Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 3: Death of Spider-Man Prelude

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (2009) (Collected Editions)

by Brian Michael Bendis, David Lafuente (Illustrator), Sara Pichelli (Illustrator)

Collects Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #15 & #150-155.

Super-hero school is in session -- it's after-school super-hero training, courtesy of the Ultimates! While Spider-Man takes notes from Iron Man -- Mysterio and the Black Cat vie for possession of a mysterious artifact from the archives of the former Kingpin of Crime. Can they prevent the artifact from falling into the wrong hands?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Spider Man, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

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

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guess what’s coming?

Yep, but I’ll leave that alone until the next volume. I assumed that this would be full of all kind of ominous foreshadowing regarding Spider-Man’s upcoming doom, but it really plays out like just another chapter in the life of the Ultimate version of Peter Parker where he‘s still a teenager struggling with high school and often overwhelmed by his life as a superhero.

I’d missed the previous volume so not sure why Iceman and The Human Torch are living with Peter and Aunt May along with Gwen Stacy now. A villain copycatted Spider-Man’s identity and went on a crime spree so the public has turned on him, and Chameleon also pretended to be Peter and royally screwed up his life yet again. So young Mr. Parker is in a bit of a funk. But you can’t keep a good Spider-Man down, and he’s soon picking up the pieces and moving on.

New SHIELD director Carol Danvers is at wit’s end regarding the teenage superhero because he’s obviously one of the good guys, but his battles tend to endanger the public and cause huge property damage. After Carol consults with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, she decides that she’s going to require Spider-Man to start training with the older heroes. This leads to a terrific and funny storyline with Peter and Aunt May interacting with Tony Stark. Then we get an entertaining story about Spider-Man and Iron Man teaming up to take on Mysterio and the Black Cat who are fighting over a magical object.

In another twist, J. Jonah Jameson, the media mogul who has hounded the webslinger relentlessly in his newspaper, has learned that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but thanks to a near death experience, he now realizes that he’s been making life miserable for a guy dedicated to making the world a better place. JJJ pledges that he’s going to do everything he can to protect and help Spider-Man from now on, including keeping his identity secret. That’s one of those great twists on the familiar storylines that Marvel does so well in the Ultimate line.

But wait, isn’t the clock ticking? What’s with all the stuff that will seem to pay off only in future comics if they’re going to just kill him…. Oh, Brian Michael Bendis, you evil genius. You gave us a bunch of stories of Peter just living his life and highlighting once again what a good and decent person he is just before you murder him to make the impact that much worse when it happens. Clever bastard.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit choppy due to the many changes of artist but it manages to rise above it on pure heart. It made me smile; a lot.

Oh, and the sneaky background cameo by Bender from Futurama nearly made me pee myself laughing.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really good omg I loved it!

So here we just deal with the fallout of last volume and what effect it has on Pete's family and some interesting stuff with Gwen and Pete vs Ringer and SHIELD and Ultimates deciding what to do with Pete and what that leads t and interesting to hear of his team ups with all of them and like people's feelings towards him particularly Cap and it was fun and then finally a team up with Iron man and what that leads to.. Mysterio, Black cat and a strange key and what Pete realizes here and I love the way Bendis writes it and gives it a good closure and also fixes things with Gwen and Kitty and I love it! It was kinda cute!

One thing about his volume I like is its light-heartedness before the next volume which is like Super dark so there's that yeah and makes for a great read! Plus the art was cool again and is easy on the eyes!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm guessing that, by the time this volume was published, Peter Parker's death was a done deal and everybody in the world knew it. So there's no point in hiding the fact that the poor kid will be dead in a few issues. (Which made JJJ's offhanded comment that Peter might not live to see college a shot to the heart.) Also, Marvel wanted to make more money and probably figured that more casual readers would buy this volume if it had the "Death of Spider-Man" label on it.

I'm not complaining about that, not really. It's just a label on the cover, and what's inside is not a bunch of gloomy foreshadowing. It's a volume of Ultimate Spider-Man like any other, with Peter trying to get his life in order. Which actually makes the knowledge that the end is near even more painful. Because I love Peter, I love his chosen family, and the next volume is going to hurt even more because he's made good with his friends at the end. Curse you, Bendis!

