Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2 (Discussion/Spoilers)

As a stand-alone bit...

This Annual was awesome.
I don't really read USM so I won't get into continuity issues (for example, I had no idea there was an Ultimate Vanessa ...) but, outside of any problems that might crop up there, it was a good story. I can honestly say I saw very little of this coming.
5/5
 
Re: As a stand-alone bit...

plungingforward said:
This Annual was awesome.
I don't really read USM so I won't get into continuity issues (for example, I had no idea there was an Ultimate Vanessa ...) but, outside of any problems that might crop up there, it was a good story. I can honestly say I saw very little of this coming.
5/5
It was only shown in a few panels at the end of an arc, nothing alse has been shown about it
 
Very good annual, but not as good as last year's.


4.5/5


By the way, what was that about Captain America that the policeman was asking DeWolffe? Were we supposed to know?

Also in that same policeman scene, images from Ultimates 2 #10 (#11?) appear on a television screen. Doesn't this mess with the timeline or something?
 
ultimatedjf said:
Also in that same policeman scene, images from Ultimates 2 #10 (#11?) appear on a television screen. Doesn't this mess with the timeline or something?
So you didn't see the preview before or missed it in the previews?
 
Ultimate Speedball

Is this a private joke, as in "This is not the manner in which I wanted to be ultimate-ized?" For clearly, that is speedball - but fatter.
 
Re: Ultimate Speedball

plungingforward said:
Is this a private joke, as in "This is not the manner in which I wanted to be ultimate-ized?" For clearly, that is speedball - but fatter.
It's just a nod to what's going on in 616. A good one.
 
Sweet issue.

What else can you say! Bendis in good form. I hope Peter continue this self reflection about his conundrum (Why do I have to wait until someone gets hurt before acting?).

5/5
 
ultimatedjf said:
Very good annual, but not as good as last year's.


4.5/5


By the way, what was that about Captain America that the policeman was asking DeWolffe? Were we supposed to know?

Also in that same policeman scene, images from Ultimates 2 #10 (#11?) appear on a television screen. Doesn't this mess with the timeline or something?

I think it probably referring to the Ultimates 2 Annual we'll have to wait and see. As for the television screen... I think this and the rest of the Annuals are after Ultimates 2 #13. Maybe not the X-Men Annual, with Dazzler missing I think Nightcrawler took her after she woke up. So I thing the X-Men Annual takes place during the "Magical" arc.
 
I actually really dug this issue, but I have a few problems with it that really haven't been brought up. Also, some good things.

+ The whole "Why aren't you in jail?"/"Probably because you just leave him webbed to a light post" exchange between Spidey and Foggy was funny and made a lot of sense.
+ De Wolffe's death put Spidey squarely back in the NYPD's sights. The cops see him as a bad guy, and they're going to hunt him like a dog. There's been a tendency to forget that recently, and this puts the pressure squarely on Spidey again.
+ Shocker cried. :D That makes my day.
+ The set-up for a potential "Ultimate Knights" was wicked. and the "Knights" in general were pretty damn cool. A lot of the art of the Punisher in action made him look like a total badass, Daredevil looked like a straight up demon, and the idea of a schizophrenic Moon Knight is intriguing.

But...

- De Wolffe's death seemed way too premature. We got the first reveal that she was working for Kingpin at the end of The Warriors, then there's no presence of her at all until this Annual, and then she's killed off. The potential of that subplot was very cool, and Bendis didn't give it time to breathe. It felt the same as Ultimate Gwen and Ultimate Beast. It always feels clumsy when Bendis kills off a character.
- UDD seems pretty hardcore, and not really in a good way. When he first ran into Spidey, am I the only one that thought he was going to break out with "I'm the goddamn Daredevil!"?
- Ultimate Punisher still sucks. and the first thing he did after breaking out of jail is what? Get a haircut? And how does he keep getting out of jail and getting his hands on hard-core ordinance? I love Punisher, but at least once, I'd like Bendis to show why and how he's such a colossal badass that he can break out of any prison and get his hands on a military base's worth of firepower.
- Ultimate Moon Knight is cool in theory, but he needs to be expanded on. It felt like Frank Castle was only there because Bendis needed someone to shoot DeWolffe, and like Moon Knight was only there for the "Marvel Knights" allusion. I can understand the character's being here if Bendis really DOES intend them to become major players in USM soon, or if there's going to be an Ultimate Knights spin-off, but something tells me neither of those things is going to happen. I think this is indicative of a huge problem Bendis has with the title. He'll have a loooong story arc dealing with organized crime, and then run off to do one about the super-human arms race, and then run off to do one about vampires, and then he turns around and realizes "Oops. I forgot about this plot thread. Let me tie it up real quick," and it doesn't have any impact because it's done too quickly, too far away from the original story. If he'd drop these silly stories about Morbius and Deadpool, or work on tying them in better to the urban Spidey stories, we'd have a much more cohesive plot.
- I agree about the Kingpin/DeWolffe plot. The Vanessa angle was the one thing making Fisk a sympathetic character. It's a shame.
- A lot of the flashback didn't work for me. It was the same problem Bendis had with the flashbacks in Silver Sable. It just felt like, "What's the point?". He could probably have dropped the padding and turned it into a regular-sized one-shot. But then again, that's the same problem he has with his regular super-long arcs.
- Ultimate Kangaroo was a disappointment. He's a thug who (maybe?) has supernaturally strong legs. It's another character that's just going to get thrown away without any explanation.

Despite all that, I really did like the story. But we'll just have to wait and see if it has any impact on the world of Ultimate Spidey.
 
I guess I'm alone in this, but...

