Customer Reviews

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 5: Public Scrutiny

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Ultimate Spider-Man" is more than a re-imagining of the Spider-Man saga from the very beginning. Informed by our knowledge of what happened in the first decades worth of issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man" writer Brian Michael Bendis has heightened the intensity by collpasing the time frame. Even though there is never really a self-contained story in the mix, things are moving very quickly and Bendis is constantly pouring on the problems for our favorite webhead and his teenage secret identity.

"Public Scrutiny" is the fifth trade paperback collection of "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics, this time around including issues #28-32. Previous collections have focused on story arcs involving particular super villains (last time around it was the new and evolved Green Goblin). But one of the strengths of "Public Scrutiny" is that Spider-Man never fights one super villain in the entire book (even though he certainly wants to). The other is that the main focus is on Peter Parker being Spider-Man, an issue that is addressed on multiple levels, from Peter being distracted at school to Mary (Jane) having a hard time handling being constantly worried about Peter getting hurt (not calling her Mary Jane is the biggest problem I have with these revisions). This latter point comes to a head after Spider-Man has a bad encounter with the police who are gunning for him because he has been robbing banks and killing police officers. Actually, it is somebody impersonating Spider-Man, which is just another part of the growing headache for our hero.

Bendis is taking pains to explore what it means to be a superhero when you are sixteen years old and in love with the girl next door, who is ticked off that Gwen Stacy has moved in with the Parkers. Meanwhile, the whole bit with Nick Fury and the rules of superheroes in the brave new Marvel universe continues to present intriguing possibilities for the future. Again, Bendis and artist Mark Bagley are taking there time with this one; 32 issues into "The Amazing Spider-Man" Peter Parker was a freshman at E.S.U., while here he is only a sophomore in high school. We can only imagine what he is going to go through before he reaches graduation day. "Public Scrutiny" is as good of a story arc as "Ultimate Spider-Man" has presented to date, even without the standard knock down, drag out fight with a super bad guy.

Note: Harry Osborne is back and is apparently applying for the role of Pacey in the "Dawson's Creek" parallel that is clearly at work here (Peter is Dawson, Mary is Joey, and Gwen is Jen). I swear, Bendis knows exactly what he is doing with this one. This trade paperback have just about gotten me up to speed on "Ultimate Spider-Man," which has proven to be an integral part of the Spider-Man renaissance.

This review refers to Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 5 paperback edition: Public Scrutiny

While the previous four volumes of Ultimate Spider-Man have dealt with Peter's private life in the background, and a big league bad guy (or two) in the foreground, this volume is almost exclusively about Peter Parker's home life, his social life, and his love life. As if his career as Spider-Man isn't filled with enough people that hate him, someone else is posing as Spider-Man and robbing people. It's actually much worse than it appears at first, when yet another person close to Peter is killed, this time by the Spider-Man impostor.

His love life is also complicated more, here. With Gwen Stacy in need of comfort, she runs to Peter and his Aunt May for comfort. How much of Gwen wanting to be with Peter is friendship and how much is romance isn't revealed, but it does bend MJ to the breaking point. While I did enjoy MJ and Peter's close relationship from the off, this tension and disharmony is more in keeping with the regular Spider-Man continuity, at least in the beginning.

The writing and art are perfect. Bendis and Bagley are a great duo, who work very well together. This fan girl is wishing them many happy years of collaboration.

Public Scrutiny reprints Ultimate Spider-Man #28-32 and is a fine addition to any Spider-Man collection.

Highly recommended!

Volume 5 is different from the previous 4, as brings Peter's troubled (and fascinating) life into the foreground. Simply put, an imposter is running around NY in a Spidey costume, and Gwen Stacey moves in with Peter and Aunt May, causing all sorts of problems for MJ (and Peter). This volume doens't have any super villians, which is a nice change and demonstrates the strength of the story written and drawn by Bendis and Bagley in their rebooting of Spidey. Great volume!

I never like to read spider man before I picked up Ultimate. i love to follow Spider-Man and the rest of the main cast. I find it to be very interesting, I would never expect to see what happends in this book. I am now hooked.

This comic is just a well written story and it contains some of the best character development.I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of this series.

I read about 20-30 graphic novels before sitting down and reading this series. I gotta say that I'm extremely impressed. Bendis is one of the most talented writers in the medium I've seen so far. This whole series has carried itself so well this far. I hate to see it go bad but I really have faith, since in this volume he takes ideas unknown to spidey fans and webs them into fascinating panels. For instance in this chapter Spider-man faces the threat of a criminal masked identical to the web-slinger himself. I didn't know it would be so entertaining till I read it, and oh boy is it page-turning.

Don't be fooled by cover without a clue. This is the best yet, and I anticipate it gets better. The stakes are higher, the results are more shocking, and Spider-man is even more heroic. I have officially fallen in love with this string of comics. I've read them faster than all my others and I invite you to join me in the pageturning. Once you start you cannot stop.

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.

Spider-Man gets the dreaded parent teacher consultation. Even worse, an impostor is running around committing crimes while wearing his costume. This ends in tragedy, and a chance in his own living arrangements.

Scratch one girlfriend, as well. He gets patched up by the Wasp. Whether meeting her, or any of th e Ultimates is a good thing is highly debatable.

...

Now,, On to my Review...

I have activly read Ultimate Spider-Man since issue #1 (in collection form, that is) and i personally love the comic. But this collection wasn't as good a Legacy. It featured a great problem, especially Spidey's injury (No Spoiler). But it did lay way with a great and sad ending to the Ark. My advice: Read it now, weather or not you've read volumes 1,2,3, or 4. It's Awsome.

Spidey just fights an imposter Spidey. Parker and MJ relationship is kinda rocky. One of the more boring volumes.