Comic Book Review: Ultimate Spider-Man #105

Bendis delivered a fantastic ending to the Clone Saga story arc. Ultimate Spider-Man #105 deals with the aftermath of the Clone Saga story arc. In particular it looks like Spider-Man has some girl trouble coming his way as he deals with Kitty Pryde after hooking up with Mary Jane once again. Ultimate Spider-Man #105 should be a fun read. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: Mark Bagley
Inker: Drew Hennessy

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Peter thanking Reed for saving Mary Jane. Peter then gives MJ a big kiss. The Human Torch then flies Peter Parker from the Baxter Building back to the hospital to check on Aunt May. After Peter is gone, Nick Fury arrives at the Baxter Building along with Captain America and Iron Man.

Nick demands to know where Peter Parker is. Mary Jane tells Nick that Peter looks up to Nick like a father. That he wants to be Nick when he grows up. He wants to be on the Ultimates. Even after all of this, Peter still wants to be the greatest hero in the world. Mary Jane asks Nick why in the world does he want to throw Peter into jail?

We cut to the X-Men arriving at Peter’s neighborhood. Jean picks up some random thoughts from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Aunt May suffered a heart attack. The X-Men then head to the hospital.

We shift to Aunt May’s hospital room. Sue Storm tells Peter that she has something difficult to tell him. Peter says he already knows. That the guy wasn’t his father. He was an aged clone of Peter. Sue tells Peter that he is correct. Sue then tells Peter that she is going to head back to the Baxter Building.

Peter sits next to Aunt May’s bed. Peter talks how the one thing he was so scared of happening to either May or MJ and that he tried to hard to prevent happened anyway. Peter said he should have trusted May more. Peter says that it hurt when May said he wasn’t her son. Peter says that he thinks of himself as May’s son. That he has to be. Because to Peter, May is his mom.

Peter’s spider sense then goes off. Nick Fury then steps out of the shadows. Nick tells Peter that he invented the spider-slayers in case a situation was in the open and out of control and an immediate threat to civilian life occurred. That the spider-slayers were invented to take down Peter. Because Nick has been studying Peter and with everything that Peter has been through, Nick thought that he was witness to the birth of the next big super-villain.

Peter responded that Nick was wrong. That Peter didn’t snap. Nick admits that he was wrong. That Nick is witness to the birth of someone really special. That is if Peter doesn’t fuck it up before he graduates high school. Peter smiles and tells Nick to tell Reed Richards that the answer is “No.” That Peter will pass on Reed’s offer to “cure” his powers.

Nick leaves and Aunt May wakes up. We see Jean and Kitty in the hallway outside May’s room. Kitty asks Professor X to make May forget that Peter is Spider-Man. Professor X responds that he cannot do that. That it isn’t ethical. Kitty curses Professor X saying that she hates him.

We shift back to May telling Peter that his costume is a terrible costume. Peter says that he knows. May tells Peter to come over to her and hug her. They then embrace each other.

We cut to Sharon Carter addressing the neighbors in Peter’s neighborhood. She tells them that he attack tonight was the work of a super villain. That this was not an act of mutant terrorism. That S.H.I.E.L.D. would like to publicly thank Spider-Man for his help in stopping the villain. We see MJ begin reunited with her mother.

We hop over to Peter meeting with Spider-Woman. Jessica tells Peter that she is going to go somewhere and start a new life as be Jessica Drew and not a Peter Parker clone. The two characters then hug each other. Spider-Woman then leaves.

We shift to The Triskelion. A S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist has placed the Peter Parker Scorpion clone in an incubation tube and the Gwen Stacy Carnage clone in another incubation tube. The scientist asks Nick what they should do with them. Nick tells the scientist to get to work.

We zip forward to the next day. Peter is standing in front of his demolished home. Mary Jane and her mother walk over to Peter. MJ’s mom was told by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Norman Osborn kidnapped Mary Jane and that Spider-man rescued her. Mary Jane then tells Peter that he will stay at her house until his house is repaired. Mary Jane and Peter then kiss. We then see Kitty Pryde watching from a distance. She is stunned.

