Ultimate Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man

Alright today for you guys I have the recently finished story ark of the Ultimate Spider-Man. From the title given to the 5 book series you can assume that Spider-Man is going to... well die, but the real question is... does he?

Comic Title: Ultimate Spider-Man
Story Ark: Death of Spider-Man #156-#160
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Andy Lanning
Colorist: Justin Ponsor

(*Spoiler Alert*)





Story: The story starts off at a S.H.I.E.L.D containment center that is holding Norman Osbourne, where they have him in a holding cell. The story moves on to Peter Parker and Mary Jane in a diner showing that they're back in a relationship together, and then they are rudely interrupted by Steve Rodgers. Rodgers tells Peter it's time to train, so he leaves Mary Jane to go with Rodgers.

The story then goes back to Norman Osborne talking to a psychiatrist. Not long after Norman hulks out into the beasty Green Goblin and breaks out of his cell. He has bigger plans then just escaping though, because he takes the time to bust out the other members of the Sinister Six before he makes his escape.

We now see Peter and Rodgers in their suits talking in the cemetery. Captain America makes a huge statement to Spider-Man and says, "... this drives me insane you don't fight smart and you don't fight, like your life depends on it".


During Captain America's talk with Spider-Man he gets interrupted and directed to stop Nick Fury who is in the city, and is told to ditch Spider-Man. Captain leaves Spider-Man, but Spider-Man follows Captain America.

We then go back to S.H.I.E.L.D's situation. The Sinister Six have successfully escaped the S.H.I.E.L.D's grasp. S.H.I.E.L.D is then informed that they have a problem on the Queensborough Bridge, and at the same time a off-duty reporter is getting film of the supposedly dead Norman Osbourne and the rest of the Sinister six.

Spider-Man makes it to the bridge, but is contacted shortly after by Mary Jane. Mary Jane has been watching the news, and informs Peter that Norman Osborne has escaped with the rest of Sinister Six. Spider-Man then takes off and heads to tell his friends and family they are in danger.

Back to the Sinister Six who happen to be watching the news about the fight on Queensborough bridge. Norman realizes this is his sign from God that he was meant to escape and kill Spider-Man. Doc Ock wants nothing to do with it and sees this is a chance to go back to his normal life of a scientist. This doesn't sit well with the Green Goblin and a huge fight breaks out between the two.

Peter makes it home and Aunt May and Gwen Stacy are there. Peter frantically tells them to get out of town now, and that they are in danger.

Back at the fight Doc Ock was doing a good job handling Norman Osborne, but that doesn't last long as Norman just starts pounding Doc Ock.


Spider-Man gets another call from Mary Jane, and she tells him where Osborne is. Once Spider-Man get there Osborne has left the scene, and Spider-Man finds Doc Ock pounded to death in the street.

Spider-Man then heads to the Queensborough Bridge to do what he originally planned by helping Captain America. Once he gets to the bridge he spots the Punisher lining up a shot on Captain America, and Spider-Man makes a quick decision to get down there. He jumps down and tries to push Captain America out of the way. As the Punisher shoots, it goes right through Spider-Man's back.

The Sinister Six head to the Evil Engineer Tinkerer, and pick up some weapons and mainly Vultures suit.


We then end up back on the bridge where Spider-Man has been shot. He struggles to get up and realizes he's in a lot of pain, and see that there is nobody around him. He's very confused on why Captain America left him there after saving his life (read Ultimates vs. New Avengers to get the tie in story), but he realizes that's not important right now... he needs to get to a hospital and fast, but can't because he knows once he goes to the hospital his identity will be revealed. During this dilemma he spots the Sinister Six taking off in a certain direction, and decides to follow them.

We are then panned to Bobby Drake and Johnny Storm walking home from what seems to be a double date. They get inside Peter's house (also known as their house) and they find that nobody is home. There's a note left on the phone telling them, "Get out of the house immediately and call as soon as you get to a safe place. Why isn't your phone on?" As they are leaving the Sinister Six arrive at Peter's house and the boys are about to walk in on 6 vs. 2 match. The Sinister Six are confused and have no idea who these boys are and are asking Bobby and Johnny if they know where Peter Parker is. The boys then realize who they are, and Johnny powers on to attack The Green Goblin. Johnny takes out the Green Goblin but is no match for Sandman, and that's when Bobby powers on. Electro then leads the attack on Iceman while the other Sinister six follow behind him, and Iceman has no chance against Electro's electric base attacks.

Soon enough though Peter Parker shows up ready to fight. Vulture spots him and goes into a bull charge and Spider-Man send him for a ride.


Spider-Man tries to scare the rest of them by telling them the Avengers are on their way to take them back to S.H.I.E.L.D, but that doesn't last long when they see that he's in pain and has been shot. Kraven takes a shot at him and hits the Fire hydrant, then Spider-Man with some quick thinking uses that to blast the other 3 off of their feet. Spider-Man then tells the crowd of people to call 911 and get him some help. That's When Sandman tries to take him out but Peter makes it out before taking to much damage. From this point on, the Sinister six control most of the match due to Peter getting caught off guard and trying to protect the people around him.