There's some big guest stars in here. Carol Danvers (head of S.H.I.E.L.D. here) has decided that Spider-Man can't run around the way he has been. But since he's a good kid trying to do the right thing, she won't run him in or try to get him to stop superheroing. Instead, she gets Iron Man to mentor him. I ended up really liking this idea. Peter is only sixteen, and he hasn't been doing this Spider-Man thing very long. Enrolling him in what is essentially super hero school makes a lot of sense, and it's the best and most reasonable option available. And I liked seeing Tony Stark and Peter interact. Tony respects Peter because he's smart, very smart, and the feeling is mutual. I have to say, it's really nice to see Peter interact with one of the other Ultimate heroes who isn't acting like a jerk for no reason.

I bet that I lot of people will read this volume based on the title alone and feel a little cheated. This isn't exactly what the title promises, after all. Since I would've read it anyways, and rarely pay attention to the titles on Ultimate Spider-Man trades, it doesn't really bother me. And if you haven't read any Ultimate Spider-Man but want to see out the complete Death of Spider-Man arc, it might be a good idea to read this one anyways. This is your last chance to see Peter Parker as himself, to get to know him and his family. And even reading just this one volume would probably give you a lot more context for his death, in just a few issues.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm wondering what this has to do with The Death of Spider-man arc? No doubt it'll make more sense once I get to the actual Death of Spider-man arc, but this just seems like another volume of Ultimate Spider-man. I mean, it's a decent volume, I just think the title is a little misleading.

The art is also a little inconsistent. There's about 6 different artists working on this volume, and that's not include the #150 special. It just hurts the flow a little at times. But the final part, drawn by Chris Samnee, does look pretty great. I also think you can tell Sara Pachelli is still honing her craft during this volume, because her later stuff looks so much better.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice premise, S.H.I.E.L.D. figures that Spider-Man, though effective in his own way, is causing a lot of peripheral damage. So, they ask a trio of other superheroes what to do about the situation. What follows is Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man all recounting Spider-Man encounters.

During his shared battle with Captain America, Spider-Man wasn't exactly on his game and may have kinda sorta shot him in the face with a web, resulting in one of the finer costumed expressions I've seen in a long time.

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good and while the overall story wasn't fantastic there were several very good moments. Issue 15 and 155 were both pretty stand alone and also primarily dedicated to the Peter Parker character and this made them the best issues of this second series so far (also being drawn by Sara Pichelli and Chris Samnee respectively helped). To my surprise I actually liked how they resolved the Gwen Stacy/Peter's relationship. It felt realistic that kids these age and in such a relationship would get confused about their feelings. My biggest problem was the overall pacing for the "superhero school"/Mysterio/magic amulet(?) arc, it just didn't flow that well as a concise story like the last volume. And I liked the superhero school idea in concept but not so much the execution.
Overall I'm very happy with how this post-Ultimatum world turned out, it had a very rough start but they got there and I'm scared that the next volume will make me cry.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title and the covers declare foreboding and sorrow. The book is sentimental and sweet.
Peter starts training with the Ultimates, gets his job back at The Bugle now with permission to leave or not show up with no questions asked, and gets back together with MJ.
And then as they kiss, you look down at the bottom of the page and see "NEXT: The Death of Spider-man."
And there is that foreboding and sorrow.
I'm not ready!

[Wing Kee · Rating 4 out of 5]

And everything is as it should be, albeit it was a janky journey to get there.

World: The multiple artists was a bit of a trip. Sure I can understand for issue 150 but even the other issues there was a lack of consistency and it did take the reader out of the book. However, I would like to say that the artists that they had were all really good and gave the characters life and personality. The world building was also surprisingly good. With all the pieces that have been off since the new series it seems to finally have found the world building sweet spot. Yes, I think we won't ever get the reason why the relationships were the way they were at the start but the world building here pretty course corrected, albeit jankily.

Story: The mystic angle was a bit of a curve ball that I did not expect and am questioning whether it was the way to go. However, I will say the emotions were real and the characters and pieces were interesting. Returning characters are fun and new and long gone characters coming back made the world so much for cohesive and full. The pacing was good and the time jumps worked. Well written.

