Ultimate Comics Spiderman #20 review by Wolverine12

[Wolverine12]

No Ultimate Comics last week and only one this week, we need our fix Marvel

spoilers:

-we pick up at Miles house with Venom outside being all menacy. -Miles gets suited up, Ganke gives him some more web fluid that he made -Venom thinks Jefferson is the new Spidey until Miles shows up. Venom is confused. -Miles attacks Venom, his punches and kicks do almost nothing. Gankes web fluid doesn't work. -Miles tries to remember how Peter beat Venom, all he can remember is Peter threw a tire at him. Miles tries to remember what Peter did the whole fight. -Venom mentions the numbered spiders and asks Miles what he knows about them. -Jefferson punches the camera man from last issue and then throws the camera at Venom. Venom throws Jefferson into a car severely hurting him. -Rio calls an ambulance for her hubby -Police show up and start shooting at Miles and Venom. -Miles "remembers" his Venom blast and tags Venom with it. Big surprises, it causes Venom to melt into goo giving Miles another flawless victory. -Jefferson is unconscious and not doing well, Miles blames himself and cries in Gankes shirt.

end of spoilers

Today marks another chapter in Miles short career as Spiderman, and it played out a lot like every chapter does in his story. Bad guy shows up, short fight, magic venom blast, Miles wins. I don't think it is completely fair of me to call this a victory since his dad is in the hospital, but this is pretty much what I have come to expect out of Ultimate Spiderman every issue now. It has become to the point where I feel like I'm reading a copy and paste story with Bendis simply inserting the Villain of the month. This particular issue not only suffers from a repetitive storyline but one of Bendis's normally strong suits, his dialogue, was sub par as well imho. We get treated to Miles faking an English accent trying to mask his voice from his dad, and Miles criticizing himself for such a lame cover instead of worrying about fighting the giant monster. Prioritization is key in superheroing, Miles should learn this. Maybe this was an attempt to show just how green Miles really is but with him bailing out the Ultimates and taking down 50 ft women I'm not buying that story now.

We also get to see Miles remembering video footage of Peter fighting Venom. I mean Peter too, no costume just straight up civilian clothed bowl cut wearing Peter Parker. Now I will be the first to say that I could very well be wrong, but I don't remember that fight being video taped and if it was, how did Miles get a hold of it? Wouldn't that mean Peter would've been exposed way before DoSM? Please if somebody has the missing pieces tell me.

Moving onto the meat of the story which is clearly the physical fight between Miles and Venom, it felt very static to me. It seemed as if Venom was standing in one place and Miles kept attacking but was ultimately swatted away like a fly. That is until Miles remembered his own venom blast. This is a line from the comic, "Okay maybe it's we tried a little venom blast. I have to stop forgetting I can do that." Are you kidding me? He beats everyone with that move and he forgets? Oh and of course it turns Venom into a pile of goo.

Apparently the cops have forgotten how much they loved the original Spidey because they seem to enjoy firing on Miles. Finally we see Miles all torn up about his dad getting hurt and blaming himself. I think I would sympathize with Miles more if his dad had not attacked Venom directly and put himself in harm's way. I can obviously understand Miles being upset, but it wasn't Miles action or inaction that caused Jefferson harm. It doesn't ring like a "Uncle Ben" moment and I feel like that is what was trying to be accomplished.

On a slightly more positive note, Pichelli's art was nice to look at. I did already mention that the fight scene felt static and I stick by that, but her depiction of Venom is outstanding.

For anybody reading this and considering adding Ultimate Spiderman to your pull list I would recommend trade waiting. If I didn't take pride in owning every issue of the Ultimate Universe in one format or the other I would either trade wait myself or drop this series. It's such a let down because ultimate Spidey is the only Spiderman I read and now it feels like I'm buying it out of habit or my need to have a complete ultimate universe instead of me getting it for enjoyment.

