Spider-Men: Worlds Collide

Spider-Men #1-5

by Brian Michael Bendis, Jim Cheung (Cover Art), Sara Pichelli (Artist)

Collects Spider-Men (2012) #1-5, Spider-Men II (2017) #1-5. Peter Parker and Miles Morales - the most marvelous team-up of all! In the history-making union of the Marvel and Ultimate Universes, Spider-Man comes face-to-face with…Spider-Man! But can the wall-crawlers of two worlds defeat Mysterio, the Master of Illusions? What will happen when Miles encounters an older, wiser version of his inspiration Peter Parker? Or when Peter meets different versions of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy? Then, following the Secret Wars, Miles now lives in the Marvel Universe - but where is the version of Miles Morales that was in the MU to begin with?! As the mystery deepens, our heroes find themselves targeted by the Taskmaster! Both of Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli's amazing, ultimate Spidey sagas are collected in one book for the first time!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Humor, Fiction, Comic Book

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 1, 2021

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

[Molly™☺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm very split on this one as the two volumes contained in this are wildly different when it comes to quality, with neither being overly impressive. The first Spider-Men sees an adult Peter Parker travelling to Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man universe and, forewarning, there are MASSIVE spoilers for that series nonchalantly thrown in here. This is the stronger of the two as it has some lovely character moments that make the rather bland story bearable. However, Spider-Men II sucked the enjoyment right out of me. I found it to be incredibly boring with no real charm to the characterisations or interactions. Miles' supporting cast aren't quite as interesting to me as Peter's, save for maybe Ganke, and I just didn't find myself invested in the action either. Overall disappointing as Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man run sets a bar that I was hoping this would follow up on.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider-Man II is a more interesting story than Spider-Men (which had an excellent fourth issue). It focuses on the Miles Morales of Earth-616, an incarcerated man of no particular significance who saves the life of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, doing a strategic stint in prison in order to contact someone on the inside, and becomes his closest friend. The T+ rating is well-earned. Fisk bites off a man's nose in the prison. I can't recall seeing anything that graphic in a comic that isn't labeled "mature readers." The story of this Miles Morales is more interesting than the Miles-Peter Spider-Men team-up, but even that has its moments, especially as they're able to share their insecurities with one-another. It seems a bit convenient that Miles and Peter are among the few who remember Earth-1610 and Earth-616 colliding together in an apocalyptic event, but that's surely an editorial decision. Peter also makes reference to being only a few years older than Miles, which must be related to the Brand New Day arc. I remember reading that we're supposed to be as little as twelve years out from Fantastic Four #1 in 1961 as far as the Marvel Universe goes. Peter even makes reference to Reed Richards having rejecting him from the Fantastic Four way back in Amazing Spider-Man #1, admitting to Miles that it made him cry, which I'm not sure has ever been said of the incident before.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of two team-ups between the main Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, which surely provided some inspiration for the Spider-Verse films. The first team-up - which took place when Miles and Peter were on different Earths - is by far the better, particularly the moments where Peter met his Ultimate counterpart's supporting cast. The second - which takes place after Peter and Miles were both on the same Earth - is unfortunately a serious letdown compared to the first. It feels more like a draft than a finished story, with the only worthwhile part being the backstory for the 616 Miles. (B+)

[Pirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly have no complaints; as far as comic books go, this was pretty much perfect. A lot of action, without too much confusion as to what was going on, but also a core story to each part that made sense and resolved by the end. I'm more partial to Spider-Men II, I think the emotional journey Miles (and Miles) went through was more interesting. Either way, though, this is exactly what I wanted from a Peter/Miles team up, both before and after the Ultimate universe went poof, so I'm happy.

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Parker of the 616 earth arrives in to the Ultimate universe and immediately meets up with Miles, in turn discovering the Peter of the Ultimate universe is dead.
Spider-men 1 - 5 is a light but fun story with a surprising emotional oomph. Peter going to see May/ Gwen was a nice touch and Peter essentially teaching Miles how to make web shooters was good. It’s not a big team up story but what it lacked in action it made up for with good heart. Plus that cliffhanger ending…

… is a bit shit in its reveal. Spider-men 2 was long awaited but ultimately a bit of a letdown for me. Again Bendis goes for heart over action but it’s not as well handled here.
Bonus points for featuring Jessica Jones (a Bendis staple) but overall a lot of opportunities were sadly missed.

Enjoyable but not essentially reading.

3/5.

[Cameron Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

So worth it. The art was very satisfying and left me wanting more. I also loved how they humanized kingpin and (evil?) miles morales. I think they nailed the Peter Parker and miles dynamic and it was cool to see that there were lessons Peter couldn’t teach and that miles could only learn by experience.

Cool message about how at the end of the day closure comes from ourselves and how we often need to create our own closure for difficult events in our lives.

Overall I just want more of the art, spidermen swinging through New York at night was peak.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice trip down memory lane.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very very cool. Really liked Miles Morales, would like to read more

[Steve Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a decent read, always like when Peter and Miles meet up.

[Chris W · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half is excellent and a lot of fun. Second half isn't that great but has some decent parts. 3.75 stars for me

[Bj Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expected more. Bendis is great at writing a teenage Peter but I don’t like the way he writes a grown up Peter. The “Other Miles” subplot was nothing

[Tsvetina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️