#UncannyXForce V1 21#Otherworld Otherworld is under attack, thankfully Meggan and General Widget are there to hold the front lineAoA Kurt is stirring up emotions Meggan has over 616 Kurt being dead Meggan is trying to see the brighter side of things, but it isn't easy right now
#UncannyXForce V1#OtherworldMeggan, Widget & AoA bid farewell to Deadpool & Logan as they split upAoA Kurt explains how bleak his world wasThe invasion begins!
#UncannyXForce V1 23#OtherworldAoA Kurt gets a little too familiar with Meggan, just in time for Widget and Boy Captain Britain to show up.Giant story concluding battles happen. Issue ends with Betsy controlling Brian to kill their older brother, Jamie
In an experiment to really get into what I didn’t connect to the second volume of Marauders, I’m going to read the series again, and see f I can narrow it down.
Annual One
Necessary reading the second volume! Closes out volume one, but mostly sets up volume two.
I sort of like how simple this outfit for Akihiro is. I don’t like how he’s burn to a crisp, but still alive. He was investigating a giant gravesite, filled with mutant bones.
I do love the art of Creees Lee here.
Kate Pryde and Bishop have such a fun friendship. I really want to see this continued to future comics.
Kate wants to be out of the shipping business, especially as the old Marauder ship is totaled, and wants to be more in the mutant rescue business.
Bishop volunteers to pick the new crew, but Kate wants that responsibility.
First Recruit : Psylocke! She tells us Kate drags her feet, a fun detail. Kwannon losing her daughter, sad detail.
This art really is gorgeous.
Second Recruit : Tempo, who is being broken up by Bouncer. Tempo gave Pryde a, maybe, but Bishop wants the answer to be, yes.
I should buy this comic, I do really enjoy it. I’ll add it to my Wishlist.
Third Recruit : Akihiro. He’s missing, so Kate is making him Mission One.
We watch up to Aurora, who just killed a dude. Bishop and Tempo want her to help find Akihiro.
A datapage I’m going to skip.
We see Iceman and Christian Frost dancing, they are fun together inside Somnus’ dreamworld.
Aurora has joined up with Kate & Psylocke to greet Somnus at The Broken Baths. I’m not sure which title has the Akihiro / Somnus relationship, or the Aki/Aurora relationship. Maybe X-Factor?
South Salem, New York, where it all started, as we are introduced to Brimstone Love, and his Theater of Pain. He does look cool. He’s an Xavier purist, so he hates the idea of Krakoa.
We catch up to the Marauders, minus Captain Pryde as she’s getting the new ship. They are investigation Akihiro’s last known location, and the gravesite has been filled up again.
The Morlock, Carver, who I’m not familiar with, tricked Akihiro, and now the Marauders, to come to this location. He’s upset about Krakoa as well. And with this group using the Marauders name. Which I never mind the reminder, as Mutant Massacre, the first one, should never be forgotten.
Brimstone Love makes solid points, it is just the way he goes about it that I’m not a huge fan of, but that’s also the point.
The Marauders arrive, we see in the background, they have a new air ship, but it looks like a classic UFO.
Brimstone Love calls Kate a delivery girl, so we already don’t like him even more.
A big fight breaks out.
Aurora takes out Carver.
Tempo pauses Brimstone Love.
Akihiro is in full berserker mode, and slices off one of Brimstone Love’s horns – the right one.
A giant crater is left where Brimstone Love’s city was.
Kate explains the new ship is a spaceship.
A datapage I’m not reading.
Kate Pryde has modified Emma’s Mercury spaceship into the new Marauders ship.
Everyone is on board to be part of the new Marauders.
To handle the Krakoa stuff, Pryde has named Christian Frost as the new Red Monarch.
Emma Frost gives Kate a two billion year old puzzle box with Kate’s name on it, and a note within in Kate’s handwriting, “the first blood spilled” and a map.
Such a great launch!
Issue One
I like Kate Pryde, Bishop, and Psylocke saving Fever Pitch. Great opening!
Kate starts investigating the mysterium puzzle box, leading her to Cassandra Nova, a character I don’t super enjoy. She was great under Morrison, then Whedon used her in a fun way, then she just kept coming back.
I do like a reference to Xavier being a Jerk. Always a good time, and always true.
I forgot we get Kate referencing how Cassandra Nova killed Pryde’s father, Carmen, during the attack on Genosha – another reason to not like that character. I thought it was only called back at the end of the series.
A datapage I still won’t read.
I like Psylocke and Tempo training together, that’s fun.
Bishop and Aurora are hanging out, she’s joining the team as that is where Akihiro is, and X-Factor wasn’t doing it for her.
Somnus is a new character to me, one I like, how I how the triangle of Somnus – Akihiro – Aurora, they’re fun together.
We continue the story beat of Brimestone Love hurting Akihiro.
People are shock to see Cassandra Nova is joining the team, everyone but Bishop who knew it was coming, he’s still not on board with the decision.
Another datapage I’m skipping
Cassandra Nova purposely annoying the team isn’t as much as fun as it should be.
We set up that we’re going to Shi’ar space as Step Two in the First Mutants Mystery.
The new Spaceship Marauder is a fun re-design.
I’m reminded Xandra, is leading the Shi’ar, with Gladiator at her side.
Delphos dismisses everyone.
Kin Crimson is introduced, they want to guide Xandra, and set up the conflict for us readers.
The First Blood Spilled.
All we know is that something bad happened, but Xandra got the actual information.
Aurora and Tempo are eating boost fruits to make the Marauder go faster. Silly but in a fun way.
We get a spaceship battle. Bishop & Psylocke go out into space with space rifles to lend extra fire power.
Shi’ar ship has a force field that is hard to break through.
Erik the Red sets foot onto the Marauder, as he has defeated Bishop and Psylocke – the two big guns.
Solid first issue.
I’m not the biggest fan of X-Men in space, but I’m always willing to give it a try.
No Lockheed, so that’s always disappointing.
Current Rankings : Annual, 1
Issue Two
Newark. New Jersey. The Lockheed subplot begins! Already off to a great start.
Chandilar. The Shi’ar Throneworld. And that was that. Delphos is consulting Xandra that the Marauders can’t ever be allow the answers they seek. Deathstar isn’t around, as she is in Secret X-Men 1 – a title I don’t even remember was an option.
Shi’ar Space. The Marauders stand off against Eric the Red in a very cool half splash page. Eric the Red talks very highly of himself, and lowly of mutants.
Akihiro is ready for a fight, and we get a very cute moment with Aurora asking if he was this way with Somnus – he wasn’t. She’s been in a good influence.
Kate is under the impression the first mutants are being held prisoner by the Shi’ar. I do like how she recognizes Cassandra Nova isn’t great, but the rest of her squad is.
Eric the Red has the Marauders fight red hard skin versions of themselves, but in New Mutants style outfits. Marauders defeat the fakes pretty easily.
Get another cute moment of Akihiro telling Aurora the next time she does something sexy, to slow down. Something he’s apparently been telling her to do since they met.
Tempo is trying to use her powers in a different way, as she can’t simply age up the constructs, but can control the blasts.
I like Kate fighting Eric the Red solo, she’s the leader, so she should be the one fighting the big bad.
Bishop recognizes the constructs are energy, so he simply absorbs them, which overcharges himself.
Datapage I have no interest in.
Gladiator tries to explain to Xandra why the Crimson Kin should be respected, they hold dark secrets that the leader shouldn’t be burden with.
Another datapage
Xandra commits to keeping the first blood secret a secret.
Cassandra Nova makes a fun comment about how Xavier in the womb choked her harder and better than Eric the Red currently is choking her. She can be fun, she just has a lot of baggage to get moved aside.
Eric the Red explains more about the Crimson Kin’s history, then drops the bubble that was keeping all of the atmosphere in the Marauder. Sucking all of the mutants out.
We get an excellent mutant circuit. Tempo is slowing down all of the breathable air. Aurora is trying to blast Eric the Red. Psylocke is trying to get everyone spacesuits. Cassandra Nova is gone.
Kate Pryde gives us the danger countdown, as they only have seven minutes to breathe.
Eric the Red has the puzzle box.
Somnus has a brilliant idea to get Psylocke to put everyone into one of his dreamscape. Space problems require Space solutions.
Meanwhile out in space, Cassandra Nova is fighting Eric the Red.
Aurora and Somnus keep sharing a similar taste in men, which is fun.
Somnus has the ability to monitor what is happening in the real world. Seven seconds in the real world s seven days in the dreamscape, so they have plenty of time to organized.
Cliffhanger is Xandra has to decide what to do with the Marauders sleeping bodies as she arrives to their location.
Not a bad issue at all. I’m still connecting everything, and feeling good about the story beats.
Ranking : Annual, 2, 1 – which makes sense as each issue should be better than the last. Annual gets points for being set on Earth, and looking amazing. I should write that Carlini has been doing a great job with the ongoing issues.
Issue Three
Issue opens with Eric and Delphos chatting about the mission. Secret X-Men 1 seems to be a story told just to keep Deathbird out of this arc, which is a clever writing exercise, and to keep Xandra’s most trusted advisor away from her.
Apparently Cassandra Nova has been fighting Betel this whole time, okay.
Upper Orbit. the sleeping Marauders have been taken to Xandra’s ship, under Gladiator’s watch.
Cassandra Nova kills Betel, and has to now fight a dragon person, Pr!z the Dragon. Who gets a trip to their personal black bug room.
Apparently Pr!z red skin was a mutant, Zzxz, and once removed, Pr!z is green. I might have skipped these pages previously.
Somnus updates the team, it has been three minutes outside, and they are in a ship.
Aurora wants Psylocke to link all of their minds, and then use Tempo’s powers together to have light speed thoughts to create a winning plan. Mutant circuit!
Two Shi’ar goons have a chat about how the Crimson Red shouldn’t hold any authority.
I like how the mind meld was to come up with a plan that didn’t involve a full on assault, but as the Marauders wake up, they get caught, so end up just assaulting goons anyway. That’s fun.
One of the goons gets half a warning out to Gladiator, and to show how fast he is, Gladiator is immediately there. He’s super that way, man.
Gladiator doesn’t want to fight the Marauders, but will. Tempo ages Gladiator’s arm to old man arm, which stops him for a moment.
Just then, Cassandra Nova arrives, having to wipe away the two Reds off her outfit. Gladiator doesn’t want to fight her, as she’s a member of Krakoa, but she waives that claim, so they can fight now. Which is also fun. Cassandra Nova rakes Gladiator’s eyes, but then Xandra shows up to calm things down.
Kate Pryde tries to scold Cassnadra Nova from killing two Reds, but she is quick to correct the record, that they died by themselves, she just assisted in a way.
