Ultimate Comics Spider-man #003

A bit late for UCSM review, but late is always better than never!

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UCSM #003

Cover by: David Lafuente
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: David Lafuente
Inks: David Lafuente Garcia
Colored by: Justin Ponsor
Lettered by: VC – Cory Petit

Story:
The world of Spider-Man is turned upside down! Friends are enemies and enemies are friends! Mysterio is on the loose and gunning for Spidey big time. Plus-and this is a biggie-you’ll never believe what iconic super hero is moving into Aunt May’s house!

Review:

Sigh, I miss Bagley...

We’ll start with the thing that turns me off the most, the art. Remember how I liked the art in my last review? Well, despite being good at drawing dynamic battle, LaFuente fails at details. Notice how the background is really simple, and Peter’s fingers are pretty simple too in that particular panel. I mean, I am okay with some cartoon-y looks, but I always liked details, I think it’s one of many things that really shows how good the artist is. Other than these panels, they are kinda okay-ish, though felt a bit more static than the last issue.

...yet LaFuente seems to draw Susan Storm pretty well

Anyway, that conflict with MJ reveals a bit on how the last 6 months been played out. It turns out Peter is as clueless as us in why he actually broke up with MJ, though it seems like his new relationship with Gwen just come naturally. Well, other than this conflict, Bendis follows the old formula of half drama then the latter half is action. The drama part is kinda boring, since Johny’s story isn’t exciting at all, and most of the reader has guessed it from Ultimate FF: Requiem.

FYI, that is Mysterio, not another minor villain

Well, it’s finally Mysterio time. Like in Marvel 616, he uses illusion for his scheme, successfully manipulating people. Unlike his 616 counterpart though, this time he has the power to actually fight Spider-man. It appears that he isn’t a human, but merely some kind of gas in a human suit, though he is capable of doing physical things while staying in gas form. This power of his somehow reminds me of Will o’ Wisp power, one of 616 Spider-Man’s old villain, an interesting power I might add, I wonder how Spidey will fight him. Anyway, after successfully preventing Mysterio’s scheme, Spider-man was found by the police with a bunch of gold bars, which leads to…

I bet you never expect to see this kind of news

Yeah, this panel is a bit unexpected, I mean, you know how Peter’s luck usually is, so this thing is an interesting new take on the situation. Then comes the epilogue, though it feels kinda bland, after the first issue, I think people would have guessed that Johny would move into Aunt May’s house, there’s no need to hype it or anything. I just hope the e xact reason of why Johny is moving in will be revealed in the next issue.

Summary:

• Worsening art (less balooney Spider-man’s head though)
• Too much hype
• Interesting Ultimate Mysterio’s power
• Spidey is loved by people!
• A bit of info about Peter-MJ

Final Rating: 7/10
If only LaFuente’s art could get better…

Ultimate Comics Avenger #02

It’s the second week of September, so the long-awaited Ultimate Comics Avengers has arrived! Now all that’s left is only Ultimate Comics Armor Wars, and we’ll wait until October for our next comic.

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UCA #02

Cover by: Carlos Pacheco
Writer: Mark Millar
Pencils: Carlos Pacheco
Inks: Danny Miki
Colored by: Justin Ponsor
Lettered by: VC – Cory Petit
Story:
Reeling over his near-fatal encounter with the Skull, Captain America takes matters into his own hands in pursuit of his terrifying new adversary and his terrorist employers! Meanwhile, Nick Fury reveals the horrifying truth behind the Red Skull and kick-starts Project Avengers in earnest with the arrival of Gregory Stark, Tony’s older, richer and smarter brother!

Review:
This second issue really shows how different Millar with Loeb is. While Loeb’s comic is full of action in every scene, Millar’s comic emphasize on character development with some actions added in-between. Anyway, this issue is mainly a buildup and background issue (of course, it’s only the second issue afterall) with most of the scenes are flashbacks.

Captain's gone rogue

This issue mainly deals with the origin of Red Skull (we’ll get to that later) and the restarting of project Avengers. Before it though, we get how Captain America reacts to the news regarding Red Skull. Well, he kicks Hawkeye in the face (literally) and blows up the plane (now that’s what I call an overreaction) in the middle of the sea so he can run away and gather up some info regarding his kid.

