Ultimate Spider-Man #54
Originally Presented at Comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Hollywood Part One
“Spider-Man: The Movie” is now in production… but nobody told Peter Parker!
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: J.D. Smith
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Cover Art: Mark Bagley
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review: When May Parker leaves town for a week to visit her mother, Peter plans an uneventful week of going to work and wishing Mary Jane weren’t grounded. His plans get messed up, though, when he gets news that a Spider-Man is filming right there in the Big Apple.
Brian Michael Bendis really wowed me with this issue. While I’m usually satisfied with his writing skill, he usually goes as a snail’s pace that begins to lag after a while. This issue has as much actual story content as any three regular issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, though, starting off with a very funny Peter/Gwen scene, cutting to a subplot involving Dr. Octopus (leaving the reader to figure out where, exactly, Ultimate Six fits in), and even brings Pete all the way to the movie set, where he confronts the people involved in fictionalizing his life.
Although this story, as most of them in this title, has the potential to turn serious very quickly, for the most part it’s a really funny issue. The banter between Peter and Gwen at the beginning paints them as cohorts, almost siblings, really putting an original twist on their relationship. We get a page of goofy interior monologue and an amusing schoolroom scene as well. The laughs continue as Peter heads to the movie set, where Bendis gleefully uses the actual principals of the real-life Spider-Man movie to tell his story. Although the in-jokes may be a little tedious for people who didn’t see the real movie (both of them) or for people unfamiliar with director Sam Raimi’s career (a few more of those out there), for the most part the whole thing comes together very well and has me happily anticipating next issue.
Mark Bagley and Art Thibert, as always do a masterful job on the artwork. Bagley even goes so far as to make Tobey Maguire in a Spider-Man costume very visually distinctive from the “real” Spider-Man, and he does it entirely by playing with body structure and poses instead of altering the costume or making it look “fake.”
This is an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man that gives you your money’s worth - a fantastic story, wonderful art and a genuine sense of excitement over what it to come. This time Bendis and company really knock it out of the park
RATING: 4.5/5
Quick Rating: Great
Title: Hollywood Part One
“Spider-Man: The Movie” is now in production… but nobody told Peter Parker!
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: J.D. Smith
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Cover Art: Mark Bagley
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review: When May Parker leaves town for a week to visit her mother, Peter plans an uneventful week of going to work and wishing Mary Jane weren’t grounded. His plans get messed up, though, when he gets news that a Spider-Man is filming right there in the Big Apple.
Brian Michael Bendis really wowed me with this issue. While I’m usually satisfied with his writing skill, he usually goes as a snail’s pace that begins to lag after a while. This issue has as much actual story content as any three regular issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, though, starting off with a very funny Peter/Gwen scene, cutting to a subplot involving Dr. Octopus (leaving the reader to figure out where, exactly, Ultimate Six fits in), and even brings Pete all the way to the movie set, where he confronts the people involved in fictionalizing his life.
Although this story, as most of them in this title, has the potential to turn serious very quickly, for the most part it’s a really funny issue. The banter between Peter and Gwen at the beginning paints them as cohorts, almost siblings, really putting an original twist on their relationship. We get a page of goofy interior monologue and an amusing schoolroom scene as well. The laughs continue as Peter heads to the movie set, where Bendis gleefully uses the actual principals of the real-life Spider-Man movie to tell his story. Although the in-jokes may be a little tedious for people who didn’t see the real movie (both of them) or for people unfamiliar with director Sam Raimi’s career (a few more of those out there), for the most part the whole thing comes together very well and has me happily anticipating next issue.
Mark Bagley and Art Thibert, as always do a masterful job on the artwork. Bagley even goes so far as to make Tobey Maguire in a Spider-Man costume very visually distinctive from the “real” Spider-Man, and he does it entirely by playing with body structure and poses instead of altering the costume or making it look “fake.”
This is an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man that gives you your money’s worth - a fantastic story, wonderful art and a genuine sense of excitement over what it to come. This time Bendis and company really knock it out of the park
RATING: 4.5/5