Ultimate Spider-man: War of the Symbiotes (#123-128) (Spoilers)

[Fredrik Martinsson]

wait, there's a debate about that?
Greedo clearly shot first

From what I have heard the scene was different in the different versions of the movie (Cinema/VHS/DVD), and I thought the debate was about who DREW first, not who shot first? :?

And yeah, yeah. I know. Off topic blah blah blah...

 

[mike3717]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSgHbW-pvDY
Han moves his head to the side to dodge then fires and Greedo falls over dead

Greedo is way off tho. Greedo's shot hits way right of hans head.

 

[Zeek]

In the original release of the trilogy, Greedo doesn't shoot at all; Han just quickdraws and burns a hole in him. In the Special Edition re-release, Greedo shoots first and then Han dodges and shoots him down. In the DVD release, both shoot at essentially the same time.

The big deal about all this is, that it changes the initial perception of Han as a character. Him jumping the gun and shooting Greedo before Greedo can even pull his blaster on him makes Han seem more the tough-as-nails mercenary survivalist type, and also more professional. He knows what he's doing, and how to survive in his chosen line of work.

More on-topic, though. Where was Gwen's mother's name stated? My memory of the first few arcs of USM are a tad more shady than they probably should be; is it ever mentioned there? Or was it just in Marvel Handbooks and the like? Either way, this wouldn't be the first time Bendis has done this; Kong has gone through like 5 different names.

 

[Captain Canuck]

In the original release of the trilogy, Greedo doesn't shoot at all; Han just quickdraws and burns a hole in him. In the Special Edition re-release, Greedo shoots first and then Han dodges and shoots him down. In the DVD release, both shoot at essentially the same time.

The big deal about all this is, that it changes the initial perception of Han as a character. Him jumping the gun and shooting Greedo before Greedo can even pull his blaster on him makes Han seem more the tough-as-nails mercenary survivalist type, and also more professional. He knows what he's doing, and how to survive in his chosen line of work.

oh, i didn't know that. I guess I didn't really get into Star Wars until the "definitive" rerelease came out in the 90s

More on-topic, though. Where was Gwen's mother's name stated? My memory of the first few arcs of USM are a tad more shady than they probably should be; is it ever mentioned there? Or was it just in Marvel Handbooks and the like? Either way, this wouldn't be the first time Bendis has done this; Kong has gone through like 5 different names.

I'm pretty sure Aunt May says her name when she calls her to tell her her ex-husband has died and that Gwen needs her.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

wait, there's a debate about that?
Greedo clearly shot first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSgHbW-pvDY
Han moves his head to the side to dodge then fires and Greedo falls over dead

From what I have heard the scene was different in the different versions of the movie (Cinema/VHS/DVD), and I thought the debate was about who DREW first, not who shot first? :?

Greedo is way off tho. Greedo's shot hits way right of hans head.

In the original release of the trilogy, Greedo doesn't shoot at all; Han just quickdraws and burns a hole in him. In the Special Edition re-release, Greedo shoots first and then Han dodges and shoots him down. In the DVD release, both shoot at essentially the same time.

The big deal about all this is, that it changes the initial perception of Han as a character. Him jumping the gun and shooting Greedo before Greedo can even pull his blaster on him makes Han seem more the tough-as-nails mercenary survivalist type, and also more professional. He knows what he's doing, and how to survive in his chosen line of work.

oh, i didn't know that. I guess I didn't really get into Star Wars until the "definitive" rerelease came out in the 90s

:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:

What is the world coming to when geeks don't know the original trilogy.... Shame on all of you (except Mr. Zeek).

 

[robje]

#127 then.

You guys are going to hate it. It was a big-wall-of-text comic.

I love every second of it, regardless of what you internet big boys are gonna say about it.

