Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom [Paperback]

Brian Michael Bendis (Author), Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Ultimate Spider-Man

After reuniting with his childhood friend Eddie Brock, Peter Parker discovers a terrible secret about their fathers' past a secret which quickly results in a confrontation with Venom, Spider-Man's evil, dark twin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Marvel; 4th edition (September 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785110941
• ISBN-13: 978-0785110941
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Michael Bendis is an award winning comics creator and one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For the last eleven years, Brian's books have consistently sat on the top of the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.
Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel's popular AVENGERS franchise by writing every issue of the NEW AVENGERS plus debuting the hit books MIGHTY AVENGERS and DARK AVENGERS along with the wildly successful 'event' projects HOUSE OF M, SECRET WAR, SECRET INVASION, and SIEGE.
This summer will see the blockbuster new line-ups for AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS.
Other recent projects include the groundbreaking SPIDER-WOMAN MOTION COMIC, that debuted number one on iTunes TV sales chart and the New York Times best selling HALO graphic novel.
Brian is one of the premiere architects of Marvel comic's Ultimate line of comics. A line of comics specifically created for the new generation of comics reader. He has written every issue of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN since it's best selling launch in 1999, and has also written ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR, X-MEN, MARVEL TEAM UP, ORIGIN, SIX and the ENEMY trilogy.
He is creator of the JINX line of crime comics published by image comics. This line has spawned the graphic novels GOLDFISH, FIRE, JINX, TORSO (w/ Marc Andreyko) and TOTAL SELL OUT.
Brian's other projects include the Eisner award winning "POWERS" (w/Mike Oeming) from Marvel's creator owned imprint ICON, and the Hollywood tell all "FORTUNE AND GLORY'. Entertainment Weekly gave both projects an "A." SONY and FX networks are currently developing POWERS for series with Brian as exec producer.
Brian is currently adapting his spy graphic novel FIRE for Universal Pictures as a starring vehicle for Zac Efron.
Brian is a member of Marvel studios creative committee, which consults on their numerous ongoing film projects. He has consulted on IRON-MAN and IRON MAN 2 and is currently consulting on THE FIRST AVENGERS: CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR and THE AVENGERS
Brian has won five prestigious EISNER awards, including 'Best Writer of the year' two years in a row. He has also won over two dozen Wizard comic awards. Brian is the recipient of the Cleveland Press 'Excellence in Journalism' Award and was named "Best Writer of the Year." by Wizard Magazine and Comic Buyer's Guide for three consecutive years.
He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Alisa, his gorgeous daughters Olivia and Sabrina and his dogs Lucky, Max and Buster.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Venom's finally here!, July 13, 2005

By 

Madelyn Pryor "Goblyn Queen" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom (Paperback)

This review refers to Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 6 paperback edition: Venom

After other Spider-Man villains, finally fans are treated to the coming of Ultimate Venom! My personal favorite out of Spidey's rogue's gallery, Eddie Brock is given a background and origin very different from the main stream character. Also, Spider-Man's black suit origin is much different. No longer is the grand space-opera of the Secret War mentioned. Now it is a life saving experiment gone wrong.

Not only does Bendis do a flawless job of presenting Venom, he further complicates Peter and MJ's relationship, and the hints of tension with Gwen grow.

My only gripe about Ultimate Spider-Man is a small one, but does EVERYONE know Peter Parker is Spider-Man? Whatever happened to a secret identity being secret, anyway? Yet another character learns Peter's secret in this volume, making me wonder who's next?

Bendis's scripting is very good, and I think this is Bagley's best art yet.

This volume reprints Ultimate Spider-Man #33-39, and can be enjoyed by all ages, by newcomers and established fans.

Highly recommended!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Venom is unleashed, June 16, 2004

By 

W. Funderburk "1985" (on the computer) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom (Paperback)

This book was pretty good, and was actually the reason why I started collecting Ultimate Spider-man comics. It introduced the Ultimate Universe to Eddie Brock, and old friend to Peter. When they learn of a suit that could cure cancer, Peter Parker (Spider-man) accidently put it on. His strength and attitude was increased. He got rid of the costume before it permantly changed him. Eddie Brock figured out that Peter was Spider-man and put the suit on himself. He became Venom, a very crazy, strong, and strange-looking monster. If your looking for a book that has Venom at his best, this is not it. This Venom is very different from the regular Marvel Universe's Venom. This story is basically a shortened version of a story that marvel did in more than 100 or so issues! Its still a good story, plus it has Ultimate Shocker and Ultimate Nick Fury! I hope this helped you in making your decision on getting this book.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bendis and Bagley retell the tale of Spider-Man and Venom, October 30, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 6: Venom (Paperback)

The grand conceit of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics is that they go back to the beginning of the story when the bite of an irradiated spider granted high school student Peter Parker amazing arachnid-like powers. For those who remember the first 100 issues or so of "The Amazing Spider-Man," writer Brian Michael Bendis, penciler Mark Bagley, and inkers Art Thibert and Rodney Ramos have been providing a high intensity retelling of the tale. This time around Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy are fellow high school students of Peter Parker and the fateful encounter with the Green Goblin comes early on. In this sixth collection of the "Ultimate Spider-Man," which brings together issues #33-39, there is a quantum leap beyond the Stan Lee days of the original comic to retell the story of Venom.

At this point in the tale Captain Stacy is killed while in pursuit of a burglar who had gone on a crime spree posing as Spider-Man, leaving Aunt May to offer his orphaned daughter Gwen a place to live. Meanwhile, after defeating the burglar who has been posing as Spider-Man, Peter is stunned to find out that Mary Jane, who has not only been his girlfriend but the one person he trusts who knows he is Spider-Man, can no longer stand the pressure and breaks up with him. In the wake of that shock Peter connects with Eddie Brock, now a student at Empire State University. It seems Peter and Eddie's dad worked together at the lab and Peter thinks Eddie would like a copy of a videotape of their families enjoying a picnic. Eddie is touched, and has something to show Peter as well, something he calls their "inheritance."

Of course, this is the "black costume," now no longer and alien parasite but a genetic bodysuit. While experimenting with it, the suit leaps onto Peter who discovers it has one big advantage over his regular Spidey suit: it repairs the damage done to him by bullets. But when Spider-Man catches up with the burglar who killed Uncle Ben, his new suit literally goes in for the kill. Eventually Peter will go to Eddie for help, and then it will be time for the suit to find a new person with whom to play and Venom, Spider-Man's evil twin, is truly born.

One of the improvements Bendis and Bagley came up with for their revisionist version of Spider-Man was the idea that it was Peter's father who was the scientific genius who came up with the webbing formula. They build on that foundation again by working in both Eddie Brock and the Venom costume into the fabric of the Parker family saga, not to mention Curt Connors. Knowing Eddie gives the conflict with Venom more depth and Peter gets to be a smart kid without being a genius on the level of Tom Swift. The subplot of Nick Fury being something of a quasi-guardian angel and part-time mentor for Spider-Man is continued, and watching Aunt May and Gwen bond is also going to make things interesting down the road.

The "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics lend themselves to being collected as trade paperbacks because the Ultimate titles focus on multi-issue story arcs. This allows for stories of greater depth that play upon the "original" stories on which they are based, and also helps avoid the problem when Spider-Man has to fight a different villain each month. I am curious as to what readers who missed out on the first decade of the original "Amazing Spider-Man" think about this retelling of the web-slingers saga think about these comics, given they missed everything the first time around. But I find them to be a thoughtful and rather ambitious reconceptualization.