"Black Widow: Widowmaker"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Black Widow: Widowmaker” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

                Natalia Romanova was rescued as a baby by Ivan Petrovich Bezukhov in the former Soviet Union in 1928. In 1938, Ivan sent young Natalia to train with Taras Romanoff. Taras became like a father to Natalia. In 1940, James Howlett/Logan, the man who would become Wolverine, killed Taras. Natalia then worked in partnership with Ivan. In 1956, Ivan was gravely injured. James “Bucky” Barnes/Winter Soldier offered Ivan and Natalia a serum that would heal Ivan and extend both Ivan and Natalia’s life spans. Natalia accepted the offer, against Ivan’s wishes. In 1957, while training as a Black Widow agent in the Red Room, Natalia was introduced to Alexei Shostakov, the Soviet super soldier the Red Guardian. Alexei gave Natalia the nickname “Natasha.” Soon after, the two were wed. In 1963, the Soviet government faked Alexei’s death. Natalia went on to become a member of the Avengers and a superhero herself. Ivan continued to stay by her side. Though Natalia thought of Ivan as a father figure, Ivan had romantic feelings for Natalia. After repeated rejections after many years, Ivan finally left Natalia. Natalia eventually learned Alexei was alive. Years later, Natalia received a phone call from Ivan, warning her Icepick Protocol had been activated, right before he was murdered. When Natalia came to confirm the body was in fact Ivan’s, Ivan’s head was missing. Natalia went to Russia to try to learn about Icepick Protocol, and discovered that she had been implanted with nanites that could be passed on to the people she was close to, which could be passed of from those people as well, and could cause those infected with them to go into a psychotic rage. After saving Clint Barton/Hawkeye from his wife Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird and giving them the cure, Natalia went off to give the cure to others afflicted by the nanites. Superspy Nick Fury, former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., gave Natalia the access codes to a H.A.M.M.E.R. government launch facility. Natalia broke in and flew to space, where she discovered a Soviet weapon called the Dreadnought floating in orbit over earth. Natalia discovered who the mastermind behind Icepick Protocol was, to her great horror, and was forced to face the past to save earth from nuclear annihilation.

                Natalia mysteriously received a black rose and a ribbon. She went to see her old spy contact the Black Rose to see if he was involved, be he denied any part in sending Natalia the items. On her way to see her boyfriend James Barnes/Captain America, she was attacked. Tony Stark/Iron Man had Wolverine investigate the attack. After finding the items, Wolverine returned to the hospital to watch Natalia after her surgery. Natalia escaped from the hospital. Tony Stark, Hawkeye, and Captain America learned that Natalia was attacked because Natalia had been implanted with a device that was recording information about superpowered individuals and was accused of selling their secrets to the highest bidder, and the device was extracted from inside of Natalia. Tony Stark’s assistant Virginia “Pepper” Potts was attacked by Maki Matsumoto/Lady Bullseye, and Natalia was framed for the attack. Natalia was attacked by Elektra Natchios, who was furious she had been spied on. Elektra let Natalia go after a fight to a standstill where Natalia told Elektra that she was not selling the information. After the fight, Natalia collapsed from her injury. Black Rose discovered Natalia and stitched Natalia up. Natalia flew to London, England to find Ned, son of the tech genius inventor of the device Natalia had been implanted with. Ned told Natalia Sumi was the man who had sold out Natalia to, and Sumi had bought Ned’s father’s tech out in exchange for money and a place to live. Sumi sent Russian agents Ninotchka and Boris after Natalia and Ned, and though Natalia was able to defeat the agents, she was unable to save Ned. Sumi taunted Natalia that Sumi knew about Natalia’s baby. While on a train, Natalia confronted Lady Bullseye, who she paralyzed with an injection and tried to learn who was behind Natalia’s predicament. Lady Bullseye did not give Natalia what she was hoping for. James found Natalia, but Natalia refused to let James get involved in her situation. Natalia visited the family of the woman who delivered Natalia’s stillborn child. In Munich, Germany, Natalia was confronted by a robotic body sent by Imus Champion, the man who was really Sumi. Natalia attacked the robot but was arrested afterwards by Captain America. Natalia escaped lockup, and the arrest had been planned by Natalia herself. Natalia then confronted Imus to the finish.

