Ultimate Spider-Man #13 SPOILERS/Discussion!

[Trallis]

spoilers:

- Cap is back and finds out there's a new Spider-Man from Tony Stark. Still feeling the sting from Peter's death he disagrees. Then he especially disagrees when SPIDER-MAN: MURDERER comes on the news. - Mr. Morales informs Miles that Uncle Aaron is DEAD and they have a chat. Miles cries. - Ganke doesn't believe the news. Miles isn't sure whether he killed Aaron or not with his venom blast. He then gets a mysterious call to meet up with a mysterious person at some mysterious location... - Because of that other nonsense in Ultimates and X-Men Miles cannot go there on foot so he Spider-Mans his way there. - On the way he fights BATROC THE LEAPER and his glorious goonies - Miles arrives at the secret location. SURPRISE. It's Aunt May and Gwen! May also does not believe in the nonsense and is about to give Miles a webtastic web box (wonder what webstatic things are inside?) - SURPRISEAGAIN! Captain America busts in! He reckons Miles will be Spider-Man no more

end of spoilers

I am extremely satisfied after reading this issue. I spent the entire 12th issue wondering when May and Gwen were gonna show up.. and it never happened. This time, Bendis managed to distract me enough that I forgot to wonder when it would happen. I stopped thinking about May, Gwen, the webshooters, and I started thinking about what Captain America was gonna say. It was great to be caught off guard by May, and also to be rewarded for having faith in May. I don't remember what thread it was in, but there were a few people saying things like "I'd hate to be Miles when May finds him". Even though this is what I was expecting, I'm relieved to see that May hasn't been embittered by the loss of Pete. She's kind of like the guardian angel/god mother of the teenage superheroes. She hasn't lost faith and always sees the best in people.

On the other hand, I would hate to be Captain America right now, because there's a guy who might get a serving of May's wrath(again).

I know Cap's doing what he thinks is right, but he really should have learned his lesson by now. And even more so now that the world has changed. In a world that's completely falling apart, where there are multiple threats to the survival of the species, and a team like the Ultimates is barely enough to protect the country and the world, they need all the super heroes they can get. If a young kid is willing to put himself on the line, that should be admired, not punished. Obviously it shouldn't be encouraged.. but at least let it happen. The world is different and a lot of kids are having to grow up a lot faster. On top of that, all Miles is trying to do is fight street level crime in NYC. Spider-Man is the hero of NYC because he's more than good enough to handle it. I hope Tony Stark shows up to interfere with this little meeting.

Edit: wow, didn't realize there was a forumla for starting these discussion threads. Glad someone fixed it up for me. I think I'll leave it to the pros next time. haha

[HolySock]

Here we go again

So this was a good issue. It seems Bendis has finally getting the book to the same standard of his previous run. I'm not particualrly a fan of crossover events but USM manages to fit Miles' story around the events in the other books nicely. As with his Ultimatum tie-in Bendis writes his DWF tie-in so one does not need to read the other titles to enjoy the issue. Very interested in reading the next one.

[wyokid]

So freaking good. Ultimate Batroc did not disappoint either.

[Ronin1108]

I like how Ultimate Cap is right back to being a dick to Spiderman, now tryna block him from the spot lol.

[LJ-90]

Great issue.

My favorite moments:

-Miles in his room. Seeing him crying was heart breaking and it's a testament to Bendis' writing that I care so much about Miles. His conversation with Miles' dad was also really good, it felt real and you could see that, even with all his prejudices and everything, Miles' dad is a good person, he loves his son and wish they all could lead a normal life.

-Ganke: Even if he wasn't funny like in previous issues, I loved that he was there for his friend. And he wasn't pushing the subject, he let Miles talk about it when he wanted to, and that's weird, especially in 13 year olds. I liked that he told Miles that he knew that the whole murderer thing was a lie and he was willing to help him. Ganke is an awesome character and fits in his best friend role.

-Miles thinking about Peter. "I'm not good enough to use his powers" I liked that sentence because we can see that, even in issue 13 Peter's spirit is in the book, and not just by making Miles "Spider-Man". I loved that even with everything, even if he didn't want to do it, Miles did the right thing and stopped Batroc. That's Spider-Man guys, doing the right thing even with the world against him. It's funny that he's saying "I'm not good enough" and then he does such a "Spider-Man" thing to do.

-"The Spider-Man before me had the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, and I get Batroc the leaper?" That was funny as hell. It's good that even in such a emotional place/issue, we're still having jokes and funny scenes.

