"Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Spider-Man No More” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

                Months before Peter Parker was shot and killed, grade-schooler Miles Morales was about to start a new chapter in his life at a new school—when he was suddenly bitten by a stolen, genetically altered spider that gave him incredible arachnid-like powers.

                Washington was decimated. The government was a mess. The Southwest was in chaos. States were seceding from the union. America was falling apart. Steve Rogers/Captain America and Tony Stark/Iron Man met to discuss the existence of a new Spider-Man. Captain America blamed himself for Peter Parker’s death since Peter was young and untrained and wanted to shut Miles down, but Iron Man tried to convince him otherwise, until the news broke that Spider-Man was accused of murdering Aaron Davis/Prowler. Miles’ father Jefferson Davis broke the news that Spider-Man murdered Miles’ uncle to Miles. Miles’ best friend Ganke Lee tried to convince Miles he did nothing wrong. Miles received a phone call from May Parker, Peter Parker’s aunt, asking to meet with him. On the way to the meeting, Miles fought a robber called Batroc the Leaper and his crew, and though Miles was able to defeat them, the police on the scene tried to arrest Miles and Miles had to flee from the crime scene. At Miles’ meeting with May and Gwen Stacy, Captain America arrived to tell Miles if Miles went into action as Spider-Man again, Captain America would call Miles’ parents. Captain America was called off to fight the Rhino at the Lincoln Tunnel. May gave Miles Peter’s web shooters and encouraged Miles to do what he felt was the right thing to do. Miles assisted Captain America in defeating the Rhino, and Captain America agreed that Miles needed training.

                Miles was questioned by New York Police Department homicide detective Maria Hill about the death of Miles’ uncle. Miles pretended to know nothing about it and Hill informed Miles Aaron’s death might not have been Miles’ fault. Due to the outbreak of war in America, Miles’ school Brooklyn Visions Academy was closed until such time as the city felt it was safe for the school to open again, and the students were sent home. Miles hitched a ride to the Triskelion, base of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates, and asked Captain America if Miles could join the Ultimates. Jefferson was on his way home when he was stopped at a S.H.I.E.L.D. blockade. He got into an argument with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and was detained in a S.H.I.E.L.D. van. Captain America told Miles to go home, when a Quincarrier hijacked by Gorgon and a squad of Hydra agents attacked the Triskelion. Miles assisted in taking down the Hydra squad, and Captain America, impressed by Miles, invited him to join the Ultimates, an invite Miles accepted. Captain America was elected as the president of the United States of America. The Ultimates fought Hydra outside Casper, Wyoming. Miles was assigned to team up with Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman. The S.H.I.E.L.D. van Jefferson was in was stopped by Hydra agents. Jefferson was freed and took down the Hydra agents. Miles was separated from the fight and had to contend with a Giant Woman Hydra agent, then was found by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and brought home.

                Daily Bugle reporter Betty Brant was investigating the death of the Prowler and made a connection between Prowler and Spider-Man. Betty went to Aaron’s apartment and found the dead spider that gave Miles his powers. She brought the spider to current Roxxon Industries scientist and former Osborn Industries scientist Doctor Conrad Marcus, who had worked on the Oz project. Marcus confirmed to Betty that this spider could, in fact, have created the new Spider-Man. Betty mistakenly concluded that Jefferson was the new Spider-Man. Betty brought this news to Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, but Jameson refused to publish it. Betty was going to bring the news to another source, but she didn’t live long enough for that to happen.