                Natalia went undercover to the opera to intercept a device for targeted assassinations, code-named “Tiny Dancer,” and deliver it to the Secret Intelligence Service. Natalia was surprised to discover what Tiny Dancer was and getting it to her clients was harder than she thought it would be.

                Tony Stark/Iron Man went undercover to Russia to recover stolen armor, with Natalia’s help. Tony went to make a deal in disguise but was caught by industrial spy Sunset Bain. Sunset hacked Tony’s brain and sent Tony in temporal armor to travel to the past to destroy Avengers Mansion at the first meeting of the Avengers, and Natalia had to find a way to shut down Tony’s brain to save the Avengers.

                Senator Whit Crane was running for vice president of the United States. He was seen with a mysterious “Woman in Black,” then dropped out of the race, and was found dead. His son Nick was a journalist and hoped to find the woman responsible for the death of his father. Kate Horsley/Fatale and Natalia both wanted to find out Nick’s source about the Woman in Black. Fatale got to Nick first and pretended to rescue Nick from the Black Widow. Natalia was able to separate Fatale and Nick and took Nick to a safe location. Natalia attempted to stage an abduction of both Natalia and Nick and bring them to a C.I.A. interrogation site in Poland run by a friend of Natalia’s to force the source out of Nick, but the staged abduction turned real. Nick and Natalia escaped the camp, but discovered Nick and Natalia were being framed for Senator Crane’s murder and went on the run. Nick and Natalia were on a train out of Poland when they were attacked by Russian agents Fantasma and Crimson Dynamo. Fatale rescued Nick and Natalia from the Russian agents. Nick told Natalia and Fatale that his source went by the name “Sadko.” Natalia and Fatale tracked Sadko to Bulgaria and teamed up to investigate Sadko’s true identity, but Sadko wanted Natalia and Fatale dead.

                An assassin called Ronin was striking the South Kuril Islands, islands that were disputed between Russia and Japan. Hawkeye and Mockingbird were investigation the death of a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and discovered that there was a killer targeting spies, and Mockingbird and Black Widow were on the list. Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Dominic Fortune went to Russia to meet up with Natalia, where they found themselves under attack. Natalia brought Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Fortune to a Red Room training facility, where the killer had struck. Russian super agents Crimson Dynamo, Fantasma, Sputnik, and Perun attacked Natalia, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Fortune, due to the fact that Hawkeye had previously claimed the Ronin costume and identity, but Hawkeye was innocent of these killings. After a grueling fight, Natalia and Hawkeye escaped, and Mockingbird and Fortune left on a plane to Japan. Natalia informed Hawkeye that Natalia knew the killer as Sadko. Natalia and Hawkeye encountered the Madame, and during their fight, Natalia deduced where and who the new Ronin was. Natalia, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Fortune met up on Iturup and faced Ronin and his army at the foot of an active volcano.

                Natalia and Alaine Racine/Peregrine teamed up in France to rescue hostages from cyborg villain Rapido and stop terrorists from leveling London.