Xandra and Kate Pryde finally get a moment to talk (be nice if we get a reference to Mr. and Mrs. X 1, where Kitty sent Rogue & Gambit to ensure Xandra hatched). Kate wants to free the first mutants. Cassandra Nova reveals she has known the secret since she invaded Xavier’s mind during the Morrison arc.
Kate references the puzzle box, and Delphos notes she doesn’t have it now, as if that changes anything Kate is saying.
Another datapage
Delphos, somehow can update the rest of the Crimson Kin without Xandra or Cassandra Nova noticing.
Xandra offers to reveal the secret of the first generation of mutants. Delphos tries to stop her, but Xandra shuts Delphos right down onto her knees. Xandra agrees to lead the Marauders to where the secrets are. Xandra is also impressed with Kate Pryde, as of course she is.
Another datapage.
They are headed to The Krag, that keeps the Chronicle, which is the book of secrets.
We get an eerie warning from Cassandra Nova to Somnus to keep watching.
Issue ends with Xandra being blasted, and Kate asking Bishop if he bought enough guns for everyone.
Issue Four
Neal Adams died 😦
Deathbird returns to the throneworld, and is not happy that Xandra isn’t there.
Marauders vs more hard light constructs. The constructs / guards destroyed Xandra’s ship, so they’ll have to figure out how to get home later.
Kate Pryde takes a hit for Bishop that takes the wind out of her. More than the wind, she’s dead. Jim
Maybe this is where I start losing the plot. Kate Pryde died twice during the Krakoa era – once at Shaw’s hands, and now here in Shi’ar space? Doesn’t seem worthy enough.
I love how angry Psylocke is that Kate is dead, so now she is going to cut loose. Bishop is right there with her, not holding back anymore. Cassandra Nova is messing with their bird brains, as they have located the book’s location.
Tempo would like a nap, a boost fruit, or a beer. She’s fun.
They find a chamber of liquid, so it isn’t a book necessarily. More like a chamber of secrets, if you will.
The chamber holds within it a Lupak, something each Imperial Guard has, so it can be retrieved, and re-uploaded, similar to the Krakoa Resurrection Procedure. This Lupak belonged to Fang, who Logan stole his outfit years ago, and Akihiro borrowed his name for a bit.
Psylocke jumps on Fang’s back, so that Akihiro doesn’t just fight him, they can talk now.
If I understand Cassandra Nova correctly, she took all of Fang’s knowledge, put it in a mental box, and then placed that box inside Somnus’ dreamscape for future investigating.
Psylocke doesn’t like Cassandra Nova claiming the leader position, so with a twist of her focus totality, sees inside Fang’s mind, and witnesses the first blood. Before it was spilled. The Threshold.
We see what they looked like, how they lived, three faces that we will grow to know more later. When Fang woke up, he commented on how Akihiro stinks of his kin, so maybe this is not Fang, but ancient Fang relative.
We see the Shi’ar invading, attacking Threshold. I do recall skipping these pages in the trade. Five mutants rose up to be guards, which of course, makes us think about The Five of Krakoa.
Both sides took major loses. The first blood spilled was many.
A data page I’m skipping.
The Kin Crimson, I guess I’ve been reading it wrong this whole time, were created. The early Shi’ar recognized which genes were inferior, and started breeding themselves to be stronger.
Took eons for mutants to start to grow in number. Okkara rose, and split. We see the original Eric the Red attack the All New All Different X-Men.
Fang shouts at Psylocke to stop with the retelling, which is a fun comic way to explaining who was providing those narration boxes. Fang references how no one from Threshold survived. Cassandra Nova tells Bishop that Fang is lying, some DNA was saved and recorded in timedrives.
With a fruit boost, Tempo shuts Cassandra Nova down, so she can talk to the team.
Seems like they jump to talking about going back in time, where did that idea come from? Oh no, is it already happening, am I losing interest in this?
Bishop is ready to travel back in time, but Tempo is quick to mention how he’s just a tourist, she’s the one who has to do the traveling.
Datapage, an email from Tempo to Bishop. It is so many words.
Tempo shares her concerns, Aurora says she can Akihiro can stay behind to protect during the time heist.
Apparently the way The Kragg is shaped, they can use the resources to space jump, but time jumping is tricky.
Tempo takes them to Avalon, Magneto’s hold space base, that is using Shi’ar tech.
Issue ends with Nemesis showing up, how is that possible?
Yeah, I do fear this is where I started losing the plot. I just feel the disinterest growing.
Ranking : Annual, 2, 3, 1, 4
Issue Five
Andrea Broccardo takes over art duties, he has a more traditional art style which is a pleasant surprised. I guess the jump back to the 90s makes sense to have a different artist?
Krakoa. Xandra has been resurrected, and we get a nice father / daughter moment with her and Xavier.
Aurora and Akihiro are fighting off Fang and other goons.
We get a great editors note setting the time period, X-Men V2 42
Nemesis vs Exodus, fun to be reminded how far Exodus has come.
Tempo with the reminder to not to change anything too much.
I do like Nemesis talking in paragraph long word balloons.
Somnus has questions, and I do like Psylocke stating that all of this becomes normal at some point. It helps to quit questioning it.
Were fruit boosts this common during Krakoa? I feel like this volume is the only title that made this much out of them? Also, where are they keeping these, in the top of their boots?
Cassandra Nova is being looked over by a symbiote, when did that happened? Or is that the Kin Crimson’s wet skin? I think that’s the same thing. Oh yeah, that’s Zzxz and Cassandra Nova, making a Venom design – for some reason. Weird whenever people refer to her as Nova, that’s a different dude.
I do like, haircut, for an insult for a person. So silly
Psylocke is getting closer to the DNA, and can sense it is just one mutant from Threshold.
When did Nemesis hit her, I don’t remember this, and it was only three minutes between issues.
oh, when the Marauders went back in time, they were separated from Cassandra Nova, so when he was shouting about Age of Nemesis, it was due to the power upgrade he got from biting Cassandra Nova.
Fang puts his fist through Akihiro’s chest, so Akihiro removes Fang’s arm.
Aurora makes a Storm reference, as she lights up the room.
Akihiro notices the gland, which I thought Fang grew out of, but apparently it is separate, so he claws his way to the gland, and kills Fang. Akihiro quotes Brimstone Love’s pain is only a challenge. Interesting.
Bishop is absorbing Nemesis’ extra power, bringing him back to jump normal levels of high power.
Cassandra Nova makes a fun joke about how Zzxz can’t feed on Nemesis’ brain, as he doesn’t have much of one, but Bishop throws a wet blanket over the situation, as Nemesis can’t be killed back then.
Psylocke updates the team that she has the timedrive, and it seems to only have data. Tempo is quick to mention how it might be more like teleporter’s pattern buffer, like how they got Scotty on Star Trek The Next Generation.
Tempo freezes time to get the Marauders back together. I see now that Cassandra Nova’s symbiote design is all black with a white Phoenix pattern, so that’s fun.
Cassandra Nova proposes a mutant circuit – herself, Zzxz, Tempo, and Psylocke who can focus her totality into anything, it doesn’t have to be a knife shape.
Marauders back in the present, Psylocke recalls she still has her memories, but wouldn’t they have been outside the time change?
Cassandra Nova comments how of course no one remembers anything from the past, she erased their memories, which does seem to be the obvious solution.
Psylocke notices the Chronicle is destroyed, which means the evidence of the Shi’ar’s crimes is now gone.
Dramatic page turn, and Deathbird and Gladiator have arrived, all the evidence they need is with their new prisoner, Delphos.
Psylocke informs Deathbird that they have the timeslip, and Xandra said they could keep it. Deathbird tells her that she’ll find her niece, and be told what the terms of the agreement were. To which, Delphos updates her that Xandra is super dead.
So Deathbird, of course, kills Delphos, so there goes that evidence. Deathbird agrees to the vow.
A datapage.
Awkward, Xandra is back on the throne, but the Marauders are there too. So they waited for her to come all the way back? One would think they would have met in the middle somewhere.
Present Day Fang arrives Akihiro the name, Fang. So that’s fun. I believe I did skip all of this issue in my original read, and then my Aurora reread.
We see Warbird from the Jason Aaron Wolverine and the X-Men run, so that’s fun. She was also part of Marjorie Lu’s Astonishing X-Men run. Zzxz bonds with Warbird.
Xandra gives Psylocke the knowledge of the first blood spilled. We see Psylocke has been updating Greycrow with the story, which is a fun story reveal. I do love KwanJohn. She wishes they can go through one Hellfire Gala without a scandal, sadly she’ll never get that wish fulfilled.
Datapage of an email from Bishop to Kate, that I did read.
Days later. Kate Pryde has been resurrected! YAY!
Issue ends with Cerebra being resurrected, and with a new outfit styled by Jumbo Carnation.
I really did enjoy this issue a lot.
Rankings : Annual, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4
Issue Six
Full Disclosure, I didn’t quite click with the AXE Judgment Day crossover event.
Issue opens with another page in the Lockheed subplot, he’s doing some sort of investigation.
Kate Pryde is explaining to Fabian Cortez (and us) what has been happening.
Datapage, a message from Aurora to Kate Pryde
Birdy, a character I’m not familiar with, is interviewing the Marauders as the judging celestial as passed its judgment. She been helping Aurora, so she must be from the X-Factor title. Context clues!
Bishop reveals he always knows where he is, place and time. Just a skill of his. We’re not told how he was judged.
Aurora and her personalities were trying to be tricked, but she couldn’t be. I like how this is pretty much my impression of AXE Judgment Day. None of the characters seem to care, and I’m right there with them.
Tempo is visited the a face of an old friend, but not his attitude. She also didn’t care about the result.
Psylocke, she immediately kills the Progenitor who was Mister Sinister shaped. She also didn’t care about the result. I should really look into what happened with her daughter.
Somnus is visited by a form of Northstar, who tries to harrass Somnus about not coming out in his first life.
Akihiro, looking great in his Fang outfit, but it doesn’t feel right referring to him as Fang. Such a short term name. He also doesn’t care about his judgment.
The Marauders reunite to tackle whatever is next, and I don’t think they appear in the crossover proper.
Issue ends with Spider-Man villain, Judas Traveller arriving, and I want to say nothing comes of this either?
Kate reveals that she passed, in Immortal X-Men, I believe?
Ranking : Annual, 6, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4
Issue Seven
Carlini is back as we start the second arc of the series.
Mike Pasciullo died 😦
Lockheed gets another page into his investigation
Kate Pryde and Cerebra continue their chat, as if the previous two issues didn’t happen, but they address those issues.
Cerebra is from X-Men 2099, thanks for that reminder, I needed that. She plants a Krakoan gate onto the New Marauder, which is very handy. Cerebra is will to help with the timeslip device, but doesn’t want to be on the official team.
Somnus – Akihiro – Aurora, and Psylocke being the fourth wheel, go to Captain America, Nebraska. They’re there to protect mutants from The Watchdogs. Actually, looks like they’re there to protect the watchdogs from Horsepower, a mutant who is wrecking some racists faces.
