Ultimate Spider-Man #96 (Spoilers)

Goodwill

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The issue opens in the perspective of Ben Urich... After he's been bitten by the female vampire. He is panicking to understand the situation around him. The scene opens up to Spider-Man, Morbius, the demonic wolf, the woman, and Ben Urich lying on the floor... Morbius is attempting to convince the demonic wolf to leave, however, the wolf seems to want to come to blows with Morbius... At the same time the woman is trying to feast on Spider-Man. A fight ensues and you learn that Morbius is trying to help Spider-Man and destroy the wolf while, at the same time, save the woman. Morbius fails as the woman becomes a vampire... He is forced to put a wooden stake in her. Spider-Man fleas with Urich on his shoulders to the hospital. While he's there, Morbius arrives... Spider-Man, hiding in the rafters, jumps him and tries to defend Ben... However, Morbius is only trying to heal him. A bit of Morbius' backstory is explained - turns out he's the son of Dracul who is trying to fight off the curse of his father. After that Spider-Man and Morbius are attacked by dozens of vampires in the hospital and Spider-Man is tossed around a bit. In the mean time, Morbius heals Ben and kicks all kinds of *** on the other vampires. Before Morbius leaves he tells Peter that, if they are to cross paths again, Peter needs to "grow the **** up." The last scene includes Peter and MJ disecting frogs. Peter admits he thinks he's too young to be Spider-Man and the issue ends with Peter confiding in MJ... HUGGING. :shock:

I thought it was a good issue... For the most part. The part about Peter's blood is probably an indication of what is to come in the next arc, which I think is cool. Having vampires introduce that aspect of it was an interesting idea on Bendis' part.

3.5/5
 
Prof. Toad said:
Possibly Warewolf by night. Was it a wolf or a warewolf? It turned into a bat before, right? now i'm confused.

Well, in some traditional myths, vampires can also turn into wolves. I reckon it was probably some character from the Blade mythos; Deacon Frost or someone. I doubt it would be Werewolf By Night or the John Jameson character (Wolfman? {or are they the same character?}).

Anyway, sounds pretty 'meh' to be honest. Yet again Peter gets in over his head and is told grow up by a more experienced character. We get the message now Bendis.
 
Fuzzy Birds said:
Well, in some traditional myths, vampires can also turn into wolves. I reckon it was probably some character from the Blade mythos; Deacon Frost or someone. I doubt it would be Werewolf By Night or the John Jameson character (Wolfman? {or are they the same character?}).

Anyway, sounds pretty 'meh' to be honest. Yet again Peter gets in over his head and is told grow up by a more experienced character. We get the message now Bendis.

Man-Wolf is Jameson's character.

Yeah. Sounds pretty unremarkable to me too. I think I'm going to hold off on buying this ish.
 
He is how old again? Kinda makes sense honestly ...

Haven't read it yet, so shouldn't comment really, but concerning that thing, I am not too concerned ... a kid getting involved in all of that stuff ought to be told he is too young and need to grow up before starting fights for the fun of it :).
 
It was a good short story... I'm glad it didn't carry on any longer, Bendis would have to do some serious research were that the case.

I like the fact that Morbius is a good guy. I was getting worried they were going to make him a villain again... I really like that he's a pure Vampire, and yet he's still trying to save humans.

Its different than Blade. Blade is a half-vampire who kills vampires. Morbius is a vampire who saves people.

And with the one line about the three bites necessary to turn you into a Vampire, he's set some regulations that are going to be followed in the future...

Its a nice set-up for future usage of the Vampires in the Ultimate Universe.

All-in-all, I'd give the issue a 3.5-4/5

I'm not a fan of Peter and MJ getting closer again, though. It feels rushed.
 
Goodwill said:
I thought it was a good issue... For the most part. The part about Peter's blood is probably an indication of what is to come in the next arc, which I think is cool. Having vampires introduce that aspect of it was an interesting idea on Bendis' part.
Please explain further... Anyone.

Also, thank you for starting a discussion thread and actually including a synopsis.
 
The scene that includes MJ and Peter was rushed... But I don't think their relationship is being rushed by any means. It's entirely realistic for Peter to confide in MJ now, even after they are broken up. They are the same age, she is aware of his alter ego, and Peter has always trusted her with his feelings before. Maybe he's uncomfortable talking about that kind of thing to Kitty right now, you know? I don't think it was all that bad having interaction between Peter and MJ.

Morbius was a cool character, I must say. I was just expecting a straightforward fight between him and Spider-Man with Balde intervening... Despite the fact that I did predict Morbius was going to help Peter. I'm glad Bendis decided to characterize him like he did Daredevil.
 
Prof. Toad said:
Possibly Warewolf by night. Was it a wolf or a warewolf? It turned into a bat before, right? now i'm confused.

Morbius did call him Hellspawn That could be his name...
 
I can't say the issue was good because it just wasn't. So countdown to 100 means more and more ultimizations with shallow storylines. Morbius "Grow Up" attitude isn't anything new but I always welcome it because that's what I think whenever I read Ultimate Peter Parker's character. but the whole "son of dracul"... please. How cliche can you get? No Blade? That means the only appearance was a flashback of the super-special. Appreciate that Bendis made the nod to continuity but cmon. I don't want Ultimate Cliche vampire character. I want Blade. Loved the MJ part though. The issue wasn't anything special.

1.5/5
 
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i thought blade was meant to turn up????? or all we get is a new artist doing the same scene from the Spider-man Special?
 
TheManWithoutFear said:
I can't say the issue was good because it just wasn't. So countdown to 100 means more and more ultimizations with shallow storylines. Morbius "Grow Up" attitude isn't anything new but I always welcome it because that's what I think whenever I read Ultimate Peter Parker's character. but the whole "son of dracul"... please. How cliche can you get? No Blade? That means the only appearance was a flashback of the super-special. Appreciate that Bendis made the nod to continuity but cmon. I don't want Ultimate Cliche vampire character. I want Blade. Loved the MJ part though. The issue wasn't anything special.

