle, because undoubtedly that's been the book's strong point from the beginning. But I can't believe you guys don't think it's completely retarded to have Aunt May taking in super heroes like stray dogs. It's totally ridiculous.

But more than that - the art is killing any interest I might have in getting into this book. It's terrible. Everyone is emo, Peter's hair is RIDICULOUS, and the anime-esque impressions are poorly done and cliche. Blah.
Click to expand...

I think Aunt May taking in Bobby and Johnny seems perfectly understandable. It's a natural step in her character growth.

When Uncle Ben first died, there was obviously a huge hole left in her life. And she had to learn to relate to Peter on a whole new level. Then Gwen came along and circumstances lead to them taking her in. All of a sudden that hole that Ben left was filled a little. She had someone to take care of that was honest and open (as opposed to Peter who was always secretive). Then Gwen died, which brought May and Peter a little closer together (they're relationship had been growing slowly the whole time).

Then the clone saga, Gwen is back, Peter's secret is out, Aunt May freaks out, Gwen turns into carnage, Aunt May has a heart attack (wow, what was Bendis thinking with that one?) but after, Aunt May knows Peter's secret, and while she's terrified for him, she's so proud of him. Then Ultimatum comes and everyone's life turns to crap. Aunt May recognizes this, has been there and has grown as a person to the point that she wants to give of herself to help whomever she can. It makes life difficult, but she sees the heroism in Peter, Johnny, and Bobby and wants to do her part. She doesn't have powers, but she can give them a place to stay and give them some sort of stability and care in their lives.

To me, that's always been the heart of USM. Gwen said it the first time she appeared, what ever you do well, that's your super power. Use it to help people.



And as far as the emo thing, who is more emo than they were? only Kong. Peter has stupidly long hair, that doesn't make him emo. Gwen has always looked pretty much that way. MJ looks more smart/nerdy again. Kitty looks the same, but i guess is acting kind of moody, but then again, she's pretty much always been that way as well (at least since Bobby and Rogue hooked up back in UXM).



I don't understand the complaints, except for maybe the art, which is a personal preference thing.

I love the book.
 
captaincanuck65 said:
I think Aunt May taking in Bobby and Johnny seems perfectly understandable. It's a natural step in her character growth.

When Uncle Ben first died, there was obviously a huge hole left in her life. And she had to learn to relate to Peter on a whole new level. Then Gwen came along and circumstances lead to them taking her in. All of a sudden that hole that Ben left was filled a little. She had someone to take care of that was honest and open (as opposed to Peter who was always secretive). Then Gwen died, which brought May and Peter a little closer together (they're relationship had been growing slowly the whole time).

Then the clone saga, Gwen is back, Peter's secret is out, Aunt May freaks out, Gwen turns into carnage, Aunt May has a heart attack (wow, what was Bendis thinking with that one?) but after, Aunt May knows Peter's secret, and while she's terrified for him, she's so proud of him. Then Ultimatum comes and everyone's life turns to crap. Aunt May recognizes this, has been there and has grown as a person to the point that she wants to give of herself to help whomever she can. It makes life difficult, but she sees the heroism in Peter, Johnny, and Bobby and wants to do her part. She doesn't have powers, but she can give them a place to stay and give them some sort of stability and care in their lives.

To me, that's always been the heart of USM. Gwen said it the first time she appeared, what ever you do well, that's your super power. Use it to help people.



And as far as the emo thing, who is more emo than they were? only Kong. Peter has stupidly long hair, that doesn't make him emo. Gwen has always looked pretty much that way. MJ looks more smart/nerdy again. Kitty looks the same, but i guess is acting kind of moody, but then again, she's pretty much always been that way as well (at least since Bobby and Rogue hooked up back in UXM).



I don't understand the complaints, except for maybe the art, which is a personal preference thing.

I love the book.
Click to expand...

Nicely said, I for one am enjoying this book. I wished the fight between Spidey and the Spider-Slayer was a little longer, but still. As for the art... I was against it at first. But now it's kind of growing on me. Still not one of my favorites... but I don't mind it.
 
captaincanuck65 said:
I think Aunt May taking in Bobby and Johnny seems perfectly understandable. It's a natural step in her character growth.

