Ultimate Spider-Man has been on fire since it launched. There are very few comic book titles hotter on the market right now than Ultimate Spider-Man. Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto have created real magic with how they’ve gone about creating a new, fresh status quo for Spider-Man in this new Ultimate Universe. The world opened up even more in last month’s issue as the Kingpin assembled all the rulers of the different New York City districts to create the Ultimate Sinister Six. With this big of an introduction how will Peter Parker and Harry Osborn handle things moving forward? Let’s find out with Ultimate Spider-Man #9
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Cory Petit
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #9 SOLICITATION
“THE SINISTER SIX MAKE THEIR FIRST STRIKE! But WHO are the Sinister Six? The first member throws down with Spider-Man and Green Goblin in this action-packed issue! Plus, with Tony Stark’s return, Peter must also explore the limitations of his new suit…” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
Ultimate Spider-Man #9 is largely more set-up. It is a real test of how Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto can create immersive character interactions even if we are doing more of the same in terms of set-up. Though that is not to say there isn’t progression as Walter Hardy’s appearance as the Black Cat towards the final third of the story was exactly what this comic book needed.
Kicking things off with MJ meeting up with Jonah and Ben to talk about how their Paper news company is doing was a nice change of pace. Hickman and Checchetto really nail how differently MJ, Jonah, and Ben are viewing the early success of Paper. Ben and Jonah are old school journalist who are have a history of doing investigation pieces to compel readers. Meanwhile, MJ is looking at things from the views and audience size, appropriately so given her marketing background. Establishing this dynamic between the three does make watching the direction the Paper takes as a media company something to watch as now Ben and Jonah may uncover even deeper Ultimate Universe secrets.
These two perspectives give set-up how we learn about Spider-Man’s superhero status is growing in the eyes of the public. The Paper’s eight top stories being Spider-Man stories shows the popularity Spider-Man has already gotten. This popularity for Spider-Man is an interesting dichotomy when we see on the other side the Ultimates being branded as villains. It is a switch that we hardly ever see.
That said, this does bring up the fact we are getting a lot of being told after the fact rather than seeing Peter as Spider-Man in action. This may come down to an problem with each new issue starting off in a new month. There is a whole month of stories we aren’t seeing. While that isn’t too big of a problem for Spider-Man since we know what kind of hero he is. That said, it is a problem when it comes to fully showing how Peter and Harry go from budding friendship to best friends or the quick growth of Paper. There is a bit of that journey that feels like we are missing out on.
Speaking of Peter and Harry, Ultimate Spider-Man #9 really highlighted the differences between the two in their roles as Spider-Man and Green Goblin, respectively. The previous issue’s meeting with Tony Stark clearly shook Harry and made him even more motivated to create a distance between the two so he doesn’t give Tony any credit. That opened the door for Harry to trust Otto Octavius even more in order to ensure his Green Goblin armor can’t be shut down or affected by Tony in any way.
That is very different from how we see Peter handle what Tony told them. Peter is even more bought into being what he was supposed to be as a superhero and sees the tech suit Tony provided him as a true gift. The internal monologue Peter has with his AI also furthers the idea that there is even more to his Spider-Man’s suit than being pure futuristic tech. While they were Peter’s real feelings to seeing the Iron Spider armor the way Hickman wrote the Peter AI’s dialogue does hint at something more.
All of this works towards also having Otto Octavius slowly continue his own evolution to the Doc Ock path. Hickman has done very good job at having Doc Ock come across as one of the smartest people in the Ultimate Universe. Like Harry, Otto saw Tony’s presence in the previous issue as a challenge to make better tech that only he controls, even hinted at being without Harry’s knowledge. The way he takes in the feedback given to him by Harry and Peter provides hints on how he will likely see him adapt the Iron Spider armor into what will become is Doc Ock arms.
All of this set-up plays in well into how Walter Hardy’s surprise attack on Spider-Man and Green Goblin ends up working out. Walter as Black Cat did a good job remind us that Harry doesn’t have any super powers, which is why he couldn’t wrap his mind around Peter’s Spider Sense activating. Black Cat also made Peter have to utilize his Spider Sense in a real fight for the first time. We see that is something Peter still doesn’t have a full grasp on in a real fight as he wasn’t smooth in his movements. That sloppiness made the experience level difference even more noticeable. If it was for Peter having super strength he could’ve easily gotten killed.
Which led to the big development of this issue with Harry as Green Goblin not hesitate using lethal force on Black Cat when he thought the villain was going for a killing blow. Luckily Peter was able to forgive Harry after seeing that Black Cat survive the several story fall. While their friendship is intact it does highlight how Peter and Harry approach being heroes much differently. We know Harry will go to any extreme for his justice. Now we will have to wait to see if Peter will be able to put up with Harry’s approach, something that the rest of the Sinister Six will likely bring out of Green Goblin.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimate Spider-Man #9 continued to do more set-up for what Peter Parker and Harry Osborn’s approach to being superheroes are. That led to a big fight against Walter Hardy’s Black Cat that could have big ramifications to the end results of this Sinister Six story. In the middle of all that we get some solid character development for the supporting cast as well. All of that comes together for another strong issue of Ultimate Spider-Man.
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
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