Ultimate Spider-man (2024) #2 Review
Summary: If issue 1 was a prequel, this is Day 1. I can’t wait another month. Out of the two books in the line so far, this is the one to beat.
5
It's not going to be easy.
Background – Peter learns the ropes.
Writing – Well, nobody said it was going to be easy. In Peter’s first few weeks on the job, he has scared his daughter and been on the receiving end of two consecutive defeats by none other than Shocker. Now, Shocker has always been one of my top 3 Spider-man villains (the other two being The Beetle and Doctor Octopus) for the simple reason that he looks utterly ridiculous and is a low level crook who has terrible luck and not a lot of brains. The man runs around wearing a quilt and vibrates things. What’s there not to love? But here? In this universe, Shocker is HUGE (I mean he actually dwarfs Peter in terms of size.) He’s written as a competent villain who actually manages to trick Peter into letting his guard down. TWICE. It’s nice to see Herman get a win.
It’s also nice to see that Peter is still capable of making mistakes. He really is learning how to be Spider-man. He knows he’s strong but doesn’t know how to pull his punches yet. He ends up breaking two of Shocker’s ribs in a fight. He has learned he has to eat about 10,000 calories a day (I guess that’s just a normal hero amount, because when Wally West first came on the scene over at DC comics, he needed 10,000 calories a day as well.) He also ends up accidentally revealing his identity to his daughter when she catches him in the kitchen eating while in costume. For right now it’s their little secret, and in a cute ending to this issue, she may have given him the idea for a new Spider-man outfit.
In one of two side storylines we have Ben and Jonah sitting in a steam room discussing the attacks on Wilson Fisk and, to quote Jonah “A weirdo in a black suit swinging through the city.” The two of them decide to finally get to work and open their new newspaper.
The second of two storylines brings us Wilson Fisk having a serious conversation with Captain Britain (who I think is Jamie Braddock). This conversation boils down to the Captain telling Wilson to stop pretending to be a king and instead act like one. It’s obvious that he means a KINGPIN, but we just aren’t there quite yet.
Artwork – The art on this book continues to shine. Peter’s suit is vaguely like his symbiote costume, but without any white accents. It’s pretty much those green screen body stockings, but entirely black with white eyes. Shocker’s outfit is still a quilt, but not quite as silly as his 616 counterpart. He wears a bomb-squad suit “jacket” (I’m sure there is a name for it) over the quilt and wears a simple ski-mask. As re-designs go, there has been much worse (I refer you back to Whiplash’s outfit when he was killed by sentient Iron Man armor).
Finally, in the one panel we see of him (her?), the Green Goblin has adopted a very sleek non-threatening version of the armor Norman in the Spider-man films. It honestly reminds me a lot of the Technocrat suit from the 1990’s Outsiders comic. It looks really nice and I can’t wait to see it in action.
Final Thoughts – If issue 1 was a prequel, this is Day 1. Peter is still getting used to his powers, he’s already lost twice, and Spider-man still has no real identity. That’s bound to change in the upcoming issues. Wilson Fisk is set to take charge, the Goblin is just ramping up his attacks, and Jonah and Ben are very quickly becoming the heart of the book. I can’t wait another month. Out of the two books in the line so far, this is the one to beat.
Final score: 5 out of 5
Publisher: DC
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: CVC’s Cory Petit
Cover Artist: Mark Bagley & Edgar Delgado
Genre: Superhero
Format: Monthly
Release Date: 02/21/2024
About the Author
Matt Fischer Lover of all things nerdy. Reader of Comics for over 25 years. DC encyclopedia. Marvel lover. Indie side guy.
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