When Uncle Ben first died, there was obviously a huge hole left in her life. And she had to learn to relate to Peter on a whole new level. Then Gwen came along and circumstances lead to them taking her in. All of a sudden that hole that Ben left was filled a little. She had someone to take care of that was honest and open (as opposed to Peter who was always secretive). Then Gwen died, which brought May and Peter a little closer together (they're relationship had been growing slowly the whole time).

Then the clone saga, Gwen is back, Peter's secret is out, Aunt May freaks out, Gwen turns into carnage, Aunt May has a heart attack (wow, what was Bendis thinking with that one?) but after, Aunt May knows Peter's secret, and while she's terrified for him, she's so proud of him. Then Ultimatum comes and everyone's life turns to crap. Aunt May recognizes this, has been there and has grown as a person to the point that she wants to give of herself to help whomever she can. It makes life difficult, but she sees the heroism in Peter, Johnny, and Bobby and wants to do her part. She doesn't have powers, but she can give them a place to stay and give them some sort of stability and care in their lives.

To me, that's always been the heart of USM. Gwen said it the first time she appeared, what ever you do well, that's your super power. Use it to help people.



And as far as the emo thing, who is more emo than they were? only Kong. Peter has stupidly long hair, that doesn't make him emo. Gwen has always looked pretty much that way. MJ looks more smart/nerdy again. Kitty looks the same, but i guess is acting kind of moody, but then again, she's pretty much always been that way as well (at least since Bobby and Rogue hooked up back in UXM).



I don't understand the complaints, except for maybe the art, which is a personal preference thing.

I love the book.
Click to expand...

I really like the thing you mentioned about Aunt May telling the kids that whatever they do well is there superpower and they should use it to help people. And I agree that it's good character progression for her to be helping people, possibly taking them in. But Why X-Men and Fantastic Four members? It makes no sense. It's just showhorned in there so they can cram as much super power into the book as possible. She can be helping normal people and that would be great. There's no earthly reason why Sue Storm would have May take Johnny in. The FF have tons of resources - a poor old woman in Queens makes no sense.

And the emo thing - it's more MJ than anyone else that bugs me, and I guess it's more how she looks, but emo is attitude and demeanor - not just clothing. She's whinier and more dramatic than ever before. It's annoying.
 
E said:
I really like the thing you mentioned about Aunt May telling the kids that whatever they do well is there superpower and they should use it to help people. And I agree that it's good character progression for her to be helping people, possibly taking them in. But Why X-Men and Fantastic Four members? It makes no sense. It's just showhorned in there so they can cram as much super power into the book as possible. She can be helping normal people and that would be great. There's no earthly reason why Sue Storm would have May take Johnny in. The FF have tons of resources - a poor old woman in Queens makes no sense.
Click to expand...

actually, it was Gwen who said it, Aunt May is living it out. But whatever.


And as for the superheroes living with her. Johnny needed some space from the FF and didn't even want to tell Sue Storm where he was (Aunt May made him) and Bobby got kicked out of his house by his parents (which fits pretty well with what we know of them from UXM). It may be a bit of a stretch to believe that Aunt May has enough money to support them, I agree there.

At the end of the day, Bendis used Ultimatum as an opportunity to turn USM on it's head and tell different stories than he used to. That's what he does best. THat's what made him famous. He shakes things up so they don't get stale (of course lately in his 616 stuff, all the events and 'nothing will ever be the same' has become annoying) but I never cared about the Avengers until Disassembled and New Avengers is one of my favourite titles. I'm looking forward to what stories he's going to tell in this new chapter.

E said:
And the emo thing - it's more MJ than anyone else that bugs me, and I guess it's more how she looks, but emo is attitude and demeanor - not just clothing. She's whinier and more dramatic than ever before. It's annoying.
Click to expand...
yeah, MJ isn't MJ right now. I agree.
 
captaincanuck65 said:
At the end of the day, Bendis used Ultimatum as an opportunity to turn USM on it's head and tell different stories than he used to.
Click to expand...