                Okay, we’ve now got our synopsis out of the way, let’s move on to the next phase of this review: my input. First off, we’re going to start with what I thought of this graphic novel. I will say that I found this book to be relatively enjoyable. I liked reading it. Let’s break it down storyline by storyline. “Deadly Origin” was interesting because it blended Natalia’s history with her present and revealed a lot of her background. It was fascinating learning some of the facets of her past that I didn’t previously know about, and the twist at the end of the storyline was great as her past actions inadvertently nearly caused nuclear annihilation. However, I didn’t like how the art of the flashbacks looked compared to the art from the present scenes. “The Name of the Rose” was actually my favorite storyline. I enjoyed reading as the mystery unravel. However, the artwork detracted from my visual enjoyment, but the story itself was good. “Coppelia” was short but sweet, and the Tiny Dancer’s actual purpose led to an interesting read. The artwork was also visually appealing to me, so that made the read entertaining. “Iron Widow” was a fun read, watching Tony Stark trying to change for his deal, and still getting set up even though he came in disguise. I also found the artwork in this issue to be satisfactory. “Kiss or Kill” was highly enjoyable, I loved how the story kept twisting and turning as it went on, and Fatale was an interesting character. I’m torn about the artwork in this storyline because sometimes it looked good to me, and then at other times I just didn’t like how it looked at all. The consistency of the quality of the artwork varied, and there were times where I liked the art, and times I didn’t. “Widowmaker” was a greatly entertaining story arc, Hawkeye is one of my favorite Avengers, and the team up was an exciting one. The true identity of Ronin was a twist I didn’t see coming, and the end battle was exciting. I also felt the artwork was great from both of the artists who penciled this storyline. “Fear Itself” was an interesting issue, seeing her take down a hostage crisis and stop a terrorist attack single-handedly was quite satisfying. However, the artwork itself wasn’t quite so satisfying for me. I also enjoyed how several of the storylines connected, even though they came from separate series. The continuity was much appreciated, and the continuing themes but featuring different characters made the read more interesting. Overall, I highly enjoyed reading the stories, but there were times where the artwork wasn’t so appealing. I also have to critique the choice of the title for this collection. My opinion is that the title should reflect the majority of the overall content of the book. The longest storyline in this collection was “The Name of the Rose,” but other options were “Deadly Origins,” “Kiss or Kill,” and “Widowmaker.” I honestly think any of the latter three choices would be appropriate titles for this collection, but if I were the editors, I probably would have leaned in more for “Deadly Origins” or “Kiss or Kill” for the title as I feel those represent this volume better. However, I still find myself able to support “Widowmaker” as the title, despite not feeling it was the best title for this collection. Finally in my examinations, we’re going to talk about the cover. I feel like the front cover should be an accurate preview of what the reader should expect to see in this collection, meaning it also represents the majority of the overall content of the book. This book sports a cover of Black Widow posing with two guns in the foreground, in front of a motorcycle, with Wolverine and Winter Soldier standing in the background. I feel like this book should have featured a cover with just Black Widow on it. While Wolverine and James Barnes are recurring supporting characters in this collection, I feel that this cover does not deliver on a promise of a team up with Black Widow, Wolverine and Winter Soldier as I came to expect from viewing the cover. I actually feel like that cover is highly misleading as there are few points where all three characters appear on the same panel in this collection, and James Barnes and does not appear alongside Wolverine as Winter Soldier at any point in this collection, just as Captain America, so I feel like the choice of cover was actually poor to use for a solo issue, and especially poor to use to represent this whole book. However, I do feel relatively positively about the book itself, based on story, but the art sometimes left a little to be desired.

                Next up, we’re going to discuss accessibility. I know some of you have been here before so you know what I’m about to explain, I’ve done it over seven dozen times at this point, but every time I do a new post, I know I have readers who have never been here before, so I have to do it once again, so if you do know this, just bear with me for a few sentences while I explain it to the newbs. So, the question I’m posing here is, is this book accessible? Accessible means can a person who knows absolutely nothing about Black Widow comics obtain a copy of this book, read it, and follow the story as it is written, with no difficulties? So, my answer to that question is yes. This book is extremely standalone. These are all limited series or one-shots that really don’t continue directly off of storylines from other series, with the exception of “Fear Itself: Black Widow,” but even that doesn’t feel to me like knowing the main event “Fear Itself” is actually a necessity to comprehend this issue. I don’t feel like having outside knowledge of Marvel Comics is essential to read this book. Despite this book being marketed as Vol. 2, every series in this book starts with issue #1, so there are no previous issues to any of the issues contained in this collection. If you are looking for a place to start reading Marvel Comics, I wouldn’t say this is the best starter book, but I feel it is definitely a book that a person who has never read a Marvel Comic book before can begin with.