Datapage ForgetMeNot transcribed a chat between Kate Pryde and Doctor Nemesis about Cerebra, of course I read this.
I like Cerebra and Bishop chatting. Both mutants out of time, he invites her to a drinkup with Rachel and Cable. So fun.
Cerebra believes there are three life forces in the time drive, not one like Psylocke thinks.
There is an egg, one mutant crawls out, and Psylocke congratulates herself for guessing correctly. Exception, just then, two more mutants pop out of the first one, and we get a fun moment of Akihiro and Aurora teasing Psylocke.
Kate Pryde makes some introduces, the three Thresholders learn English pretty quickly. They don’t care for the sound of it.
Amass, Crave, and Theia, who is their leader, and she explains Threshold from her perspective.
Datapage, Bishop and Psylocke email to the other two War Captains, Cyclops and Magik. Another must read.
Thresholders are shocked to learn the Shi’ar have grown so large.
Akihiro wonders how there was no sign of Threshold existing, but two billion years is a long time to leave a trace anywhere. I do like how the Marauders are using the Trust but Verify method.
Crave can eat anything, so X-Men finally have someone to combat the Legion’s Matter Eater Boy.
Theia keeps sharing their history, and I’ll admit I don’t have much interest in it, but I appreciate the world building, and it doesn’t take away from the quality of the issue. It is an important story to tell. It is four pages that if it doesn’t attract, its just words and images waiting until a familiar face shows up again.
I immediately love that Theia and Tempo start flirting. Kate’s face is a delight.
Amass is very immature, but also notices Theia is connecting well with Tempo.
Theia tells them that they want to rescue more, and I immediately start to wonder if we’re going to try to bring an entire populace to the present day. Which doesn’t make that much sense, where will they go? Out of a thousand new characters, we’ll get to know maybe 10? What’s the point of this?
Also, those people are dead, buried, and forgotten – even with Resurrection Protocols, should they be brought back just because we can? two billion years seems like long enough to leave them there.
Cassandra Nova wants to reveal the truth, but Kate stops her, but I’m not sure what is the harm in telling them that they’re all dead. Of course they are, it is two billion years. Even if it was 50 years, everyone but the very youngest would be dead. Which is a haunting thought.
Cassandra Nova is about to reveal her truth, but instead, reveals that Kate is about to volunteer everyone to their deaths.
Issue ends with Cassandra Nova revealing that the bacteria weapons are the siblings – Arkea and Sublime.
Rankings : Annual, 6, 5, 7, 2, 3, 1, 4
Loses some points as the arc being set up, I’m not sure why we’re bothering.
Issue Eight
Tom Palmer died 😦
Issue opens with Threshold being destroyed.
Dramatic page turn, and we see the Marauders in the Broken Baths of Krakoa. The team is being very unguarded. Kate has trust in her team, because of their hearts.
I do appreciate the team asking what is the point, as that is my question. So they are going to save Threshold from Sublime and his sister, just so they can still all be dead in two billion years? I guess Kate is playing the numbers that maybe they’ll be some civilization left in the present day? But like Tempo said, wouldn’t that change the present day? What is the point of this?
Bishop sort of ruins the discussion by pointing out that all of the mutants of today are lost in his time, but he still fights for the present day ones as it is a fight worth having. But I feel like that isn’t the same thing, and maybe that’s because I live in the now, and can’t help the people of yesterday, but even with a time machine, I still feel like I wouldn’t or couldn’t help much, unless it creates an alternate timeline – which it usually does according to Marvel rules, but I think Tempo changes that as she has real control over time? Maybe?
We get KwanJohn as he tempts her to take over leadership, which is a bold move, and she doesn’t want that position.
Crave is eating all the food, and he’s sitting next to Maggot AND Eanie and Meanie. I love those two.
Cassandra Nova and Amass are hanging out, so that tells you a lot about Amass.
Theia and Tempo are on a date at the beach, and it is very sweet. It is odd that humanity is the majority, but also it is a numbers game, and we did lose millions at Genosha.
Tempo doesn’t like the water, which is a cute character trait. Theia on time Aurora on speed Tempo on time Amass merging everybody A fruit boost and a leap of faith that it all works
The White Palace. Kate, Bishop, and Psylocke – I do like how these are the main three of the Marauders. I really need to treat myself to the Psylocke Funko, I am a bigger than I thought I was. They are trying to rush Jumbo Carnation to make their new suits – suits I’m going to hate as it is going to be very hard for me to identify who is talking, and thus, feel very disconnected from the events I’m not going to be enjoying.
Bishop ponders if they do need to rush him, as they’re jumping back in time, it isn’t like the more time spent in the now, changes when they arrive then.
Stitch is also working on the suits, giving credit where it is deserved. One of the main features is keeping today’s germs from harming the old germs, even though they are going to be fighting humanoid germs.
The Thresholders are not getting suits, as they haven’t been in the present long enough to absorb the new germs, which doesn’t seem right, as are they not in new bodies?
I feel like I’m punching holes into something that is already very unstable.
Akihiro makes an awesome reference to how he thought Tempo was already breaking into Theia’s body down at the beach. oh my
So Threshold was on Earth, and not somewhere deep into Shi’ar space? I must have missed that as the Marauders land on Cooterman’s Creek.
Amass assembles everyone together, into a giant blue monster, with one each of everyone’s eyes. Everyone has a role to play. Tempo. Chronokinetics. Pryde. Intagibility. Theia. Gravity Shield. Fang. Healing. Bishop. Compound Energy. Psylocke. Psychic Backup. Aurora. Lightspeed. Cassandra Nova. Threshold Langauge. Somnus. Hypersleep. Amass. Amassing.
Datapage I’m skipping
Two Billion Years Ago. A battle is happening. Arkea and Sublime are already attacking. Marauders separate and join the fight. Fight Fight Fight. Akihiro’s suit rips, and he begins being infected. Why are they doing this?
Issue ends as Sublime has a new host body, Akihiro’s.
Rankings : Annual, 6, 5, 7, 8, 2, 3, 1, 4
Issue Nine
Stan Lee would have been 100 if he had lived to see this issue be printed.
Issue opens with the enemies of Threshold chatting. There is a war between Threshold and the Unbreathing, and Arkea & Sublime are influencing both sides.
Sublime-Akihiro attacks the Marauders.
They kept using the term, Livery, and I finally had to look it up. Just means special uniform.
Somnus brings Akihio into his dreamscape to say goodbye.
Marauders blow up Sublime, and we’re reminded that no one will stay dead, as long as someone makes it back to Krakoa.
Arkea is there, was she there the whole time, or just arrived?
Marauders are using telepathy to secretly plan, but Arkea can hear their thoughts, so there’s no point to secrets.
Unbreathing shows up, and Marauders need to leave as there’s too many enemies.
It is cute that they’re wearing their superhero suits under their liveries.
Amass gets pulled into the ground. They want to save him, but believe Crave will know how.
Datapage from Crave stating Amass is dead.
Marauders regroup as we catch up to them hours later. It is hard to tell who is talking as not everyone is easily identifiable. Crave isn’t there, nor is Kate Pryde. Tempo repeats how this was a bad idea, and it really was!
We meet Grove, the leader of Threshold. They go to the home base, and see the puzzle box in its early days, it actually is a seed.
Datapage I’m skipping.
We’re introduced to the weapon, Daymight. No Pryde on any of these pages, and they’re talking about a battle that has been over for billions years, I feel my interest weening.
Cassandra Nova doesn’t love their main weapons manufacture is a human, but Grove states humans and mutants have a great working relationship. Psylocke states she “trusts her trust” which seems super silly.
Every 20 years, the previous generation births the next, and Arkea has tainted the process. Tempo wonders if the process is like how fish do it, but Theia states it is more like how Tempo does it, which Tempo likes the way Theia implies the intimacy.
Psylocke is prepared to do whatever it takes to defeat Arkea.
Bishop has a plan to eat a fruit boost, and absorb the bacteria.
We see Amass is not dead, but held prisoner. A prisoner of Nightfount, a defector. Looks interesting, but I feel like this is far too many new people to start caring about or latching onto. Turns out that Nightfount is . . . Stryfe! Which feels like the first time I looked at this page. So the plot is getting more complicated.
Rankings : Annual, 6, 5, 7, 8, 9, 2, 3, 1, 4
There were a lot of pages that I just don’t find interesting, but I am noticing I’m ranking all of these over the original arc, but I think that’s just exposure to the characters more than liking one over the other.
Issue Ten
Styrfe has big BIG plans to become King.
Kate Pryde phases out of Amass, and starts attacking Stryfe. Is this the first time these two interacted? It feels like it is. I have no memory of these pages.
Amass starts trying to absorb Stryfe, so Pryde can escape back to the others.
Datapage I have no interest in
As Pryde escapes, she’s hoping someone can hear her thoughts, as she gives a sit-rep of what has been happening.
Everyone is fighting in Threshold with Psylocke assisting. Grove is injured.
Marauders are at the birthing section, but Sublime attacks them.
I get they are going for an epic war feel, with characters everywhere and chaotic battlegrounds, but it all just leaves me cold.
Bishop did what he could, but his livery is destroyed, but he took out large portions of both Arkea and Sublime. We’re told this, as I’m not sure I would believe it or know it if it wasn’t from the dialogue.
Cassandra Nova opens her livery to take on Arkea and Sublime. Cassandra Nova’s body is now the prize to be had, so the siblings solely focus on claiming the new body. The siblings are in lots of different bodies, but all sharing the same goal.
Pryde has joined Psylocke, and if you do look at legs, we are given just enough information to figure out who it is, or who it couldn’t be based on what little we are shown.
Cassandra Nova goes full supernova mode, killing both bacteria. I imagine just enough of both gets away to regrow.
The next morning. Theia and Tempo are together. Amass is still a prisoner of the Unbreathing.
Kate Pryde recognizes she can’t save everybody. Grove looks like Groot, and if you’re not reading all of the word bubbles, you’ll miss that information. Or you don’t care, see a Groot, and keep turning the page.
Kate Pryde and Cassandra Nova finally confront each other. But this is just a distraction to have Somnus attack Cassandra Nova with a gun, the Chokestick.
I do like how Cassandra Nova called Kate, Sprite, it is meant to be insulting, but also, it is a silly name to mock someone with.
Kate tells Cassandra Nova that Emma says hi, then reminds her that she killed Kate’s father, Carmen.
There was a shared dream, but what all was the dream, just the last few panels?
Krakoans are getting ready to go home. Theia and Tempo say their goodbyes.
Grove wants to be called, Okkara, so now we have that answer. I had to look up what the question is. She will become an island, which will eventually break into two pieces – Krakoa and Arakko. So big stuff here.
Datapage, a little from Kitty Pryde to her father, Carmen Pryde.