Story 5/10
Writing 4/10
Art 7/10
Overall 5/10

[LJ-90]

I couldn't disagree more, I loved this issue. I found it very funny, loved the little easter egg (the cops saying "we have a 616" when seeing Venom) and, at least for me, it had a little bit of everything: action, humor, emotional stakes.

The fight was cool and I liked how Miles can be thinking a thousand things at the same time, I laughed when he was thinking about his accent (although it would've been nice to know where this come from, maybe an earlier issue should've established him as a Doctor Who or Spike- from Buffy- fan or something).

About him feeling guilty, it was pretty clear that Venom was looking for the new Spider-Man, and he was very close to finding out about Miles, he only got confused (at least Venom said that Miles looked bigger in videos). So I can understand him feeling guilty.

As I was guessing (and some others too) the webs weren't really useful, and I loved the "this...this also looked more impressive on TV".

I do agree with the Venom blast thing, but I'm okay with it only bringing Venom down for a second, I'm pretty sure that in their next encounter Venom won't go away when Miles tries to use the Venom Blast.

I loved this issue, overall I give it a 8.5 or 9/ 10.

[StepsOntheMoon]

Your review is bad and you should feel bad.

This was another absolutely stellar issue, and it highlights all the troubles Miles has been having, from the fiasco with his web fluid, to his Venom blast not really being a solution, just buying him time. The villain is dangerously close to finding out who he is (Personally I think Venom is Dr. Marcus), his dad is in the hospital, and he has no leads nor background to address this.

9/10

[Spiderx3000]

I liked this issue. Loved Pichelli's art as always. 8/10. Looking forward to the next issue. Hope we can see more development for Miles in this story arc.

[Wolverine12]

Your review is bad and you should feel bad.

This was another absolutely stellar issue, and it highlights all the troubles Miles has been having, from the fiasco with his web fluid, to his Venom blast not really being a solution, just buying him time. The villain is dangerously close to finding out who he is (Personally I think Venom is Dr. Marcus), his dad is in the hospital, and he has no leads nor background to address this.

9/10

I'd love some tips on how I could improve my review. Please just don't tell me that it's bad because you loved the issue and I didn't care for it though. If you have some ideas on what I could add to make my reviews better I would like to hear them

[Samorai_black]

Loved this issue. It feels so long since I have read a good action issue of Ultimate Spider-man. Art as always with this book is beautiful.

I cant agree with the review at all though.

Best part of the issue for me was with the webs and the reactions afterwards. Looking forward to what comes next.

[Time_to_Zap]

Wolvie, I remember that Peter's Clone-Dad was shown a video of Peter fighting Venom in civilian clothes during a flashback in "The Clone Saga." Henry Gyrich showed it to him, but I think it's safe to say that it was probably from some amateur footage that made its way on to the net.

[Wolverine12]

Double post

[Samorai_black]

I'd love some tips on how I could improve my review. Please just don't tell me that it's bad because you loved the issue and I didn't care for it though. If you have some ideas on what I could add to make my reviews better I would like to hear them

I dont think your review is bad becuase of your writing, we just have different views on how Miles is progressing as a hero.

[Balfro]

This issue was alright, however my theory of Venom being impervious to Mile's Venom Blast was wrong. I figured Bendis was making Miles get used to using it as a crutch and then when he fought Venom it wouldn't work, forcing Miles to think outside the box... But no, sadly it caused even more damage to Venom than any other villain Miles used it on thus far... Venom literally exploded :S

I hope that the remainder of this story is really worth it and has meaning. So far nothing much has happened other than a fight between Spider-Man and Venom, with Venom doing more talking and tendril-flailing than actual fighting.

I also think it's safe to say that there is only ONE Venom in this story at this point, and the title of the story arc really doesn't make much sense... How is it a Venom war? Unless It's because you have Venom the character vs. Miles' Venom Blast...

