artist: David Marquez
I feel kind of snookered, and I really should have known better. This was billed as "the epic conclusion," which I took to mean, Brian Michael Bendis's last ever issue of Ultimate Spider-Man after fifteen years, three series, over two hundred issues, and two different heroes under the mask. The second being the eponymous Miles Morales from this iteration.
You know, every time a creator comes up with an alternate character to hold a famous superhero name, there are fans who think that replacement will stick around forever. And sometimes they do, but we all know they will never actually replace the icon. (And it does need to be an icon. The Golden Age Flash and Green Lantern don't count. Or any other example off the top of your head.)
And because as often as not it's a minority who gets the honors, there are fans who are desperate for that alternate to become a permanent replacement, or be the animated and/or live action Hollywood equivalent of said famous superhero. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's probably a lot of disappointment involved, as when it was recently announced that the new big screen Spider-Man...will once again be Peter Parker.
Which means, not Miles Morales. Or Miguel O'Hara, or even "Spider-Gwen," the latest inexplicable Marvel sensation. Or anyone else you might be thinking of off the top of your head. The thing is, the icons are icons for a reason. Theirs was the story that set the ball in motion, and usually there's a much better story involved that way.
You really have Bendis to blame for this one. After helping inspire the Samuel L. Jackson version of Nick Fury (via some of the most curiously circular logic in pop culture history), the Ultimate line pretty much became completely pointless. A "more realistic" version of Marvel, it quickly disposed of icons left and right, starting with Wolverine. Superheroes don't come back from the dead in the Ultimate line. Which is why when Peter Parker was also killed off, he was simply replaced. And whatever else Miles Morales is, he has always been a random replacement who merely allowed Bendis to continue writing Ultimate Spider-Man, which at times has seemed like it might after all be his lasting legacy. So you can see why he's reluctant to move on.
And is he moving on? Your guess is as good as mine. This issue is not a goodbye at all. That may be one considerable suggestion right there. Bendis would not abandon something like this so flippantly. The biggest development is Miles randomly exhibiting a new power, which might as well read like the Marvel version of Superman's recent debut of a new power. It's basically the same. It would not be below Marvel to steal something so blatantly like that.
I mean, this whole series is ending because Marvel is "closing shop" again in preparation for Secret Wars, which promises another Marvel "reboot" (Marvel has never yet done an actual reboot, just a window dressing alteration or two that freshens the landscape a bit).
(Marvel has made a wicked habit of ending series left and right, the way the Ultimate line killed characters left and right. Always to get that fan-friendly "first issue.")
The thing that is ending, and I will qualify this statement - apparently ending, is the Ultimate line. When Kitty Pryde pops up and announces the team with her as the Ultimates, which was this reality's version of the Avengers (until, and massive geek headache ahead, a team showed up literally calling itself the Avengers), and it has no more impressive membership than Kitty herself and the team of Cloak and Dagger (kudos if you have any idea who Cloak and Dagger are, Ultimate versions or otherwise), you know something has already ended.
To complicate matters further, the letters column went out of its way to solicit comments from creators and fans just as if this really were an ending. Nothing from Bendis himself, mind you. So chances are, Bendis fully intends to continue. I just have no idea what else he has left to say, except...
Yeah, I have no idea.
It was disappointing to hear the next Spidey will be Peter Parker...again. They try to excuse it by saying he'll be even younger, but still it's the same freaking origin story. Maybe it's good they're having Affleck play an older Batman so we don't have to go through the origin yet again.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm pretty sure Miles Morales is going to be part of the Avengers once the Battleworld thing is over.