The most fascinating aspect of Marvel‘s new Ultimate Spider-Man continues to be the tension between what the title is seemingly delivering, and what we’re actually reading. More specifically: once again in Ultimate Spider-Man #8, we’re presented with the question of whether Peter Parker in this new Ultimate Universe is the same hero we know and love — or is he’s an aimless, mid-thirtysomething with little to no ambition.
That comes out in a variety of ways in the latest issue by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Chechhetto. We get a flashback to the last issue’s cliffhanger, with Iron Lad telling Peter he is at the top of The Maker’s list when it comes to depowering the universe in order to secure his control of the world. Peter seems surprised but mostly unaffected by this news — versus Harry Osborn, who wasn’t on the list at all. Peter’s response is a shrug and moving on, while Harry decides to take action to further power up his super-suit.
Then later, on the way to a birthday party, Peter is offered a job by Ben Parker and J. Jonah Jameson, and again: shrugs, unsure, can’t commit. Meanwhile, Jameson gives a riff on the classic great power, great responsibility speech not to Peter… But to his son Richard, who has been pushed to the side of this title, perhaps purposefully to downplay his importance.
And along with that, we also get a tease of a riff on Venom in the form of Peter’s picosuit, and the introduction of the new Sinister Six, a villain team made up of six super-powered crime bosses. That’s not to mention Easter eggs for characters like Arcade, and mentions of Secret Invasion, Secret Wars, and more.
There’s a lot going on in this issue, probably the most Hickman has tackled in the past eight months. But credit to Chechhetto for pacing the emotional dialogue scenes and making them the heart of the book. While we don’t know a lot about Richard, I am invested in finding out more about who he is, and what he might become (perhaps the real Ultimate Spider-Man?). You care about J. Jonah Jameson and Ben Parker starting a newspaper. You even want Harry to succeed and fight against his destiny as a seeming nobody — heck, if he’s not on The Maker’s kill list, perhaps he’s the key to stopping him in less than two year’s time.
In fact, the least interesting character here is the one in the title. Perhaps that’s the point, but we won’t know until time runs out, and The Maker returns. And even if Peter Parker isn’t invested in his own life: I, as the reader, definitely am.
Ultimate Spider-Man #8 Rating:
Ultimate Spider-Man #8 Official Synopsis:
KINGPIN’S SINISTER SIX! Kingpin gathers a team to deal with his masked-vigilante problem… But a group of super villains isn’t the only challenge Spider-Man will face! Meanwhile, Green Goblin joins forces with…Doc Ock?