                Next up, we’re going to move on to one of the core components of my review: the numeric score. I won’t say it’s the most important part of my review, everything in these reviews has some kind of essentiality for being in it, so I can’t say any one paragraph in this review is the reason everyone is reading this review for. However, this is, in my opinion, highly essential to my reviews and they would not be complete without it. So let me start off by explaining my scoring system. The system is extremely simple: I score on whole numbers ranging from one to ten. My lowest score is a one, and that means this book was so awful that every copy not sold should be immediately gathered up and obliterated, then all the prints that could be used to recreate this abomination should be wiped clean to prevent the continuation of this horrible piece of trash’s existence. Okay, that is extremely extra, but it illustrates my point that this book is just awful. However, if I give a score of a ten, that means this book is sheer perfection and I will never understand it if this book does not become a bestseller and if every copy doesn’t get sold and if it doesn’t have to get reprinted every few years. Now, I am very much not easy to please, and I will not give out a ten if a book truly is not perfection. So, what I’m looking for in a graphic novel is a constantly entertaining story, consistently appealing art, a title that perfectly captures the essence of the story, and a cover that accurately represents the content of the book. So we’ve established that I did enjoy the story, I found the art to be hit-and-miss, the title wasn’t absolutely perfect in my opinion, and I don’t believe the cover delivers on what it shows on the front of the book as actually being what comprises the majority of this book. So, looking at all of this, and putting it all together and churning out a score, what I have to rate this book at is… a seven! While the story was good, the artwork and the cover brought my score down a bit.

                Next up on our list of topics to discuss is the recommendation. In this paragraph, I answer two questions. Question number one is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers? Would I tell you, if you are interested in reading this book based solely on what I have just spent the past few hours writing, to go out to your nearby bookstore, or preferred online retailer, or favorite comic book shop, or local library, or Marvel fanatic friend or relative’s house, and procure this book and read it as soon as you possibly can? The second question is, regardless of if I would actually recommend this book personally, what kind of audience might appreciate this book, besides the obvious target group of fans of Marvel, Black Widow, or the creators? So, to answer the first question, yes, this book has my personal recommendation. I’d totally tell you to read it if my words have piqued your interest in perusing through this collection. To answer my second question, I think that this book would appeal to fans of spy stories, espionage stories, stories with mysteries, stories with lots of plot twists, and stories with a strong female lead.

                Okay, we’ve reached the point where I’m getting ready to wrap things up. There are a few things I would like to say before I go. I’ve been doing this blog for over five and a half years now. I’ve compiled over 180 posts, so keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content. Over seven dozen of these posts are reviews of Epic Collections just like this one. I currently collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after its release and if possible, post a review. If you liked this post, feel free to check out my reviews of “Black Widow: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” and “Black Widow: Chaos” for more content about Black Widow Modern Era Epic Collections. In addition to these reviews, I’ve also reviewed some prose novels, manga, and comic book events. I’ve also written short stories, poems, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s other kinds of content to enjoy here as well. I post on a very frequent basis. My next post will be a review of “Ultimate X-Men: World Tour” you can expect to see that post sometime within the next two months following this post, most likely a lot sooner than that. I plan to keep doing this blog for as long as I can, so you can expect to keep seeing posts on this site for quite some time, unless I do something to prevent myself from being able to type. That’s all I have to say for now except Tim Cubbin… out!

"Ultimate Spider-Man: Hunted"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Ultimate Spider-Man: Hunted” as presented in Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection format.

            Accidentally bitten by a genetically altered spider, teenager Peter Parker now finds he had the proportionate abilities of a spider. This includes strength, agility, a spider-like sixth sense warning him of personal danger. And, most amazing of all-Peter can walk on walls. When Peter learns through the recent tragedy of his Uncle Ben’s death that with great power there must also come great responsibility, he fearlessly dons the costume of: Spider-Man. After two rousing trials by fire in the form of his first two conflicts as a real-life super hero, Spider-Man came out victorious over the misshapen monstrosity of the Goblin and the underworld overboss the Kingpin of Crime. Peter had many unanswered questions about his powers and how he got them. One thing he knew was that by running around as Spider-Man, he had been hurting the feelings of the only true friend he has, the beautiful Mary Jane Watson. After defeating the Kingpin, the first thing he did was call Mary Jane over for a serious talk-where he revealed his secret identity to her.

