Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 1: The World According to Peter Parker

Title: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 1: The World According to Peter Parker




ISBN: 9780785140115

Price: $24.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2010

Artist: David Lafuente

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Collects: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1-6



Rating: 4/5



Marvel Comics, the long standing and beloved purveyor of superheroes and wonderment for countless generations founded the Ultimate line — an attempt to free characters like the Hulk, Deadpool, and others, from decades of continuity but more importantly to redirect them to a whole new, modern, and fresh start for the readers to experience. The Ultimate Comics line prospered but by very definition of prospering over time became not ‘new’ anymore.



And so, it was decided that the line would be relaunched. For Spider-Man comics, it went from being Ultimate Spider-Man to Ultimate Comics Spider-Man.



Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol.1: The World According to Peter Parker opens a fresh new read for Spider-Man fans. It picks up the aftermath of Ultimatum and entirely jumpstarts the current situation Peter is in. It also changes the way Spider-Man fanatics see Peter’s life and gives them a brand new excitement, a whole bunch of brand new characters, and a brand new story to follow and to keep track of.



It has been six months since the Ultimatum wave laid New York and a new chapter in the life of the teenage webslinger unfolds. The Daily Bugle is no more, the Kingpin has been assassinated, Parker works as a cashier at Burger Frog, Midtown High has another superhero roaming the halls, and surprisingly the people of New York adores Spider-Man and not think of him as a masked vigilante. Even the cops are asking for his autograph! Very unalike to the N.Y.P.D. cops who shot Parker on his leg in the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man.



But it’s not only how smooth Parker’s life is heading that is featured in this debut volume but also the rough paths he has to take and discover. His got some issues too: a new girlfriend earning all kinds of drama from the old one, Aunt May turning her modest Forest Hills home into a boarding house for wayward youths and an “electrifying” Mysterio causing havoc in the city and troubles for Spider-Man.



When Aunt May took Johnny Storm a.k.a. the Human Torch in their house, everything was not as it seems to be and definitely not normal for a normal house to shelter homeless teen superheroes. Parker even questions the whole super-friends-living-under-one-roof thing that he thinks will be suspicious to the neighbors. When it comes to doing the chores, Johnny doesn’t even do chores and plans to do the “Peter Parker/Spider-Man” thing which is to get a secret identity and go to school unnoticed while having a black hairdo. It was successful except for one person– MJ who instantly realized it was Johnny. Even when he spoke with an accent.



Kitty Pride and Bobby Drake (Iceman) were also accepted in the house and became part of the odd family. They too changed their get-ups and pretended to be Peter’s cousins. They all now go to the same school where Peter goes to.



What I like about this relaunch of a Spider-Man storyline is its abundance of realism especially to the headmaster of Parker’s school who had an issue with accusing Parker as Spider-Man before for the sole reason that he sees Spider-Man as a danger not only to the institute but also to the safety of the students. Centrally to the safety of the students. Even though most people see the webcrawler as a hero, he is still a bringer of fear and death because when he do heroic stuff, evil follows him wherever he goes. Even in school.



The comic brought realization that villains never stop at one point. They continue to do evil threatening everyone around Peter. Friends, family. Everyone. The villain in this book is at first I thought to be Electro (Ultimate) because of his static appearance but it was not-the-typical Mysterio who wears a green astrosuit but a sleek black leather outfit with his head ghastly blue.



One more epic matter in this new storyline is the mysterious hooded vigilante sweeping off crime before Peter could even retaliate. The cops give the glory to Spider-Man who had only just came to the crime scene where the hooded man finished off the criminals. In the end of the comic book, it was revealed who the mysterious man really is. Peter doesn’t yet know that he personally knows who the mystery cloaked man is. The coming volumes will surely be a thrilling adventure!