Present Day. Green Lagoon. Anole is making drinks. Kate checks in with Tempo, who has had better days. Tempo and Theia’s relationship lasted a long weekend, but left an impact.
Since they still have the time drive, Theia, Crave, and Amass are reborn – something I missed when I first read this, I imagine they got that battle version of their memories back.
Rankings : Annual, 6, 5, 7, 8, 10, 9, 2, 3, 1, 4
Slight improvement over the previous issue. 9 & 10’s opening and concluding are nice, but there is a full issue of content that I rather not read for a fourth time.
Issue Eleven
Datapage of the 3 Rules of Krakoa, this time with a fun post-it note from Kate Pryde to Nightcrawler.
Kate and Kurt chat, and I love it so much. She is upset that they left Threshold to defend itself, but – again – what was she going to do, bring thousands of mutants from two billion years ago to the present day? And put them where?!
Kurt gives her some perspective, and some inspiration to try something new.
After far too many issues without him, we catch up to Detective Lockheed in Boston. He brought some backup, Akihiro and a baseball bat. Casey Jones style!
Kate Pryde, wearing her old training uniform, has an idea she wants Theia’s opinion on. Theia is wearing a similar outfit, so they’re bonding.
Santo Marco. Psylocke and Aurora are trying to save people. This is in reference to Armageddon (Nature) Girl’s actions in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic 44. Which is nice that the digital comics are having an affect on the printed comics. Triage from the Bendis Uncanny volume (3) makes an appearance, always nice to see one of those mutants around.
The mutant, Feedback, was being held prisoner here, and exploded.
Kate believes that Krakoa was the first mutants, and going back in time, making Threshold survive, made mutants survive billions of years later. Which feels 1) complicated, and 2) why even tell this story?
I do like the idea that the previous issue ended with Kate making the note or the map, so she knows she still has to do that to close the loop.
Hammer Bay, Genosha. Cassandra Nova is locked away in the past. But what if the cage was rebuilt here? Which does go to my question of, where do you put an entire civilization?
Lockheed and Akihiro have been investigating Scratch and his recruitment schemes. Scratch has been recruiting for Brimetone Love, and these two are shutting it all down. To give him some credit, Scratch keeps talking throughout his beatdown.
Kid Crimson’s attack on Threshold was the first blood spilled. But Cassandra Nova’s attack on Genosha can be considered her first blood spilled. We might be taking this metaphor too far, but we’re also having to connect these dots.
Bishop starts to smile as in his era, he’s heard of this legend. He’s getting ahead of Kate here.
Kate wants to bring back Threshold, but wouldn’t all of these misplaced new but very old mutants really wreck the world if they ever leave the border?
Kate has a theory that Genosha was built where Threshold was, but that’s not where they stood to go back in time, so I’m not sure. Polaris shows up to assist, so that’s nice of her.
Okay, let me write this plan as I don’t think I get the steps Polaris shapes it Cerebra scans the DNA in the ground, and does a lot more Box is filled with the found DNA Tempo sends the box back in time Time Nature, and Evolution do the rest
Tempo thinks it is crazy enough to work.
Wicked, a mutant I have no knowledge of, shows up to help with the spirts. Apparently her first appearance is in Excalibur V3, the Xavier & Magneto volume that deals with the aftermath of Genosha, so that’s a fun loop to include here.
I do not recognize this outfit Psylocke is wearing with the big pink coat. Psylocke and Aurora are going to San Francisco to retrieve Cerebra.
Wicked points out that Pryde is clearly doing this without Council approval. It does seem like a big task to not get cleared.
During Kate’s entire speech, Wicked’s spirits have been moving about, and we finally get Carmen Pryde’s ghost to appear.
Madripoor. Akihiro and Lockheed have located Brimstone Love! They brought along Mister Dee who I know from X-Men 198, with the squid gut situation. He appears to have been de-aged at some point.
We get a fun datapage that breaks down how each mutant is going to bring Threshold to the present.
We’re fully in the present, but haven’t shaken off the final arc yet, but there’s only one issue to go.
Huge points for having Lockheed back in the title, and on more than one page.
Issue Twelve
Madripoor. Issue opens with Lockheed, Akihiro, and Mister Dee attacks Brimstone Brother.
Genosha. Polaris is at working on a new puzzle box.
San Francisco. Theia is wondering what gives her the right to be existing now, and to bring back Threshold. Tempo tells her that they exist, so they have all of the rights. Then they kiss.
We get a beautiful call back to Mekanix, where Carmen repeats he loves Kate, as his final words before the attack on Genosha.
Carmen sees the map and handwriting, and realizes it is both Pryde’s handwriting. So everything is slowly coming together.
I guess I’m confused why Kate needs the Genosha spirits’ permission? Because we’re going to get billions of new (but very old) life in Genosha? Even though The Five are slowly trying to bring those lost in Genosha back. Where will they go?
Can’t just bring back a billion people, and expect them to live and die only in Genosha.
Datapage featuring Magik and the War Captains discussing Cerebra.
San Francisco. We see Cerebra is making sure her 2099 friends are born.
We get a fun splash page of the X-Men 2099, with current members thanks to the few 2099 miniseries that had come out around this time.
Cable brought Cerebra here, for this Threshold mission, is what people are thinking. She can never go back to 2099, for some reason.
Madripoor. Akihiro and Brimstone Love are fighting. Mister Dee creates a doll of Brimstone Love to torment. Lockheed burns the doll, ending the fight.
Genosha. Ladies are all hard at work. Akihiro finally arrives with Lockheed. Kate has been missing him so much!
There is a pretty cool giant structure now in Hammer Bay. The structure is in a shape of a Double Helix, like the name of Threshold’s capitol.
Kate gets the puzzle box ready, and once done, Tempo and her go back in time.
The Proterozoic Era. Kate plans the box, reciting the three rules of Krakoa (I do like a bookend). We see a slew of new (but very old) mutants launch.
Some time later. Kate and Emma are having a few drinks. I love these two together. Emma quotes Magneto’s new gods speech. Kate says Mystique is the one who found the vessel for Emma. Emma knew that Kate would see the vision, she just needed a slight push.
The Quiet Counsel sits in The Grove, who we have now met. So this volume, especially the second half, really matters to set up the Krakoan Era. I just breeze through it to fast to appreciate or notice that.
Final splash page is essentially everyone who showed up in this volume for the big party.
And it all ends with Lockheed on Kate Pryde’s shoulder, my favorites, with Magik at the top of the structure.
There is a datapage that explains everything, that I would have remembered if I actually read it. All of those mutant who jumped out of the box, are going to create Threshold, so they were the second generation of mutants, created by the first generation, billions of years later. It is a pretty large time loop.
Lockheed and Kate Pryde are back together, so I give this issue so much more love.
Now when I look back at this volume, it isn’t the real mess I think it is.
Sure it starts with a space opera I don’t care for, then we get a crossover tie-in in the middle, then the Threshold arc, that connects to the first.
I mean, I’ll still forever wonder why we were given these stories instead of just more pirate goodness. I imagine it was to keep Kate Pryde off the board during the ending of Krakoa, until she got involved in the Fall of X.
I also guess it answers questions about how Okkara got started, Kate did that.
Which means Kate Pryde is the most important mutant.
After reading Ultimate Spider-Man 200, I wanted to reread some issues that I remembered.
This issue opens with Spider-Man being tied by . . . The Ringer!
The Ringer is straight up from Waldorf, Maryland. Which I love how much Spider-Man is thrown off by this bragging.
The Ringer calls Spider-Man a mutant (a running gag throughout this short arc, but I am only reviewing this first issue).
This very cool new brunette superhero is on the scene, and she wants the mutant race talk to cease.
The new hero is really Kitty Pryde, we’ll get to the why the new costume later in the issue. It is such a great reason. Kitty starts wailing on the Ringer.
I like how Kitty is so used to shutting fools down, that she’s surprised when it doesn’t work. While the guy is freaking out, she notices that Spider-Man is getting into an even tighter bind.
Is this the first time she phased him? I believe she phased her hand through his chest on their first date, but that was probably super quick, as she was only showing him her powerset.
I like how willingly Kitty shows her sexuality with her comment about how him not wearing a shirt is a real bonus for her. She’s enjoying this relationship with him.
I like how the Ringer is so second rate, that he is taken out by a basic webbing to a wall technique.
As the Ringer turns around, Kitty finally notices that he has a mechanic contraption on his back. Which I would assume she would have noticed earlier but he never does turn around in front of her. Plus, she’s use to mutants who don’t require any fancy gizmos so she might not have been looking either. By touching the contraption, there is a giant explosion.
That panel of Spider-Man with his gloves, when he is screaming “Kitty” – Spider-Man looks odd without his shirt, right? Reminds me of times when Batman rights with the cowl, but shirtless and capeless. It is a good look, but it is unusual to see.
I like how Kitty tries to shame Peter in not knowing how her power works. He doesn’t have to worry about her, as much. He wants some boyfriend concern points but her “technically” says it all.
The Ringer isn’t thrilled with this turn of events. Spider-Man works in putting his shirt on, he doesn’t need to be showing his goods.
How funny is Kitty, written by Bendis? Pretty darn! Gosh, I really did enjoy Peter and Kitty together, they have such great chemistry.
She tells him to look at the Ringer’s butt, and he rather he didn’t. She notices that the Ringer has his wallet on him. Who carries their wallet on them, and commit crimes? I recall stories of the Proper Marvel Universe Spider-Man wanting to buy a snack or some other small purchase, and not having any pockets, meant that he didn’t have any money on them. When I got married, I didn’t have my wallet on me. It was one of the few times I’ve been outside and without my wallet.
The Ringer’s real name is Anthony Davis from Medina County, Ohio – so he isn’t from Maryland. He must have said that to throw people off, but it sure does confuse Spider-Man. Which I know Bendis is from Ohio but looking the name up, turns out he is a proper Marvel character who got Ultimatized in this issue. Who got Ultimated? Who now has an Ultimate counterpart, yeah, that seems to be better.
The police arrive on the scene and Spider-Man knows that means they have to take off now. Kitty keeps wanting to shout the guy’s information. Are people from a county? Shouldn’t his driver’s license only say “Medina” or whatever city within the county the Ringer is from?
I do like how instead of calling him The Ringer, Kitty keeps calling him, Hula Hoop Guy – she wasn’t on the scene when he announced himself, so tries to come up with his villain name.
Once alone, Kitty lets Peter in on a secret – he has the worst villains. She has fought, with him, the Ringer and the Shocker, and both are below average in difficulty. Bendis takes the time to take a swipe at the Ultimates, as they did spend the first six issues of their series, fighting each other. Ultimates 2 is a much better volume, if you want more of a hero v villain plot.