Characters: This is where the janky happens. It's still a lot of quick snap emotions and women can yoyo emotionally all over the place. The MJ/Gwen/Peter thing which was dumb to begin with is just jankily handled and not really adding any favours for any of the characters. Bombshell is hilarious and Kitty is great. The handling of the reunions was also mixed with really good emotions with JJJ and Aunt May and Gwen but logic laps are distracting.

Good and course corrected.

Onward to the next book!

[Juan DeLeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Bendis is our modern day John Hughes. Sara Pichelli and her crew are amazing in capturing emotions of all brands. There is that sliver of time between having smart phones and not having them, it's the blink time of flip phones, small screens and limited color, well that is neatly catalogued as an element of the narrative. This combination is like butter. The art makes you pause, the words easily, delectably fall in place in the wrinkles of your brain. This ultimate story is such a revelation and the kick in the gut that is on the horizon, only makes this story telling that much incredible!

[Rangga Sukmawijaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judul besar episode ketiga ini adalah Death of Spider-Man Prelude. FYI, alasan mengapa tahun 2022 ini saya buka dengan merunut episode kematian Spider-Man adalah karena saya baru menonton film Spider-Man: Into Spider-Verse (ya, ya, ya ... saya tahu, saya telat empat tahun dan saya tahu juga saat ini sedang beredar film baru Spider-Man di bioskop). Di film Spider-Verse itu, yang menjadi Spider-Man adalah Miles Morales, bukan Peter Parker. Tentu saya tahu tentang hal ini sejak lama, tapi saya tidak pernah benar-benar tertarik membaca seperti apa persisnya cerita perpindahan tongkat estafet dari Parker ke Morales. Konon, peristiwa kemunculan pertama Miles Morales adalah di komik Ultimate Fallout nomor empat, maka jadilah saya membaca ulang seri Spider-Man di jagat Ultimate. Begitu ceritanya.

Kembali ke episode komik ini. Di kisah pengantar ini, SHIELD yang dipimpin oleh Carol Danvers memutuskan untuk melatih Spider-Man karena aksi superhero yang satu ini dipandang merugikan secara ekonomi. Mentor pertama yang ditunjuk adalah Tony Stark a.k.a Iron Man. Cerita utama lainnya dari episode ini adalah munculnya artefak kuno yang berkekuatan besar. Black Cat dan Mysterio terlibat dalam perebutan artefak itu. Di sisi kisah pribadi Peter Parker, kisah asmaranya dengan Gwen berakhir dan tampaknya Mary Jane kembali jadi kekasih Peter Parker. Peter juga kembali bekerja di Daily Bugle dengan Jonah Jameson yang lebih "ramah" setelah ia tahu siapa Peter sebenarnya.

Kesimpulannya. Di episode ini, tampaknya semua kembali ke jalur awal. Semacam suasana tenang sebelum badai.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the Chameleons caused chaos in his personal life, the damage done in his attempts to help as Spider-Man put Peter in the sights of SHIELD Director Carol Danvers. As he tries to rebuild the relationships most important to him, Peter is forced to undertake super-hero training supervised by the Ultimates themselves.

This is a solid continuation of the second run of Ultimate Spider-Man stories, with the slightly irritating teen elements of the first couple of books much more muted. I particularly liked seeing Tony Stark mentoring Peter and its a dynamic that was later adopted by the MCU to great effect.

Whilst most of this book was perfectly good reading, there was one element which spoiled the experience overall and it's not even really Bendis' fault. This problem element is just how badly some classic Marvel characters were reimagined for the Ultimate universe. They thankfully course-correct Iron Man out of his ghastly original Ultimates look and into something a bit cooler and more familiar, but characters like Carol Danvers and, much worse, Captain America are so completely unlikable that they feel like a betrayal of the original characters. And don't even get me started on the re-imagining of Mysterio... sure the goldfish bowl looked a bit silly but this... this is just garbage.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

[This is a review for vols. 1-3]
I hadn't read Bendis in awhile and forgot how much I love his dialogue. There was a point in the mid-aughts where it felt like every other book I was reading was a Bendis book and I got tired of his trademark pitter-patter style. But coming back to it after awhile, it feels new and refreshing again! The post-ultimatum Ultimate Spider-Man issues are a nonstop, edge-of-your-seat roller coaster ride that ends tragically (I'm currently reading vol. 4: Death of Spider-Man) but then paves the way for Miles to take center stage (and Bendis's Miles Morales Spider-Man comics are also an EXCELLENT read). Bendis manages to make familiar relationships (between friend AND foe) fresh and interesting while still honoring the spirit of the original stories from Spidey's early days. No matter what else he does, Ultimate Spider-Man will always be Bendis's greatest imprint on the Marvel Universe (notice, I'm not saying "best writing" or "best story" but "greatest imprint" :)).

