Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 Discussion/Spoilers

[Sacred&Profane]

I actually enjoyed this.

The issue starts with the preview pages- MJ says something to Peter, suddenly they're not talking, and Peter chases down a remote controlled vehicle.

The next day, MJ sits with Peter and explains that Jessica Jones (head of the newspaper at the school) wants to research anything involving Spider-Man, because she's sure he goes to their school. Peter doesn't think this is a big deal

After stopping the vehicle, he's led to the police station and asked by the new Captain to hunt down the culprit- a villain named Mysterio.
(in the background of the police station is a wacko dressed as 616 Spider Woman, screaming EMBRACE CHANGE!!)

MJ hints to peter off-camera that the Police must have a mole.

Peter and the cops follow the Police Tech Assitant back to Mysterio's lair, where Peter confronts Mysterio. Ultimate Mysterio is the best Ultimization in a long, long time, and definitely feels like earlier Ultimate Spider-man. Instead of a glowing goldfish bowl, he has a flaming head, sort of green-ghost rider style. He disappears and tells Spider-Man they'll have a confrontation when HE decides to.

Peter and MJ then have the much-hyped Sex talk, and of course they decide not to do it. Peter tells MJ he would marry her, if he wasn't 15.
Blah Blah Blah.
They kiss.

Mysterio, back in his previously ransacked lair, says "Spider-Man."

So, not to bad an annual. Better than 2, and with the foreboding I found in Peter's promise to always love MJ, perhaps more important in the long run than 1 (if MJ dies in Ultimatum).

 

[xsonicx08]

Re: Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3

I acually enjoyed this issue too! Though I'm really happy that we have Mysterio has a main villian now. He's my second favorite villian and you don't see much of him. And I'm happy with the new look too. I think Bendis is doing better and better!

 

[DIrishB]

I liked this issue. Mysterio was a promising introduction. Looking forward to seeing what Bendis does with him in the future. I think he could stand as Spidey's next arch-enemy, now that Goblin is dead (though maybe that title should now revert to Doc Ock). Either way, I liked the issue. Definitely the best Annual released so far (compared to the Ult. Cap Annual and the UXM/UFF and UFF/UXM Annuals, which were all a mess).

 

[the watcher]

I liked this issue. Mysterio was a promising introduction. Looking forward to seeing what Bendis does with him in the future. I think he could stand as Spidey's next arch-enemy, now that Goblin is dead (though maybe that title should now revert to Doc Ock). Either way, I liked the issue. Definitely the best Annual released so far (compared to the Ult. Cap Annual and the UXM/UFF and UFF/UXM Annuals, which were all a mess).

Here is what Bendis had to say in a interview I read.

"It's very different from the original Mysterio, and he's kind of positioning himself to be the next big Spider-Man villain. We've wrapped up the Kingpin story and wrapped up the Osborn story, so it's about time with ULTIMATUM coming for Spidey to have a new nemesis, and Mysterio could be it.

 

[thee great one]

This was on par with the first one which I loved.

The 2nd one was the one of the worst printed garbage ever.

I liked the art, the talk, the pacing, Mysterio. It was great.

 

[Captain Canuck]

"You're my new super-villian!" hahaha, that was funny!
but the Spider-Woman yelling "Embrace Change!" over and over in the police station made me laugh out loud. I know he does the random cameos of crazy people dressed as 616 supervillians everytime Spidey goes into a police station, but that was good.

Two questions. First: does this take place after War of the Symbiotes (i'm guessing yes based on the kissing scene in the latest issue of USM where MJ tells Peter to slow down) but then why is MJ still carrying around the baby from the Death of a Goblin/Worst Day arc?
Second: Did they decide to wait in the end?

Overall it was good, Bendis at the top of his game.

 

[Sacred&Profane]

"You're my new super-villian!" hahaha, that was funny!
but the Spider-Woman yelling "Embrace Change!" over and over in the police station made me laugh out loud. I know he does the random cameos of crazy people dressed as 616 supervillians everytime Spidey goes into a police station, but that was good.

Two questions. First: does this take place after War of the Symbiotes (i'm guessing yes based on the kissing scene in the latest issue of USM where MJ tells Peter to slow down) but then why is MJ still carrying around the baby from the Death of a Goblin/Worst Day arc?
Second: Did they decide to wait in the end?

Overall it was good, Bendis at the top of his game.

They do decide to wait.

 

[DIrishB]

Here is what Bendis had to say in a interview I read.

"It's very different from the original Mysterio, and he's kind of positioning himself to be the next big Spider-Man villain. We've wrapped up the Kingpin story and wrapped up the Osborn story, so it's about time with ULTIMATUM coming for Spidey to have a new nemesis, and Mysterio could be it.

That further proves I'm a genius.

Two questions. First: does this take place after War of the Symbiotes (i'm guessing yes based on the kissing scene in the latest issue of USM where MJ tells Peter to slow down) but then why is MJ still carrying around the baby from the Death of a Goblin/Worst Day arc?

Was it established in an earlier issue that the "Baby Assignment" thing was over? I can't remember.

Second: Did they decide to wait in the end?

Yes.

Overall it was good, Bendis at the top of his game.

Agreed. I enjoyed it.

 

[Pearl]

Was it established in an earlier issue that the "Baby Assignment" thing was over? I can't remember.
.

Yeah, #121 was the end of it. Flashback issue?