I liked how the entirety of the Ultimate universe was tied together. We got a flashback to Gwen escaping, this time seen from her perspective. Spiderman tries to get in touch with the other heroes, but they are all away on adventures. He tries to find information by himself at the daily bugle and is noted by ben Urich (he's a tough-as-nails reporter, he should notice things like that!). And we even find out what happened to Curt Conners after he was arrested! (prison-***** first, shield/stark-***** after).

I liked it.

 

[DIrishB]

no, DIrishB, there is no problem with Gwen's middle name, it's her mom's name. Her Mom's name was Ginger and now Gwen is saying it's Madeline (Gwen's middle name is Maxine apparently)

to be fair, Ginger sounds like a nick name...or a stripper name...so maybe Gwen was just telling Stark her mom's real name.
Madeline "Ginger" Stacy

Ah, ok. That explains it, I'd say.

wait, there's a debate about that?
Greedo clearly shot first

Big time. I think Lucas changed it in the Special Editions to make Han shoot first or vice versa (can't remember specifics). Its still hotly debated among SW fans who actually shot first, which is really dependant on if you watch the originals or the special edition version.

In the original release of the trilogy, Greedo doesn't shoot at all; Han just quickdraws and burns a hole in him. In the Special Edition re-release, Greedo shoots first and then Han dodges and shoots him down. In the DVD release, both shoot at essentially the same time.

The big deal about all this is, that it changes the initial perception of Han as a character. Him jumping the gun and shooting Greedo before Greedo can even pull his blaster on him makes Han seem more the tough-as-nails mercenary survivalist type, and also more professional. He knows what he's doing, and how to survive in his chosen line of work.

Thats exactly it, thank you.

 

[Zeek]

This arc continues to both entice and infuriate me. 127 is exactly what this arc should have been from the beginning. Cut the bulls*it flashbacks that made up 125 & 126, and jump from the excellent 125 to 127. Yeah, it was a wall of text, but it was a well-built wall, and that's all I've come to expect from the series. I appreciated that Peter used the Bugle, which has been horribly under-represented recently.

I did have one issue, though: the timeline. Obviously, this is after The Ultimates 2, but doesn't U2 take place in, like, 2007 (based on Nancy Pelosi being the White House speaker)? USM could take place in 2003 at the latest; on top of that, is it really being suggested that Ultimate Power takes place after U2?

 

[Captain Canuck]

:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:

What is the world coming to when geeks don't know the original trilogy.... Shame on all of you (except Mr. Zeek).

hahaha, sorry, clearly I'm out of my league in nerdiness. But I was in jr high when the definitive trilogy came out and while i had seen the originals before, I didn't own them, so the definitive is what i know.

and yeah, well played Mr Bendis. This was a good issue (incidently New Avengers was also awesome and Secret Invation was pretty good as well, 3 for 3 this week)

I'm wondering if Peter's inability to turn up any info on his parents and the quote of Trask the Peter says he stole from his dad is a hint that all that Peter thought he knew was planted to cover up the hulk stuff. I'm still not sure how that explains the video where Peter was clearly older than he was in Ultimate Origins...

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

hahaha, sorry, clearly I'm out of my league in nerdiness. But I was in jr high when the definitive trilogy came out and while i had seen the originals before, I didn't own them, so the definitive is what i know.

The rereleases are NOT the definitive versions. *grumps*

 

[Zombipanda]

Okay... So... uuhh.... just one thing I need to add.

Am I the only one who thinks it's stupid that we're having a flashback in a comic book series that hasn't even covered a year's worth of time yet?

It feels like the only reason it's a flashback is to fit in the Nick Fury era Ultimates.

 

[Gemini]

The rereleases are NOT the definitive versions. *grumps*

Preach on

 

[Zeek]

The rereleases are NOT the definitive versions. *grumps*

See, I always want to agree when people say that, but the truth is that there's a lot I actually like about the re-releases. For every Greedo shooting first and re-voiced Boba Fett, there's a better (and more somber) ending to Jedi, a Jabba the Hutt scene in IV (that blew my mind when I saw it in theatres), and a hologram of the Emperor that doesn't look like some crappy witch Halloween costume. I don't even mind that they put Hayden Christensen as the ghost to Vader; it makes sense, after all, that his Force Ghost would resemble him as he was before he fell.

