Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 3

Rating:
Summary: very nice.........
Review: I have read all the books so far and I think there awsome!!!!

A must have in the series!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Start Of A Downhill Slide?
Review: I have really enjoyed the Ultimate Spider-Man series, and look forward to each hardback volume as it appears. This one I pre-ordered. It is very good, but it pales a little compared to volumes 1 and 2. There is a lack of extra material, something that could not be said about the first two, and we seem to have lost the reproductions of the cover art placed throughout the book.

Story-wise this is pretty good. The Venom story is nicely done, I thought, though it does have the familiar: "meet bad guy, beat-up bad guy, bad guy gone away" which will be followed (I guess) by a "Here's the bad guy again!".

Overall, a good addition to the Ultimate Spider-Man series, though I hope the omissions are a glitch more than the shape of things to come.

Rating:
Summary: Start Of A Downhill Slide?
Review: I have really enjoyed the Ultimate Spider-Man series, and look forward to each hardback volume as it appears. This one I pre-ordered. It is very good, but it pales a little compared to volumes 1 and 2. There is a lack of extra material, something that could not be said about the first two, and we seem to have lost the reproductions of the cover art placed throughout the book.

Story-wise this is pretty good. The Venom story is nicely done, I thought, though it does have the familiar: "meet bad guy, beat-up bad guy, bad guy gone away" which will be followed (I guess) by a "Here's the bad guy again!".

Overall, a good addition to the Ultimate Spider-Man series, though I hope the omissions are a glitch more than the shape of things to come.

Rating:
Summary: Spider-Man takes on Doctor Octopus and Kraven the Hunter
Review: Just when I thought the game plan of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" with regards to the love life of his alter-ego Peter Parker was to go directly to Mary Jane Watson, passing Betty Bryant and Gwen Stacy, when scribe Brian Michael Bendis drops the later into the action. This version of Gwen is big on the mascara and perfectly willing to pull a switchblade on a bully, both of which are completely valid reasons for Peter to have his eyes pop out of his head when he looks at her. Not even her police Captain father can reign in this blonde tornado.

At this point in the comic book the stage is merely being set for the impending love triangle, but I have to tell you that what is happening here is clearly a take off on "Dawson's Creek." Seriously. Peter is Dawson, Mary Jane is Joey, and Gwen is Jen (No, Flash is not Pacey; Kong is closer to being Pacey than Flash, but Peter Parker does not have a friend, which means Harry is not Pacey either). This should prove to be interesting, especially given that Mary Jane already know's Peter's big secret. But at this point the main problem is that Aunt May has an over inflated opinion about her nephew's love life. Yes, things might actually be worse for our hero this time around.

The title of "Double Trouble" has to do with the fact that in this collection of "Ultimate Spider-Man" #14-21, Spider-Man has not one but two villains after him (I was going to say two super villains, but that would not be the case). The new and improved bad guys this time around are Doctor Octopus, who has come out of his coma to discover his tentacles are fused to his skin, and Kraven the Hunter, who is now a reality television star from Down Under. Clearly, the more you know about the original Spider-Man comics and his various foes the more you will enjoy Bendis's refinements and provocative changes. At the end of this collection Spider-Man enjoys his biggest moment in the sun since the spider bit him, which quickly follows with a particularly low moment for Peter. Even when we think we know the rules of the game, Bendis continues to surprise us.

"Double Trouble" is the third trade paperback collection of "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics, which re-imagines the webhead as a younger Peter Parker trying to learn the ropes of being a superhero. But for those who read the first couple hundred issues of the original "Amazing Spider-Man" this is a hyper retelling of the tale. Forget all the ... superheroes Spidey had to fight with; this time around the focus is on the best and the baddest. The biggest difference between these first 21 issues of "Ultimate Spider-Man" and the original comic is that a single issue is no longer a complete story; it takes eight issues for the conflict between Spidey and Doc Ock to develop and be resolved. Consequently, we have the rather paradoxical fact that things are happening much faster for Spider-Man in this retelling of the tale while taking longer to develop. I continue to be impressed by this brilliant "re-imagining," which is drawn by Mark Bagley with inks by Art Thibert and Erik Benson.