1/5

This was a horrible read. It jumped all over the place, was completely uninteresting, the art was bad, and the "payoff" (DeWolfe's death) seemed forced and came WAY too early. We shouldn't need to have haracters telling us second hand what a bad cop she is. We should see it. As far as we know, the worst thing she did was meet with Kingpin. Whoopee.

I know that some people will think the Speedball thing is funny, but to me is was just plain bad form. All Bendis did was make a further joke of 616 Hawkeye's death, an event which was supposed to be meaningful and one which Bendis seems to enjoy thumbing his nose at fans for. And I say this as someone who isn't particularly a fan of Hawkeye, and honestly I didn't have a problem with his death. But this just isn't funny.

Ultimate Punisher is one of the worst Ultimizations I've seen. A former cop?! His family killed by crooked cops because he wouldn't take a bride?! How unimaginative and dull. And my GOD do I hate that costume. Yeah, I realize that these complaints are issues which exist outside of this particular book, but the issue was so dull that all it did was remind me how much I hate Ultimate Punisher.

So, yeah. I hated this.
 
This sounds like typical Ultimate Spider-Man: crap.
 
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E said:
I know that some people will think the Speedball thing is funny, but to me is was just plain bad form. All Bendis did was make a further joke of 616 Hawkeye's death, an event which was supposed to be meaningful and one which Bendis seems to enjoy thumbing his nose at fans for. And I say this as someone who isn't particularly a fan of Hawkeye, and honestly I didn't have a problem with his death. But this just isn't funny.
Wait, wait, wait.

What the hell does a small nod to what's happening with Speedball in 616 (just a little throaway joke :roll:.) have to do with making a "further joke of Hawkeye's death? :?

E said:
Ultimate Punisher is one of the worst Ultimizations I've seen. A former cop?! His family killed by crooked cops because he wouldn't take a bride?!
Would you take a bride if you were married? :wink:
 
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Ice said:
Wait, wait, wait.

What the hell does a small nod to what's happening with Speedball in 616 (just a little throaway joke :roll:.) have to do with making a "further joke of Hawkeye's death? :?

Are you serious?

"Not like this! Not like this!"??!!

He's mocking Speedball AND Hawkeye's death in one fell swoop. Difference is that a) the Speedball thing wasn't done poorly and b) no one gives a **** about Speedball, unlike Hawkeye and his death scene.
 
E said:
Are you serious?

"Not like this! Not like this!"??!!

He's mocking Speedball AND Hawkeye's death in one fell swoop. Difference is that a) the Speedball thing wasn't done poorly and b) no one gives a **** about Speedball, unlike Hawkeye and his death scene.
Whoa. Easy.

I thought you just were talking about the Speedball appearance. S'why I asked.
 
Sorry......E's not alone on this one.

It was bollocks. Plain out.



The writing was campy Bendis making everyone seem just one-dimensional as only Bendis can. And the whole part where he kept jumping back a day to show what happened one day prior to explain why the characters were where they appear-----stupid. It was like Bendis was trying to channel Tarantino.............and it didn't work.



The only thing I liked about this was the art. And maybe it was just me, but it looks as if Brooks was trying to copy Bagley's style and incorporate it into his. Hated that aspect. But....his work is still a billion times better than Bagley.

Sorry.....

1/5
 
I wouldn't say it was great, but it introduced a lot a ideas for future stories. I liked seeing Daredevil, Punisher, and Moon Knight. I know it wasn't much, but it put something out there that someone can build on. There wasn't anything I thought was stupid or poorly written. Overall Bendis did a good job incorporating the flash backs into the flow of the story. The only thing that got me as being out of character was that Kingpin actually missed De Wolfe. I don't regularly read the series, so I can't really comment on what regular, but it wasn't how I would picture him reacting.

I think it's only a matter of time before we see a mini based on Daredevil's "bunch" of vigilanties. I'd rather see it as a mini than a Spider-Man arc because I'm just not confident Bendis can do it justice with Spider-Man hanging around. It should be a group of serious bad asses, maybe even Ultimate Luke Cage.

3.5/5 - I'll be pissed if they don't do something with this story.

BTW E, how can you like last year's USM Annual, but think this was crap. Last year all that happened was he got a girlfriend. That's like every other weekend in most teenager's lives. They at least kill someone in this issue. That at least has ramifications.
 
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E said:
Are you serious?

"Not like this! Not like this!"??!!

He's mocking Speedball AND Hawkeye's death in one fell swoop. Difference is that a) the Speedball thing wasn't done poorly and b) no one gives a **** about Speedball, unlike Hawkeye and his death scene.

But Speedball isn't dead :?
 
MaxwellSmart said:
I think it's only a matter of time before we see a mini based on Daredevil's "bunch" of vigilanties. I'd rather see it as a mini than a Spider-Man arc because I'm just not confident Bendis can do it justice with Spider-Man hanging around. It should be a group of serious bad asses, maybe even Ultimate Luke Cage.
I'd love an Ultimate Knights mini, but I'm worried that Bendis is building it up here for himself to do, even if it is a mini and not an USM arc. I'd prefer someone else doing the mini.

And I don't think Luke Cage can be brought into this, since Millar made him just a guy without any powers when he introduced the Defenders.
 
To lighten things up a bit -

4/5

I really quite enjoyed the issue. I thought the art was really strong and the storytelling, too. Granted, I didn't like how it was so jumpy, but I can forgive Bendis for that after he wrote a pretty solid issue otherwise.

First things first... I can't say it enough - I really like Ultimate Moonknight. He may have a few extra people in his mind, including a little girl, but he is a determined street hero that has a pretty amazing costume. I can't wait to see more of him throughout USM and whatever else he may find himself in.

Eh... Not much else to say other than I thought that this issue was good... Leaps and bounds better than Annual #1.
 

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