Am I the only one who thinks it's stupid that we're having a flashback in a comic book series that hasn't even covered a year's worth of time yet?

I think the only reason there's a flashback arc is the game. See, Bendis already did a follow-up to the Venom arc, but it wasn't in the comics, and so not everybody got the chance to experience it. Now, while most writers would just say "too bad you missed it!" and reference it anyways, Bendis happens to be one of the most indecisive writers I've ever read. I don't think all this recent retconning is because he's honestly forgetting what he wrote seven years ago, I just think he's not happy with it, and instead of working with the previously established canon, he changes it. The events of the game (Peter turning into Spider-Carnage or whatever) didn't work with what he wanted in this story arc, because he wanted to separate Eddie from the Suit, so he made up a new series of events that he then had to dedicate a lot of page space to elaborately explain. I think it would have worked far better had there been no explanation whatsoever. Seriously, Eddie's insane. He could have very easily lost the Suit in some undetermined way and then blamed it on Peter. That would have worked just fine, AND we'd get more story in there instead of the rushed, crappy fight scene we're bound to see as the closure to this arc.

 

[DIrishB]

I did have one issue, though: the timeline. Obviously, this is after The Ultimates 2, but doesn't U2 take place in, like, 2007 (based on Nancy Pelosi being the White House speaker)? USM could take place in 2003 at the latest; on top of that, is it really being suggested that Ultimate Power takes place after U2?

Don't take the Ultimate timeline seriously when its mentioned in USM. Bendis has taken a VERY liberal sliding timeline approach in USM. It basically is always set in our present in terms of specific years (I've seen 2000, 2001, 2005, etc all specifically shown on security cameras within the title itself, etc), and even the "9 months ago", "2 weeks ago" etc mentions should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Captain Canuck]

on top of that, is it really being suggested that Ultimate Power takes place after U2?

when else would it take place? Nick Fury is in Ultimates 2, but he gets left in the Supremeverse in Ultimate Power.

The rereleases are NOT the definitive versions. *grumps*

hahaha

i meant to put definitive in quotes like i did in my original post
"definitve versions" b/c that's what George Lucas calls them.

Nerds are such a bunch of grumpy old men.
"In my day We didn't need any of this 'CG' garbage! You could see a blur under the landspeeder where Lucas had put vasoline on the camera lens to block out the mechanical arm that held it up! Now THOSE were the days of hollywood magic!"

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

The original effects have character and the fact that they hold up so well make Star Wars so much cooler.

 

[thee great one]

The original effects have character and the fact that they hold up so well make Star Wars so much cooler.

This isn't the Star Wars thread.

Shame on you mod.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

I am a moderator. It is my job to do whatever I feel like doing.

 

[thekendon]

So did Yoda bond with Carnage? What does this have to do with USM?

Bendis: Please ignore the first sentence, it was a joke. Seriously, don't do it. I know you want to, just don't.

 

[ultimatedjf]

I really liked this issue. Great art, great writing, love that we get to see so many different scenes in so few pages.


I laughed out loud when Peter went, "(Bolivar?)" Funny stuff, Bendis.

And I legit freaked out (heart skipped a beat) when I saw the last page, since I was assuming it was just going to be "normal" Gwen, not Gwarnage. But then I just realized how stupid/unintentionally hilarious she looked, and that's probably my only complaint about this issue. Still, props for making me genuinely scared while reading an "Ages 9 and Up" comic. Can't wait to see how Bendis pulls of the Annual while still keeping it OK for the kiddies ('cuz you know they read USM religiously, right? *eyes roll*). My brother started on USM when he was 6, and he's 12 now, so he'll be fine.

4.5/5