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Ultimate
Spider-Man
Public Scrutiny
Trade Paperback
Vol 5 - [Reprints 28-32]
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Price: $11.99/R169.00 SA |
Bendis and Bagley serve up another tasty helping of Ultimate
Spider-Man for kids of all ages to enjoy!
Someone has dressed up as Spider-Man and decided to go on a crime
spree. With his reputation on the line and being accused of murder,
how will Peter Parker survive?
Bendis [Powers] never takes his foot off the accelerator
pedal. His last arc finished on a real cliff-hanger and this one
does too. From the first issue this series has been great and it
continues to be more of the same in this its fifth volume.
Bendis seems to love playing with Peters emotions throughout his
storytelling and this arc is no exception. Peter goes from bad to
worse and his most basic instincts are shown to all. We see him
almost falter and end up murdering a criminal. It’s this kind
of writing that has drawn me back to this title month after month.
Bendis really does a remarkable job with the fleshing out of his
characters and in the depiction of the day to day life of the modern
day teenager.
The final scene in this arc is just amazing and really brings to
the forefront what it must be like for the loved ones of a super-hero
and what they must go through worrying over them. Suffice to say
Peter goes through some heavy stuff in this arc and it’s nice
to see that the choices he makes have a definite influence on the
rest of his life. Bendis makes being a super-hero have a reality
to it and this is a hard-hitting story with a lot of interesting
threads to follow.
Bagley is on top of his form with this current volume. His art is
just so stable and consistent from panel to panel and this aids
Bendis tremendously in his weaving of a great story. The reliability
of the art keeps the characters believable and easy to relate to.
There is no need for stopping and wondering who is who or trying
to make out what might be happening in a specific scene. His style
is clear and concise and he does some awesome work on the action
scenes. Ultimate Rhino makes his premiere as does
Iron Man [The Ultimates] and the scene involving
The Rhino trashing most of downtown NYC is a plain masterpiece.
The CG [Computer Generated] covers that are included
between each issue in this trade are breath-taking. It’s really
nice to see good use of CG artwork and these covers are mouth-wateringly
great pieces of Spidy art in their own right.
The colours at times have disappointed me in this trade. It’s
only really for one reason, on certain pages it seems the colouring
is out of sync, mostly it is duller/darker than the rest of the
book. Either this is a printing error or badly matched separations,
but nevertheless this detracted from my reading and made me pause
for a few seconds to check what was going on before reading on,
and that for me is always a no-no.
A grand addition to the ongoing legacy of Ultimate Spider-Man.
Peter must come face to face with the consequences of being a super-hero
in the public eye and must cope with the reality that he is not
invincible. Bendis and Bagley keep weaving tight stories with personality,
strong characterisation and movie-like punch. Grab this as soon
as possible you won’t be disappointed.
Score 9/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
