Well after fifteen issues after deciding to end the first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man Marvel decided to forget about it and make this new issue number 150! Personally I hate it when Marvel decides to change the numbering of one of their books, it just feels like a cheap ploy to get readers to buy their books. I know it’s a business, but I wish they wouldn’t do it, just stick to the original numbering. My pet peeves aside Ultimate Spider-Man was one of my favorite books this week.

So after everything that Spider-Man has had to go through in the last few weeks Carol Danvers (leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has decided that she has to do something about a teenage kid running around playing super-hero who will cause two-million dollars in damages when stopping a thief with eleven grand worth of swag. It’s a tricky situation, using force to stop Peter would be pretty ungrateful considering everything he’s done, so what can the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. do? She can get some advice from Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. First we have Iron Man who has nothing but nice things to say about Spider-Man, he may be young, but he’s smart, and brave, and can handle himself in a fight. Captain America on the other hand feels he’s too inexperienced to be a hero, and feels he’s more of a danger than anything else. Maybe if Spidey didn’t hit Cap in the face with his webs by accident he might have a better opinion on the guy. Then there’s Thor who who believes that Spider-Man is worthy to be a warrior, but he needs the guidance to get there. So Peter comes home to find half of S.H.I.E.L.D. at his house and Carol Danvers having tea with his Aunt. Aunt May explains to Peter that she and Danvers have decided that Peter can continue to be Spider-Man, but he must get the training, so every day after school Peter Parker is going to Super-Hero school.

Since this is a special anniversary issue the book also consists of several short stories of Spider-Man interacting with some of the other heroes in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. The first one being Blade, where Spider-Man finds out that vampires are real, and Blade isn’t interested in being his pal. There’s also a short story with Elektra and Daredevil, and Spider-Man’s first encounter with The Fantastic Four. The book is closed with an essay that Peter Parker wrote for a school project about who his hero is.

I really like this new direction for the book, it would have been really easy for Bendis to go back to the norm and have Spider-Man going back to school and doing things the way he always does. I really like the idea of Spider-Man being trained by The Ultimates and S.H.I.E.L.D. Although I am curious to see if this affects the other super-kids living in Aunt May’s house. I didn’t really care for the extra stories at the end, especially the Fantastic Four story. This is the Ultimate universe, but when Spidey goes to meet the FF he’s brought into The Baxter building with an older Reed Richards, it’s a retelling of the normal Marvel Universe story and I didn’t see a point to it except to fill out some extra pages. I would have much preferred that they just have kept the main story and not have bothered with the bonus stuff that made this book go for $5.99.

Ken Zeider
Ken@ComicImpact.com