Originally Posted by
Xenon
I am totally glad I made that post yesterday before I read Venom War and beyond.
So we're gonna have to break this up into a couple of posts, because that's what I want to do, First up.....
Spider-Men 1-5
- This story was basically what I expected from it, both entertaining and disappointing, similar to but not on the same level as Spider-Man: Blue. It's a fun little explanation to the Ultimate Mysterio, and there are some good interaction between Peter and the Ultimate characters ("What's he like?" "He's White." "That's too bad.")
-With that said, the disappointment comes from his interaction with Gwen, which I think they kept way too light. Sure, Peter cries on the front lawn, but that seems to be about the alternate universe/his alternate self's death. There's no gut punch, no gut-wrenching, not really much of anything from seeing his love alive and well (as far as he knows). Sure, it's not HIS Gwen, but emotionally there should be some reaction. Even just hugging her and not wanting to let go, even if it's just a moment. Hell, you could have him step in it by saying how thankful he is that THIS version's Gwen survived, when of course she didn't.
-Similarly, I wanted him to chase after Mary Jane. That moment did have a bit of emotion to it, but not as much as I would have liked. Again, they seemed intent on making the story fun and that's fine but you have to give the devil his due, so to speak. If you have him meet Gwen Stacy you gotta have him deal with meeting Gwen Stacy. If you have him see a tearful Mary Jane crying over his death, you gotta have him take care of her, have that tough moment between the two (and have him question what that means for his own reality).
-I hate to continually bring up the same tired specter, but I can't help but blame OMD for this to a certain extent. Like, Bendis didn't want to get too deep into it because he couldn't without dealing with all that stuff that Marvel currently doesn't want to deal with. The conversation with Gwen is different if he's married to Mary Jane. The conversation with Mary Jane is way different if he's married to Mary Jane. I mean, if he's married to her he can at least give her the assurances that he really did love her and that he would want her to move on and be happy. If he's with Mary Jane he can tell Gwen about how their relationship started after Gwen's death (and this should be of some comfort to Gwen because that means she did win....in one universe). But with continuity in its current state, you can't have those same conversations. You can have SIMILAR conversations, but not the same ones, and they're weaker, and thus I suspect this is why Bendis just didn't even go there. If you can't do it right.......but it's still disappointing that we didn't GET those conversations, even if that was the reason.
-Miles beats Peter? Really? No. Bad Bendis.
-However...calling this Spider-Men in general is kinda giving Miles too much credit. The kid gets his moments, but this is really "Peter Parker visits the Ultimate Universe". Miles is very much secondary to this story.
-How did Mysterio get back for Ends of the Earth again? Why were the two so buddy buddy in that story? Co-ordination, kiddos.
-This is getting into some stuff in the main book, but sometimes I feel like they're trying to make us support Miles with these books by having the characters go out of their way to be supportive. Peter is great with Miles being Spider-Man, too great. Like, no word of warning, no caution to what could happen, no concern if he's doing the right thing. Peter has shown himself to be a bit of a hypocrite in the past when it comes to super-heroics, never giving it up but being quite judgmental of others attempting it. Miles gets none of that. Just....unquestioning support. It's...a little annoying. But, that's the end of Spider-Men, and it dovetails nicely with the main book, so....