by fieldy snuts » Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:36 am
OK, time to finally get to this. First off, the cover truly is misleading as we got no Sinister Six anywhere. The last page of #154 that hyped this cover truly did make it seem like the Sinister Six would appear.....I'd have even been cool with a flashback. We didn't get anything though.
The moment of the book definitely goes to he conversation with J Jonah Jameson. This version seems to be a more toned down, rational version of his 616 character that is able to admit when he's wrong. We've seen this side in 616 Jonah before but mostly in a rare private thought. This direction holds a ton of potential for the future, then I remember that this is leading up to a Death of Spider-Man event =/
That's what the rest of the issue feels like too. The way Peter reconciled with Kitty Pryde after effortlessly schooling Ultimate Rocker Racer, met up with everyone for a birthday party and professing his love for Kitty feels like everything is falling into place right before he bites the big one. While Bendis sometimes lets too much dialog choke up a book this was far from the case here and the book most definitely benefited from all these character moments.
Earlier in this RG thread I also see a debate has arisen that MJ and Pete were making babies. Don't see enough about that and I reckon a lot of you guys are trying to relate this moment with the Teen Titans Infinite Crisis special where Superboy banged Wonder Girl and died a week later in IC #6. The way he made a big deal about trying to win her back made it pretty clear that they were commenting about the kiss and where that stands between them. The day The Great One tries to ape a Geoff Johns moment is the day the world ends. Utter blasphemy.
Now onto the art. I liked Samnee's art in the Siege: Embedded mini and feel he stepped up further here. His art is pleasant on the eyes and while I had no problem with LaFuente like others here did it was refreshing not to see anime eyes in the book. The way I feel about Bagley's return next however is mixed. He left the book doing some pretty sweet work in the Warriors arc but I could not get into his recent DC stuff at all. We'll see if a return to this title changes my opinion.
Overall the book felt like it was tying all loose ends into one happy setting for Peter Parker, who has been to hell and back and left somewhere in-between for the entire Ultimate Spider-Man book. Either this will lead up to a Big-Time era for the character or Marvel truly is going to off the character which goes hand-in-hand with the feeling of closure I've gotten. Whatever the case, it's been a hell of a #155 issue ride with many highs and lows that I've enjoyed for over 10 years.
My score:
Story: 8.5
Art: 7.5
Overall: 8.0
Last edited by
fieldy snuts on Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.