Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-man #12 (SPOILERS)

[Plawsky]

A fifteen year legacy ends today (allegedly). This is THE LAST issue of Ultimate Spider-man (for now)! As we build towards Secret Wars, the book's fourth volume comes to a close.

spoilers:

-Miles and Jessica are in Hydra/Doom custody. -Doom wants to do experiments on him to figure out his secrets. -Miles breaks free by using what we can assume is an upgrade to his Venom Blast and begins to fight off Hydra. -Meanwhile, Miles is missing at school and Judge goes looking for him. -At Miles' house, the All-New Ultimates show up and meet Judge. -They all go to the police station to try to find him. -Cloak teleports everyone to the warehouse where Miles is. -When they arrive, Miles is just finishing beating Doom up. -Miles is reunited with his dad and friends. -Suddenly, in the sky, AN INCURSION BEGINS!!! The end. To be continued in Secret Wars.

end of spoilers

Wow. Seriously, wow. And not in the good way. This issue had some of the most atrocious plotting and pacing I've ever seen in a Bendis book. Let's see if we can tally all the stupid elements of this plot:

-Dr Doom reduced to a Norman Osborn clone
-Terrible deus ex machina power without even an attempt at an explanation
-Judge, the All-New Ultimates, and the NYPD served literally no purpose to this story. Miles was done by the time they got there.
-After all that time showing Miles in the cage, Hydra is defeated off panel and Doom in a single punch.
-The Fly Twins end up being faceless foot soldiers for Hydra and are barely even mentioned.

...is that it? I think so. I was tempted to add "no resolution or even mention of Ultimate Peter and that storyline," but I think I've already accepted issue 6 or 7 (whichever it was) as the weak ending to all that. It's just such a rushed ending that nothing works well; it feels like it was wrapped up as an afterthought, with no previous planning for how the finale would look. Doctor Doom's addition to this story was wholly unnecessary, and Bendis writes him completely out of character (though not as much as he did in the All-New X-Men crossover).

Now, before I come across as an angry fanboy (despite how justified I think these criticisms are), there was some good stuff here. The tone of the book is still fantastic, and the characters - other than Dr Doom - are well written. It's almost a shame, really, because Bendis continually proves that he can write interesting characters, he just doesn't give them anything interesting to do. The All-New Ultimates and Judge are great - I loved seeing them again - but they're just wallpaper here. And despite Miles' complete mary sue status (seriously, has he ever made something happen on purpose?), he's a good character outside the suit.

One moment that deserves a call out: the police station scene. While this gag may have grown tired to some, I still enjoy it most of the time. And this time was a real winner, with Jonathan Hickman dressed as Captain Universe, taking blame for everything. And in the background, we see Marquez and Bendis again as detectives. Funny stuff, even if completely inconsequential.

While the characters were the sole bright spot in an otherwise frustrating writing performance from Bendis, the art is the real draw for this book. David Marquez cannot get enough credit. He's absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the script really doesn't play to his strengths, as it skips out on the action in favor of boring double-page spreads, which Marquez fails to render with any excitement. Action and emotion are where he shines, not big wide shots of copy/paste Hydra soldiers. Even still, the issue is beautiful.

So there it is, the end of another volume of what used to be my favorite book on the shelves. And what a disappointment it was. Perhaps most disappointing is the lack of real closure at the end of this issue, all-but confirming that Ultimate End is going to be more of a Spider-man story than anything else. If this really is the end of Ultimate Spider-man, it's not the ending it deserves. We know Miles will likely be coming out of the other end of Secret Wars; if Bendis keeps writing him, let's hope future volumes are an improvement on this one.

Ratings:
Story: 2/10
Writing: 6/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 5/10

[wyokid]

NYPD served literally no purpose to this story

How else were we supposed to see the cast of the television show Powers?

[Drz]

Worst volume of Ultimate Spider-Man.

[UltimateTy]

Worst volume of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Meh I disagree those Lafuente issues weren't great.

I enjoyed this issue but I didn't care for the Doom/Hydra stuff

[wyokid]

Worst volume of Ultimate Spider-Man.

For me #86-96 will always be the worst the title ever got. I actually really enjoy all of Miles stuff. This book always read better in trades. They need to do an omnibus run but I guess that's not going to happen.

[Drz]

Meh I disagree those Lafuente issues weren't great.

C'mon that art was dynamic and the stories we're cool! Mysterio! Shroud! Chameleon!

[CrimsonEchidna]

You could definitely tell everything was rushed. My only hopes is that majority of Miles' supporting cast also makes it out of The End.

[Kurolegacy]

Man that was a terrible final issue. What was the point i even involving the Young Ultimates if they weren't gonna even do anything. I can't believe Bendis thought it was a good idea to have the final fight of a Spider-Man book happen off-panel. And nice to know that even after being reduced to crying in a corner at their cruelty towards Miles and those he cares about, Kate still defends Hydra's actions. What a waste of an Ultimization. She deserved Miles breaking up with her.

[klefmung]

I think I speak for most people when I say the highlight of this issue was Dagger calling Kate a skank.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

This happens with Bendis stories in between events. He just kinda kills time til they're over with stories that do go anywhere. It's kinda frustrating that people keep hyping up Miles, and then Miles gets underwhelming stories like this.

[Plawsky]

And nice to know that even after being reduced to crying in a corner at their cruelty towards Miles and those he cares about, Kate still defends Hydra's actions. What a waste of an Ultimization. She deserved Miles breaking up with her.

The thing is, I have NO problem with her trying to justify Hydra's actions - that could have been an interesting conversation! But instead, Bendis just dismisses it, leaving Katie with no character development. She isn't a character at all, she's just a plot device, and not even a good one.

[UltimateTy]

The thing is, I have NO problem with her trying to justify Hydra's actions - that could have been an interesting conversation! But instead, Bendis just dismisses it, leaving Katie with no character development. She isn't a character at all, she's just a plot device, and not even a good one.

I think Bendis just wanted to get rid of the girlfriend thing since he's moving to the 616. It was just somewhat lazy storytelling but either way I didn't care much about Katie so it didn't bother me.

C'mon that art was dynamic and the stories we're cool! Mysterio! Shroud! Chameleon!

I couldn't stand the art lol.

[Kurolegacy]

The thing is, I have NO problem with her trying to justify Hydra's actions - that could have been an interesting conversation! But instead, Bendis just dismisses it, leaving Katie with no character development. She isn't a character at all, she's just a plot device, and not even a good one.

Yea it really was a huge waste that after all the buildup that Bendis gave to Kate and how she was different from her 616 counterpart, she was only treated as a means to get Miles involved with Hydra. It becomes even more of a waste when you consider the Human Fly twins could have easily been used for that.

[vitruvian]

This happens with Bendis stories in between events. He just kinda kills time til they're over with stories that do go anywhere. It's kinda frustrating that people keep hyping up Miles, and then Miles gets underwhelming stories like this.

Plus he accidently forgot to spell check his script.

EDIT: Never mind, if it saved him a few 'a's, he's got support in some dictionaries. I'll get you next time, though, Bendis!

;-)

[Cel]

I think I speak for most people when I say the highlight of this issue was Dagger calling Kate a skank.

It was a classic "I told you so moment."

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