Ultimate Spider-Man 108, Or Why Is Ultimate Ronin So Much Cooler Than The Original?

[Jack]

Seriously, they're both written exclusively by the same guy. It boggles the mind.

Anyway, the issue starts with Kingpin watching over his wife, who appears to be in a coma - at the very least she's in bed with an IV hooked up to her and her eyes closed. Rose comes to announce that someone is auditioning to be the new fist, but Kingpin ain't talking any of that around his wife.

Next we get to see inside Moon Knight's incredibly messed up head again, as his personalities discuss creating a new one in order to infiltrate the Kingpin's ranks. Apparently they did it before when they made Moon Knight, and that didn't work out so well for them. Still, it ends up being done, because Ronin has his audition. He takes down all of the mooks, but Kingpin says he wants more - he wants Spider-Man brought to him.

Oh, and the collective we know as Moon Knight was a Gulf War Super Soldier experiment gone wrong and used to go by Paladin, if all that is new. I honestly don't remember anything about Moon Knight's last appearance except for the brilliant bit with Spidey taking his moonarangs "Those are mine!" "Nuh-uh, you threw them at me, and now they're mine."

Next is MJ handing in a video piece she's done on Spider-Man and Midtown High to the school's tv channel, trying to secure a spot on the staff. They're more than happy to accept her, except Jessica who's put off by MJ being so much younger than her and yet producing such a great piece. Some nice characterisation for Flash and the new headmaster, who seems like a nice guy and so will either be evil, killed or both.

MJ tells Peter the good news and Kitty happens to walk right by at that exact moment. Poor Kitty. I really liked them as a couple. Peter tries to introduce them, which doesn't scream "Hey look at me, I'm Spider-Man" too much, given that they're visibly surrounded on all sides.

Liz and Kong show up, with Liz being bitchy and Kong looking oddly hot, then "Moon Knight" hot wires a school bus and Ronin crashes it through the front doors. The other personalities aren't happy, and a whacked out battle occurs between Moon Knight and Ronin inside their head and Ronin and Kitty, then Ronin and Spidey, in the real world. It ends with Ronin suffocating Moon Knight and knocking out Spidey, hijacking the webshooters to get away. MJ captures the escape on film (another winning story at the expense of her boyfriend! Go her!), and the Kingpin orgasms at the sight of Spidey under his power. The next issue totally needs to start with him going "Tadaah! Faking!", as a reference back to the truly classic #12 (I think).

Anyway, the main point of the issue was that Ultimate Ronin is impossibly cooler than the original, and it's only been one issue. He's better in every way, and he's damn interesting now. It's funny that this is the one Ronin we've known the identity of from the very beginning, and yet it's also the one Ronin who's at all interesting outside of that identity.

[Beast]

So Ultimate Ronin is another split personality of Ultimate Moon Knight? Brilliant. :D

[megabyte01]

sounds like a good issue. moon knight sounds like one messed up guy. since when is mj interested in journalism, though? i look forward to reading this one tonight.

[Jack]

sounds like a good issue. moon knight sounds like one messed up guy. since when is mj interested in journalism, though? i look forward to reading this one tonight.

It's explained in the book. And yeah, Moon Knight is messed up. But awesome.

[Red Lotus]

I pretty much guess this last issue. The guy is crazy and DD must really not know anything about his knights to send him in like this. But maybe he will snap out of it before it ends. I think it would be much better if he stayed Ronin giving Kingpin some new fist.

[Omega Alpha]

Yeah, Ult. Ronin is WAY cooler than the original. Ult. Moon Knight should get his mini. I think he's by far the most interesting of Bendis ultimized heroes, save for Spidey, of course.

[Sparda]

I definetly like Ultimate Ronin alot more than 616. For starters it's not some lame chick who fights "gasps" NINJAS!!!!!!! Plus it's a great origin for Ronin and now I'm intrigued by him. Now I'm wondering if that personality of MK will stay around (and I hope so too).

Like always good charactization and still going strong. Hell I did like Jessica Jone's giving the face to MJ (out of jealousy hmmm?). Now I'm intrigued by the next issue and really do wonder if Ronin is completely a bad guy or just going to far length's just to kill Kingpin.

[Lanowar]

This was a very good issue Ronin just went really over the top plus someone using Peter's webshooters to get away genius move. I wonder if him being a gulf war super solider reject was true or just fabricated if not then I wonder if there's some history with Wolverine there...