Spider-Man swings them over to the Daily Bugle. Once they land, Kitty explains her brilliant idea. She wants to create a separate costumed identity so that the world doesn’t put the X-Men’s Shadowcat and Spider-Man together as a couple. Kitty wants to date Peter Parker and be seen out in public with him. A couple pairings is an old fashion team-up but anymore than that is suspicious. So Shadowcat can’t be seen with Spider-Man too many times as people seeing Kitty Pryde and Peter Parker, it wouldn’t take much to make the connection that Spider-Man may be Peter Parker. Kitty Pryde is a public figure, so a simple Google search reveals that she is an X-Man.
Kitty wants Peter to come up with her new name. He comes up with, Spider-Girl, she quickly shuts it down and he has no other ideas. Spider-Man, was as good as he came up with. Well, in the Ultimate Universe, the wrestling league came up with it.
Sorry, our scanner is only so big so the top panels are missing – mostly it is Kitty repeating that she wants help with the new name – the costume doesn’t lend itself to any ideas. After that, Kitty gives a giant, Yahoo, as webslinging must be fun.
Also missing is Kitty, once again, needing to have Peter say that he wants this relationship – which now that I’m this far removed from it, I want to say she does rather often. She may have always been more committed to the relationship than he was.
Okay, we are at the house panel, so you can follow along, dear reader.
Peter worries about how his aunt will handle him being in a relationship. Kitty points out that all of the horrible things that his aunt had to deal with, is simply due to him being Spider-Man. He’s not ready to tell his aunt his spider-secret – so it isn’t Kitty related at all. That slash she is the easier thing to say, less revealing on his part.
Kitty wants to simply date Peter. She comes up with the great idea that, if Peter had a girlfriend, that would give him plenty of opportunities to lie to his aunt and put on some red and blue spandex. She takes another swipe at his lame villains, he tries to mock her’s but she does have some decent villains – Magneto, Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood.
Kitty mentions Mojo, which is important as this Deadpool arc is a sort of sequel to the Ultimate X-Men Most Dangerous Game arc. Which I’ll review one of these days but since I’m already reviewing five issues inspired from one issue, I feel like I’m already down one rabbit hole. We’ll get there.
Kitty tells Peter that she is very open about her being a mutant, so she would not not tell Aunt May. Kitty will also tell her that she is an X-Man. I like how Peter’s first thought is how does a kid from Midtown High School dating one of the X-Men. They do need a better cover story than ‘meeting in a mall.’
The X-Plane arrives, it is on remote now.
Her teammates thought it was cool that she was dating Spider-Man but they are over it. Peter should just be out with dating Kitty. That is a pretty decent kiss!
Kitty gets into it and phases through him, which both ruins the moment and not grosses but unsettles him. Peter wants her to call him, once she goes home. Their relationship really is good, except for his complications.
I like that Bendis gives us a full page of Kitty’s thoughts. She barely got much play in X-Men, so I was all for her slowly getting onto this title. Kitty hasn’t told any of her teammates about her new costume identity idea, she really isn’t that close to anyone at the mansion.
I really like her wanting a life outside of the X-Men, which more X-Men should want that in every dimension.
She worries about pushing him away.
There is an add for the first Fantastic Four movie. Ioan Gruffudd will always be my Reed Richards.
Kitty comes home to an empty mansion, which must be super unsettling. She must think they are out on an adventure until she runs into Wolverine.
Who isn’t Wolverine, rut row! He tries to stab her, she lets him phase through her and she takes off. He attempts an energy attack.
Kitty feels the sting of the energy attack. Storm enters the room but she doesn’t recognize, Ororo, as a word. So that isn’t Storm and Kitty phases down a floor.
Kitty heads to the garage but men with guns are already there. Kitty’s first thought for help is to call the Ultimates, that can’t be a good sign of her confidence in a certain wall crawler. She phases through some computers and the X-Plane sequence is set.
Kitty is outnumbered and is knocked out. We got a pretty great six page sequence that didn’t have Spider-Man on any page – that is a nice commitment.
Meanwhile, at the Parker House. Aunt May is getting ready for a date, she doesn’t care what he has been up to. He notices the X-Plane is going to his spot that he meets Kitty. Is that an abandon house or something?
Once entering the plane, it sets course back to the mansion. We learn that it is only a twenty minute plane ride to Westchester, which seems super reasonable.
That is super funny, Peter saying “Hello Kitty” and then immediately recognizing it. What keeps that franchise alive? Is there a new cartoon, how are people discovering it or getting into it? The dolls and various other merchandise isn’t that cute.
Shadowcat walks up to Spider-Man, his spider-sense goes off but he doesn’t know why. She then blasts Spider-Man and knocks him out. Issue ends with Kitty shifting into . . . Deadpool and the Reavers!
Letters Page features letters from – Nekolas Martin of South Boston, VA / Onsy “Scorpy” Al Hagrassy of Dubai, UAE / Phillip Tallman / Stuart West of the United Kingdom / Xalibar / Alec Berry / Mark H and Jacob Silvers of Warren, OH.
Aunt May was at the school assembly and comes home, declaring that there will be no more super heroes. She wants them to stop until the heat goes down. Aunt May thinks Johnny is cute. Gwen wants to know if anyone has heard from Kitty.
Bobby hasn’t and Aunt May is worried about whoever becomes the new principal. She is mostly worried about having one of her kids being hunted by the government. Aunt May was the boys to take this opportunity to be normal and live their lives, properly. Bobby wants to look for Kitty.
Gwen reminds them that Kenny is with Kitty. Bobby is worried Kitty is going to join a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants – I would be more worried about her starting one.
Very funny exchange about Peter calling Bobby paranoid and him committing to it.
Aunt May wants the costumes to stay in the closet. She also lets them know that she knows how to use the Internet and will be checking for any superhero sightings.
Bobby wants to use this opportunity to get a job, as he has no money. Peter says the Burger Frog is hiring. Bobby is new there, so he is called, a Tad Pole. Pretty clever, management. Johnny shows up to harass Bobby and gets his underpants frozen, as thanks.
Mary Jane arrives,Kitty wouldn’t have called her. Mary Jane has tried Kenny’s house but no one answers the phone. Is Bobby hitting on Mary Jane? She wants to speak with Gwen too. I like how Gwen misunderstands Mary Jane’s intentions, as she says Peter can talk to her on his own, as she trusts him. Bobby’s “Dun Dun Dun” is fun.
Mary Jane shows the footage that she recorded. Mary Jane wants advice on what to do with the footage. She would like to use the footage to save Principal Suitress’ job, or at least, his reputation. Gwen and Peter have a quick fight, what is that about? Peter knows the best person to talk to.
Peter takes Mary Jane to the Daily Bugle. Peter introduces Mary Jane to Ben Urich. The Daily Bugle is an exclusive online newspaper now. Peter misses the old fashion office, whereas Mary Jane really digs the new layout. Ben doesn’t remember meeting Mary Jane before, but from the dialogue, I take it, it wasn’t on panel.
Urich is impress with Mary Jane’s whereof all to film the event. Urich explains their situation – it is news but you don’t want to make the victim more of a victim. On the other hand, the FBI was grossly wrong and the principal was trying to make it right. He offers to pay Mary Jane for the footage.
There is an ad for the Honda Insight.
He offers ten thousand, pumps it up to twenty thousand and Mary Jane keeps declining. He was only testing her, to make sure she was serious. Urich states that they don’t show the footage, they report it. He asks if they know where Kitty is, and they don’t.
Peter sees Jameson, and his spider sense goes off. Peter starts following his trail. Mary Jane tries to cover for Peter. Urich asks how long she has known Kitty, she says on this school year.
Peter catches up to Jameson, and he doesn’t recognize the kid, so Peter knows something is wrong. We get the cover scene recreated. He knocks Peter out in his confusion. Jameson takes Peter’s wallet and puts Peter in his trunk. He wakes Peter up, and while holding his face, shifts into Peter. This is the first appearance of Ultimate Chameleon, which is a shame as he is the first super villain that proper Spider-Man fought.
He knocks out Peter, once he learns his voice. Apparently it hurts when he shifts his height from 5’11 to 5’5.
“Peter” heads back up to Mary Jane and Urich, as he saw him talking to them earlier. Urich is still asking questions, such as if Mary Jane knew she was an X-Man. She did, as Kitty was very open about that. The issue ends with Peter confirming he doesn’t want to be on the record.
I will be reviewing issue 155 of Ultimate Spider-Man next.
Issue opens with the principal asking the agents to have a heart. The one agent saying the class is only for humans, is going way to far! What mess up federal law was that? Kenny punches the agent to his dumb face. Johnny has some respect for Kenny now. Agent Stevenson is the not horrible one. Kenny starts shouting about how Kitty is innocent.
Bobby wants to get in the fight but Peter says to stand down. Johnny also wants to do something but listens to Peter. Peter asks Kitty to put an end to this, and with a tear, she dies inside. Her one non-powered friend, is willing to go to jail to her, while her three powered friends, decide to just stand there and do nothing.
Kitty stands up and tells everyone to stop. One of the agents tries to arrest her but she reminds Kenny that she was an X-Man.
Kitty starts phasing Kenny through the floor. Everyone is happy that she is on the run, which is an odd reaction. The agents start running, somewhere. The principal and Peter exchange a look.
Iron Man is coming to theaters as there is a slew of products.
Kitty has phased the two of them into the sewer. Kitty is pretty thankful to Kenny for standing up for her. Kenny awkwardly tells her that he still loves her, but it wasn’t like he wanted to get back with her, that wasn’t his motivation. Though, he would get back with her, if she wanted to. I don’t quite recall them dating or why they broke up, but I’m sure we’ll get to those issues one day. They kiss.
That is some kiss! Kitty comes up with a plan.
At a school assembly, the principal is disgusted by the turn of events. He gives an impassioned speech, which ends with him stating he is resigning. Not like it mattered, as he was about to be fired, regardless.
At the Parker Home for Wayward Heroes. No one is happy with their decision. Peter knew that it would have escalated if powers got involved. Bobby really wanted to do something, X-Men Represent, yo! Peter tells everyone to hero up and they end over to Kitty’s house. The media has gotten word of what happened and they are camped out in front of the Pryde home. Spider-Man sees something.
There is a huge explosion! The Shroud appears and starts cursing at the stupid flatscanners.
Spider-Man foolishly dives at the Shroud and passes right through the person. Bobby uses the word, phase, and finally figures out who the Shroud. A mystery that has lasted since the first issue of this relaunch. Shroud punches Bobby’s dumb face.
The Shroud takes off her mask, revealing her to be . . . KITTY PRYDE!!! Which is a pretty awesome reveal.
Shroud is disgusted with her would-be friends. Why will they help her now when they wouldn’t at the beginning of all of this? Shroud calls Human Torch a himbo, a word that was popular back in 2010, oh so many years ago.
Ultimate Kitty becomes like the Proper Vision, is that she controls her density, which is a power upgrade I wish the Proper Kitty Pryde would learn. It makes her even more of a threat.
