Book of the Week 3/26/08 Ultimate Spiderman #120

Written by Brian Bendis
Pencils by Stuart Immomen
Inks by Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors by Justin Ponser


I'm not sure why all the good books come out in one week but that seems to be what happened this time. Faced with an onslaught of quality I had to pick Ultimate Spiderman as the book of the week for the simple fact that I really related to this story. Now I'm not talking about the superheroing and mutant abilities (that I'd tell anyone) but the simple bantering between friends, the caring for eachothers well being, all seemed very familiar to me.


This is the wrap-up to the 'amazing friends" story as Liz has discovered her new mutant abilities and the x-men and Magneto show up to recruit her into the mutant war. Alot of the first part of this story reeked a little too much of Empire with several rounds of "your father is...". However after the mutants go home Peter makes the decision to reveal his identity to Liz to let her know he can really help her. It was a wonderful moment between the two of them. My favorite part of the book was after Liz left for the xavier school, Peter and M.J. are left alone to which Peter says, "you wanna make out?" I laughed out loud (as I have used that wonderful line several times in my teenage days). Despite some of the heaviness of the story, these light hearted moments are why I love Spiderman, most notably Ultimate Spidey.


With the exception of his own characters, Bendis has more of a handle on Peter Parker than almost any other character he writes and he writes some damn good characterizations. The fact that he can balance the heavy and light scenes so naturally speaks to his incredible talent which we are all aware of. Immomen is awesome in this comic! I have absolutely no complaints or nit-picks about the looks of any of the characters.

Bottom line, this is pure comicy goodness and I can't get my fill!