Spider-Men [Hardcover]
Brian Michael Bendis (Author), Sara Pichelli (Illustrator).
Near mint, 1st print.

If you're like me, a lover of Ultimate Spider-Man from beginning to abrupt end, The Death of Ultimate Spider-Man, though well written, left a bad taste in your mouth.  I never gave much thought as to why, but with this book I learned the answer: closure.  This book provides closure to the many emotional loose ends that were left in the wake of Ultimate Peter Parker's death.  You would think on the surface this was a bad idea, but Bendis made it work and even planted seeds before Ultimate Parker died.  A great story and a beautiful oversized edition!

THIS IS IT!  The story that shows Mysterio learned how to travel to alternate dimensions!  A must read before seeing Spider-Man Far From Home!

It's the ULTIMATE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EVENT OF THE YEAR, as Spider-Man comes face-to-face with ...Spider-Man! Can even Peter Parker and Miles Morales - the Spider-Men of two worlds - defeat Mysterio, the Master of Illusions? And what happens when Miles encounters an older, wiser version of his inspiration, Peter Parker? Guest starring Nick Fury and the Ultimates! Be here for the story that makes history, as Brian Michael Bendis tears down the walls between the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe!  Joe Quesada once remarked that (and I'm paraphrasing) should the 616 and the Ultimate universes cross over, it would mean that the Marvel bullpen had run out of ideas. Which then begs the question: Why wasn't this crossover done years ago? I guess Spidey's 50th anniversary shouldn't just be swept under the rug. Ergo, this wild, must-read SPIDER-MEN mini-series. If you're planning on pooh-poohing this mini-series, dude, at least check out issue #4 which is, bar none, the best comic book issue I've read in several years. Issue #4 alone makes this mini-series an instant classic.  I imagine I approached SPIDER-MEN with near the same mounting excitement and curiosity that folks back in 1961 felt when they cracked open FLASH #123. And SPIDER-MEN lives up to the hype. Brian Michael Bendis reasserts himself as a masterful storyteller. This is Bendis at the absolute top of his game, and this is the sort of writing that first made me jones hard for his ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN stories more than a decade back.  Pursuing Mysterio thru an interdimensional portal, 616 Peter Parker finds himself stranded on a parallel Earth, eerily familiar yet, as Peter promptly learns, rife with startling differences. For one, this reality's Spider-man had been murdered and his secret identity outed.

And then Peter runs into grade-schooler Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man. And, to keep the spoilering to a minimum, let's just say that cool &#!+ happens.  SPIDER-MEN, all five issues of it, validates Bendis's brand of decompression. Even though Mysterio is lurking about, even though the Ultimate Nick Fury and the Ultimates surface, Bendis opts to minimize the gaudy supervillainy elements in favor of developing memorable character beats. And I can't help but circle back to issue #4. That's the one I'd been anticipating, even more so than the mainstream Spidey's meeting his Ultimate counterpart. In issue #4, the grown-up 616 Peter Parker meets the Ultimate universe's versions of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy. And the ensuing series of interactions has to be one of Bendis's crowning achievements as a writer. In 19 pages of story content, he holds it down with potent moments that feel true and are so personal and emotional and yet so funny that I, a manly man, was left alternately grinning and reaching for a freakin' hankie. It's also pretty awesome that, during these exchanges, Miles Morales comes off naturally like an extended family member. He feels so at home at the Parker household (all the while fingering Ultimate Peter's web shooters, hmmm).

Also, this mini-series should elevate Mysterio to seriously formidable big bad status. Because when you confound even Tony Stark with your mad science, then you belong to a whole 'nother threat level.  Artist Sara Pichelli and her marvelous compositions and her knack for bestowing Kevin Maguire-like expressions on her characters and her crisp figure drawing. I love that her Miles Morales really does look like a gangly 13-year-old kid. Inarguably, she's as relevant to this project as Bendis. She's so very good now.  In this recent era in which Marvel has published massive crossover series after series with a greedy eye towards marketing and fleeting fan gratification - and, yes, Bendis has been responsible for several of these - SPIDER-MEN is a wonderful surprise, a terrific, self-contained, summertime, blockbuster event. And I guess I'd neglected mention of Peter and Miles' interactions. Well, their interactions provide the narrative backbone, and Bendis is once more on point with his dialogue. It's a natural that Peter would assume a mentoring role towards Miles. It's also satisfying that, conversely, Miles exerts influence on Peter. I really hope this isn't the last we've seen of this crossover. I'm not a mathematician, but 10 out of 5 stars for SPIDER-MEN sounds about right.

COLLECTING: Spider-Men 1-5 and a gallery of all the variant covers.  Hardcover: 128 pages.

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