Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 4

Ultimate Spider-Man (Collected Editions) #7-8

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Joe Quesada (Editor)

This deluxe, hardcover volume collects material from:
* Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 7: Irresponsible
* Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8: Cats & Kings
* Behind-the-Scenes Material

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Marvel, Superheroes, Fiction, Sequential Art

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimate collection book 4: In the first volume covered by this collection Ultimate Spider-Man, Volume 7: Irresponsible, Spidey, who has lost his costume (love it), faces a seemingly teenage rogue mutant, meets the X-Men and feels the wrath of… Aunt May. Typical Ultimate realistic story telling sees issues around the upkeep of Spidey's costume and in a work of genius features an entire comic book issue on Aunt May's losses (Ultimate Spider-Man #45)... the people that have died in her life and how it has impacted on her and her relationship with Peter, a superb issue!

This followed by Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 8: Cats & Kings, in which in a scintillating first half, Spidey and New York have to deal with the reemergence of the Kingpin, with a huge J Jonah Jameson story; the second half we get this reality's Black Cat, turning not only Spidey's world upside down, but Kingpin's and Elektra's; that not being enough MJ's dad gets all up in her business, with Peter! Some great Ultimate Spidey storytelling with both Spidey and Peter's lives under stress and threat. This series continues to make great waves! 8 out of 12.

20222 read; 2017 read; 2011 read

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun volume in a super fun series. Getting a little crowded but isn't a problem yet.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following what was Peter Parker at his darkest moment when his old friend Eddie Brock turned into the monstrous Venom and in a final battle he had to resort to deadly force, the final splash page of the last volume shows a costume-less Peter stands on the rooftop alone and defeated rather than victorious, and he can't find comfort towards Mary Jane.

However, as much as Brian Michael Bendis knows how to write teenage angst, he doesn't allow his youthful characters to fall into the doom and gloom, even if the complications of teenage life are more interesting than battling a supervillain. Clearly the real strength is this volume is the focus of the non-super from Peter trying to reconcile his relationship with Mary Jane to a whole issue devoted to Aunt May sitting with a psychologist as she discusses her demons such as her recently complicated relationship with her nephew and the ever-growing presence of Spider-Man. This issue alone shows how Aunt May can be more than just the nagging elderly woman with constant lessons to chuck at Peter.

As for the two central storylines throughout the fourth volume, that's when things start to crumble. Since the beginning, there has been the constant mention of mutants and even some of the public refer to Spidey as a mutant. With the introduction of foreign exchange student Geldoff, who has the destructive ability to generate and discharge explosive energy balls, this catches the attention of both Spider-Man and the X-Men, specifically the Ultimate X-Men (no one's favourite take on the mutant super-team).

This arc never delves into the subject of prejudice that was a key theme throughout the X-Men's history, whilst artist Mark Bagley is more interested in showcasing the skimpy outfits of the female members. Bendis does at least writes some interactions between the wall-crawler and the mutants, including a funny sequence in Spidey escapes from the X-Mansion, only to be revealed as a mental projection by Professor X.

Halfway through the book, do things get a bit better with the two-parter focusing on the return of the Kingpin, who somehow escapes prosecution despite hard evidence, much to Peter's anger. Although it is great once again for Spidey coming up of an array of fat jokes towards the Kingpin, we finally find out why J. Jonah Jameson shows such distaste towards Spider-Man and it feels good when two characters who have nothing in common finally on the same page.

The second part shows Spidey confronts the Black Cat who sets her paws on a stolen tablet that the Kingpin desperately wants and thus hires the deadly Elektra to retrieve it. Despite a fun issue showcasing the Cat's skills as a burglar with minimal dialogue (a stretch for Bendis), there isn’t much of a witty chemistry between the Spider and the Cat, which is what you expect from the twosome. Reading throughout this volume, I discover a recurring problem that is Bagley's over-sexualisation illustrations of the female characters, including Black Cat and Elektra looking more like strippers. All it reminds me of is that I don't want Michael Bay involved in a Spider-Man film.

