CBR REVIEW: Spider-Men #5 (4.5 Stars!)

[CBR News]

The finale for "Spider-Men" travels between dimensions and opens up a realm of possibilities for further adventures to be shared by Miles Morales and Peter Parker.


Full article here.

[jyeager11]

What a surprise, another glowing review on CBR's front page. Is there even any point clicking on these front page reviews anymore? I mean, has there been a single negative review on the front page in the past 3 years?

[atlasjj]

What a surprise, another glowing review on CBR's front page. Is there even any point clicking on these front page reviews anymore? I mean, has there been a single negative review on the front page in the past 3 years?

I've seen a few with half a star or just a single star.

[kitonok]

It was an okay series, but in no way thanks to Miles.

[ZenTzen]

didnt really like spider-men, the whole premise was just about peter saying, "ok, you can be spider-man", then theres the plotholes and a 13 year old kid defeating a more experienced spider-man and the story with mysterio was subpar at best

[MrV]

The story was so cliched and mediocre, with a very thin plot and painful amounts of exposition. Not to mention lackluster climactic battle against Mysterio. It's a rehash of concepts from the Shattered Dimensions video game, but lamer/tamer.

Makes CBR look like it gets paid by Marvel to write good reviews in order to improve publicity.

Seriously? Stories with more excusable flaws and less plot holes and continuity errors get low 2-3 star ratings, yet this inferior shit keeps shining with 4.5-5?

Anyone else see the bias here?

[LooneyKoala]

I enjoyed it. I didn't think it was amazing, but it didn't need to be. It was interesting and great to see Peter visit the Ultimate universe.

And I really want to know what he saw on the last page...

Sad to say this has made me want to check out Ultimate Spider-man. But I already know that if I check it out I likely won't keep it. I just don't really like the Ultimate universe and I read Spider-man comics for the Peter I've grown up knowing!

But yeah, good series

[charlesjbaserap]

My review for it, which will go on www.NerdtopiaCast.com tomorrow morning (but for you CBR fans, I'll give a free sneak peek! lol) gave it 2 of 4 stars. I said:

"Disappointing. I guess that would be the best word for this series. It wasn’t bad, and this issue had some fantastic character moments between Peter and Miles. But, as a whole, it left you wondering what the point was and whether we needed five issues to reach the end. Mysterio’s whole master plan was never really expanded upon and, as the lynchpin in the story of HOW this was all happening, his appearances were sporadic at best, and then wrapped up too neatly, too quickly. It was almost like Bendis realized he only had an issue left and was like, 'Shoot. Uh. And they catch the bad guy. The end.'

"Mysterio being the cause of his own downfall, while having a familiar ring of villainous hubris, made him seem less like a criminal mastermind who inexplicably managed to obtain and operate tech that made Tony Stark wet his armor and more like someone operating in the halls of Congress, just making things up on the fly with little regard to the consequences. It’s a nice little twist as to who gets custody of him, and the final page mystery definitely needs to be explored in the future and not get sucked into plot point limbo, but the huge ramifications this event was supposed to have on both Spider-Men don’t really seem to be there after all."

In earlier reviews of this series and Ultimate Spider-Man, I've expressed that while I like Miles, and for what it's worth I gave issue #4 a 4 out of 4, lately he's become something of a Mary Sue with Bendis seeming to go out of his way to convince the readers he's the real deal by having master things quickly, save more established characters, etc. Specifically, in m review of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #14, I wrote, "This really isn’t a bad issue, but it’s still trying to hard to convince everyone, readers included, that Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man even though it’s been a year since he assumed the role. There seem to be too many Mary Sue moments for the character where he saves the day easily while others falter uncharacteristically, this time Captain America, who begins the issue like he ended the last one—by demanding Miles hang up the suit until he’s older."(http://www.nerdtopiacast.com/2012/09...t-day-issue-6/)

Charles J. Baserap
Former Officer, US Secret Service
Author, An American at the Crossroads
Columnist/Editor, www.NerdtopiaCast.com
Columnist, www.ForcesofGeek.com
charlesjbaserap@nerdtopiacast.com

[werehawk]

Wow. What is wrong with everyone? I have pretty much disliked everything Bendis wrote except Daredevil, Ultimate Spiderman, and recently, Moon Knight (I know that is a lot, but Bendis has a voluminous body of work). And the occasional Avengers arc, occasional. But Spider-men was great. And the last issue really deserves 5 stars. Like the reviewer said, like a movie, a good one.

[SPIDER-FAN(1)]

Very good series, but in truth all battles had to win the Miles; know that Bendis writes the Ultimate series, but Peter has more experience, at least one win would have given

[MorningMoon]

Loved it.

Honestly.. the situations lent themselves for Peter to be caught off-guard, so it's not like Miles is just coming in to kick asses.
Peter's interactions with, well, ANYONE makes up for any wrong the book made and, well, that's just what it was all about. Peter interacting with the Ultimate Universe and it did a damn good job at that.

[satchmo the dragon]

Art was bad. Couldnt tell what was going on. Seemed panels were out of order. Maybe just me.

[Joecooler2u]

Wow. What is wrong with everyone? I have pretty much disliked everything Bendis wrote except Daredevil, Ultimate Spiderman, and recently, Moon Knight (I know that is a lot, but Bendis has a voluminous body of work). And the occasional Avengers arc, occasional. But Spider-men was great. And the last issue really deserves 5 stars. Like the reviewer said, like a movie, a good one.

I have to agree with you about Spider-Men, but unlike a lot here at CBR forums I don't have the Bendis hate. He turned Avengers from a property most fans could care less about (though I did like how it spotlighted B-list characters at times back in the day) into a property worthy enough to get a top-notch movie made of it and become the #3 box-office movie of all-time. I say this as an old-school fan. I enjoyed Avengers when none of my friends did. He has taken a B-lister like Luke Cage and made him a big-time player in the 616. Bendis has always had a perfect handle on Spider-Man since the very first issue of the original Ultimate Spider-Man until current-day Miles Morales. I enjoyed seeing him write the adult 616 Peter Parker/Spider-Man outside of New Avengers. I really want to see him do a follow-up with that surprise ending. I need the info. What happens???

[histopher]

Issue 4 was the only must read issue - and I'm annoyed there was no closure to MJ's sub plot. She's basically been thrown away in the main Ultimate Spidey series so I doubt we will ever see a resolution to that plot.

[vicvega]

Wow. What is wrong with everyone? I have pretty much disliked everything Bendis wrote except Daredevil, Ultimate Spiderman, and recently, Moon Knight (I know that is a lot, but Bendis has a voluminous body of work). And the occasional Avengers arc, occasional. But Spider-men was great. And the last issue really deserves 5 stars. Like the reviewer said, like a movie, a good one.

You should really read Powers and Jinx. Well volume 1 of Powers, the others aren't as good