-I really liked the May and Gwen twist, didn't see that one coming. I thought for sure that he was going to meet with Cap, but when I read that there was a second person there I thought maybe he was going to meet with the Ultimates or something. It's good to be surprised and I liked that May was going to give Miles Peter's webshooters, I'm glad she's willing to see the best in Miles. And I'm sure Tony said to her that the kid is a good person and it's trying to live up to Peter.

All in all great issue. 9.5/10.

[Plawsky]

This was easily the best issue of the new series so far. It's finally starting to feel like the old USM, which remains one of my favorite superhero books of all time. The pacing is better, but still not perfect. However, Bendis (after a year) finally does what I've been waiting for and adds some drama to the book. Teen drama is what made me love Ultimate Spider-man, and I've been really missing that. I'm in my twenties and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

What was great:

-Judge's frustration with his roommates
-Batroc was a lot of fun, he's like the new Shocker
-The art. David Marquez is still doing a great job.
-Miles has an Ultimate Power poster.
-The talk between Miles and his dad.
-The twist appearance of May and Gwen
-May giving Miles Peter's web shooters (presumably)

What was not so great:

-The Batroc fight was way too long.
-The Bendis-speak was still rough in places ("Can we meet? We should meet."), though not as bad as it's been before.
-It seems that Aaron is for sure dead. Too bad if it's true, because he had a lot of promise (though he could come back extremely easily).
-Cap's stupid costume

As much of an improvement as this has been, Bendis still has room to go to match the old days for me. If the book didn't crawl so much, I would be a much bigger fan. The Batroc fight was a great, fun moment, but it had no need to take up nearly half the issue. It took up 9 of this issue's 20 story pages. The great fight in USM #8, debut of the Shocker, lasted only 4 pages out of 22, and it accomplished the same thing. Bendis is telling a solid story here, but he's wasting space. This book is becoming great again, but it could be even better with just a few adjustments.

As a side note, this almost certainly puts Spider-men AFTER Divided We Fall. This is clearly the first meeting between Miles, May and Gwen, and it seems likely that they'll meet again in #4 or 5 of Spider-men. However, if he's getting the web shooters here, why wasn't he using them in Spider-men? Yes, you can easily say that he just decided not to use them, but his reaction to Peter's web shooters was more surprised than it should be if he already has some? Or maybe he gets the shooters here, but doesn't use them for a while. But knowing now that Miles meets the girls here, I suppose that's why Spider-men #4 was pushed back from the original bi-weekly schedule.

It also seems a little strange that Cap would take the time out of his day for something so minor while there's much bigger problems to be had. At least Bendis acknowledged how minor this Miles problem is, but that doesn't really make Cap's decision any smarter.

Overall: 8.5/10

[CryoFlare]

Looks like Miles is afraid to use his venom blast now because of what happened to his uncle. He had about three chances to use it and didn't.

[MrV]

Since people are being nit picky dicks about The Dark Knight Rises for having "plot holes," which I honestly didn't notice, I will do the same with this beloved comic book.

How did Gwen's hair grow back so quickly? Mere weeks ago in Fallout #6 we saw her cut her locks and dyed them black/comic book blue.

If Miles met May and Gwen in this issue, did they already meet Earth-616 Peter by this point? If so, and this comes after Spider-Men #5, that wouldn't make sense of how Miles feels since by now he would have already met Peter as well and he would have motivated him to do better.

How did Miles fix his costume if it was damaged in issue #12? Considering in Spider-Men #1 it was already mended.

This book didn't live up to the expectations of the original. Muahahahahaha!

[Darman456]

Miles reminds me a lot of my friend (personality wise because they're not in the same ethnic group) and Ganke reminds me a lot of, well, me. If my friend was Spider-Man, I'm pretty sure I'd be acting the same way.

[Darman456]

Since people are being nit picky dicks about The Dark Knight Rises for having "plot holes," which I honestly didn't notice, I will do the same with this beloved comic book.

How did Gwen's hair grow back so quickly? Mere weeks ago in Fallout #6 we saw her cut her locks and dye them black/comic book blue.

If Miles met May and Gwen in this issue, did they already meet Earth-616 Peter by this point? If so, and this comes after Spider-Men #5, that wouldn't make sense of how Miles feels since by now he would have already met Peter as well and he would have motivated him to do better.

How did Miles fix his costume if it was damaged in issue #12? Considering in Spider-Men #1 it was already mended.