Aunt May gets a call from her neighbor and informs her that Peter is being killed by these "bad guys", and Aunt May quickly turns the car around to head back.

Back to the fight, and Sinister six is still controlling this battle. Just as Sandman goes in for another attack on a helpless Spider-Man, he gets a shock from Electro who insists that if the Green Goblin isn't able to take him out it will be him. Just as they are done bickering and Electro is charging up for an attack, you hear guns shots, and Electro takes 3 shots to the chest, overcharges, and falls to the ground. Aunt May was the attacker and successfully stopped Electro from killing Peter. They have a little family reunion, and Aunt May gives Peter hugs while Gwen is checking on Johnny and Bobby. It's not over just yet as the Green Goblin comes back at Peter.

Meanwhile Mary Jane has been trying to get a hold of Peter, but he's being held up. Mary Jane gets worried when she she lightning where Peter lives and tries to leave her house to head to Peter's house, but she gets stopped by her mother.

Peter saves Gwen and Aunt May just as the Green Goblin put a hole in the ground where they were standing. Peter grabs Gwen and tells her, "No matter what happens you need to get my Aunt out of here". Just as Peter smashes the Green Goblins face with a devastating punch, he realizes that he can't do this alone and tries to wake up Johnny. Johnny gets up and goes on the offensive, but due to the Green Goblin having fire based attacks, it did nothing but make him stronger. Even with all this power he seems to be no match for Peter as the Green Goblin is just getting bashed in, but due to the gunshot wound and loss of blood, Peter is weak and can barely move. Just as the green Goblin gets close enough to take out Parker for good, he gets hit by a truck from behind, and the driver is non other than Mary Jane. After the Green Goblin takes a lot of damage, Peter saves Mary Jane by grabbing her out of the truck. Peter sees that the Green Goblin isn't finished yet as he's removing himself from below the wrecked truck. Peter quickly grabs the truck and just starts smashing the Green Goblin over the head with it in anger. On about the third or fourth smash the truck explodes damaging Peter even more.



Everyone runs to Peters aid trying to get people to call for an ambulance. Johnny tells Peter, "I think you got him.", and then Gwen and Aunt May show back up to see what happened. Aunt May and Gwen see Mary Jane crying out for somebody to help, and they realize that Peter is severely hurt. Aunt May gets to Peter, but Peter says, "It's okay. I-- I did it. I couldn't save him. Uncle Ben. I couldn't save him... No matter what I did. but I saved you." just as he slips off. Johnny checks his heart beat, and everyone knows that he's dead. It pans over to Norman Osborne on a flaming pile of junk. Norman Osborne successfully did what he wanted to do, and the smile that grows on his face shows.

*End Spoiler Alert*

Review
Story: The story ark was phenomenal, and it was so much more exciting and fun when you read the Ultimates vs. New Avengers tie ins with it. I liked how they got every character in the Ultimate universe to basically be in this story as well as the tie ins (except the x-men and Fantastic four, but they were mentioned). Even the appearance and little cameo part that the Tinkerer had was just awesome to have. The story had a great plot and great lead into the plot. The talk with Captain America in the graveyard gave you that feel sense of, "I know what has to happen" when it came to fight the Sinister Six and Norman Osbourne at the end. Even all the events that lead up to the final fight were just so fitting and amazingly well played out. The middle of the story gave you enough plot twists and surprises to keep you itching to pick up/read the next copy, like the fight between Doc Ock and Norman Osborne. I didn't expect the outcome of the fight to happen the way it did. The epic fight sequences at the end weren't quite all that memorable, but it gave Peter Parker so much character. The scenes and dialog were action packed, and Bendis does a great job telling the story and giving each character a feel to them. Every character has their own feel to him/her. The sense of humor and and dialogue for the characters are spot on, and Bendis did not disappoint. I feel the end was lacking something at first, but the more times I read it the more I understood why it happened that way. Peter Parker overcame the struggle in an against-the-odds battle showing the readers just how much of his life he is willing to give to protect his loved ones.

Penciler: I haven't seen Mark Bagley's work before (I have only been reading comics for about 3 months now), but Bagley's art brings the characters to life. You can stare at the pictures and understand what's happening in each scene, and in my opinion this is how you know when art is good. A picture is worth a 1000 words and if you can tell a story from pictures, your obviously doing something right. The facial expressions in this story are spot on, and each action pack scene has a bang and pop to it to make the action scene very life like.


Bagley did a number of 2 page spreads, and not one of them was disappointing at all! There was at least 2 - 3 in each issue, and there was just so much going on in them. I'm really glad they brought Bagley back to finish off the series with Bendis, giving the duo one more chance to make the fans happy in a time of despair.

Inker/Colorist: They did a pretty decent job nothing too spectacular and eye popping, but they got the job done without messing anything up. The colors are clean and crisp, but lack the pop when it comes to the scenes. Explosions are pretty much the only thing that stands out.

Well that's my first Comic book review. I hope you all enjoyed it, and hope you continue to follow my reviews as I have plenty more left. Also if your into video games check out my other blog http://2012by2012.blogspot.com/ I just posted a mid point update. Once the goal for that blog is finished I will be conjoining it with this blog. Thanks again for following!