Ultimate Spider-Man #3-6 sees Peter Parker’s world opening up more and more as he directly targets Kingpin with the Green Goblin’s help. With a supportive family, new friends in Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn, and Uncle Ben and J. Jonah Jameson starting their own newspaper – and making that pesky Spidey a main part of their coverage – clearly nothing will go wrong. Can it?
Ultimate Spider-Man #3-6
Mark Bagley and Edgar Delgado (Cover); Marco Checchetto (Art and Cover); Mike Del Mundo (Cover); Sanford Greene (Cover); Jonathan Hickman (Writing); Greg Land and Paul Mounts (Cover); Mateus Manhanini (Cover); David Marquez and Jesus Aburtov (Cover); David Messina (Guest Art for Issue 4 and 5), Kael NGU (Cover); VC’s Cory Petit (Letters); Chris Samnee and Matthew Wilson (Cover): Elizabeth Torque and Tamra Bonvilliain (Cover); Elizabeth Torque and Ian Herring (Cover); Matthew Wilson (Colors and Cover Colors)
Marvel Comics
March 27, April 24, May 29, June 19, 2024
Spoilers follow!
The end of the first arc of Ultimate Spider-Man lets everyone in the immediate Parker family know the secret – Peter’s kids and MJ are now aware he’s Spider-Man. But the first superhero Peter meets is Harry Osborn – who, as the Green Goblin, has been fighting crime solo. It turns out that Harry’s been married to Gwen Stacy for eight years running, and it’s clear Gwen has all the fine details in their life down while Harry’s obsessed with getting revenge on evildoers for killing his father and mother. Peter and Harry appear to be rock-solid currently – but Harry’s determined to use the tech Tony Stark left behind on Kingpin, which may or may not lead to more trouble.
The most compelling subplot continues to belong to Jameson and Uncle Ben, who hash out the founding of their new paper with the help of MJ and Peter and begin to pick up the scent regarding all of those pumpkin bombs and bank robberies. Will Jonah become obsessed with the “menace” that is Spider-Man? That remains to be seen, but if he does, he might end up taking Ben with him.
Ultimate Spider-Man keeps the reader’s attention, that’s for sure. From MJ and Peter’s unwavering devotion, to Jonah and Ben’s banter, it all works. The series knows when to be tender and when to be funny, and how to build up suspense and tension.
The best issue in the pack is issue #4, which bounces back and forth between an extremely awkward night out between Gwen and Harry and Peter and MJ and a babysitting night in which Jonah and Ben keep an eye on MJ and Peter’s kids (May hates JJ, and Ben admits he can’t blame her). The way it slowly reveals everything you need to know about both couples and why things are tense and weird between them says it all.
The art by Marco Checchetto and David Messina is uniformly excellent across all issues, whether we’re watching MJ and Peter web-sling across New York City or seeing an expansive battle between the Green Goblin and Bullseye. Mixing the quiet and tender with the big and dangerous has become the series’ bread and butter, and it continues apace here. The color work is also fantastic, underscoring everything.
Ultimate Spider-Man will continue with its second arc in late July. We’ll have to wait and see if they can keep up that kind of momentum, but until then this six-issue arc definitely hits the spot.