We cut to Mary Jane waking up during the night. She goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She then sees the decomposed Peter Clone that captured her appear in the bathroom mirror. She screams and Peter comes running to the bathroom. Peter holds Mary Jane and tells her it is okay. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Bendis manages to deliver another excellent read in Ultimate Spider-Man #105. It is stunning what a fantastic job Bendis has done with the Clone Saga story arc. It has been nothing short of incredible. Bendis somehow manages to take a story arc that I absolutely hated when it was done in the 616 universe and mold it into a wildly entertaining story arc for the Ultimate universe.

What makes Ultimate Spider-Man such a great read is the human element that Bendis brings to the table. Bendis crafts such wonderfully well developed and realistic characters. Peter Parker, Aunt May, Mary Jane and the other characters spring forward from the comic book. The reader feels like these are actually real people instead of fictional characters.

This is partly due to the fully developed personalities of each character. But, it is also largely due to Bendis’ excellent dialogue. Bendis has a real talent for spinning incredibly realistic sounding dialogue. Each character has an external voice that is spot on. Peter and MJ talk like teens. Nick talks like the gruff authoritarian super spy that he is.

Ultimate Spider-Man #105 was a powerful read that was packed full of emotion. The reader can feel Peter’s frustration with Nick Fury. Peter’s shame for lying to Aunt May. And most importantly, the reader can truly feel Peter’s desperation to receive his Aunt’s motherly love. The reader’s heart tears in two as Peter confesses how much he needs to be Aunt May’s son since he sees her as his mom. Well done, Bendis. Well done.

The scenes with Peter and Mary Jane were all great. It is nice to see these two characters back together again. I liked the diversion with Kitty and Peter. And it was neat to see Peter dating another super hero. But, nothing is better than Mary Jane and Peter Parker. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. That is something that fat boy Joey Quesada needs to understand.

And the way that Kitty found out about Peter and MJ being back together again was harsh. I feel bad for Kitty. Of course, not as bad as Peter is going to feel once Kitty gets her revenge on him. You know a jilted pissed off woman is nothing to be messed with. And I have a feeling we are going to see Kitty give Peter what he has coming to him. It should be ugly.

The scene between Nick and Peter was a long time coming. Ever since Peter Parker became Spider-Man he has been watched by Nick Fury. You could tell that Nick was just waiting for Peter to snap. That there was no way a teenage boy could handle all the pressure and shit that life has flung at him. But, Bendis has shown that Peter has the heart of a true hero. That no matter what happens; Peter will always have the desire to be the greatest hero he can possibly be. That Peter lives the mantra “With great power comes great responsibility.” It was nice to see Nick admit that he was wrong and to compliment Peter.

Of course, you still have to keep in mind that Nick Fury works for the government and you simply can not trust the government. Ever. And we see why as Nick tells his scientists to get to work on the Peter Parker clone and the Gwen Stacy clone. Nick may think that Peter is going to be a good hero, but government types like Nick are total snakes. They are only concerned with the security and power of the federal government and nothing else.

Ultimate Spider-Man #105 did an excellent job wrapping up the various loose ends from the Clone Saga story arc. It also teased with reader with some future plotlines with the Peter clone and Gwen Stacy clone in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists. It should be interesting to see how that impacts Peter’s new relationship with Nick Fury. Plus, we still have to deal with the Peter, Kitty, MJ love triangle. Bendis clearly has plenty more exciting storylines in store for us.

The Bad: I could care less about Spider-Woman. I find her totally uninteresting in the 616 universe and pretty much the same in the Ultimate universe. I dig the twist that she is a Peter Parker clone, but there was absolutely no chemistry between Spider-Woman and Peter.

Overall: Ultimate Spider-Man #105 was another excellent read. Bendis is doing a stellar job making this title one of Marvel’s most reliable and strongest performers each and every month. A title like this is when Bendis’ talents really shine. And you know that even after a big story arc like this one that Bendis has plenty more in store for the reader. If you haven’t given this title a try then do yourself a favor and give it a read. Out of all of the Spider-Man titles, Ultimate Spider-Man does the best job of capturing the spirit of Spider-Man. It is definitely one title that is well worth your money.