[wingsofdamnation]

moonknite has made it to my top 5 fav ultimate characters. hes just awesome in every way. this is probably the best arc bendis has put out since before the carnage arc! everything after carnage sucked IMO and the clone saga was a major let down for me. this arc however has got me hooked!

[Pyro]

This was an awesome issue. Everything flowed. Ultimate Ronin is really interesting, being a new personality of Moon Knight's and watching his struggle for dominance. Again, Kitty shows her stuff. She's a hero, but she's hurting right now. I got a lot from her this issue. Mary Jane's reporterness did kind of come out of nowhere this issue. It's funny how compressed time is in this book. The Silver Sable arc was apparently only two weeks ago.

I think this issue is a contender for one of Mark Bagley's best. The art was certainly top notch here. Too bad it's one of his last. I did notice some new techniques used with the effects, like Kingpin's vest, the sprinkler system and the grass on the football field. The art team just really blew me away this issue.

[Sean Whitmore]

It's a rare feeling, but I'm really looking forward to Spider-Man beating Moon Knight half to death. Nutjob should have listened to his inner child...

Meanwhile, MJ could go to work on Liz with a metal ruler, or whatever kids keep in their backpacks. Maybe a nice, big Social Studies textbook.


SEAN

[megabyte01]

It's a rare feeling, but I'm really looking forward to Spider-Man beating Moon Knight half to death. Nutjob should have listened to his inner child...

Meanwhile, MJ could go to work on Liz with a metal ruler, or whatever kids keep in their backpacks. Maybe a nice, big Social Studies textbook.

SEAN

I like the way you think on both counts! Still, I find it a little creepy that Moon Knight's inner child is a little girl. MJ tearing into Liz for her prejudice was also a nice touch. if she attacks Liz, it will be with a goblin fireball due to a relapse. (Mark my words; MJ will be dead before the end of the year)

One thing that bugged me was the timeline. MJ said two weeks had passed since the sable arc. It just doesn't strike me as possible that Sable, Deadpool, Morbius, the econd Annual, and the Clone Saga - not to mention the Ultimates "Grand Theft America" and UXM's Cable arcs- all happened the course of two weeks. Not even Peter Parker is that unlucky! Even when you through out the lame lifetime movie, it seems more reasonable that 4-6 weeks have passed. Any thoughts on this?

[Shadow ES]

One thing that bugged me was the timeline. MJ said two weeks had passed since the sable arc. It just doesn't strike me as possible that Sable, Deadpool, Morbius, the econd Annual, and the Clone Saga - not to mention the Ultimates "Grand Theft America" and UXM's Cable arcs- all happened the course of two weeks. Not even Peter Parker is that unlucky! Even when you through out the lame lifetime movie, it seems more reasonable that 4-6 weeks have passed. Any thoughts on this?

well, the clone saga happened in one or two days. Morbius was also one or two days. I think Deadpool may have been one or two days also. So I guess it's not that far stretched, especially when Bendis wants 100 issues to be one year. But that mean that Peter and Kitty dated for what, 3 weeks?

[rwsmith]

Nice. I think it's pretty cool how they combined Palladin, Moon Knight and Ronin into the same character, as it keeps the Ultimate Universe from getting too cluttered with superhumans.

Ultimate X-men did the same thing by combining Wolverine and Cable into the same character. I wonder if there are any other examples of this?

Hawkeye and Bullseye seem kind of similar in the Ultimate Universe, but I think we've already seen an Ultimate Bullseye somewhere (can't remember where, though).

[sgt pepper]

One thing that bugged me was the timeline. MJ said two weeks had passed since the sable arc. It just doesn't strike me as possible that Sable, Deadpool, Morbius, the econd Annual, and the Clone Saga - not to mention the Ultimates "Grand Theft America" and UXM's Cable arcs- all happened the course of two weeks. Not even Peter Parker is that unlucky! Even when you through out the lame lifetime movie, it seems more reasonable that 4-6 weeks have passed. Any thoughts on this?

That's a helluva two weeks. Sometimes over a two week period I read comics AND watch tv AND see a movie. I suppose for these characters that have been around for 40 or 50 years, having these thousands of adventures while aging only slightly, this is the kind of pace they'd have to work at. Is Bendis making fun?

Excellent issue in what is again one of the best superhero series.