            In an effort to help the students study the environment around them from another perspective, Peter’s social studies teacher at Midtown High School assigned her class an oral presentation to come to class in character as a superhero and explain why they were the way they were and what their powers meant to them. This assignment caused great dissent among the students, who were unhappy with the prospect of coming to school in costume. Kenny “Kong” MacFarlane worried that the advent of the supers was the end of the normals, but new student Gwendolyn Stacy just shared her perspective that what everyone does best is their superpower. Doctor Otto Octavius awoke in a S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility after being in a coma for three months following an explosion at Osborn Industries. His apparatus he wore for lab work, four mechanical arms, were now fused to his body, and he could control them telepathically. He had no memory of the accident. After a show of violence, Otto escaped the facility. He returned to his old home to find a new resident living there and took his anger out on her. Kong, who had been present when Peter was bitten by the spider that gave Peter spider powers, and had witnessed several changes in Peter’s reflexes, surmised that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. He shared his theory with Fred “Flash” Thompson and Liz Allan, who did not agree with Kong’s opinion. To try to prove his theory, Flash told Kong to attack Peter from behind, rationalizing that is Peter were Spider-Man, Peter would be able to prevent the assault. Although Peter’s spider sense warned him of Kong’s impending attack, Peter allowed Kong to get his attack in order to hide his identity. In anger of Peter being bullied, Gwen pulled a blade on Kong, threatening him should he ever bully Peter again. Gwen was pulled out of school. Gwen’s father, New York Police Department Captain John Stacy, was pulled off of a homicide case to deal with his daughter. Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich came to Editor in Chief J. Jonah Jameson with insider information about Otto Octavius. Though skeptical, Jameson told Urich to look into this story. Octavius mistakenly blamed Justin Hammer for the accident at Osborn Industries. Hammer was a businessman and rival to Norman Osborn, head of Osborn Industries, missing since the accident in the laboratory. Octavius swore revenge on Hammer for turning Octavius into a freak. Octavius broke into Hammer’s residence, but Hammer was no present at the time. Reality television star Kraven the Hunter announced he would be coming to New York City for his greatest hunt yet. Urich tipped Captain Stacy off to the possibility that Octavius was involved in the recent murder right before S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived to ask Stacy about the case. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents interrogated Hammer about his knowledge of Octavius, warning Hammer that Octavius was targeting Hammer. Kraven arrived in New York and announced that the creature he intended to hunt and kill in the City was Spider-Man. Hammer unveiled the Big Apple Energy Dome Project, a facility that would provide New York was an abundance of affordable and alternative energy sources as a distraction from the secret illegal genetic experiments he was performing in his laboratory. Octavius attacked the project. The Midtown High School student body was informed Kraven the Hunter would be filming a segment of his show at the High School, location of one of the first Spider-Man sightings. Peter heard the report of an attack on the Dome Project and swung in as Spider-Man. Octavius defeated Spider-Man and fled the scene, and Spider-Man was only able to escape S.H.I.E.L.D. agents by leaving behind a piece of Spider-Man’s costume. Mary Jane patched Peter up after Spider-Man’s beating and promised to help repair Peter’s costume. Peter barely managed to hide his injuries from his Aunt May. Peter went to school, where Gwen’s attention to Peter drew jealousy from Mary Jane. Mary Jane gave Peter Spider-Man’s costume piece replacement in time for Spider-Man to tail Hammer. Hammer received a summons from Octavius to Hammer’s laboratory, and Spider-Man rode on top of Hammer’s limo. Kraven received word of Spider-Man’s location and began his hunt. Octavius intended to expose Hammer’s illegal experiments. Spider-Man swung into action to protect Hammer and Hammer’s assistant. Spider-Man confronted both Otto Octavius and Kraven the Hunter but was unable to save the life of Justin Hammer. Peter returned home at three o’clock in the morning to find Aunt May awake waiting for Peter to return home. Peter was caught in a lie as to his whereabouts and was grounded. S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to obtain Spider-Man’s secret identity.