1.5/5

I'll give it a 2/5 but other than that I basically agree. This story was a filler and that's exactly how it read.

I did like the "diseased blood" idea and hope it ties into the clone saga.

I *didn't* like Ben Urich as the victim - that was stupid. I'd rather have had it a somebody off the street. The story jumped the shark right there. Bad idea.

New York is a huge city. Why do something like that to Ben Urich? I hate when writers do things like that.
 
E said:
I'll give it a 2/5 but other than that I basically agree. This story was a filler and that's exactly how it read.

I did like the "diseased blood" idea and hope it ties into the clone saga.

I *didn't* like Ben Urich as the victim - that was stupid. I'd rather have had it a somebody off the street. The story jumped the shark right there. Bad idea.

New York is a huge city. Why do something like that to Ben Urich? I hate when writers do things like that.

Personally. . .I don't think vampires belong in Spider-man. Yeah, it was ok for the Super-Special since it showed Spidey that there is some weird stuff out there, but. . .it's just totally pointless. He proved that point perfectly fine with the Super-Special, and even reinforced it with the Strange two-parter. Making Morbius into a regular vampire? Even more pointless. I would much rather have had Morbius undergo an accident similiar to Peter's, but with a bat. I like that he was good, but. . .ugh. Bendis better get his act together during the Clone Saga. I mean, ever since Legacy, everything has been anywhere from ok to absolutley horrid (Except maybe Hollywood and Warriors, but even they weren't spectacular).
 
1/5...........that's it.


The only thing that I liked about this issue was the MJ scene at the end. It felt familiar and made me think about the good ol days when Bendis was focusing on character development and actually telling a great story thru Peter and MJ.

But with Peter dating Kitty and MJ mad at Peter...the scene kinda came outta nowhere and felt forced.
 
Victor Von Doom said:
1/5...........that's it.


The only thing that I liked about this issue was the MJ scene at the end. It felt familiar and made me think about the good ol days when Bendis was focusing on character development and actually telling a great story thru Peter and MJ.

But with Peter dating Kitty and MJ mad at Peter...the scene kinda came outta nowhere and felt forced.

I have a feeling that Bendis has been intentionally creating filler to make "The Clone Saga" built around issue 100. If I'm right (And I pray I am), Goblin, Ock, Hammer, The Venom Project, Geldoff, Carnage and Ben Reily, Hobgoblin and Fury will all be tied together in the "Conspiracy" during the Clone Saga and Bendis can move on to tell fresh stories. It'll just be a shame if that does happen, as it wasted perfectly good arcs on filler trash.
 
Lynx said:
I have a feeling that Bendis has been intentionally creating filler to make "The Clone Saga" built around issue 100. If I'm right (And I pray I am), Goblin, Ock, Hammer, The Venom Project, Geldoff, Carnage and Ben Reily, Hobgoblin and Fury will all be tied together in the "Conspiracy" during the Clone Saga and Bendis can move on to tell fresh stories. It'll just be a shame if that does happen, as it wasted perfectly good arcs on filler trash.

Frankly, I've been getting the same feeling. I remember awhile back reading something saying the Clone Saga wouldn't even pass #100..and the past two arcs have felt a little too much like filler for me.

Ah well, as least we have Clone Saga to look forward to..the first non-filler arc since Silver Sable.
 
Lynx said:
Personally. . .I don't think vampires belong in Spider-man. Yeah, it was ok for the Super-Special since it showed Spidey that there is some weird stuff out there, but. . .it's just totally pointless. He proved that point perfectly fine with the Super-Special, and even reinforced it with the Strange two-parter. Making Morbius into a regular vampire? QUOTE] I don't agree with you on Morbius being another accident lesser Vampire. It could easily be pulled off that Morbius is just a vamp and that's all because all and all, that's what he is. A vampire.

The radioactive vampire bat bite would've played off as interesting because it would show that Spiders aren't the only thing that can be radioactive with Oz. So much potential was wasted on this character...

What I completely agree with is Spider-Man w/ Vampires. Sorry guys and all of you who think the Ultimate Universe is just jim dandy with 4 titles but we need something else to contain these stories so that it doesn't look so coincidental that Peter keeps running into all of the crazy *** **** that happens in the world.
 
I'm okay with Morbius being a more or less regular Vampire.

These half-Vampire Blade-Style gimmick looks like the kind of thing a 13 year old game master comes up with for his roleplaying game. "Look at my character! The power of a vampire, none of the curse!" I know, I've been there. I always felt the Blade story would be more powerful if he had the full curse.

I hope Morbius is 100% normal vampire, with weakness to sunlight, thirst for blood and everything. Fighting against his nature and his kind is more heroic in that case.

That being said, Morbius and his "grow up attitude" poked more fun at him than at Peter. Morbius has obviously no idea how he comes off to people. Whether you are dealing with a 15 year old or Captain America, you can't really expect bystanders to gloss over your horrific appearance and let you bite their friends in the neck. Seriously. You think any of the "mature" and Ultimates would have let Morbius proceed? Only a mind reader could trust Morbius in these circumstances.

Considering it is now accepted that some supernatural is present in the UU, I'm okay with it intruding in Spidey's world occasionnally. As long as it isn't so frequent that Peter becomes blasé with it.

Overall I'd rate this two parter as 3/5. Good art and inking, interesting character interactions. Mostly in the first part but you need to get some of the fight done somewhere and most of it occured in the 2nd part. The story is short and to the point and somewhat relevant to the larger plot.

I'm okay with this. Onward to the clone saga.
 
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