There is much to like when it comes to the soap opera dramatics of Peter's social life, but oddly when he dons the red and blue, the book isn’t as interesting.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Bendis's Ultimate Spider-man continues to be solid entertainment. It succeeds because Bendis leans fully into Spider-man's struggles as a teenager. Not only does Peter Parker have to handle the return of the Kingpin as well as a sexy thief known as the Black Cat, but he also has equally-tricky struggles in his relationships with Aunt May and Mary Jane. This volume is also notable because he meets the X-Men for the first time!

[Stormy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In these two books we get to me a lot of new characters some of the X-Men lady characters also some more people from shield so we start off off-piste after Peter has defeated venom and he's not sure whether his friend has made it out alive also he now doesn't have a costume anymore so he goes around in some old baggy pants and a Spider-Man logo on his jumper we also get a bit more info mj and Peters relationship and how she didn't really want to break up with him he was just scared because of the Spider-Man stuff she then finds out that he doesn't have a costume anymore or and says to him that she was working on one before they broke up it's a bit baggy but it did the job as this kid from the other school started blowing things up another mutant and in the the other half of the two in one book we find out a little bit more about Shield and about a few characters they have it starts out with them sorta interrogating one of their people I think these are really good comics and I love them

[maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s a 4.5 from me!!! it’s definitely my favorite installment so far. the x-men, wilson fisk (+ vanessa), black cat, and elektra?!? such a fun read

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Please... please wake up...please..."

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun series! I'll admit I wasn't sure at first, but now I'm addicted to Ultimate Spider-Man! The art is great, and the story is lots of fun.

[Marcin Wichowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kreska - git
Historia - git
Tempo - nie ma nudy
Epickie PlanszE - 🧐

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we left off with Brian Michael Bendis' "Utimate" take on Spider-Man, he was finishing off a story arc with one of my least favorite members of the Spider-Man rogues gallery (Venom) and actually crafting an all new origin for the Venom symbiote that isn't nearly as lame as what happened in Secret Wars . At the end of his Venom (mis)adventure, Peter has about had it, and has effectively lost his girlfriend and made many other forced sacrifices by being Spider-Man. And yet, to open this volume, in a scene straight out of Mystery Men, Peter's main concern is that he no longer has a costume.

That's right, the big issue for Peter at the beginning of this collection is that he doesn't know how to sew. And it turns out that having a spiffy costume is a pretty big deal. Whenever he shows up in his makeshift costumes, no one takes him seriously until he demonstrates what his powers actually are. Once he flexes his muscles, there is no doubt that the real Spider-Man has shown up, even if his costume sucks. All the while he is also dealing with his relationship with Mary Jane and also with a supposed mutant called Geldoff who seems to enjoy using his powers to blow things up but is actually a reason to show why Peter continues to be Spider-Man despite all of the things he has lost as a result of being Spider-Man. Since I just mentioned the "m" word, I'm sure you won't be shocked to find out that the X-Men make an appearance here (coincidentally I think these issues were contemporaneously published with when Bendis took over Ultimate X-Men so there's that.)

Since these Ultimate Collections usually contain two story arcs, the second half of the volume contains another Kingpin story arc, following up from events in the first Ultimate Collection . Like with the return of the Green Goblin, the Kingpin has unfinished business from that first Kingpin arc. In addition we meet the "Ultimate" Black Cat and get a return appearance from Elektra, who we first met in Greg Rucka's Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra . While I realize that some of the early "Ultimate" continuity is a bit spurious (and to be fair, I've railed against the continuity police getting in the way of a good story), if we are treating the Rucka story as canonical, it's interesting to see how Elektra is positioned in this arc. At the end of that book it seems that both Daredevil and Elektra are on the side of the angels, but can't find common grounds in their methods or in what they consider justice. In the Kingpin arc, she is in the employ of Wilson Fisk, which indicates that maybe her moral compass has been warped somewhere along the way. Perhaps, this is covered in Ultimate Elektra. We'll see.

