Well, it’s April and we’re getting that weather everyone
“loves.” For those who don’t know, that weather is a nice blend of wetness and
wind. At least it’s warmer and the sun does shine from time to time.
Before I
get too bogged down in May (Sci-Fi Month), it’s time to return to Ultimate
Spider-Man for a bit. So far, all’s been good for the most part. I do feel like the
series has dipped a little at this point but it’s not dreadful. Today’s pick
may test that, though. Ultimate Spider-Man: Deadpool contains Ultimate
Spider-Man #91-96 and Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2. That second annual came
soon, didn’t it. As usual, Brian Michael Bendis handles the stories for the
trade. Mark Bagley is penciling the main series while Mark Brooks handles the
Annual again. The inkers for this trade are plenty though.
Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 16: Deadpool
Writer: Brian Michael
Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley and Mark Brooks
Inks: Danny Miki, John Dell, Mark McKenna, Mark Morales,
Jimmy Palmiotti, Jamie Mendoza, Victor Olazaba, and Mark Brooks
Letters: Cory Petit
Colors: Justin Ponsor, Richard Isanove, and Laura Martin
SYNOPSIS
“Deadpool”
The story starts out with Spider-Man and Kitty (in a masked
costume) taking down a lame criminal called the Ringer. After some swinging and
kissing, her automatic ride picks her up while Peter heads home. When Kitty
makes it to the Mansion, she gets attacked by some of the X-Men. Before she
gets knocked out, she sends the Blackbird to Peter’s house. Peter sees it,
suits up, and has it fly him back the Mansion. Kitty meets him there but she
then stuns him with a gun. It’s revealed the it was none other than Deadpool
taking her form… huh.
Spidey then wakes up on a helicopter shackled with the other
X-Men. Spidey and the X-Men then get dropped onto the island of Krakoa. It
turns out that the government of Genosha has kidnapped the X-Men in order to
get back at them. Spidey was just along for the ride. Spidey and the X-Men
start out split up but eventually come together. It’s then revealed that this
is being broadcast live around the world. It even has a swarmy announcer. Going
against the X-Men are Deadpool and the Reavers, a cybernetic band of
douchebags.
The X-Men and Spidey fight their way through the group. It
takes some time, but the group is eventually beaten. Deadpool tries to get one
more fight in but he is also taken out and unmasked. Let’s just say that the
charbroiled version of him looks much better. The team makes it to the compound
where Xavier is being held by the Ultimate version of Mojo. Luckily, all seems
to be fine with Xavier since he gets to mess with Mojo off-screen. The heroes
then head back to the States. The story ends with Peter getting home really
late. Luckily, Aunt May decided to play hooky herself and spend the night with
her date, Miles Warren. Duh duh duh!
(Note: Miles Warren doesn’t play into… well, you know…)
“Morbius”
The story starts out with a flashback to months ago. Spider-Man
is chasing someone who is after someone else. It turns out that Blade, the
Daywalker, is chasing down a vampire. Pete is almost bit when Blade grabs the
vampire and takes it out. He then tells off Spidey and disappears into the
darkness. We cut to present day where Ben Urich has proof of a vampire sighting.
Unfortunately, he’s being blocked by Jameson. Peter want to say something but
keeps it to himself. At school, Peter finds out MJ has seen he and Kitty
together. He tries to keep it calm but MJ understandably sasses him out over
it.
Later, Ben Urich tries to talk to his witness who was bitten
by a vampire. Unfortunately, the chick bites him. Luckily, Spidey was tailing
Urich and a fight breaks out between her, another vampire, and him. Also, Morbius
shows up to apparently fight the other vampires. Spidey gets them all lumped
together and the fight continues. The fight ends with Morbius taking on the
other while Spidey gets Urich to a hospital.
Morbius: Also, put your mask back on, dummy!
Later, Morbius comes to Urich’s room and tries to bite him
but Spidey stups him. It turns out that if Morbius bites Urich, that’ll
counteract the other vampire’s bite and cure him. Spidey doesn’t believe it but
their scuffle ends when other vampires come to get Urich. Peter even gets bit
but luckily his radioactive blood keeps him from turning. Morbius kills the vampires is able to cure Urich. The story ends at school.
Peter (hiding his bite) and Mary Jane (who’s cooled down from yesterday) have a
bit of a moment together.
“Annual #2”
The annual starts out with Spidey taking down the Shocker
once again. Thanks to advices from lawyer,
Franklin Nelson, Spidey actually takes the lame criminal to the police
department. There, he runs into Captain Jean De Wolfe who is secretly in
cahoots with Wilson Fisk. She pulls Spidey aside and asks him to trail a
recently released criminal by the name of the Kangaroo. The actual truth is
that Kangaroo is encroaching on Kingpin’s territory. Spidey feels uneasy about
this but does it anyway.