Spider-Man wants her to stop, as she is becoming the threat the media always said she was. She goes all Quieten Quire and says that, Magneto was right.
Shroud superpunches Spider-Man’s stupid face. Mrs. Pryde wants Spider-Man, who crashed through her window, to help her daughter.
Human Torch tells her to calm down, which is something that has always helped. Iceman freezes Shroud, he walks up to the ice cube to inspect it and Shroud phases her head, resulting in giving him a headbutt. A move, I would never recommend anyone does, it hurts both you and your opponent.
Shroud explains the obvious power upgrade. She gets to lash out on her silly friends. She calls Spider-Man, a human, which is as low as insults go. Iceman is a race traitor. She starts phasing into the ground.
The boys head over to a manhole cover. Johnny heats it, Bobby freezes it and Spider-Man smashes it with his foot. He does go as far as to say that he could have done his part from the beginning. Or, you know, they could have just lifted it like people do.
Johnny isn’t built for sewers. They can’t see her, even with Johnny’s flame lighting the way. Spider-Man shouts that they love her and they only want to help. Iceman calls her, Kit, which doesn’t sound good. Johnny wants them to leave, like how she requested.
I know Lafuente has a rep for being a cartoony artist but look at that page above. So much intensity there!
Issue ends with Mary Jane reviewing the recording she made. Jessica Jones looks over her shoulder and declares that Mary Jane just bought herself into any college she will want to attend.
I relooked at the pages above and I don’t see her recording any of it, she is simply holding her binder but maybe it was from the previous issue.
I will be reviewing the next chapter of this storyline and it will be my last as Kitty doesn’t show up for the rest of the storyline or the series until the 15th issue. I have that issue on my Wishlist.
I only only the first three chapters of this storyline and will be reviewing all three shortly.
This volume of Ultimate Spider-Man happens after Ultimatum, me pointing that out will make sense at the end of the issue.
Brooklyn, 12:45pm – Bombshell (who is a mother and daughter team – the younger one will later be a member of the All New Ultimates) are knocking over an armor truck. The truck only has six bags of cash but that should be enough. All I really need in life is like $100,000.00 and I could be out of debt – student loans be crazy!
They are glad there are no police or Spider-Man around when they both get webbing in their eyes. They start spouting profanities, which I always read as “fuck.” Spider-Woman calls them out on their language. The mother daughter team keeps swearing. The mother wants Lana to take the money and run but she isn’t going without a fight. I wonder if they talk about this exchange ever, once they are on the same team. Lana calls Spider-Woman nothing but a Spider-Man wanna be with a B-Cup. Which she must barely be an A-Cup, so that must be some jealousy with the comment.
Nothing wrong with a B-Cup, look at Ashley Judd and Andie McDowell, even Michelle Pfeiffer.
Human Torch shows up, makes a crack about how there is enough of him for all the women present. Johnny chases them with fire and Spider-Woman knocks them out. Johnny tries to ask Spider-Woman out and she motors.
Poor Jessica, let’s just call her that, finds a dark place and takes her mask off. Johnny was stalking her, so he now sees her actual face and is even more in love. He would marry her, if she would have him. He keeps pressing her for a date. She can’t believe he won’t let up.
Over at Midtown High School. Peter is trying to get to class, his girlfriend – Gwen Stacy – wants to take him to the ladies bathroom. He is still maintaining his A grade point average.
Kitty points out the stall he is suppose to go into. Mary Jane is there and it is time for Peter’s haircut. Which I was going to comment on, before the page, but his hair was so long, I thought it was Kitty for a moment.
I’m with Peter, I wouldn’t want these three broads hanging out together and eating lunch – nothing good can come from that. Except for this haircut! They all point out how round his head is, when he wears his mask, he has a perfectly round head. Which I can only imagine this is a fun critique of Lafuente’s cartoony style.
Tandy, Ultimate Dagger, comes into the stall and is not thrilled that there is a boy in the room nor a haircut taking place. To make it worst, a mutant is amongst them. I wonder if Kitty ever brought this up with Dagger later. I remember her being racist but her current persona isn’t like this at all. I wonder if Bendis regretted this or purposely did it to build her into a better person.
Parker Home. Aunt May loves the haircut. This is during the era when Spider-Man, Iceman, Human Torch and Gwen Stacy lived in her house. Such a great era! Bobby thinks Peter has a pretty face. Johnny comes home and tells everyone that he is in love.
There is an ad for Amazing Spider-Man 538, by Joe Quesada, which came out in June 2010. The ad is promoting, One Moment in Time, so I’ve not been collecting Spider-Man comics for a solid five years.
Johnny thanks Peter, if it wasn’t for him, he never would have known love. Peter isn’t sure who is a hot chick he knows as Spider-Man. He names Silver Sabre, Elektra and Black Cat. Gwen is not too happy that Peter knows so many hot ladies. Both Johnny and Bobby want to meet this Black Cat. Gwen thinks they all sound like skanks. All three of them are well in their twenties, so they wouldn’t waste any time with a teenager. Which is the right call.
Johnny finally explains which hot chick it is, Spider-Woman. Peter can’t believe it is Jessica who Johnny is attracted to. Which is a good time to mention how clever a line of Bobby saying Peter has a pretty face is. Jessica is Peter’s clone, so if she is pretty – at all- then that means he has a pretty face. If Johnny is attracted to Jessica, then there must be something that he finds attractive about Peter.
Making things worst, is that Johnny claims he made out with Jessica. Hearing this, and getting it confirmed a few more times, Peter runs out of the house in a panic. If Jessica did kiss Johnny, and I highly suspect that she didn’t, then there must be something in Peter that is attracted to Johnny. Which this is a subject matter that the opposite-gender clone plotline (it happens) rarely deals with.
Spider-Man goes on a crime fighting spree that involves punching Ultimate Owl. Do you know how to draw an owl? You draw two circles . . . and then you draw the rest of the owl.
I saw this a few days ago and I keep thinking about it.
Back at school. One of their teachers, Ms. Shutz, is trying to inspire seniors to do better in their classes. Johnny is still pestering Peter for why he way overreacted. Outside of the classroom, the principal and two federal agents are looking into the room. The principal wants Kitty to get her things and head outside.
Kitty is confused what the principal could want. This is what he referenced to in an earlier appearance (which I’m not sure was on panel) that the school may have problems with her being a mutant. She didn’t do anything, in fact, she’s the model student.
Kitty gets it together and starts thinking about the situation. What can anyone even do to her. She can phase through their bullets then then the idiot behind her will be killed. Which I really like the reaction of the fool who sits behind her, he is very concern.
Marjorie Liu is interviewed on the Women of Marvel page, that was a thing during this year. I had forgotten she was around Marvel even back then.
The agents start making a move on Kitty. Peter finally stands up and says what they are attempting is not right. Also, that they are trying to make Kitty mad so that they can justify their incorrect actions. The issue ends with Peter yelling at Kitty to run as she whispers that all she wants is to go to school like everybody else.
So after taking a detour with the reviews that I wanted to do after Ultimate Spider-Man 200, I went and checked all of the issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, with various volumes and such, to see if Kitty Pryde is referenced in any issues that I don’t own. Turns out, Kingpin mentions her name in this issue, lucky for me, this was still in my Lonestar Comics To Sell comic boxes, so I was able to take it out and not add yet another comic to my Wishlist. Which I had to do for Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Two Issue 15. I did check Miles’ two series as well. She has yet to appear in any of his solo titles.
So after this, I will get back to my Christmas 2014 comics.
I reviewed issue one of this storyline during Daredevil Month (April 2015) and now I’m reviewing part four. I’ll get to parts two and three, at some point, and I don’t own the concluding chapter.
Okay, onto the issue!
Matt Murdock, while in a courtroom, overhears a radio announcement that Midtown High School has become another site of a super powered showdown.
One of the main scenes of this issue, and I really dig it, is a conversation between Kingpin and Spider-Man, who is unmasked. This is Bendis at his very best.
Spider-Man wakes up to Kingpin holding an action figure of his. This starts essentially a seven page monologue of Kingpin’s. Kingpin wonders if Spider-Man is a mutant. He still doesn’t know who Spider-Man really is, he was tempted to run his fingerprints but he knows that he is on Nick Fury’s watchlist. If he ran his fingerprints, within five minutes, the Ultimates would be crashing through his window.
Kingpin wonders why Spider-Man isn’t on the Ultimates. All he really cares about, is that this kid is Spider-Man. He does know which high school he attends, so if he ever needs to find him, he easily can. While talking to him, he starts hitting him with his action figure – which is pretty funny. Kingpin threatens to blow up his high school.
Spider-Man is a teenager, so he may not care about his school. Kingpin then steps too far and threatens to blow up the Xavier School of Mutants. It is amazing that Spider-Man can stay silent for all of this, but he probably is feeling bombarded by all of this information. Clearly, Kingpin has this entire speech rehearsed.
Kingpin knows that Spider-Man is dating Kitty Pryde, the X-Men’s Shadowcat. He knows this due to the Internet. Man, I would really like to see how quickly Kingpin tries to take on the X-Men and be handed his large ass to him. Lard ass, look at me making jokes.
Kingpin mentions now they have something in common. Spider-Man knows where Kingpin works and he now knows where he goes to school, he can get in touch with Spider-Man, whenever he needs to. Kingpin starts making counter arguments. One day, Spider-Man may reveal who he really is to the world – when that happens, Kingpin will know exactly who his parents are. Kingpin could easily kill Spider-Man, right now.
Kingpin rather not kill him, as he owns a parent company that owns the license rights to Spider-Man. He is going to flood the market with Spider-Merchandise. So killing Spider-Man, is bad business. Spider-Man can try to stop Kingpin’s criminal campaigns but Kingpin is making crazy amounts of profit off of Spider-Man. Anytime he does something good, Fisk is making money. Legitimate money. Kingpin repeats, several times, that he owns Spider-Man.
Kingpin gets to the point, he wants Spider-Man to go back to his vigilante knights pals and tell them to stop coming after him.
Kingpin starts punching the assassin that he sent to Midtown High to capture Spider-Man. He knows that this is yet another identity of Moon Knight’s. He tells Moon Knight, in a Ronin style outfit – the Ronin that Echo and Hawkeye later wore. Kingpin reveals that Matt Murdock, Daredevil, works for him. Murdock is his lawyer.
The Knights are playing a game, that Kingpin invented – which is a very cool thing to say. If the Knights keep coming after him, Kingpin will beat them all like he is doing to Moon Knight.
Kingpin knows that if Spider-Man died, people will seek out Spider-merchandise and he will get some last money that way. I like Kingpin, recognizing Spider-Man’s silence, asks if Spider-Man would like to make any fat jokes now. Spider-Man has been knocked out, at this point. Kingpin wants Spider-Man to keep saving people. Kingpin knows that Green Goblin is his old golf buddy, Norman Osborn.