Red Skin

Then we get into the present, in Triskelion, Carol Danver is having a meeting with Nick Fury to find out the best way to approach captain’s situation (I wonder why Nick Fury can’t be SHIELD leader).  Anyway, like all good narrative, Fury explains Red Skull background, how he is the son of Captain America and how he is soon adopted after Captain’s death. Well, I’m already liking the idea of how Red Skull is Captain America’s son, but what comes next is a lot more awesome. Since he was Captain America’s son, he was of course researched, and he seems to have a lot of ability that is given by the Super Soldier Serum. Anyway, like all good villains, he destroyed the whole research facility after he becomes big enough. Before leaving though, he skinned his face, to throw away the face that Captain America has given to him, thus the nickname, Red Skull. That alone is one of the best reinvention of old villain, and that page I showed on the left is really creepy. Well, with Super Soldier serum in his blood as well, I hope he becomes a good opponent for Captain America, unlike Colonel, which is so disappointing.

Too bad they have failed to shut Loeb down before he reaches the public

Well, time to get back into the present. Fury told us about Project Avengers, seems like some kind of special ops that would move behind the scene to shut anything that’s to dangerous for public. Huh, a special ops filled with super heroes? It would be like a special, special ops. And then we get a bit of what the special ops will consist of, Hawkeye, New Black Widow and Tony Stark’s elder brother. And I’m sure we’ll get more, 3 people ain’t cool enough.

This one is a really good issue, no wonder it gets into top 10 of comics sale. And it’s also nice to see Millar back on the scene, though I must say that I hate how suddenly Tony Stark has a brother. Ultimate Iron Man never said anything about him having a brother…

Summary:

• Awesome art
• Nice re-invention of Red Skull
• Discontinuity with Ultimate Iron Man

Final Rating: 8.5/10
(With more action I’ll raise it to 9.5 ^^)

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #002

Yay! It’s september! And september means new issues of Ultimate Comics will soon be released! Yeah, and this month we’ll start with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man second issue!

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UCSM #002

Cover by: David Lafuente
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: David Lafuente
Inks: David Lafuente Garcia
Colored by: Justin Ponsor
Lettered by: VC – Cory Petit

Story:
All the shocking revelations from the first issue come to bloom in this pulse-pounding second chapter!! Who is the Shroud!!?? Who is Spider-Man?? And who the hell is Mysterio and what did he go and do to the Kingpin?!

Review:
Second issue of the new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Well, to be honest, I was expecting more explanation of Spider-man new universe, like how did he ended up with Gwen, where has Johny gone to, who the hell is the red-hooded man and other things. Well, this issue indeed gives us some answer, like who is Mysterio and where is Mary Jane and Kitty Pryde, but there still are a lot more important things to be answered. But, what makes me really into this issue is the art.

Lafuente's art provides us a nice action

"Stupid head!"

So far, we haven’t seen how Lafuente draws Spider-Man battle (well, unless you count Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3) but this issue shows his battle-drawing style, and I like it, a lot. Before this, both Bagley and Immonen draws a big, static battle, showing Spider-Man hopping around dodging things. But with Lafuente, we see it much more close and personal, depicting each movement panel by panel. Too bad he hasn’t fixed the head.

Anyway, let’s get onto other thing like…

The all new mysterious mysterio

Mysterio. Yeah, this comic opens up with an introduction of mysterio. And again, I like it, this mysterio is really creepy and his villainous monologue is kinda cool. Now, other than his beam power, we also know that his goal is just another world domination or something in that line, and he kills kingpin to eliminate any competion for that goal. I’m just wondering if we will ever know how he get his power and does he, like his 616 counterpart, have any illusion power?

Wait... MJ?

Next we get another introduction of what happens with Kitty and MJ. Seems like Kitty isn’t captured like other mutants, she was just banned from using her power (and gets a detention if she uses it <_<). And there’s another girl… wait, that’s Mary Jane Watson? Okay, from issue #001 we all knew she get a new haircut (which I think is ugly), what I didn’t expect is her change of personality. She seems to lost all her confidence now and become so timid, like, the exact opposite of Ultimate Gwen. Does her breakup with Peter have anything to do with it? Oh, and Kong also made an appearance, seems he has gone all punk now, I don’t like it.

 
Anyway, other than those two introductions, nothing really going on in this issue, a minor villain duo did show up though, and got their ass kicked quickly. Another thing is Johny finally woke up and made us wait a month before he started to tell his stories.

Summary:

• New, interesting battle depiction
• Mysterio is creepy and cool
• What’s with MJ new personality? (and haircut?)
• Nothing is really going on in this issue

Final Rating: 7/10

(BTW, I’d give a 8.5/10 rating to issue #001, 0.5 for Peter-Gwen relationship)

Lettered by: VC – Cory Petit