![]() ![]() Obviously, the most important development to come out of this miniseries is the birth of a “new” Spider-Man. How is it possible that there were six comics worth of storyline to build to that moment and it still reads like it was attached with a rivet gun by the creative team. Seriously, at $3.99 a pop and six comic books, I expect more of a payoff from this series than for Mary Jane to hold a vendetta against the superhero universe and to be convinced not to “expose” what “really” happened in Peter’s death after just a two-page encounter with Nick Fury. And then the miniseries pretty much meanders from there and serves as one overblown (and expensive) commercial for a number of relaunches which will be released in September. My interest was piqued in the series’ first three parts because the writers dove right into the funeral of Peter Parker and the appropriate aftermath – Aunt May’s distress, Mary Jane looking for a scapegoat, and other heroes around the Ultimate Marvel universe coping with the loss of one of their own. What I discovered in these six comics, is, from what I gather, a common trick of Bendis’ and his co-writer, Jonathan Hickman: introduce a really broad, earthshaking idea into a story but then work at such a glacial place that nothing of note ever actually happens. I gave this miniseries a chance, but my mind remains unchanged. While I found the actual USM storyline, and issue #160 in particular, to be entertaining reads, I had low expectations for Marvel’s aftermath series, Ultimate Fallout. I was initially skeptical about the whole Ultimate “death of Spider-Man” storyline because I couldn’t envision what Bendis’ endgame was going to be. ![]() It’s not like there are legitimate “rules” that need to be followed here. Heck, in the more “traditional” Amazing Spider-Man universe, Marvel got tired a few years back of Peter Parker being married and then “poof,” his marriage to Mary Jane was literally annulled by the devil. Sure, it allows the writers to take characters on new and different journeys, but the way most creative teams change the status quo every couple of years with deaths, resurrections, etc., the Ultimate line still seems superfluous to me. While Ultimate Spider-Man and its primary writer, Brian Michael Bendis, have earned raves from many comic book fans – especially when the Ultimate universe was first introduced in the early 2000s – I never quite saw the purpose behind such a hard reboot that entirely new “alternative” universe needed to be introduced. I’ve always been more of a traditionalist when it comes to my pop culture. I guess it all comes down to a matter of taste. With the six-part Ultimate Fallout: Spider-Man No More series recently wrapped, I’ve been reminded why I’ve never been much of a fan of Marvel’s “Ultimate” universe. ![]()
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