If Peter decided to stop being Spider-Man, Wilson Fisk will just simply hire someone to be Spider-Man. I really like the idea of how Spider-Man has brought Peter no benefits but now, Kinpin is making loads of profits.
Meanwhile, Daredevil crashes through a window. He is investigating an office. He finds something and calls Doctor Strange. Wong answers the phone and states that Strange is in deep mediating, which is code for sex time.
Doctor Strange teleports to where Daredevil is. Daredevil is the leader of the Knights. Strange recognizes the office as belong to the Kingpin. Ultimate Doctor Strange is sort of a celebrity, who appears on talk shows. I like how neither Daredevil nor Strange knows how each other’s powers work. Doctor Strange casts a spell and can follow the trace that Daredevil senses. He creates an image for him (and us) to see but Daredevil can’t see it.
Moon Knight wasn’t working according to the plan, he went rogue. Maybe they shouldn’t have let a mentally unbalance person lose on his own.
Strange wonders why no one is on this floor. Daredevil reveals that this Kingpin’s personal floor, the only people who work on the floor are related to his criminal empire. That way, he doesn’t have to worry about the wrong people eavesdropping. Daredevil has been working on bringing down Kingpin, for a very long time.
The two heroes go down an elevator shaft. Strange isn’t happy that his cloak got filthy. The trail leads to a giant door and Daredevil can’t sense what is behind it. Strange can’t teleport inside as, like Nightcrawler, he needs to be able to know w hat is inside so he doesn’t merge with a desk. They go into the room, the door wasn’t lock and it appears no one has been there for a while. This is the room that the Kingpin / Spider-Man conversation occurred in. Daredevil wants to get the Knights together.
Daredevil, Shang Chi, Iron Fist and Doctor Strange are on a rooftop. Daredevil wants to locate Spider-Man but no one knows how to do that. Daredevil tells everyone that he is Catholic. Iron Fist isn’t surprised that Moon Knight went a tad crazy, he is dressed as the moon, after all. Just then, Daredevil gets some webbing to his face.
Spider-Man starts wailing on Daredevil. He keeps calling Daredevil names and he is disgusted with him. Daredevil is clearly outmatched by an angry Spider-Man.
Daredevil takes off his mask, that way he is free of the webbing. He gets Spider-Man to calm down enough to explain himself. He tells Daredevil that he knows that Murdock works for Fisk. Daredevil really don’t know what is happening. Daredevil is very surprised that Kingpin knows his real name and his profession. Spider-Man isn’t buying this mock confusion.
Just then, Murdock’s law office is blown up. It is what all Kingpins do to Daredevils. Murdock doesn’t care, no one was working this late at night and he isn’t going to give Kingpin the satisfaction of running around the debris.
Daredevil reveals that Kingpin killed his father, all because he wouldn’t throw a boxing match. Before he dies, he wants to make sure that the Kingpin has been dethroned. Sadly, he will die before Kingpin does. Murdock doesn’t want to kill the Kingpin, he wants to bring him into a courtroom and have the system take him down. He feels like he is so above the law, that he needs to see how it officially works.
Somehow Kingpin figured out who Daredevil is. He poses the question and instantly hears a heartbeat spike. He starts choking Iron Fist, as he is the mole on the team, which is how the issue ends.
Daredevil dies in Ultimatum (actually in an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, 131) and Kingpin is killed by Ultimate Mysterio, in his rise of power, in Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Two Issue 1, so the issue right after Ultiatmum ends, so he doesn’t live in a Daredevil-less world for long.
Before Bendis kills Peter Parker, he gives him one last nice day. This is also our last revisit to Ultimate Spider-Man for some time.
Issue opens with Peter being fired from his fast food job. Him being Spider-Man, meant that he couldn’t go to work for two days and he didn’t call in so he is fired. He was off helping save the world with Iron Man. Peter gets a call from Jameson, who wants to meet with him.
Spider-Man swings over to the Daily Bugle, he was hoping this was going to go away. Jameson revealed recently, that he knows Peter is Spider-Man. One benefit to his knowledge is that the Daily Bugle has been Pro-Spider-Man, as of late. I like that the Daily Bugle is in the same building that it is from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, the Flatiron Building.
While waiting for Jameson, Peter has a chance to remember how much he loved working there. Urich says hello and Jameson waves him into his office.
Peter slash Spider-Man saved Jameson’s life and he now wants to help Peter. Peter tells him that there isn’t anything he has to do for him.
There is an ad for Uncanny X-Men 535 & 536, the Breakworld sequel brought to us by Kieron Gillen and the Dodsons.
Peter asks to have his old job back. Jameson can’t believe that is his request, as he wasn’t paid anything for it. Peter is trying to save for college. Jameson wants to know why Peter wants to go to college, as from his point of view, Peter doesn’t need college. Peter explains that being Spider-Man brings him no money. Jameson is going to pay for Peter’s college.
There is an ad for Ultimate Avengers v New Ultimates 3, the issue wherein Punisher shoots Spider-Man, weakening him for his big fight with the Green Goblin, though it is a whole mess how the two stories interlock. That’s my memory, at least.
Peter is shocked, as that wasn’t even what he was hinting at. Jameson is rich, so he doesn’t mind. Peter really can’t accept such a gift, he wants to pay his own way. Jameson gives Peter his old job back but with a raise, he will also be starting a scholarship for Peter. He hints that Peter may not be alive to go to college. I like Peter setting out the parameters of the job he will need. He needs a job where he can not show up for a couple days and have it be okay. He wants absences to not be a reason to be fired over.
Jameson agrees, he also wants every exclusive on whatever Spider-Man does.
An explosion occurs and we get Ultimate Rocket Racer, with a buddy. The Shroud calls them idiots.
Look how effective the Shroud takes these fools down! That silly guy, Spider-Man shows up, even though there isn’t anything for him to do.
Well, he does web them up, so that is something. Spider-Man starts calling the Shroud, Kitty, to which, I wish Kitty started calling him Peter – that would have shut him up.
Queens. Peter and Kitty are catching up. See Kitty’s shirt? That Bendis really likes to try to sneak in Lockheed – first in Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 1 in the Danger Room when they went up against a giant purple dragon and now this appearance on her shirt.
Kitty refers to her current look as, goth, but those are some bright colors! Peter takes credit that they beat the two villains, but he merely was on clean up duty. He is right, that she is getting stronger. She gets lots of opportunity to beat on some fools.
Peter makes a mistake of saying that he is glad she hasn’t turn bad or evil. She is right in being insulted by the comment. Peter tries to change the subject by asking about Kenny.
Kitty is surprised about Peter’s lack of knowing. Kenny couldn’t take life on the run, and went home to his mommy and she moved them to Wisconsin. Hello, Wisconsin! There was a time when I wanted to name a daughter, Wisconsin and I’m not even that big of a fan of That 70’s Show. I still think Nadia is a great name for a girl.
Kitty emphasizes that she isn’t okay, she is merely living. Peter invites her to come inside for some dinner. She agrees and asks him how his life is going.
I really like the idea of Peter forgetting that his birthday was today. He has had quite the life since he was first bit by that Oz infected spider.
That is pretty messed up of Bendis to turn Peter 16, just to kill him in five more issues, right?
Bobby is super excited to see Kitty.
Mary Jane gets Peter alone and she is immediately jealous of Kitty, who is the better girlfriend but Peter is destined to end up with Mary Jane.
Mary Jane gives Peter the gift that Tony Stark gave him. I like how Aunt May invited him to this party as well as the two year anniversary of Peter’s death, she has his address, might a well send the invitation. The gift is pretty amazing, a pair of high tech webshooters. Peter gets lost in thought and forgets Mary Jane is in the room.
Samnee draws Mary Jane more like how I imagine a 16 year old Proper Mary Jane would look like.
Peter tells Mary Jane he loves her. Mary Jane really wants to hear Peter say he isn’t in Kitty, so jealous. He is willing to earn Mary Jane back but all it takes is him wanting her to get her back. That is pretty nice!
The issue ends with them kissing and Mary Jane calling him, Tiger, which she apparently likes to say nw.
How great is that final caption in the last panel, next issue : The Death of Spider-Man. It doesn’t get more serious than that.
I like how Bendis gives Peter one last great day and returns Kitty to the title, though she really doesn’t come back as this is my last issue of Ultimate Spider-Man until issue 200.
This issue takes place right after the conclusion of the Deadpool arc, which this is a two part story – so that makes six, which is a trade!
Months Ago. Spider-Man breaks up a would-be mugging but that isn’t what is happening. We see Ultimate Blade, and of course, Spider-Man thinks he is the heavy in the scene. The person Spider-Man thinks is being mugged, turns out to be a vampire and Spider-Man loses his mind and panics. Blade cuts himself out of the webbing and kills the vampire.
Today. Peter calls his girlfriend, Kitty Pryde. During the Deadpool arc, with all of the hidden cameras, the world has discovered that Shadowcat and Spider-Man are dating. So now the Internet is blowing up about the pair. Xavier has grounded all of the X-Men, so Kitty can’t hang out with him. Her being in Storm’s room implies they are good friends, but are any of them decent friends?
So now that the world knows Shadowcat is dating Spider-Man, and on such a huge stage – Kitty Pryde can’t date Peter Parker, so they have to keep hiding their real relationship.
For once, Peter gets to show that he is concerned with the relationship being over. Kitty assures him that they are still together.
What would their celebrity name be? Spider-Cat is way to obvious. As far as I know, the online community in RL never came them a name, like they did with Proper Kitty Pryde and Iceman (Bobkat) and Kitty Pryde and Peter Quill (StarKat). ShadowSpider is pretty cool.
Peter overhears Jameson shouting vampires at Ben Urich. Jonah is not going to run some silly story about vampires. Phil has the extremely excellent point that the world they live in as – mutants, Spider-guys, super soldiers and billionaires in flying tanks, vampires shouldn’t be too far fetch. Both Marvel Universes have not been the same since the 1940s.
Peter borrows a copy of the article and sees that Ben interviews Jennifer Grunwald, who is based off of the then head of the trade collections at Marvel. She was an active poster over on the JoeQuesada.com message boards. We get to read the article and see the images of Ben’s interview.
Later at school. Peter runs into Mary Jane, who is not happy. Peter didn’t tell her of his new girlfriend, she had to read about it in People. Did the Daily Bugle not want to cover the story?
Mary Jane is acting like there is some sort of betrayal here. He broke up with her as she wouldn’t stop getting herself almost killed. Now he has a girlfriend who can take care of herself. It was two weeks ago, that they broke up. Her calling Kitty, a gangly-girl, is pretty insulting.
Mary Jane asks a hard question, does he love Kitty?
There is an add for the MC2 Universe story – Last Planet Standing – which is fun with Secret Wars 2015 on the verge of coming out.
