Ultimate Spider-Man continues its intelligent reimagining of the Marvel Universe

In the Golden Age of Comic Books, continuity wasn't nonexistent, but it wasn't nearly as CLOSE as it is today. Comic books were made as anthologies, and each comic book contained a series of feature films starring various superheroes (except for the rare superheroes who were so popular that they had their own solo comics, but those solo comics only had one series of feature films starring that superhero, the feature films themselves were no different than those that appeared in the original anthologies they came from: there was no difference between a Superman feature film that appeared in Action Comics of a Superman movie that appeared in Superman OR The best comics in the worldat least then The best comics in the world (It was still an anthology.) So Doctor Fate might be a wizard in one issue and a more traditional superhero in the next. There were no real rules. That kind of “You never really know WHAT's coming next” feeling is one of the highlights of Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto's book The Ultimate Spider-Manwhere the Marvel Universe is reinvented in such an original way that it really makes you feel like everything is up in the air, at every moment.


The cover of Ultimate Spider-Man #8

The Ultimate Spider-Man #8 (by Hickman, Checchetto, colorist Matt Wilson and letterer Cory Petit) sees Spider-Man meeting Tony Stark for the first time since their “meeting” in The Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (when a hologram of Tony Stark gave Peter Parker the radioactive spider that would give him his powers), but also sees the Kingpin reunite his lieutenants to form a new, twisted version of the Sinister Six.



Why does Iron Man come back to visit Spider-Man?

In case you're not yet familiar with the concept of the current Ultimate Universe, this version of Earth is one where the villain known as the Maker (the Reed Richards of the original Ultimate Universe) systematically eliminated all superheroes, ensuring their origins never came to pass. So Thor never came to Earth, Henry Pym never discovered Pym Particles, and Peter Parker was never bitten by a radioactive spider. The Maker is currently out of commission and his Council (a group of supervillains who used to rule the world under the Maker's direction) are ruling on his steed, but he'll be back soon and Tony Stark is trying to assemble a collection of heroes to stand up to the Maker by giving people the opportunity to reclaim the destinies that were stolen from them. In The Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Tony gave Peter the radioactive spider, plus a special suit to wear. Peter accepted his lost destiny, which he should have had as a teenager, but instead gets as an adult, married with two children.


Well, at the end of The Ultimate Spider-Man #7, Iron Man showed up to see what Peter was up to. However, he also discovered that his company had been sold to Harry Osborn, who had repurposed an old Stark armor to become the Green Goblin. New York was under the control of Wilson Fisk, under the general direction of the Council, of course, and the Green Goblin had been fighting Fisk. He and Spider-Man teamed up, and Harry discovered Spider-Man's secret identity (and Peter eventually revealed it to his family, too). The Council had been trying to stop Tony Stark by framing him for a terrorist attack that killed a thousand people in New York, including Norman Osborn and his wife, and Peter's beloved Aunt May. Ben Parker was still alive, though, and working at the Daily Bugle, but he and his longtime friend, J. Jonah Jameson, had started their own newspaper (since Fisk had taken over the Daily Bugle).


Spider-Man and Harry's suits recently received updates, where they were paired with an AI that speaks to them with the voice and personality of a real person. Harry chose his father, while Peter decided to use himself. So now Peter has a suit that seems to have a life of its own. If you're wondering if Hickman is reimagining Clone Sage and/or Venom, then, well, that's what I mean: NO ONE KNOWS because Hickman has SO MUCH freedom to work with here, you never really know what's going to happen in any given issue, and that unpredictability has been a delight.

While that's great, it would be pointless if you didn't care about the characters, and Hickman did a wonderful job developing the characters, especially the friendship between Ben and Jonah, who has some excellent moments in this issue with Peter's son Richard, a shy and very intelligent boy who Jonah takes a liking to (his gift to Richard is hilarious, but also quite sweet, honestly).


Who are the Sinister Six?

The Sinister Six on the variant cover of Ultimate Spider-Man #8

Marco Checchetto shines throughout the issue, but does a PARTICULARLY good job when the Kingpin turns to his five lieutenants, one for each of the other districts of New York City (plus one representing the underground, for a total of six). Checchetto redesigns Kraven, Black Cat, Mysterio, Mister Negative, and Mole Man beautifully. Matthew Wilson, by the way, does a wonderful job of keeping the book's colors beautiful, but even more impressively, keeping the look of the book consistent when Checchetto skips issues. Cory Petit is also an excellent letterer.


In the early days of Amazing Spider-Man, Stan Lee bragged about how Steve Ditko and he could tell great stories even when there wasn't a traditional superhero battle, and that was the case with this issue, as it really boils down to a check-in with Iron Man and Spider-Man, a birthday party, and the introduction of the Sinister Six, no traditional superhero battle, and yet it was all captivating. This series was, and continues to be, excellent.

The Ultimate Spider-Man #8 is on sale now.

Source: Marvel Comics

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