Rating:
Summary: Once again!!!
Review: Once again Bendis has done it again. I haven't really been that interested in Spiderman since I was a kid. When I was a kid, I loved Spiderman. I grew out of it(well, maybe not, just moved onto different superheros). I have picked up the previous hardcovers of Ultimate Spiderman because of Bendis. He has done what I wish all comic book titles would do. Continuity. It's been the same flowing story since page 1. If Peter is hurt, he is hurt for awhile. When Peter and MJ are fighting, they are fighting for many chapters.

What I really like about Bendis is that he "writes the way people talk". His dialog includes stammering, interuptions, emotions. Almost all comic books and a lot of fiction books read like a script.

While I keep going on and on about the writing, let me speak kindly, also, about the art. The artist(sorry, i can't remember off hand) takes what I like about Bendis' writing and gives the razor sharp dialog an even finer point.

I am anxiously awaiting book 4, but for know, I think I'll go back and read 1 through 3.

Rating:
Summary: Once again!!!
Review: Once again Bendis has done it again. I haven't really been that interested in Spiderman since I was a kid. When I was a kid, I loved Spiderman. I grew out of it(well, maybe not, just moved onto different superheros). I have picked up the previous hardcovers of Ultimate Spiderman because of Bendis. He has done what I wish all comic book titles would do. Continuity. It's been the same flowing story since page 1. If Peter is hurt, he is hurt for awhile. When Peter and MJ are fighting, they are fighting for many chapters.

What I really like about Bendis is that he "writes the way people talk". His dialog includes stammering, interuptions, emotions. Almost all comic books and a lot of fiction books read like a script.

While I keep going on and on about the writing, let me speak kindly, also, about the art. The artist(sorry, i can't remember off hand) takes what I like about Bendis' writing and gives the razor sharp dialog an even finer point.

I am anxiously awaiting book 4, but for know, I think I'll go back and read 1 through 3.

Rating:
Summary: Marvel does it again!
Review: With every new release in their hardcover line, Marvel continues to prove that they're number one in that department.

Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 3 contains issues #28-39 and the rare #1/2. This volume is slightly smaller than the past collections, but that's due to the smaller arc lengths this time around.

Also included is the usual hefty amount of "special features". As usual, these also prove just how truly INSANE Bill Jemas is. We should all thank every diety available that this man doesn't have full control over Ultimate Spider-man. Tying 'Venom' to Peter's web fluid formula? Can we say contrived, Billy? Thought so.

Anyway, Billy Jemas' insanity aside, the two arcs presented here are pretty good. They aren't as fantastic as the past storylines, but these seemed to serve more as prep for what Bendis has cooked up next, ESPECIALLY the Venom arc. Eddie's introduction, the intro to the Venom costume, Peter wearing the black costume, Eddie's transformation, and the fight between Peter/Eddie was compressed into six issues. The whole thing just feels incredibly rushed, especially when it's kept in mind that Bendis took FOUR ENTIRE ISSUES to kill Uncle Ben!

The blame for this has to land on Billy boy's shoulders, who limited the arc to six issues, and insisted that Eddie as Venom appear. Doesn't leave much room for Bendis to develop the characters, now does it? An example of this is that Pete's in the black costume for less than one issue, and within a couple pages, he decides the costume's evil. So much potential was wasted due to the rush to see Venom in all his slobbering glory, and I find that sad.

Backtracking a little, the arc before Venom was great. 'Public Scrutiny' focuses on what happens when Spider-man's reputation is tarnished by an impersonator, and the repercussions that follow. There where some cringe worthy 'why the hell did you retcon that?!' moments, though. If you were angry as all hell about MJ taking Gwen's place in the Goblin arc, then be warned. Another warning, MJ lovers beware: You WILL want to strangle her. Ranting about her family problems and finding them so important after what happens to poor Gwen...well...I will never look at the Ultimate-verse MJ the same way again. Bendis should have just killed her off in the Goblin arc.

Now, for the quality of the hardback..

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Whoever's in charge of DC's hardback department should take note immediately of how it's done. The eye-catching cover screams to be placed out in the open, and the oversized glossy pages are fantastic. Thick and well put together, this book never feels like it'll fall apart if you don't handle it delicately (unlike DC's first volume of 'Hush').

Great addition, though I had to knock a star off the Venom arc's shortcomings.