[sage6paths]

Well at least we know now that no one is in the suit. I thought this issue was cool. Obviously the venom blast thing was a little too generic but really who are we kidding. It is leading up to another fight where hopefully Venom has evolved through electricity.

[Plawsky]

I'm with Wolverine12 on this one... a big "meh" from me. I REALLY want to love this book. I do. But this is starting to get so repetitive. Nothing about this issue felt new at all. There was a big amount of action at least, but it wasn't super exciting action. My biggest complaint, though, is the awful dialogue. Bendis has been better about it lately, but this was just not good. All the double-speak just kills me.

And the fact that the Venom blast worked again is just icing on the cake. Granted, it caused more of a retreat than a TKO, but it still worked. The fact that Miles has won with it at least 5 times in his short history makes it so baffling that he doesn't get right to it. It's like if Goku forgot he could go Super Saiyan.

Finally, I liked the Peter flashback bits, but they did nothing. They were more of a reminder for readers than for Miles. He thought "How did Peter beat this guy," but then he didn't use that knowledge at all. He literally gained nothing from thinking about it.

Jefferson getting hurt is at least an interesting turn, but that's about it. The plot didn't move forward at all. And I understand that superhero stories need some fighting, but this was far too much in that direction. So far this is nowhere near as good as the original USM Venom arc. And if it's not going to be as good - or at least fresh, why even use Venom again?

At least Pichelli is awesome. Her Venom is outstanding.

[Balfro]

Well at least we know now that no one is in the suit. I thought this issue was cool. Obviously the venom blast thing was a little too generic but really who are we kidding. It is leading up to another fight where hopefully Venom has evolved through electricity.

We don't necessarily know that no one is in the suit. From what we've seen with Eddie we can assume that once you are wearing the suite your human body itself sort of gains symbiote-like properties. Remember when Eddie suited-up and Beetle sucked him up through a small straw? So it stands to reason that if this Venom exploded that it's host is in there somewhere as well along with all the goop. It doesn't really make sense, mind you... I'm just saying that we've seen this before so we can't rule out that there is no host.

It's also entirely possible that Marcus transformed himself into a symbiote and he is actually a host/symbiote in one... Kind of like Gwen was.

[Mr. Ad-lib]

To the guys who didn't enjoy the issue, I can see where you're coming from. I still loved this issue though.

I agree that the use of venom blast is becoming repetitive (even though something tells me that s*** isn't going to work a second time), but for me it was the small things in this issue that stood out the most.

- Miles ripping off his t-shirt when seeing his dad in trouble rather than just taking it off. Then showing up in from of his mom with a sweatshirt on. I laughed at that part, even though the scene wasn't particularly funny.
- Miles and Ganke reacting the exact same way to how the webbing turned out, as best friends would.
- Jefferson walking up and punching the camera man (which he'd been meaning to do since last issue) only to then take the camera and save Miles with it.
- Rio's reaction to Jefferson punching said camera man. Seemed like it was reminding her of how he used to be. I hope we get to see what his past was like.
- After seeing Venom about to devour a cop, Miles just FLINGS himself at Venom's head. Arms flailing and all. Loved it.

About the whole "Miles always wins" argument, I won't add much to it, except to say that I'd rather this than what they did with Peter in terms of winning fights. I thought he lost WAY too many. I can probably count on two hands how many supervillains he took down by himself, without the help of the X-men, cops, friends or another superhero. And it still ticks me off how he never won against the Green Goblin on his own until the very end, and Norman might still be alive. And I was really pissed when he lost to Elektra of all people.

Anyway, 8.8/10. Also, this is my second favorite looking Venom. First is Bagley's from his Amazing run.

[Genki Sudo]

Please just don't tell me that it's bad because you loved the issue and I didn't care for it though.

That's the thing as you've been on a long ongoing streak of not liking any issue with the same complaints( yet Pete always got out of the same situations minus the venom blasts and no one ever complains about that ), why are you continuing to read a comic you have nothing but complaints about?