Ultimate Spider-Man #123
Get ready for way too much fun. Great art, great story, what else could you ask for?
Ultimate Spider-Man #123
July 7th, 2008 - I had written Ultimate Spider-Man off. Which was a shame. I loved that book. Bendis injected such a great sense of Peter, and you could tell he loved writing the book. And Bagley, who I never really thought that much of, was really getting into it. And then somewhere along the way Bendis seemed to start scraping the bottom of the barrel. I don’t know if he just got through the stories he wanted to tell, or he was writing too many books, or what. But I lost interest. I stopped buying it. That made me sad, the day when I said, “I’m not going to keep buying this anymore”, that was a sad day. I tried I really did. But that whole thing with Moon Knight and Daredevil and Ronin, it was just too much for me. So I stopped.
Then came word that Stuart Immonen was coming on and Bagley was leaving. A giant animated question mark, exclamation point popped up over my head. I love Immonen’s work. Loved Superman Secret Identity loved Nextwave. And he just seemed like the last person I would have thought was taking over the art, but obviously the best. So I was happy there were smarter people than me out there. So I was happy, but hesitant, that I would have an excuse to try out Ultimate Spidey. And it was good again.
Now I don’t know about you, but I like Venom. I always had it in my mind that if I became a famous director, and if I ever got the chance to work on Spidey, then I would do the best damn Venom story ever. Obviously this dream remains unfulfilled. And even better than the regular Venom I thought that Bendis did a great job bringing Ultimate Venom to life. His whole backstory and origin was so much better than the regular Venom. And now he’s back again. He’s back and he’s being drawn by Immonen. I am officially in heaven.
This issue was a joy from start to finish. The flashback with Eddie on a bench eating people who listen to his story could easily have been cliché. But it wasn’t. Because Bendis just owns Eddie Brock. His dialogue, his pain, they all flow off the page and draw you in. As he relates where Venom and he have been since they last appeared in Ultimate Spidey (which was a long time ago if I’m not mistaken) I was invested in what he had to say.
And here’s the clincher. See I remember realizing that the team on Amazing Spider-man was bringing Venom back on a very strict schedule. Once a year there was a Venom story. Once I realized that, once I saw the mechanism in place, the magic was lost. Because it pointed out that the writers were having Venom show up on queue, not in any organic way that made for a compelling story. But Bendis has taken his time with Venom. And the reason for Venom coming back (well in the story, I don’t know about Marvel editorial)? This time it feels like it is a real reason. It’s not revenge, it’s like some kind of drug addiction, and that take on the character is fresh and interesting and adds that sense of danger to the character that befits his monstrous character design.
So this is the first issue of a new story, one that is compelling and draws you in. Get it before the next issue is out.
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