            Peter had to get swing time in as Spider-Man during the day due to being grounded, which made him late for school. Peter informed Mary Jane she would be unable to come over to the Parker residence. Harry Osborn returned to Midtown High School. Harry informed Peter that Norman Osborn wished to have dinner with Peter. Peter was surprised, as he believed the Goblin that attacked Midtown High School was Norman. Peter told Harry that Peter was grounded. Norman sent a limo to the Parker house, and Aunt May relented and allowed Peter to go to the Osborn residence. Norman met with Peter in private, where he induced a transformation into the Goblin and informed Peter that Spider-Man worked for Norman Osborn or else Peter’s friends and family would pay the price. Peter quickly fled the Osborn residence before dinner and returned home. Aunt May decided to lift Peter’s grounding. Peter tried to call Mary Jane to inform her about what happened, but the call was interrupted by the arrival of Gwen Stacy at the Parker residence. Gwen’s mother had run off to Chicago with a new boyfriend, and John was at work, and Gwen had been left home alone. Aunt May watched over Gwen until John was able to come pick Gwen up. The next day at school, Peter tried to tell Mary Jane about the previous night but was interrupted by both Gwen and a page by Doctor Bradley. Doctor Bradley was secretly an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Peter was introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, who informed Peter S.H.I.E.L.D. was aware Peter was Spider-Man and Norman was the Goblin. Fury told Peter that Osborn was going to have Peter kill Fury. Fury also informed Peter that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be unable to act against Osborn until Osborn actually did something illegal. Upon returning home, Peter found a limo waiting to take both Peter and Aunt May to the Osborn residence for dinner. Peter told Aunt May that Norman might be a criminal, and Aunt May turned down the dinner invitation. Spider-Man confronted the Goblin and told the Goblin that Spider-Man would not do the Goblin’s bidding. In retaliation, the Goblin abducted Mary Jane. The Goblin led Spider-Man to the Queensborough Bridge. The Goblin threw Mary Jane off of the Bridge. Spider-Man shot a web and caught her and returned to ground level, but Mary Jane was unresponsive. Now that Osborn had crossed the line, S.H.I.E.L.D. could act against Osborn. Peter’s rage against Osborn was now increased, and Spider-Man joined S.H.I.E.L.D.’s fight against the Goblin. Goblin tried to flee to the Osborn residence, where Goblin used code words Doctor Warren, the psychiatrist Norman hired in order to for Norman to control Harry, had programmed into Harry to render Harry unconscious. Goblin injected himself with more of the Goblin serum and Spider-Man faced the fury of a souped-up Goblin.