                Miles ran out of web fluid. He and Ganke tried to figure out how to crack the formula Peter Parker left behind for Miles. Maria Hill interviewed Jameson about Betty’s death, and Jameson lied, saying Betty never revealed to Jameson who the new Spider-Man was. Reporters came to Miles’ apartment to interview Jefferson about his heroic actions against Hydra, but Jefferson did not want to comment. He went to the reports to ask how they found where he lived when a new Venom symbiote host arrived, looking for Spider-Man and believing Spider-Man to be Jefferson. Miles fought the monster. The monster, seeing both Spider-Man and Jefferson in the same place at the same time was confused, and after a brief fight with Miles, the monster retreated, but during the fight, Jefferson was severely injured. Jefferson was rushed to the hospital. Miles’ mother Rio Morales went with Jefferson but told Miles to stay behind. News of the Venom attack made the news, and Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker’s girlfriend Mary Jane Watson rushed to aid Miles. Gwen and Mary Jane told Miles what they knew about symbiotes and the potential reason why Venom might be looking for Miles. Maria Hill arrived at Miles’ apartment, aware Miles was Spider-Man and tried to spur him into action. Venom attacked the hospital, looking for Jefferson. Miles made it to the hospital and fought Venom. Rio came to Miles’ aid. Miles was able to defeat Venom, but at a terrible cost. Following a devastating loss, Miles decided to be Spider-Man no more.

                One year later, Miles had a girlfriend named Katie Bishop. Spider-Woman tried to convince Miles to be Spider-Man again, but Miles refused. While at a Chinese restaurant, Miles ran into Gwen, who was working as a waitress. Suddenly, the restaurant was caught in a fight between Lori Baumgartner/Bombshell and the team of Ty Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger. Ty and Tandy had been student council presidents of their high schools. They were on their way to their senior prom when their limo was in an accident. Doctors Layla Miller, Nathaniel Essex, Samuel Sterns, and Arnim Zola III, the Roxxon Brain Trust, procured Ty and Tandy, had Ty and Tandy pronounced dead, and injected Ty and Tandy with Dark Matter. Ty and Tandy revived with new powers and became Cloak and Dagger. Lori’s mother Lana Baumgartner had been arrested and transferred to Roxxon for experimentation in lieu of going to prison. Lana was pregnant when she was experimented on, and Lori was born with powers as well, and when she grew older, she became Bombshell. Ganke was mad at Miles for witnessing a superhuman fight and not getting involved. Spider-Woman came to Miles again and explained her connection to Peter Parker in an attempt to convince Miles to be Spider-Man again. Spider-Woman wanted to team up with Bombshell, Cloak, and Dagger to take down Roxxon. Despite being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and despite S.H.I.E.L.D. and Roxxon having business connections, Spider-Woman did not trust the company. Roxxon hired Anthony Masters/Taskmaster to bring Roxxon’s experiments back to the company. Miles then had to decide if he wanted to once again take on the great responsibility that came with his great power and be Spider-Man again.