I've been through four of these Ultimate Collections at this point and up to this point, Bendis' work has been solid if not great (even the Venom stuff.) I think that the quality of Ultimate Spider-Man is why some folks are not thrilled about some of Bendis' later work in the Marvel-616 continuity. But I haven't read a lot of that stuff, and I have been binge reading this, so as of now, Bendis has done no wrong. I'm looking forward not only to his continued work on Ultimate Spider-Man but also how he dealt with the mess Mark Millar left him on Ultimate X-Men .

[Jack Herbert Christal Gattanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for anything to do with J Jonah Jameson, Fisk, Aunt May and MJ. For all the superhero stuff, about 3.5 to 4.5 depending on the issue. Also, I feel like I might've outgrown the copious cleavage given to Black Cat and Elektra (MJ is drawn very nicely though in that exaggerated, genuinely sexy kind of way... okay shes a teen whatever its a comic book). Bendis is often so astonishing with his command of shifts in tone and going from scene to scene in a cinematic sense that maybe the letdown is that sometimes it's only just really good instead of great all the time.

[C.T. Eldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still think this series remains really solid even through the fiftieth issue. Towards the beginning of this volume, I had the thought that it was getting a little too focused on MJ and Peter’s relationship. But it quickly started mixing things up and balancing out, while still having their relationship be one of several main threads in the story. The X-Men crossover wasn’t great, but it was only a few issues. The Kingpin and Black Cat stuff is really good.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series, which started about as strongly as one could, took a big step back and bogged down in this collection. The art is still next level but there is such a focus on the Peter/MJ plot line that the original fast pace of this series is all but lost at the end of this collection.

[aCupcakeBlonde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. The turmoil with MJ and Aunt May was great background. And Spider-Man's interactions with the X-Men was fun. I especially liked the introduction to Black Cat and Elektra and their tie to Kingpin.

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trochę nastoletniej dramy (postać zobowiązuje), ale generalnie to ciekawie poprowadzone historie z bardzo sprawnymi dialogami Bendisa i przeglądem kolejnych bohaterów, z jakimi mierzył się Pająk. Dobre czytadło

[Tim Galbraith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing I will say about the Ultimate Universe. The characters are mostly as entertaining as the 616 universe characters.

[Josh Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still very good, but this arc introduced a lot of cool Super ladies (Storm, Jean, Kitty, Elektra, Black Cat) that I wish we got more of.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

It almost feels like if Ben hadn't died, this Ultimate Spider-Man would be living his best life. Things seem to really work out for him a lot. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Bryson Grenfell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just putting it out there: the characterisations of both May Parker and J. Jonah Jameson are the true MVPs of Ultimate Spider-Man

[Rachel E. Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good storyline, but I'm not sure how I feel about the art style. The girls are so sexualized, even their outfits and clothes. But what can you expect from a comic book?

[elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

i dont like kingpin but i like the x-men so i physically can’t rate this any less than 4 stars

[Jase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kingpin making his fat attack on the webbed slinger. Lot of nice sarcasm here and all that Mary Jane drama is starting to build up. Nice to see Elektra take a different side.

[Corentin Gastalle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Problème assez constant dans cette série et ce volume tout particulièrement : les femmes sont quasi systématiquement sexualisées

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume has its ups and downs, but it also has the debut of Ultimate Black Cat, and Black Cat = automatic 5 stars.

There are two moments in this volume that I especially liked. The first is the Aunt May issue, showing May pouring out her heart to her psychiatrist. I can see where that would've been a disappointment for readers who were going through the series issue-by-issue, but in the context of this collected volume, it's really good. I enjoy how Brian Michael Bendis is bringing more depth to Aunt May. The second moment that stands out in Volume 4 is when J. Jonah Jameson opens up to Peter about why he is so harsh toward Spider-Man. As always, such moments would be better if Bendis didn't write all dialogue as though it's spoken by a slow-witted, stuttering teenager. But the J. Jonah moment is still really nice.