This book didn't live up to the expectations of the original. Muahahahahaha!

Honestly, I think the Dark Knight Rises (and the rest of the Nolan trilogy for that matter) have gotten a free pass by fans. I don't think it's okay to threaten reviewers for doing their jobs and especially making good points on where the movie failed. It didn't live up to the hype of its previous installment. Well, neither did this. For me. This book has been crawling since Death of Spider-Man (which was a long crawl by the way, the only reason for it was to get to 160). Now, it seems like we have to wait until the end of this arc for Miles' origin to finally end. Uhhh.

[LJ-90]

Looks like Miles is afraid to use his venom blast now because of what happened to his uncle. He had about three chances to use it and didn't.

I like this development, people were complaining that his use of the venom strike was "too easy" so, it'll be cool if he doesn't use it for a while. But, of course, in Spider-Men he does use the venom blast so he probably gets over it at the end of DWF.

By the way, at the end it said that the next issue of DWF was August 22. Does that mean UCSM #14 is out for August 22 or what? And what about Spider-Men #4?

[MagnaInferno]

This was easily the best issue of the new series so far. It's finally starting to feel like the old USM, which remains one of my favorite superhero books of all time. The pacing is better, but still not perfect. However, Bendis (after a year) finally does what I've been waiting for and adds some drama to the book. Teen drama is what made me love Ultimate Spider-man, and I've been really missing that. I'm in my twenties and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

What was great:

-Judge's frustration with his roommates
-Batroc was a lot of fun, he's like the new Shocker
-The art. David Marquez is still doing a great job.
-Miles has an Ultimate Power poster.
-The talk between Miles and his dad.
-The twist appearance of May and Gwen
-May giving Miles Peter's web shooters (presumably)

What was not so great:

-The Batroc fight was way too long.
-The Bendis-speak was still rough in places ("Can we meet? We should meet."), though not as bad as it's been before.
-It seems that Aaron is for sure dead. Too bad if it's true, because he had a lot of promise (though he could come back extremely easily).
-Cap's stupid costume

As much of an improvement as this has been, Bendis still has room to go to match the old days for me. If the book didn't crawl so much, I would be a much bigger fan. The Batroc fight was a great, fun moment, but it had no need to take up nearly half the issue. It took up 9 of this issue's 20 story pages. The great fight in USM #8, debut of the Shocker, lasted only 4 pages out of 22, and it accomplished the same thing. Bendis is telling a solid story here, but he's wasting space. This book is becoming great again, but it could be even better with just a few adjustments.

As a side note, this almost certainly puts Spider-men AFTER Divided We Fall. This is clearly the first meeting between Miles, May and Gwen, and it seems likely that they'll meet again in #4 or 5 of Spider-men. However, if he's getting the web shooters here, why wasn't he using them in Spider-men? Yes, you can easily say that he just decided not to use them, but his reaction to Peter's web shooters was more surprised than it should be if he already has some? Or maybe he gets the shooters here, but doesn't use them for a while. But knowing now that Miles meets the girls here, I suppose that's why Spider-men #4 was pushed back from the original bi-weekly schedule.

It also seems a little strange that Cap would take the time out of his day for something so minor while there's much bigger problems to be had. At least Bendis acknowledged how minor this Miles problem is, but that doesn't really make Cap's decision any smarter.

Overall: 8.5/10

Perhaps Miles does not meet May/Gwen in Spider-Men though? Bendis has only ever discussed Peter meeting them?

[Ballard Blues]

Since people are being nit picky dicks about The Dark Knight Rises for having "plot holes," which I honestly didn't notice, I will do the same with this beloved comic book.

Dude, I think you need to aim you ill-aimed frustration elsewhere, because someone having legitimate issues or even critiquing a movie for its plot holes, or rather, knowing better than to stretch the suspension of disbelief with incidents that shall inspire "Uh, how did that happen?" like questions isn't being a "dick", it's being observant.

[Apothecary]

Here come the continuity troubles.

[MrV]

Dude, I think you need to aim you ill-aimed frustration elsewhere, because someone having legitimate issues or even critiquing a movie for its plot holes, or rather, knowing better than to stretch the suspension of disbelief with incidents that shall inspire "Uh, how did that happen?" like questions isn't being a "dick", it's being observant.

My observations on UCSM #13 are also relevant and constructive to this thread, DUDE. How did all those things happen?

And also, most critics are complaining TDKR didn't live up to the standards of overrated TDK, which is idiotic IMO.