                Okay, so we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, now let’s get to my personal part of this review. As usual, we’re going to start with my own opinions on this book. I will start by saying that I found the stories in this book to be highly enjoyable. First off, the fractured America storylines in Divided We Fall and United We Stand are extremely relevant in this day and age thirteen years later. But this blog does not discuss politics, so I will go no further than just saying that. I will say I felt like there was a contradiction between this volume of “Miles Morales: Spider-Man” and the previous volume. It seems like the “Spider-Men” storyline from “Hero in Training” was ignored in “Spider-Man No More” since in this volume, Miles met Aunt May and Gwen Stacy for the first time and received Peter’s web shooters, while in the previous volume, Miles also met Aunt May and Gwen and did not have the web shooters, so I’m confused about the timing/existence of the storyline. That said, I loved Gwen’s reaction to Captain America trying to shut Miles down. I also liked Miles’ self-monologue complaint about the lameness of his villains, particularly Batroc the Leaper. I liked the choice to make Maria Hill an NYPD homicide detective; Hill is a character I’ve loved to hate for almost twenty years now. Seeing her in a different role and actually helping Miles was refreshing. I liked Jefferson’s conflict with being a hero and not wanting to be one, it mirrors Miles’ conflict from the previous volume. I don’t quite get how Captain America got to be elected president of the United States, I read the story thirteen years ago in “Ultimate Comics Ultimates,” but I honestly don’t remember all the details. I loved Jameson’s rationalization for not wanting to out the new Spider-Man, not wanting to ruin a man’s life, I’m glad he learned something from the death of Peter Parker. I did not like this portrayal of Betty Brant, I found it completely uncharacteristic of any other depiction of her, I did not enjoy seeing her as a money-hungry, opportunistic… (word I’m not going to use since this is a G-rated blog). I found the Venom War storyline to be the best story in the book. It was written with so much emotion, and the ending was just heartbreaking. I enjoyed the Spider-Man No More storyline, it’s something that every Spider-Man goes through, and I thought Miles’ was a good one, particularly that he lasted for a year. I loved how even though Peter Parker was dead, Brian Michael Bendis still found use for Aunt May, Gwen, and Mary Jane Watson. I don’t know why Bendis picked to use Layla Miller as part of the Roxxon Brain Trust, since in the main Marvel Universe, Layla was not a doctor, the same as making Miles’ girlfriend Katie Bishop, who in other universes is Hawkeye, the choices to use those names seemed really random. I enjoyed the evil corporation plot with Roxxon, I know that’s a little bit of a cliché, but Bendis still managed to make this entertaining. I enjoyed watching Miles’ growth and maturation over the course of this book, both as a teenager and as a superhero, I thought the progression was brilliantly written. Unfortunately, I found some conflict with the artwork in this graphic novel. All of these artists just had a way of drawing faces that just didn’t appeal to me when they were close up, but their action scenes were all spot on. I especially did not like the Venom design. I thought it just looked horrible. As for the choice in title, I felt like it was an appropriate pick. Honestly, the best choices were “Divided We Fall,” “United We Stand,” “Venom War,” or “Spider-Man No More,” and the only two titles that would truly sell would be “Venom War” or “Spider-Man No More,” the latter of which, in my opinion, taking up enough of the book to be a more proper representation of the entirety of the book itself, although “United We Stand” would, in my opinion, be an adequate representation of the content of the book as well. But overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but I just wish I could have had art I appreciated more.

                Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve explained this over six dozen times before, and I know I’ll be doing this dozens more times over the course of this blog, but once again, there are people reading this post now who have never read a Tim Cubbin review before and are wondering what the heck I mean by accessibility. So when I use the word “accessibility” in this blog, I’m saying how easy it would be for someone who has never heard of Miles Morales before or knows nothing about Marvel Comics or otherwise has no prior knowledge of what they’re about to read to go to their local bookstore or library or favorite shopping site and pick up this book, and then read it and understand everything they’ve read. This book has two accessibility issues. The first is that this is Vol. 2 and it picks up exactly where Vol. 1 left off and continues a story that’s already begun and not having read the previous volume is extremely detrimental to understanding the content of this particular volume. The second issue is that Divided We Fall and United We Stand were event storylines in “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man,” “Ultimate Comics X-Men,” and “Ultimate Comics Ultimates” and the rest of the event, especially “Ultimate Comics Ultimates,” contains more details to the story that this book doesn’t have and leaves a great deal of confusion to those who haven’t read the other series. Heck, thirteen years later, even I practically need a refresher. So, I will say if you are new to Marvel Comics, this is not a good starting point for you. Even if you’ve seen the “Spider-Verse” films or played the video games, they are nothing like this comic series and it’s essential to read the first twelve issues of “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” (2011) before reading this graphic novel.