            Okay, now that we’ve got a rather lengthy summary out of the way, let’s move on to my perspective parts of this review. My previous readers know I always start with my own personal opinions on the book when I do a review, and I will do the same once again. I will say that I thoroughly loved this book. I’ve actually read the issues collected in this book both individually and in other collection formats many times before, and the original “Ultimate Spider-Man” is very much a favorite of mine. This series began right before I started regularly reading Marvel Comics, so this series was an entry point for me into Spider-Man comics as this was a new universe where all of Spider-Man history had never happened. I could really relate to fifteen-year-old Peter Parker, being thirteen years old myself at the time I started reading the series. This series also came out before the first “Spider-Man” movie, so there weren’t a lot of retellings of Spider-Man’s origin story available at the time. I have been a fan of Brian Michael Bendis’ work since “Ultimate Spider-Man,” I think he is a brilliant writer. I thought the stories in this book were phenomenal. I love Ultimate Gwen Stacy, I think she is absolutely a bad (word I’m not going to use on this blog). I loved how she stood up to Kong for bullying Peter, and then friction she caused between Peter and Mary Jane was great drama. I will also say I enjoyed that Bendis didn’t make Aunt May a sweet doting old lady like Stan Lee created, rather a strict woman who exerts authority. I enjoyed that change. Aunt May grounding Peter actually made the story more entertaining for me because it impacted Peter’s activities as Spider-Man and gave him limitations. I also liked Bendis’ interpretation of the Goblin, being an actual monstrosity who could fly and shoot energy blasts, rather than just being a man in a costume flying around on a glider throwing out weapons. I liked how Bendis made Kraven the Hunter a reality television star, but I will say that Kraven has never really been one of my favorite Spider-Man villains, and I will say I feel Bendis totally nerfed him. I think Doctor Octopus was done perfectly in this book. I enjoyed the amnesia and the derangement and the desire for revenge. And to top this off on things I liked about this book, Mark Bagley is my favorite comic book artist, I love his work, I think he has a fantastic artistic style and his work in this book was nothing short of amazing. If there is something I didn’t like about this book, it was that is didn’t include “Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special” #1, which concluded the story about the “be a superhero” assignment. The fact it was left out made the whole plotline feel like it was for no reason and that it went nowhere. I know the previous formats didn’t include it, and I was hoping the Ultimate Epic Collection might fix this, but alas, it didn’t, so I was slightly disappointed by that. I will also say I found the choice of title odd. None of the other formats have ever used the title “Hunted” before, so this kind of came out of left field. This book had fourteen issues in it, each with a different title, and the previous formats used two titles, and the choice they used was one that I don’t feel was ideal for this book. “Hunted” just doesn’t capture the essence of the book as a whole, in my opinion. I’m not going to speculate on what would have been the best title for this book as I think that very few of them would be perfect representations of the book as a whole, and I think they all have their flaws when it comes to being the ideal title for this particular collection. What I found very interesting was the cover. Usually, the cover of an Epic Collection is the cover of one of the issues contained in the book. This collection uses a panel from one page inside one of the issues as the cover. I actually approve of this choice. While, yes, there are covers inside this book that would have worked as a cover for this collection, I think this choice works perfectly. It was a bold choice, in my opinion, and they didn’t have to do it and there were plenty of other options to choose from, but I thought choosing a panel instead of an individual issue cover fits this book just fine. Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable read and I loved experiencing it again.

            Next up on our list of topics to cover while doing this review, we’re going to discuss accessibility. If you’ve read more than one of my reviews before, you know exactly what’s coming next because I’ve been over this over seven dozen times already, but every time I write a review, I always have new readers who have never consumed a Tim Cubbin review before and might not know what I mean when I use the word “accessibility.” So, what I’m asking here is, is this book accessible? And what I mean is, can a person who knows absolutely nothing about Spider-Man at all, or have no knowledge of the plotlines outside this book, decide to read this book and then completely understand the whole story in its entirety based solely on what is contained in this volume alone. I will tell you this book is relatively accessible. It does continue directly out of the previous volume, picking up on its stories and continuing where it left off, that is true, but to me, I don’t feel like having read the previous stories is an absolute necessity to read this volume. Having read the previous volume makes this volume fully accessible. This is marketed as Vol. 2, so there is a little bit of backstory. But the issues in this book are all consecutive issues of one series and don’t tie-into any other series or storylines or crossover or rely on knowledge of other series or characters outside of this volume. And the stories in this book don’t pick up from an unfinished ending of the previous volume and don’t leave an unresolved conclusion hanging directly into the next volume. Yes, it continues from the foundation of Vol. 1, but I don’t feel like reading it is absolutely essential to enjoying this volume.