[Justin Biondo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be the single greatest example of why I love downtime arcs in comic books. It’s time for all of the characters to relax and ground themselves before an oncoming storm. This is the last bit of normality for 1610 Peter and I’m devastated before this be even gotten to his next arc. I’m scared for what’s to come next. I’ll be happy to see the legendary Mark Bagley back on pencils but it’s not without its cost. Bendis and Bagley back at it again. That final issue in here may also be the greatest dynamic between Peter and Jameson in the whole series and that’s saying a lot for everything we’ve seen of the two. It’s why I can’t stand the angle of making him and Alex Jones type, it shows ever the worst can change. I’m horrified to report to you all about the end of the next volume.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last trade still has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I was almost going to give this 3 stars but I really liked the 150th issue it had a lot of stuff in there that was pleasing to read for a longtime ultimate Spider-Man reader.

I liked the mysterio and black cat storyline too it was a nice little grounded affair that fleshed out a more interesting villain in this run.

And the last issue with Peter’s birthday was really nice and so sad to read knowing what’s coming next.

I don’t think I’m ready for the next volume.

[Stewart D. Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man is pretty good at this point. I liked the inclusion of the different heroes talking about Spider-Man but overall some of the stories were kind of just your standard Peter Parker fare. Not sure if I like Black Cat in the Ultimate universe either.

Iron Man with Spider-Man was a lot of fun.


The Jameson and Parker conversation at the end was maybe the best thing about this trade

Giving this one a standard 4 stars.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This kind of levels out the worst of the new kiddy crap they introduced with the soft relaunch post Ultimatum. A real story starts taking shape again and it starts to cohesively pull together a narrative.... But we know what's coming next so it's too little, too late.

Also, the art is is still horrific and at times in this bumper collection gets an even worse than its normal low standard hence only 3, not 4, stars.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hilarious that they cannot even commit to making Peter have a bad week. Bendis remembers to pay off JJJ's development which is cool, and Aunt May at this point is a very fun presence, but there's so much crammed in here and it still isn't good. I hate the zodiac key so much, it is the least interesting artifact possible and the implication that it helped kingpin's rise retroactively ruins him as a capable villain.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I especially loved issue #150. Beautiful, emotional, and a fitting milestone. I enjoyed the flashback narrative – essentially dropping us back in time for a normal story we hadn't heard yet. I loved the compilation of artists that contributed to it. The following issues were fun and I'm excited/nervous about "The Death of Spider-Man".

[Greg Callahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm ready for the end. I like the action and drama of this volume, to an extent. The silliness from the last volume, and everyone getting mad or upset at Peter for issues the chameleon twins caused, is just as annoying as expected. But it remains entertaining and recommendable, especially if you've read up to this point.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a serious dip in this series as a result of some genuinely bad art this volume is a real return to form for Ultimate Spider Man as Bendis tries to stick the landing with only one volume or five slender issues remaining in this epic run.

[Amory · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars?
I liked the beginning a lot, but once Black Cat and Mysterio were added into a story that already has SHIELD and the Ultimates, it felt too complicated. Also wasn't crazy about the art style.

[Bryan Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were decent, some better than others. But the multiple artists were quite distracting I think I like the 2 newer artists in this one compared to the prior one. This is almost the last book in the series, so hopefully they can stay with 1 consistent artist for the remainder.

[Zachariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It makes sense that I reach my checkout limit on this book, doesn't it?

Well, by the end, Mary Jane evolved from anime school girl to regular girl again. She and Gwen Stacy should just save themselves all the drama and date each other. How has that never happened in all these multiverse stories?

[estar* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm hopping around out of order but still loving the Bendis kick I'm on.

[Yuiko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end is near for Peter Parker. I have read some of Bendis' run, but am trying to get to Miles. Enjoying the Ultimate world.

[L. Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-man gets superhero training and Mysterio and Black Cat fight for a powerful relic

[Maxwell Kee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty meh...a whole lotta filler.