                Okay, I’ve been going on for a very long time at this point, I think we’re ready to get to my numeric score now. Now, for those of you who have never read one of my reviews before, my scoring scale is extremely simple. I score on a scale of exact integers between one through ten. If I score a book as a one, that means it is a flaming hot pile of trash and that every single copy of this graphic novel should be taken out of sales, thrown on a pile, and set on fire, then never be reprinted again. If, on the other hand, I give a book a score of a ten (which honestly doesn’t happen very often), then that means this book is sheer perfection, and every copy should be bought and read again and again and demand should be so high that this book needs to be reprinted every year. Now, I’m a very hard critic, I don’t just give out tens for no reason. To get a ten, the book has to exceed expectations. The story has to be gripping, exciting, interesting, intriguing, and engaging, hold my interest from start to finish, make me not want to put the book down, be full of surprises, and make me wish the book had more when I get to the end, and the art has to be consistently appealing, if not blow me away, and make me want to look at each panel for longer than needed just to appreciate the artwork. On the other hand, I’m not fond of giving out low scores either unless I feel like the book honestly deserves it. I very rarely give ones, I can count the amount of times I’ve done that so far on one hand. Well, you can probably guess that this book doesn’t exactly hit either pole, and if you made that guess, you’d be absolutely right. So, let’s talk about what score I’m actually going to give this graphic novel. As my regular readers know, I have a metaphorical blender for making review scores. So I’m going to take this entire book, the story I found to be highly enjoyable, the fact that I do have some complaints about certain details, the art that I wasn’t a total fan of, and the title that I thought fit the book well, and I’m going to dump it into my blender. Next, I’m going to hit mix and keep it going until this book is completely blended. Then I’m going to pour it out into my cup and look at the score, and it is… a seven. I honestly did enjoy this book and feel like it deserves a good score, but there were a few faults, and I have to gripe about the art, so the point deductions are, in my opinion, fair, and this score is, again, in my opinion, fair. Had this book perhaps had different artists, this could have gotten an eight. I also had to take a strike at the score for the contradiction between the two volumes due to the “Spider-Men” story in the previous volume as I feel like the lack of continuity made the stories rather confusing and I’m not sure if/when this story was even supposed to take place. Otherwise, I felt this was a commendable effort and an enjoyable read and I had a blast consuming this graphic novel.

                New up on our agenda shall be my recommendation. I always do this segment in two parts, answering two questions. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to anyone reading this review or to anyone else I talk to such as friends or family interested in comic books? The second question is, regardless of the answer to question one, who do I think would be the best audience? You can probably already guess the answer, but I’ll say it for you anyway. The answer is yes, I would recommend this book to anyone reading this review who is now interested in reading this book based on what they have just read. I tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum in order to give you a reason to actually want to read the book to find out how it ends. As for who I think the best audience is, I’d say it’s most appealing to people who are fans of Miles Morales, or to those who are fans of the work of Brian Michael Bendis, but if you want to read this volume, I’d recommend reading “Hero in Training” in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format first.

                Okay, I think we’re getting to the point where we’re ready to just about wrap things up. Before we part ways, there are a few things I would like to say first. Firstly, I have been doing this blog for almost five years now. At this point, I have now done over 170 posts. Over five dozen of them have been reviews of Epic Collections, and I have done other book reviews and events reviews as well. If you liked this review and want more Miles Morales content, feel free to search for “Miles Morales: Spider-Man: Hero in Training.” I’ve also written other kinds of content on this blog, such as short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials. Feel free to keep browsing timcubbin.blogspot.com for more posts, there’s plenty to see. I can tell you that I post on a very frequent basis, usually at least once a month. I am a die-hard Marvel fan and purchase every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection that is released as soon as I can after they are released and if possible, put up a review. There are a few Modern Era Epic Collections I have yet to review, maybe one day those will be remedied. You can expect to see my next post within the next four weeks, it will be “Spider-Man/Deadpool: Road Trip” so if you are interested, keep an eye out for that. And that’s really all I have to say for now, so until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Ultimate Spider-Man: Learning Curve"

 