Peter says no, not yet – which is pretty honest. He and Kitty do have loads in common and are perfect together.
Mary Jane asks if he knew Kitty while they were dating. He did but they were not even friends.
Mary Jane walks away, Peter mistakenly suggests that she may want to start dating other dudes. She gets all weird about it, asking him if he is ready to see her making out with dudes and going out on dates – like it even matters to him. I do enjoy that her ‘revenge’ on him is all physical acts. As she walks away, Peter confirms that they are still friends – her reaction is pretty boss – Yay for me. Peter mutters to watch out for vampires.
Someone not taking that advice is Ben Urich. Jennifer is in the traditional slutty vampire gear and she bites him on the neck. Over at the Daily Bugle, Betty Brant (who never gets much play), tells Peter that Ben hasn’t been seen in over a day. She suspects that Ben was finally killed by the Kingpin.
There is an ad for X-Men Fairy Tales, it isn’t very good.
Spider-Man swings across town, he looked up Jennifer’s address and sees a cloud of bats and that cloud turns into wolf. Spider-Man has to fight off the wolf as the issue ends with Morbius telling Spider-Man that he can’t win this fight. I don’t own the next issue but I can tell you this, Ben Urich doesn’t die.
Inside back cover ad is for X-Men : The Official Game, the game that ‘bridges’ between X-Men 1 and X-Men 2. The Wolverine levels are fun, Nightcrawler’s are my favorite and Iceman’s are tedious.
Art (MJ and May Parker Sequence) Mark Bagley & Andrew Hennessy
Colors Justin Ponsor
Lettering VC’s Cory Petit
So I bought this issue with my Christmas giftcard to Mile High Comics. I went with the Peter cover as he is my Ultimate Spider-Man. If Kitty’s face was on the Miles’ cover, I would have gone with that one but she isn’t. I had special ordered this issue from Hastings, but they didn’t get their shipment that week (for two weeks!) so I missed out on the issue originally. If they were out of the Peter covers, I would have been fine with the Miles one.
It is weird that Mary Jane and Gwen are both captioned with being Peter’s ex-girlfriends but Kitty isn’t, right? What is up with that?
I suppose that it is nice that Kitty Pryde isn’t ‘just’ his ex-girlfriend, she has a proper identity outside of him. I do like how Kenny is only Kitty’s ex-boyfriend – nice that both genders have people with that label.
Queens, Today. Miles and his friend, Ganke, are on their way to the Parker home. Ganke is Miles’ plus one, so he brought a gift. Apparently, he likes Legos and made Gwen a Lego related gift.
The Home of Peter Parker. Which is up for sale by Realtor Alison Blaire, who is Dazzler’s real name but I don’t see Ultimate Dazzler as a Realtor. Plus, she died during Ultimatum.
Mary Jane is walking towards the house, with Liam, some dude who understands that she doesn’t want him to go into the house with her. He kisses her on the cheek, so there’s that.
In a limo, Jessica Drew and Bombshell is arriving. Their driver almost hits Liam, which on the page before, Mary Jane tells him to not get hit by a car. The driver references Galactus, so this issue takes place after Cataclysm.
Liz Allen, Firestar, catches up with Iceman, who is on his way to the Parker home as well. The Human Torch flies on the opposite side and of course, Iceman’s slide melts and he drops. Which is super funny!
We see the e-mail that May sent to everybody. Her e-mail address is – silverhippy@jeemail.com
Miles hugs Aunt May. Ganke gives Gwen the Lego present and she really likes it, Miles watches on as he is concern how this will go. Gwen gives Ganke a big ol’ kiss, and goes upstairs to put her present away. Is that ever revealed, what it was? Or do they ever kiss again?
The doorbell rings and Aunt May answers it. She sees a giant catering service, Tony Stark couldn’t attend so he sent truckloads of food.
Kitty phases through the door, like only she can! Kitty hugs Miles for saving her life. This issue takes place after Cataclysm. Kitty had punched Galactus to his stupid purple hat wearing face and she was about to get sucked into the N-Zone but Miles saved her from that fate. Thor had already gone through as Kitty was already shrinking and Galactus needed that extra shove. Invisible Woman also assisted in saving Shadowcat.
I’m not sure exactly how Kitty’s hair goes from long in that first panel, to short for the rest of the issue.
Is that look from Jessica foreshadowing All New Ultimates 4 reveal?
Johnny and Gwen start talking about the fallout from Kitty saving the world. Kitty wasn’t that impressed with meeting the President. I imagine not, having being screwed over with the whole Nation X fiasco.
I still don’t get the whole mutant racism in either Marvel Universe. Liz puts it best, how she is essentially a female Human Torch (plus the daughter of the Blob) but she is hated and feared and he gets to be the poster child of superhero cool.
Aunt May greets Kitty, who says that she thinks about Peter all of the time. Poor Kitty, I still don’t get why he downgraded from her to Mary Jane. Except that Mary Jane survived Clone Saga and Peter took petty on her.
So the knock on the door Aunt May answered, was Kenny! Kitty came through the back, so Kitty’s entrance happened at the same time. Which is a fun art / story choice.
Kitty hasn’t seen Kenny since they ran away with each other and lived in the sewers for a while. When next we saw Kitty, she told everyone that they broke up as Kenny couldn’t take living on the run. This all happened during the “Tainted Love” storyline in Spider-Man. Well, the school trying to harass Kitty and her and Kong leaving together. Kitty reveals Kenny’s fate in Ultimate Spider-Man 155, when she comes back to publication and Peter’s surprised birthday party. His last before his death, mere days later. Kenny and his parents moved to Wisconsin, so no one has seen him since he disappeared. He looks like he lost some weight. People give Kenny the reputation that he is Bendis’ avatar in the story, which was cool until he started dating Kitty Pryde – then it became a tad . . . creepy isn’t the right word.
That is a nice hug from the two of them. I mostly remember Kenny being a real jerk to Peter, when he was closer to Flash, but he told Peter he knew his Spider-secret and they became a tad closer after that. I’m not sure if Mary Jane is right in that they were close friends.
Kitty wants to talk to Kenny later, but I’m not sure if they ever do. It is never referenced again and Kenny isn’t seen again.
I do like Ultimate Jameson, it makes sense that after seeing Spider-Man’s heroism, that he would dedicate his online newspaper, is there a better word for that?, to covering Spider-Man. Not the menace he originally thought but the hero he really is. He took Peter’s death rather hard, as he knew Peter.
It makes sense that Jameson wouldn’t want to be inside the Parker home, what would he even do there besides be wall paper? May could chat with him but after the initial ten minutes, what is the point. His presence would probably change the atmosphere, with what people can talk about with him around.
Mary Jane and Gwen hugging Kenny is nice, supporting characters should appreciate each other.
Aunt May directs everyone back inside.
I like Ganke’s idea of inviting Stark to everything, just for the free gift – that’s a genius right there!
That’s a great panel, representing that super awkward silence.
Mary Jane sets up the concept of the next few pages, with people talking about What If Ultimate Peter Parker Was Still Alive? Or what would the future be like if he was still alive.
Mary Jane starts the sequence with her dream.
Spider-Man is in his Iron Spider costume slash armor. Bagley gets to draw Spider-Woman, Giant Man, Human Torch, Thor, Iron Man, Nick Fury, Hulk, Miles Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger and Thing.
Mary Jane describes how Nick Fury came into her room once, which will have to be intense. Fury was grooming Peter to be the greatest hero the world has ever known.
Aunt May goes next. I’m including her vision because of the inclusion of Kitty Pryde’s other costumed identity that she debuted in Ultimate Spider-Man 91 – the beginning of the Deadpool arc. Man, I really should review some Ultimate Spider-Man issues as I’m sort of loving this memory lane that this issue has me going down.
I’m not sure why Aunt May includes it in her thought. Or why Bagley did. I do like that robotic Scarlet Spider, I’m a nut for that design.
I completely get May’s thought that Peter would maybe outgrow this superhero idea of his. It reminds me of Kevin Smith’s Daredevil run, where he wrote Murdock’s end-game being that once he had a child, he would hang up the red costume. Which seems like a natural time to stop. Karen told him that she rather kept trying to save the world, so that their child would have a future to grow up with but I side with Murdock on this one.
May’s idea of how Peter would most likely combine his two loves – Spider-Man and Science, for some Spider-Science! Then I think about Proper Peter Parker and how he only now has Parker Industries and that is only because Doctor Octopus, being the Superior Spider-Man – in every way – came up with that idea.
Gwen talks about one of Peter’s life goals. He wanted to, one day, combine his love for fighting crime in a blue and red leotard and his love for the news. He would want to combine the two, so he could fight crimes that no one knows about, or know about instantly. Or he would want to expose stories that he heard about in the superhero community. Sort of like Superman.
Miles’ thinks about how nice it would be if he could have teamed up with Peter, sort of like he did during Spider-Men.
How tragic is Kitty’s page? Done all the better by LaFuente and (I imagine) Ponsor. Great use of purple. She would have married Peter, if he wasn’t an idiot.
Her in her Shroud identity and him as Spider-Man, fighting crime. Spider-Man teaming up with the latest incarnation of the X-Men, would have been fun. I don’t get why Morbius is there, at all. She wasn’t in even that storyline, except for a small part, which was Non-Morbius related. This was Ultimate Spider-Man 95.
I do like adult Peter and Kitty together, also, how sweet and sour those bottom images are, as they are simply them spending quiet time together.
I imagine with Kenny in the room, she doesn’t want to voice any of this.
Iceman finishes the sequences with how he and Peter would have owned the superhero community, becoming super popular.
More awkward silence.
Gwen, who luckily wears a black headband (classic!) so we can tell her apart from Liz – wants to do some good. Miles gets the great idea to donate the food, which leads into the conclusion of the issue.
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Everyone heads back to the Parker home, so they can say their goodbyes in private.
Garke gets a second kiss, this time on the cheek, from Gwen. Does this get followed up on? It must, as Bendis has a proper Spider-Man title to write.
Kitty whispers something into Kenny’s ear and waves good to the rest of the crew. This, though, does not get followed up on as Fiffe gets to write her in All New Ultimates. Which I imagine this issue is suppose to come first, as the Ultimates don’t seem to be hanging out with each other in this issue.
People start departing, the heroes first by flying or sliding away. The normal folk leave last. The issue’s last panel is that someone is watching on.
The last section of the comic, is all of the Ultimate Spider-Man covers up to this point – which is a fun way to show how they came up with the number 200. As there isn’t 200 issues of a comic title, Ultimate Spider-Man, so to make it work, some funny math is used.
Pretty great issue! I read that the mysterious figure is Ultimate Spider-Man himself, Peter Parker, Anyone who has the Oz formula in them, is immortal. So Norman and his son Harry, and Peter Parker. But I’m not sure if that is still true.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 