 

[DIrishB]

Yeah, #121 was the end of it. Flashback issue?

You're right. I'm gonna change it on the timeline so its between the Amazing Friends arc (USM #118-120), and the Worst Day arc (#121-122).

Two questions. First: does this take place after War of the Symbiotes (i'm guessing yes based on the kissing scene in the latest issue of USM where MJ tells Peter to slow down) but then why is MJ still carrying around the baby from the Death of a Goblin/Worst Day arc?

Given the info Pearl posted, I'm explaining that away as MJ just re-affirming her and Peters decision to wait to have sex made in the Annual.

 

[The Overlord]

I liked this issue. Mysterio was a promising introduction. Looking forward to seeing what Bendis does with him in the future. I think he could stand as Spidey's next arch-enemy, now that Goblin is dead (though maybe that title should now revert to Doc Ock). Either way, I liked the issue.

I don't know, it would nice to give the give four main villains a break and let someone new have a crack at Spidey.

Anyway I liked this issue, the appearance by Ultimate Jessica Jones was cute. I always liked Mysterio, he's kinda like a batman villain that happens to fight Spider-Man, he relies on tricks and prep time to be dangerous. He has a good look here, he seems more creepy then 616 Mysterio and perhaps more subtle and understated. I like the evil puff of smoke head. Bendis said Ultimate Mysterio would be different then 616, I wonder what else that entails. Mysterio also seems pretty smart, successfully pulling off 4 robberies and making fools of the police and escaping from Spider-Man. Looks like we finally have an interesting B-lister here.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

Upon readng this hardly dealt with the whole sex thing. It was a backstory to the real story, and wasn't as controversial as I expected it to be.

 

[TwilightEL]

There was absolutely nothing controversial at all. They didn't discuss reasons to have sex, reasons not to have sex, why MJ wanted to have sex, why she changed her mind, or why Peter didn't want to have sex. There was absolutely no exploration of their relationship or their characters. I would say we got insight into MJ being psychotic but considering her little "I love him so much I can feel it in my skin" speech I think we already knew that.

Mysterio had a mildly interesting character design. That is the only thing we got out of this issue.

Did I miss something, or did MJ never ever mention an inside man? How did Peter and the cops find the hideout?

The art was bad, too.

 

[Captain Canuck]

They do decide to wait.

okay, i wasn't sure if the last scene was them doing it anyway.

That's good. I work with teenagers and honestly, 15 year olds aren't mature enough to deal with having sex.

 

[SeAcoW]

ultimate Mysterio kinda looks like the remake that the original mysterio got in 616. Remember that?

 

[Goodwill]

Can I get a scan of Ultimate Mysterio?

I spent all my money on Ultimate Origin and Ultimatum.

 

[Ice]

This was great. I miss this level of goodness in the UU.

The artist was fantastic and his Spider-Man was so damn cool. I enjoyed the new look of Mysterio. Gassy head? Awesome. And Spider-Woman nod to Secret Invasion was sweet. I always enjoy those one-panel jokes.

The lunchroom scene was classic. "You're my new supervillain!" :lol:

 

[Lil Brother]

I didn't like it. :/ It was on the same borderline crap/mediocre quality that USM has been on for years, with the occasional exception. It read like just a so-so Spider-Man story with a few Peter Parker bits just kind of thrown in aimlessly. Which is so disappointing, I was hoping for an issue completely (or almost entirely) dedicated to Peter's and MJ's relationship and how physical they were going to go with it. The way the two discuss the topic is so... unlike what any American teenager would really say. Obviously they weren't going to delve that much into it, but it felt like we were getting the very beginning and very ending of a story which was utterly gutted and replaced with an unrelated Mysterio story. A Mysterio story which wasn't anything more than "whatever" in quality, at that.

Although Mysterio's new look is awesome. I wish we got a better shot of him; he didn't get any good panels. While I was reading this when it came out, it was kind of amusing since it addressed the exact two topics I had been thinking about literally a few nights before its release: the need for Spider-Man to have a friend in the police, and whether or not we were ever going to get a real Ultimate Mysterio (since Bendis once mentioned in a letters page that he wanted to give Mysterio a new, better costume).

And I laughed at the Secret Invasion nod too.

There was absolutely nothing controversial at all. They didn't discuss reasons to have sex, reasons not to have sex, why MJ wanted to have sex, why she changed her mind, or why Peter didn't want to have sex. There was absolutely no exploration of their relationship or their characters. I would say we got insight into MJ being psychotic but considering her little "I love him so much I can feel it in my skin" speech I think we already knew that.

Mysterio had a mildly interesting character design. That is the only thing we got out of this issue.

Did I miss something, or did MJ never ever mention an inside man? How did Peter and the cops find the hideout?

The art was bad, too.

Yeah, what she said.

 

[thekendon]

I'd say that it was so-so. Not great, but better than usual. I didn't really like the art.

 

[Willverine]

I hated this book so much that I didn't even notice the appearance of Ultimate Mysterio. After 20 pages of at least 9000 word balloons filled to capacity with Bendis' 40-year-old teenager nonsense I couldn't bear to read this for one more moment.

This has got to be one of the worst issues of a comic that I've ever read, Annual or not. Yes, I realize that Annuals are often throwaway books... and that's exactly the treatment this one should be given. Thrown away.

-10/10

What a waste of 5 minutes.