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

            Osborn Industries was founded by businessman and scientist Norman Osborn. His most recent breakthrough was an enhancement formula he called Oz. He was testing it on several animals, including a spider. The spider managed to escape captivity due to careless handling. Peter Parker was a nerdy high schooler living in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. He was often picked on by bullies such as Flash Thompson and Kong. He was orphaned and lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. He had a crush on his high school friend Mary Jane Watson, and the feeling was mutual, but neither said nor did anything to act on it. Peter’s best friend at Midtown High School was Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn. Harry was popular and an athlete but was unable to prevent his teammates from bullying Peter. Harry was ignored by his father and often looked down upon by Norman. One day, Peter’s high school class went on a field trip to Osborn Industries for a tour. During that tour, Peter was bitten by the escaped Oz 00 arachnid and passed out. Norman and Osborn Industries covered Peter’s hospital bill hoping to prevent a lawsuit and Norman decided he wanted to keep an eye on Peter. The next day at school, Peter was about to be kicked from behind by Kong, but before Kong could connect, Peter sensed it, caught Kong’s foot, and flipped him. Peter then passed out and was taken to the hospital. Norman had one of his employees swipe Peter’s blood work with normal blood so he could see the effect Oz was having on Peter and saw that the drug was killing Peter. Norman than had that employee attempt to kill Peter by running him down with his car, but Peter was able to sense the car and jump over it before the car hit him. Norman then had the kill hit on Peter aborted in the hopes of studying him further. Peter did research in his basement lab and saw that his blood did not appear normal and also found on the internet that some spiders can detect movement before it happens. He got in a fight with Aunt May and Uncle Ben for skipping school and studying in his lab all day. That night, Peter discovered he could stick to walls like a spider. While in school, Peter accidentally broke his desk and discovered that he had suddenly grown muscles. While in gym class, Peter saw Flash harassing Mary Jane and threw a basketball at him. Flash challenged him to a fight after school. Peter attempted to block a punch from Flash and accidentally broke Flash’s hand. Norman learned of Peter’s prowess and asked Harry to invite Peter to his lab for a personal tour. Flash’s family sued Uncle Ben and Aunt May for Flash’s hospital bill. Peter ran off that night to test his powers and discovered he was strong enough to lift a car. While at Osborn Industries, one of the scientists, Doctor Otto Octavius, took a sample of Peter’s blood against Peter’s will. Norman observed that the Oz had stabilized and was giving Peter the enhanced abilities of a spider. Norman decided he wanted to mix the Oz formula with a sample of his blood and infuse it into himself to give Norman enhanced abilities. Peter and his schoolmates went to a wrestling event where challengers were invited to wrestle with Crusher Hogan. If they won, they would receive $500. Peter dressed up in sweats and a mask and took Crusher down. He won the money and was asked to return to the wrestling ring under the name Spider-Man. He then gave the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May in an envelope signed from teachers from his school saying they were donating the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May to cover Flash’s hospital bill. Peter developed athletic skills and was invited by his high school’s basketball coach to replace Flash on the team, and Peter accepted, leading the team to victory. Peter refused to share his identity with the wrestling coordinator and was given a new full body costume to mask his identity and look professional, causing him to neglect Mary Jane in the process. He continued to give the money to Uncle Ben and Aunt May under the teachers cover story. Norman Osborn performed the procedure of injecting to Oz into himself, and during the process, his laboratory blew up, killing and injuring several of the scientists. Among those injured in the lab were Otto Octavius and Harry. Peter continued his wrestling career as Spider-Man until he was accused of stealing the petty cash and was forced to quit the gig. While on his way home that night, he ran into a burglar who was robbing a store but allowed the burglar to escape with the money he stole, figuring this wasn’t his problem. He came home to Uncle Ben and Aunt May upset with a progress report they received from his school, showing his grades were in decline. Peter fled from home and ran to the first person he could think of hiding with: his teammate Kong. Kong agreed because his parents were out of town. While Kong was throwing a party, Uncle Ben was able to discover Peter’s hiding place and came to collect him. Peter ran from Uncle Ben. A monster burned down the Osborn Mansion, killing Harry’s mother in the process. Peter returned home to find a burglar had broken into his home and shot and killed Uncle Ben. Peter ran off as Spider-Man to find the man responsible for murdering his uncle. He found the man hiding in a warehouse surrounded by cops. Peter defeated him and discovered that Uncle Ben’s killer was the same burglar he allowed to run past him the night his wrestling career ended. He gave the burglar to the cops and learned that with great power then must come great responsibility and vowed to use his powers as Spider-Man to help others in need and never let his Uncle Ben down again.