Do you really think that's the case though? Because I'm not seeing it. He's "back to basics" - that is to say, Peter's personal life - but that's nothing new. It's what made the book good to begin with. The only difference is that more characters who are only tangently related are being shoved into the picture.
 
I love May Parkers House for Homeless Superpowered Teenagers! I cant wait for Jessica to start living there (it's just a matter of time, really).

Nerdy whiny MJ doesnt bother me at all. She's cute.
 
captaincanuck65 said:
I think Aunt May taking in Bobby and Johnny seems perfectly understandable. It's a natural step in her character growth.

To me, that's always been the heart of USM. Gwen said it the first time she appeared, what ever you do well, that's your super power. Use it to help people.
Click to expand...

Aunt May taking Johnny and Peter in is even more understandable when you see that she didn't really know Gwen more when she took her in, and neither did Peter for that matter. Sometimes I wonder if May wasn't trying to get closer to Captain Stacy that way...

Man was that entrance epic, one of my favorite moments in the book. I wonder how ages-old Spidey fans reacted when she told her name after that speech. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, I wasn't aware who Gwen Stacy was in the mytho.

captaincanuck65 said:
And as for the superheroes living with her. Johnny needed some space from the FF and didn't even want to tell Sue Storm where he was (Aunt May made him) and Bobby got kicked out of his house by his parents (which fits pretty well with what we know of them from UXM). It may be a bit of a stretch to believe that Aunt May has enough money to support them, I agree there.
Click to expand...

I think the money is a problem only with Bobby. I can see Sue helping May as far as Johnny is concerned, because she can afford it and Johnny's problem has more to do with his psyche than actual "material" problems. He will be able to overcome it eventually and go back to the Baxter building.
 
E said:
Do you really think that's the case though? Because I'm not seeing it. He's "back to basics" - that is to say, Peter's personal life - but that's nothing new. It's what made the book good to begin with. The only difference is that more characters who are only tangently related are being shoved into the picture.
Click to expand...

yeah, but you can only do the "Flash is a jerk, Liz has emotional issues and hates mutants, Kong is a nice enough guy when Flash isn't around, Peter is the nerdy kid who gets picked on, but now he has powers and responsibility, MJ's dad is an alcoholic, she and Peter are in love but Spidey gets in the way" story for so long before it becomes stale. The new chapter in USM is back to basics in that it's using an extended cast and showing Peter's personal life more, but now that personal life is completely different than it was.


Honestly, Bendis used Ultimatum as an excuse to grab all the super heroes of similar age to Peter he could get his hands on. He's wanted to do this for ages and now it's happening. And to be honest, I'd rather see them written by Bendis than Loeb, so I'm happy.
 
skotti-chan said:
I can almost guarantee, it's Gwen, MJ or Kitty.
Click to expand...

That would make me a sad panda.

Seriously. There are enough lesbian couples in comics to last a lifetime, but this is as close as we'll ever get to Torch and spidey making out!!!
 
Ech... It's a shame Bendis is writing this.

Since the start, I've gone on and on about how disturbing and mature a situation Ultimate Spider-Woman is. I doubt Bendis will be able to do the issue justice.
 
Last edited:
Venom Melendez said:
Except you forget she still has all of Peters memories, to her it's like she went to sleep male and woke up female. She's a man in a womans body.
Click to expand...

I know!! So, if she makes out with Johnny, that makes Peter bisexual!
 
robje said:
Moondragon is still alive, isnt she? But her last girlfriend Phyla-Velldid die. So she's single again I guess.
And Carolina and Xavin are still together.... albeit on different planets.
And euhm.....

Okay, so there arn't many lesbian couples in comics. But I just really want Jessica and Torch to be together!!! Her being a lesbian would kinda put a spanner in the works. (and make me a sad panda)
Click to expand...

But again, Jess is a guy in a female body.Shagging with a guy is probably the last thing on her mind.

She's still Peter after all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top