Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ultimate Spider-Man #132

As Marvel's Ultimate Universe continues its slow stagger toward oblivion (or whatever happens to it after the Ultimatum series is finished), it's nice to know there's one bright spot in the proceedings.

Ultimate Spider-Man has been the class act of the bunch since the beginning - consistently very good and often the best comic of the month.

Under the hand of writer Brian Bendis and a few different artists - most recently the excellent Stuart Immonen - this comic has explored the joys and pains of adolescence, the heroism of a young man driven to do the right thing, a sweet love affair (or two), fun and interesting characters and some amazing adventures. In other words, it's been everything a Spider-Man comic should be.

The latest (and next-to-the-last) issue finds Spider-Man trying to save lives in a New York City devastated by a massive flood. He's "teaming up" (and I use the phrase loosely) with the Hulk, which is kind of a hit-and-miss proposition.

Together they're trying to stem the tide of monsters pouring out of Dr. Strange's home, which was also smashed in the disaster.

It's yet another excellent story in the series, with a bit of a horror twist that works really well.

If only the Ultimatum series were half as good as this one...

Grade: A-

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