            J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the metropolitan newspaper the Daily Bugle, wanted more coverage on Spider-Man. Peter managed to perfect a project his scientist father had been working on before he died, a molecular adhesive. Spider-Man now had webs. Peter quit the basketball team, a decision Mary Jane supported, saying basketball wasn’t him. Harry returned to school. Peter felt an odd sensation right before several explosions rocked his high school. While the school was evacuated, Harry was afraid that someone was coming for him, and Peter ran off to sneak out of his high school to switch into his Spider-Man costume, fearing if Spider-Man was seen in school, other students would figure out that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. The attacker of the school was the same monster who burned down the Osborn Mansion. Spider-Man fought the monster in the school, and the fight went off the school grounds, where the monster uttered the name “Parker.” The monster threw Spider-Man, who then used his newly invented web shooters to save his life. Spider-Man returned and fought the monster on top of a bridge, until the police arrived and started shooting at both the monster and Spider-Man. After the fight, and Peter returned to school and pretended to have been trapped under a chalkboard during the entire fight. Harry revealed the identity of the monster and was taken away by the police, who believed him to be insane.

            Spider-Man stopped a burglar called the Shocker. Peter learned the Daily Bugle was paying for pictures of Spider-Man and tried to cash in by posing for selfies as Spider-Man. Peter brought the pictures in, but did not get the money he wanted. He did, however, get a job at the Daily Bugle working on their website after he prevented their website from crashing. Peter learned that his Uncle Ben’s murderer used to run with a group of gangsters called the Enforcers who worked for Wilson Fisk, also known as the Kingpin. While known as a crime boss, no one was ever able to bring down the Kingpin. Spider-Man took on the Enforcers, where he learned from their underboss Mr. Big that Fisk was throwing a gala at Fisk Tower that Friday night and goaded Spider-Man into crashing the party. Spider-Man was branded in the Daily Bugle as a mob menace, despite the presence of the Enforcers. Mary Jane asked Peter out on a date to see a movie, and Peter agreed for that Saturday. Spider-Man broke into Fisk’s office at Fisk Tower that Friday night and observed a camera in his office. He was able to associate the tingling he felt to be a warning sign of impending danger right before the Kingpin confronted him. Spider-Man fought Kingpin’s electric-powered bodyguard called Electro and lost spectacularly and was knocked out. Kingpin unmasked Spider-Man, then threw him out of the window. Spider-Man came to in time to save his life. Peter returned home to Aunt May, who questioned if Peter even liked her due to his constant absence from the house. Peter cancelled his date with Mary Jane, which made her very angry. Kingpin learned Mr. Big had informed Spider-Man of Kingpin’s gala and put Spider-Man’s mask on Mr. Big before destroying the underboss. Because of the Spider-Man mask, Spider-Man was considered a suspect in Mr. Big’s death. Peter had to think of a way to return to Fisk Tower, take down the Kingpin, defeat the Enforcers and Electro, and make things right with Mary Jane.

