Ultimate Spider-Man #103... SPOILERS!

my god...I was at IGN the other day, reading comic reviews, when I came across this little gem.

Ultimate Spider-Man #103
Written by Brian M. Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley
Rating: Must Read
Rich's Review: Peter Parker's life continues to unravel and swirl about him in a tempest of clones and truly bizarre revelations. I love it. I still wish Brian Bendis had spread more of the "Clone Saga" material to previous arcs. That's all in the past however. This arc is the best that this series has ever seen. Bendis reveals much of the big conspiracy that he has been building to and it works really well. It was a little anti-climatic in retrospect because the concept isn't entirely new for the Ultimate Universe. It's still a lot of fun to read - you can tell Bendis has been looking forward to these moments. My only reservation is with the ending; I'm not sure I like where that final page is heading. All that work to build up that character, which has succeeded, to reduce it to something that has already been done? This arc is far too unpredictable, so I can't make a final judgment. We'll see what is next.

I'm going to go and shoot myself in the face now.
 
The one thing that I picked up from this review, and it's a good point, is that Bendis should have made the arcs leading up to this a bit more relevant... That would've been at least polite, right?

Besides that, the review is bull. So is the one at www.comixfan.com.
 
Goodwill said:
Besides that, the review is bull. So is the one at www.comixfan.com.
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I saw that one. I don't get it. I'm beginning to wonder if some of us are a real minority and only are influencing other members that frequent this board that it sucks. I can't comprehend why anyone would think this was "must read" or the best ultimate story ever. Are we sick?
 
Spiderfan gave 102 a 4/5.

I don't know, maybe other people just don't want the same things out of the comic as we do. If you want cheap thrills and action scenes, or you don't mind two-dimensional characters or stories, this arc would be fine.

Here, try an experiment. Don't think about themes, or motifs, or logic. Just read 102 and look at the pretty pictures. Don't worry about how if you took the F4's dialogue and Peter's dialogue out of context and showed it to someone who hadn't read the book, they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. Don't worry about the ramifications of the overall story arc. Don't think back on the golden age of Daredevil and Alias.

Just read it like you're a twelve-year-old. Read it like you're reading it while waiting to get a haircut. Read it like you don't care about the characters and whether they're acting logically or not. Read it like what it is: Filler between issues of The Ultimates.

There. Now doesn't it seem better?
 
Comic Book resources did their big year-end wrap-up stuff this weekend and I think all their reviewers mentioned USM and Bendis as one of the top five comics and writers of 2006.
 
Joe Kalicki said:
Comic Book resources did their big year-end wrap-up stuff this weekend and I think all their reviewers mentioned USM and Bendis as one of the top five comics and writers of 2006.
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I think Bendis is a top 5 writer...when he's writing Daredevil, Alias, and New Avengers.
 
Could be, could be. He's definately written some stuff I've enjoyed (the first 50 issues of USM), but what I've read of Powers and Alias didn't really do it for me. Secret War and The Pulse didn't do it for me. House of M really didn't do it for me. New Avengers I like, though. Oh, and the handful of his Daredevils I read were decent.

I think he just needs to focus on regular characters with super-powers in a super-hero world. His huge storylines blow. He loses what makes him good. Stay with the small things. Daredevil and USM (at first) were all about the small observations of what it's like living in these character's world.
 
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Joe Kalicki said:
Could be, could be. He's definately written some stuff I've enjoyed (the first 50 issues of USM), but what I've read of Powers and Alias didn't really do it for me. Secret War and The Pulse didn't do it for me. House of M really didn't do it for me. New Avengers I like, though. Oh, and the handful of his Daredevils I read were decent.

I think he just needs to focus on regular characters with super-powers in a super-hero world. His huge storylines blow. He loses what makes him good. Stay with the small things. Daredevil and USM (at first) were all about the small observations of what it's like living in these character's world.
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I agreed with the perceived incredulous disgust of your first post, by the way.
 
I didn't doubt you for a second!

But I really do have nothing against Bendis, personally or professionally.

USM is just a pale shadow of what it once was and he should probably move on.
 
Just read the issue today.

When I was, and that scene in the hospital, what I thought was, "Wait. WTF is Gwen doing here with Aunt May and Richard?!


......


Oh...That's Sue...".



But everything but the ending was tolerable.
 
Just got this tues night. It's not that bad.

Magnetopus is strange though, I wonder how his new powers will be explained? Maybe when his powers were first emerging they were weak and he could only control his arms. No he has control over all metals and his powers.

Either way Bendis raped the Octopus character.
 
I think this was the best book out of the clone saga collection thus far... Peter contemplating killing Doc Ock was the most constructive thing bendis has done with Peters characters since he had Peter date Kitty Pryde. And I loved seeing Fury so vulnerable during the whole situation. For once he's not the guy with all the answers and it makes me feel good that SHIELD and the Ultimates arent the supreme power in the UU.
 
DGspider-fan said:
Magnetopus is strange though, I wonder how his new powers will be explained? Maybe when his powers were first emerging they were weak and he could only control his arms. No he has control over all metals and his powers.
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In the Ultimate Six mini he theorized that he must have latent mutant powers that were enhanced by the Oz, and because the arms we attach to him his mind set was limitted to that. But he said his power were to control electrical impulse, in effect to control machines. I like that much better than a magneto rip off
 
Random said:
In the Ultimate Six mini he theorized that he must have latent mutant powers that were enhanced by the Oz, and because the arms we attach to him his mind set was limitted to that. But he said his power were to control electrical impulse, in effect to control machines. I like that much better than a magneto rip off
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I like the idea of Octavius having octopus arms. Period.

(Stop messing with my childhood, Bendis...)
 
Is it the new powers that ruins the character or is it the contrived villainy that is hardly believeable that is the last straw on the camels back? Hmm...
 
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