Spidey heads to the location and finds that he isn’t the
only costumed nut after this guy. Daredevil is there beating the crap out of
him. Then, the Punisher (who recently escaped from Ryker’s Island) joins the
fun and fires a bazooka at the location. Then, Moon Knight (who just recently
woke up from his coma) joins the fight. What I’m trying to say is that it’s all
one big cluster—buster. Anyway, Daredevil isn’t exactly happy to see Spidey
since Spidey’s still too inexperienced. Luckily, Spidey and Daredevil take down
Punisher and Moon Knight leaves.
I'm kinda sad that we won't get this in the MCU.
Captain De Wolfe and the police come to apprehend Kangaroo.
All seems good until Punisher breaks his bonds and shoots De Wolfe dead.
Spider-Man finds him and starts to lay in on him but Punisher reveals that she
was working for the Kingpin. Spider-Man and Daredevil get their butts out of
there. The story ends with Daredevil finding Moon Knight at his base of
operations. The story ends with Daredevil telling Marc Spector that he’s
putting a team of costumed folk together to one day take down the Kingpin. Also,
we see Fisk mourn for Jean De Wolfe.
"... and I'd like to invite you to our Avengers Initiative."
OPINION
So, what do I think of this one? I wouldn’t say it’s the
least favorite, but I can’t say it’s the best either. There are good things
here though. I thought it was cool that we get to see more of the Peter/Kitty
relationship. We also get the other part that involves Mary Jane. It does make
Peter seem like a bit of a douche but he is a dumb teenager, after all. It was also
nice to see him actually team up with the X-Men this time. When he’s been
around them, not much fighting’s been going on. Too bad it was against some
lackluster villains.
Then, there’s the other two storylines. While I didn’t
necessarily enjoy the Morbius story, it was nice to see the Ultimate versions
of Morbius and Blade for a short time. I also liked that we got some more Daily
Bugle action. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had that. The Annual
was cool in that it’s a continuation the underworld shenanigans involving
Kingpin. It was nice to see Daredevil (needs to switch to decaf), Punisher, and
Moon Knight show up here. Just know that this is leading to something. Heck,
Daredevil’s Nick Fury-like approach to Moon Knight at the end was definitely an
example.
As usual, the artwork here is pretty good. While there were
a lot of inkers in on the fun, it didn’t feel too different. Bagley did a good
job as usual and Brooks handled the annual pretty well. As I said once before,
their styles are a little different but fit the universe. The small quiet
moments and the action scenes were pretty good. I also thought Kitty’s new
costume was pretty good. I do have to say that some of the double pages in the
first arc were a little muddled at points.
You can look up how he looks online. It is pretty bad.
The negatives are few but important. While the Spidey/X-Men
team up was interesting, the villains were a bit lame. I really wasn’t a fan of
Ultimate Deadpool. I barely like regular Deadpool and this version wasn’t an
improvement. Basically, he’s “Anti-Mutant Bigot #119” to me. I also felt that
team up was an issue too long. As for the Morbius story, it felt a bit shortened since we really don’t learn much about the vampires here. The Annual was
fine but the flashbacks were a little weird at points. That being said, it’s
not a bad trade. The good does outweigh the bad here.
Unmaskings/Reveals of Spider-Man: 1
Morbius unmasks him at the hospital in
order to see the bite. Luckily no one’s around to see. Still, I have to give a
point to the meter. At least it’s only 1.
Total Unmaskings/Reveals of Spider-Man: 17
HIGHLIGHTS
Finally, here are the highlights of the trade:
-Spidey and Kitty vs The Ringer – That was one lame villain!
It was hilarious seeing the two tear him down like that.
-Blade cameo – While he wasn’t in the story much, it was
cool to see Blade. I just imagined Wesley Snipes playing him.
-The Death of Jean De Wolfe – Her death was a bit of a shock
and yeah, I know what happened to her original counterpart. Everyone’s reaction
to it was interesting. What was more interesting was Kingpin’s reaction to her
death.
………………………………………………………………………..
Overall, this was okay. It’s not bad but it isn’t one of the
better trades in the series. A part of me feels like Bendis was filling in
space for some of this. Maybe he didn’t want to go all out with these issues
since we’re coming up on a turning point for the series. Let’s just say that
some serious stuff goes down in the next big story arc. Next time, I’ll be
looking at the Clone Saga… the Ultimate Clone Saga. Besides, it’s Sci-Fi Month
as well, so you know clones need to be involved! Until then, Peace, God Bless,
and don’t toy with your women.