            Okay, so we now have the synopsis out of the way, let’s get on to my own personal contribution to this review. Let me just start by saying this is my first Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection review, I’ve done Epic Collections and Modern Era Epic Collections, this is a brand-new line and the first of its kind. I don’t know how many more there will be or how often Marvel will be doing them, but this is where we start. Next, I will say that this book really takes me back. The original Ultimate Marvel Universe was a whole new universe that set Peter Parker back to fifteen years old and becoming Spider-Man for the first time, with a whole new history. This was around the time I was first getting into Marvel Comics, so this was one of my introductory Spider-Man series, since it threw away thirty-seven years of history and made everything fresh and new from the beginning again. And Brian Michael Bendis’ original run on “Ultimate Spider-Man” has actually been one of my all-time favorite comic book series. From the beginning, I have been a huge fan of his work. I thought his reimagining of Spider-Man for the 21^st century was absolutely brilliant. I was a bullied teenager myself at the time, so I found myself easily relating to Peter Parker. All these years later, having bloomed into a huge Marvel fan, I’ve always loved how Bendis retold Spider-Man’s origin story, but still stayed true to the work of the GOAT Stan Lee. I loved how he did a full build-up of Peter’s origin. When Stan wrote it, he did it all in one issue. Bendis stretched it out over the span of five issues. What I respect the most is the fact that the readers really get to know Uncle Ben better and relate to him more since he isn’t killed until issue #4, making his death all the more tragic. But the readers get to see Peter testing the limits of his powers and not just intuitively figuring them out like in Stan’s work. He didn’t discover his super strength until issue #2. He didn’t have his webbing right away, it was his father’s invention that he had to figure out how to make in issue #6, and he didn’t instinctively know how to use it at first either, he had to learn it under the stressful condition of fighting a monster in issue #7. He also didn’t fully figure out his “Spider-Sense” until issue #10. I also liked that Spider-Man didn’t win his first fight with Electro. Yes it’s sad to see our hero beaten, but Peter was cocky and unprepared and Electro was above his power level, so realistically losing this battle made a lot of sense and made me really enjoy the rematch, wondering how he was going to win this time when he was beaten once before. I think I enjoyed his showdown with the Kingpin a lot more when I was younger due to the content of Spider-Man’s quips, but even now it is still enjoyable. Issue #13, which I’m not going to discuss to avoid spoilers, is actually one of my all-time favorite single issues of a comic book ever printed, I think it’s hysterical. Aunt May and Mary Jane are great in it is all I’m going to say. But I think one of my absolute favorite parts of the start of “Ultimate Spider-Man” was Mark Bagley’s artwork. I have loved his artwork ever since I first saw it. He is my all-time favorite comic book artist. I just think he’s amazing. His art looks comic booky while still being stylish art. His tiny details are just fantastic. He does facial features like eyes spectacularly. He had always wowed me. I thought his character designs were stellar, they all looked great, I just loved the way he made every character in the series look, especially his villains. The man knows how to draw villains. I have literally read these issues over the course of the past twenty-four years since its original publication at least a hundred times, and that is not an exaggeration, and every time I read it, I still love it just as much. This book, in my opinion, is what a reimagined Spider-Man comic book should be and is my favorite retelling of Spider-Man that has been produced thus far. All-in-all, this book is simply absolutely amazing.

            Next up on our agenda of a Tim Cubbin review, if you don’t know, is accessibility. Now, I know some of you have been here before and know what I mean, but I know there are plenty of newbs here too that have to be informed as to what the word means when I use it, so I simply must do it again, despite having done so about thirty times at this point. Anyway, accessibility, simply put, just means how easy it would be for someone who has somehow miraculously never heard of Spider-Man before to see this book in a bookstore, be intrigued by it and decide to buy it, and be able to fully understand every detail of what they just read. So, I will tell you that this happens to be one of the most accessible books I have ever reviewed on this blog in my entire five years of doing this. As I said before, this is a new universe where everything is given a fresh start, so all of Marvel’s extensive history has been ignored and none of what Marvel has ever published before has happened. This was literally the way the Ultimate Universe started, so this is a perfect starting point for new readers. I feel like if you wanted to start reading Marvel Comics for any reason, whether just being intrigued by the name “Ultimate Spider-Man” or being a fan of Spider-Man from any other media and wanting to branch off into reading comics, this book is the perfect starting point for you. I honestly don’t think I could think of a better place you can start reading comics at, actually.

