Customer Reviews

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 7: Irresponsible

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"Ultimate Spider-Man: Irresponsible," reprints issues #40-45 of "Ultimate Spider-Man." This seventh volume in the reprint series shows one of the strengths of this series, which goes back and retells the story of Spider-Man, starting Peter Parker off a bit younger, having Mary Jane around from the beginning, and taking several issues to tell each story. For the most part these stories have played off what happened the first time around, but that is not the case with "Irresponsible."

This story arc by writer Brian Michael Bendis, penciler Mark Bagley, and inker Art Thibert, finds Peter Parker with two problems. First, he and Mary Jane have broken off their relationship, which has effectively ended their friendship as well. Second, after his battle with Venon, his costume has been ruined (at least he did not lose it this time). He has jury-rigged a mask, but the eye lens keeps falling out. Then while hanging out with all the kids one night, he sees Geldoff, a foreign exchange student who makes cars explode (by looking at them). Things start going better for Peter (he makes up with MJ and she makes half a costume for him), and then he confronts Geldoff.

What I like about this story arc is that Spider-Man and Geldoff have a big argument over whether or not Geldoff is a mutant. Spider-Man thinks it is obvious but Geldoff rejects the idea. Then the X-Men show up. Actually, it would be the female members of the X-Men. Eventually they get around to action, but the most fun in this story arc are the conversations Spidey has with Geldoff and the X-Women. Given that it is interesting that issue #45, "Guilt," consists mainly of Aunt May having a session with a psychiatrist over her feelings about Peter disappearing all the time and that horrible Spider-Man person, running around in his pajamas and doing whatever he wants.

"Irresponsible" does not really make sense to me as a title for this collection of stories. For most of these issues the key factor are the conversations that Peter, Spider-Man and Aunt May have with others. Bendis gets a large portion of the credit that normal this time around, especially because he provides a nice mix of heavy conversations and comic dialogue (Kitty Pryde has a crush on Spider-Man, the first non-mutant superhero she has ever met). Even without a big name Spider-Man villain (the Kingpin shows up for the next story arc), "Irresponsible" flesh out the "Ultimate Spider-Man" characters in some interesting and fun ways.

This book was more focused on the characters themselves then the fights. Of course there was some action, but this one explains to you some things. Like way May Parker is always high strung and "pushes" Peter away. Spiderman meets the X-men, and there's some funny things that happen as result. The reason I like this comic somewhat more then Venom (the issue before this one) is because this one has INTERESTING dialogue, more tasteful then Venom. One of the things that makes Ultimate Spider-man such a good comic is the back and forth talking. Like real conversations, not one-person yalking off about how powerful they are. The relationships are complex, unlike most comics.

Another reason I liked this comic is things actually go relatively smoothly for Peter. His relationship with aunt May improves (wow!). He and M.J. are back together, and stuff. It's not all sunny-sunny, (thank you, Bendis!). I just wish there was more pow-smash stuff.

ultimate spider-man by bendis and bagley is one of the best series out there. not as much action and non-stop bad guy fighting, but a good mix of that and a lot of peter parker being a teenager with problems (girls, bullies, being grounded, etc.) along with his spidey life.
the series is great great great. only a few minor things that could be better:
1. i don't like how nick fury comes in and tells spider-man he's going to work his whole life for him and shield. the idea of peter being...trapped in a web? haha...well it isn't too cool. superheroes need to fight the good fight because they want to, not because shield will go and take away their superpowers (as fury has threatened) if they don't comply. plus the issues where the ultimates come in aren't that great, the whole series gets hijacked by them and not a lot of spidey. imo, the ultimates are easily the worst part of the ultimate universe. beyond ultimate spider-man and the ultimate fantastic four the ultimate universe isn't too great.
2. bendis needs to cut down on the tuchas talk. seriously if parker grew up in nyc today he'd more likely speak spanglish than yanglish.
3. geldoff.

Bendis has a talent for relationships between characters. This volume had the most talking out of any of them, but I still enjoyed it just as much. It feels wierd saying this as a guy, but I get really excited seing the relationship flourish between Mary Jane and Peter. Bendis does a fine job at capturing us in their relationship. Later on we have a long monologue from Aunt May that is very interesting, and I was reading through it without a bore.

X-men's appearance is well done in the novel. I almost got the feeling, that it would end up a crossover book, and instead I got my Spider-man comic like I wanted. They just have a good appearace, not their own book. I want to read about Spider-man when I pick up these books, and that's what I got. I didn't get a traditional spidey villain, but I kind of liked the break. What I love about these stories, is that they have a sense of reality. There's no apocalyptic consequences, yet. I don't wanna here about the world ending every issue. Thank you, Bendis.

Let's keep reading. We're still hooked, Bendis.

Spidey helps out mutant friend and then meets the X-men. There is a really funny section of this book between Spider-Man and one of the X-men. Last story on Aunt May and her psychiatrist, well, as you may guess, is a snoozer.

Spidey has to run around in his pants as he has no costume. He finds a mutant genetic experiment guy at a party, and as a consequence, runs into the female half of the X-Men. Getting blown up in a plane is the downside of this, however.

His aunt is also having problems dealing with things, after she finds him AWOL.

IRRESPONSIBLE is another solid outing for Brian Michael Bendis writing duties on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. Mark Bagley again handles the art chores and this tag team can pretty much create the best Spidey stories on the market with little effort.

Volume 7 reprints six issues of the title and weeves its way through stories involving Peter and Mary Jane's relationship, Spidey's search for a new costume, mutants and the Ultimate X-Men, and an indepth view of Aunt May's character. The action and pacing for the stories is fine but the final chapter that really gives Bendis' Aunt May a turn in the spotlight borders on what a great story-teller he can be.

Any new fans to Spider-Man comics can do a lot worse than starting with Ultimate Spider-Man: Irresponsible. And if it lacks the superhero action that you require then I strongly recommend Ultimate Spider-Man Volumes 2 and 4.