            Moving on, we’re going to move on to the scoring. I know some people feel that a numeric score is the most important part of my reviews. I can’t completely agree with that. It’s beneficial for me to discuss the story as well, and talking about my personal opinions establishes a lot, even saying if the book is accessible helps, and it’s key to know if I’d give the book a personal recommendation, so I think each part of my reviews are important in their own way. But I will say that the score is a very essential point in my reviews. So obviously it would help if I explained my scoring system first. I know if you’ve read more than one of my reviews before, you know the gist of what I’m about to say, but again, I have the newbs who don’t know how this works, so I have to explain the system to benefit them. Well, my scoring system is extremely simple. I score on a scale of whole numbers ranging from one through ten. If I score the book at a one, that is the lowest score, and that means this book is absolute trash and not worth reading. However, if I score the book at a ten, that means the book is sheer perfection and one of the best things I have ever read in my entire life. Let us not forget that this is a graphic novel, so we have to take several things into consideration when scoring this book. Obviously we’re going for story, that’s a very key thing to look at when scoring, but we also have to take into consideration if the art is actually at peak, too; and on top of that, we have to look if the title lives up to what its name implies it will give us. And yes, I even look at the cover, if what it shows us on the front of this book is actually accurate to the essence of the book. I loved so much about this book, and while I would love to score it at a ten, I just can’t. The title just doesn’t feel right to me, and the exclusion of “Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special” #1 just makes the “be a superhero” assignment storyline feel like it goes nowhere and would make anyone who hasn’t read the “Super Special” wonder why these scenes are even included in this collection at all, so deduction on the score is imperative. However, I don’t feel like being harsh on this book either. So, when all is said and done and I give out my numeric score, the number we are looking at is… a nine! I feel like this book exceeded expectations and highly excelled and while it did have a few flaws, they were only minor. This book was close to perfection for me, and I really would love to have given it a ten, but there were just a few things holding me back, the title being one of the biggest ones. All-in-all though, I thought this was an excellent book.

            Continuing on with our agenda of topics to discuss, we’re going to do the recommendation segment. This segment answers two separate questions. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers, and if you are reading this review and are intrigued by what I’ve written, should you now try to obtain this book and read it as well, based solely on the words I’ve just spent the past several hours typing? The second question is regardless of the answer to my first question, and it is, whom do I think would be the best audiences for this book, besides the obvious answers of Spider-Man fans, Marvel fans, or fans of the creative team? I could probably skip the first question as it’s pretty obvious what I’m going to say, but the answer is yes, I recommend this book to anyone reading these words or who is unfortunate enough to find themselves caught up in a conversation about this graphic novel with me. If you’re interested in reading this book now just because of me, I’d highly recommend going to a bookstore, or your favorite comic book store, or your preferred online retailer, or your local library, or (if you’re lucky enough) from a Marvelite friend or relative, and get a copy as soon as you can. In answer to question number two, I feel like the best audience is teenagers who want to read a comic book as they will find the characters most relatable. I also feel like if you like soap operas and are interested in print medium, this book captures the essence of a daytime drama in an action and science fiction format.

            Well, we’re just about ready to part ways for this review. There are a few things I do have to say first before I hit publish. First off, I’ve been doing this blog for five and a half years now. I’ve published over 180 posts. A lot of them are reviews just like this. I’ve reviewed a lot of Marvel Epic Collections, particularly Modern Era Epic Collections, and right now, the main focus of this blog is reviewing Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I have reviewed comic book events, prose novels, and manga as well. I’ve also posted short stories, poems, articles, essays, and editorials, so there’s plenty of other content to check out, so keep browsing timcubbin.blogspot.com for more of my work. If you liked this post and have some more free time, please check out my review of “Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve” for more “Ultimate Spider-Man” content. My next post is going to be “Black Widow: Widowmaker” which will be posted within the next two months following this post, so keep checking back for it if you liked this post and want to continue reading my new works. I post on a very frequent basis as I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after its release and post a review on the earliest day I have free after I’ve finished reading the Epic Collection. I’m going to keep this blog going as long as I can, so you can expect to see this going on for a while as my doctor yesterday told me I’m healthier than she is. I love doing this blog and even though I don’t get paid for it, I still do it as professionally as I can. I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in journalism, so doing this blog puts me in the field, since my actual job is working in a grocery store. Anyway, if you read all the way to this point, you are THE BEST! I appreciate you. Feel free to like, share, retweet, comment, and tell your friends about me, and please keep coming back for more, as I’ll keep dishing out plenty more content on this blog. That’s all I have to say for now, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!