The poorer aspects of Volume 4 include the introduction of a new sort-of villain, Geldof. And, connected to that story, the introduction (though some of them have appeared previously, in cameo roles) of the Ultimate X-men, who look terrible (what was Mark Bagley thinking?) and act brainless. Geldof strikes me as a failed attempt, and the X-men deserve much better than how they're presented here.

As in previous volumes, Bendis raises some intriguing issues for Peter to struggle with. The writing is never going to delve very far into those issues, but I'm glad they're there. The big issue of this collection is society's willingness to look the other way when a person's crimes seem to be balanced out by his "good works"--or when the person has enough money to buy his continued freedom.

As a side note: I was amazed at how many times the word "shenanigans" appears in these stories.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still attempting to catch up on my Ultimate Spider-Man reading! This volume has everything that I love about Spidey---the hurdles of being the underdog, the witty banter, the self doubt, the real life struggles mixed with the fantastical, the human connections and vulnerabilities. A stand out portion of this collection--for me, at least--is the further characterization of Aunt May. The issue of her in her therapy session was so touching and very real. I love how Bendis fleshes out her struggles and even dares to touch on her feelings of guilt in regard to be romantically interested in someone new.
I found myself struggling with Peter's actions sometimes--feeling that they were a bit too rash or that he didn't understand where Mary Jane was coming from--but, then I remembered--of course he's acting this way!--he's only a 15 year old boy for goodness sake. Kudos to Bendis for crafting a believable teenaged, conflicted, just-trying-to-do-what's-right-even-when-the-world-is-against-me version of Peter Parker. This collection just further solidifies the web-head as my favorite super hero of all time.

[Ampion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the first spiderman I'd ever read and I was happy to see that it lived up to the hype. I learned a lot of different things in this book. About Aunt May, Jonah Jameson, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane. I even learned a few things about Peter. Did you know that the webs aren't part of his superpowers? Who new.
It was cool to see the X-men get mixed in, and then to see Peter's fantasy where he manages to beat them all up. That was entertaining.
My main complaint with this would have to be how poorly Kingpin was drawn. Kingpin should inspire fear and awe. He shouldn't look like a beached whale. There are ways to make a man look large and menacing. Sadly, they only made him look large. However, the ending makes you end up feeling a little sorry for the big fella and in addition to how well written it is, that more than makes up for the poor character artwork.
Overall, it was very entertaining and enjoyable and I was able to jump right into it with very little previous Spiderman knowledge. So I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast, entertaining read

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis, Bagley and Thibert continue to shine with Ultimate Spider-Man. First up there's a cross over with the X-Men when Pete meets another teenager with powers but less responsibility. It's a fun tale and there's some really nice character work building with the relationship trials of Pete and MJ, Gwen and Liz. This leads to the fantastic Aunt May therapy issue which is unique and wonderfully imagined.

After that we get the reintroduction of Kingpin while Pete has a really bad day (even for him) and then the introduction of Ultimate Black Cat and Elecktra. A fun story with a great roof top date night and some interesting Kingpin character development.

[alicia ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
really enjoyed peter with the x-men (i definitely want to read more of the ultimate team ups...with peter and cap and the others). spider-man was particularly witty in these two story arcs, even more than usual. also these comics are becoming a bit of an issue because instead of studying, i'm reading these......woops
aunt may's character stuff is really really great- it's definitely a huge jump from the 1960s aunt may WHO WOULD NOT STOP FAINTING (not that i minded that that much...there were way too many 'that's in that sentence, sorry). and interesting seeing mary-jane's struggles as well.

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something so comforting about a well-written Spider-Man story. The trials and tribulations of Peter Parker serve to echo your own struggles while simultaneously reminding you that your life is nowhere near as bad as his. The stuff here between Kingpin and Spider-Man is some of the best writing I've seen for the character. Subtracting a star for some of the more egregiously sexist art - how many belly tops can one book have?

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is tradition, I have to say that I hate the art in this series. It's so ugly. That aside, I thought it was a decent volume. I particularly liked the stuff with Black Cat & Elektra.

For more on this series tune in to this special Spider-Man spotlight on the All the Books Show! https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/of...