            Okay, I have been going on for quite a while at this point, so now we’re just going to move on to the single most important part of a Tim Cubbin review. My previous readers already know what I’m going to say, but I’ll say it again anyway for all you newbs here. The single most important part of a Tim Cubbin review is the score. I give everything that I read and review a numeric score. My system is rather simple. The score is done on a scale of exact numbers ranging from one through ten. If I give the book a score of a one, that means that it was so horrible that every copy should be pulled off the shelf and incinerated rather than have people spend their money on such an awful piece of trash. Ten, on the other hand, means that this book was literally sheer perfection and that it should have to be reprinted very frequently because every copy should have been purchased off the shelf and have found a home in a reader’s collection. Now, my previous readers know that I’m not in the business of handing out tens to books unless they are absolutely perfect, and that is something that I very, very rarely feel a book deserves to be called. And yet, surprisingly, ones aren’t all that common either, I usually find something to like in a Marvel Comic Book. But now we have this book that I’ve literally read over one hundred times and love, with an amazing story and exceptional art. And we have a big question here: does this book deserve to be scored at a ten by Tim Cubbin? Usually, I make a whole big dramatic thing that I drag out and leave you in suspense with before I give my score, and this time it is not going to be any different. So, we’re going to take everything about this book, the story, and the art, and throw it into my figurative blender. Next, we’re going to turn it on and blend it up really good. Then we’re going to pour our mixture out into a cup to see our score and… oh, look! It’s a ten! Yes, I feel that this book actually deserves to receive a ten. I do think that Bendis and Bagley achieved perfection with this book. It’s extremely rare for me to say this, but in this case, I do feel it is perfect. In my opinion, it’s exactly what a Spider-Man comic reimagined for the 21^st century should be.

            Next on the docket is if this book gets the personal Tim Cubbin recommendation and then regardless of this or not who I think would enjoy this book the most. I think it obviously goes without saying that this book gets my personal recommendation, so I really don’t need to go into all that, but yes, I would definitely give this book the old Tim Cubbin recommendation. As far as to whom I’d recommend this book to, I would literally say everyone, but I think I need to be a little more specific than that, so I’ll just be a little more elaborative on the subject. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man in any capacity, be it from the movies or cartoons or video games, whatever you know him from, but are not a comic book reader, I recommend this book to you. If you are a reader of Marvel Comics from the original Ultimate Universe but have not actually read the first “Ultimate Spider-Man” issues #1-13, I totally say you should read this book. If you are a fan of Marvel Comics from any other reality but have never read this, I give you this recommendation. Finally, if you’re reading this review and just want to read this book now based solely on my words, I think you should get your hands on a copy of this book as soon as you possibly can. After all, I didn’t tell you how everything ended, so you might want to read it yourself to find out how Spider-Man pulls through all the difficulties he faces against the monster, Kingpin, the Enforcers, and Electro since I didn’t give spoilers. Otherwise, how else will you know the ending?

            Anyway, we’re getting to the point where I’m going to start wrapping things up. There are a few things that I’d like to say first before I log off, though. First off, if you read this book, I’d love to hear from you your own opinion on this book. After all, everything on this blog is just my personal opinion. As human beings, we’re all entitled to our own opinions on everything, and I’d love to know if you’ve read it how you felt about this book. Do you agree that this was fantastic, or do you feel like I’m completely mental for liking this book? I want to know. Leave a comment or a tweet or something to let me know. And at the point of my drafting this post, no one has ever done this yet. Next, I will say that this blog has over 150 posts at the point of my drafting this particular post, so there is plenty more content for you to read. While what I mostly do are book reviews, I have also written some short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s plenty more Tim Cubbin content to read and like. I also post very frequently, so keep checking timcubbin.blogspot.com regularly, there’s always plenty more posts coming. I collect every Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection and buy them as soon as I possibly can, then, if possible, I write a review for this blog, so there’s always plenty of reviews you can look forward to every month. You can probably expect my next post to come in about a month from the publication of this post. Okay, now I feel like I’ve said all that really needs to be said at this point. I’ll leave you to go on doing whatever you feel like doing on Facebook or X of Instagram, whatever site you found this post on, unless you feel like exploring more of this blog, and if you decide to do that, you are literally THE BEST! I work very hard on this blog, and I don’t even get paid. I just do it because I have a degree in English with a concentration in journalism and feel like I should use the skills I developed in class in something, so I do it in this blog. I need to move on with my life, too, I have things to do as well. I shall be back soon, and I hope that when I am, you will join me. Feel free to share this site with all your friends, I always love having new readers. It really fulfills this hobby. And so, I say adieu, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!