By Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez & Pepe Larraz (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-523-9
When Spider-Man died, a new hero arose in his image …
Marvel’s Ultimates imprint began in 2000 with a post-modern take on major characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of a 21st century readership – a wholly different market from those baby-boomers and their descendents content to stick with the precepts sprung from founding talents Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee… or simply those unable or unwilling to deal with the five decades (seven if you include the Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of continuity baggage which saturated the originals.
Eventually even this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor and in 2008 the cleansing event “Ultimatum†culminated in a reign of terror which excised dozens of super-humans and millions of lesser mortals in a devastating tsunami which inundated Manhattan, courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.
In the months that followed, plucky Peter Parker and his fellow meta-human survivors struggled to restore order to a dangerous new world, but just as Spider-Man finally gained a measure of acceptance and was hailed a hero by the masses, he took a bullet for Captain America and very publicly met his end during a catastrophic super-villain showdown …
In the aftermath, child prodigy Miles Morales gained suspiciously similar powers and began the same deadly learning curve: coping with astounding new physical abilities, painfully discovering the daily costs of living a life of lies and realising how an inescapable sense of responsibility is the most seductive method of self-harm and worst all of possible gifts.
He was helped and hindered in equal amounts by his Uncle Aaron: a career super-criminal dubbed The Prowler…
This compilation (collecting Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11-18, August 2012-February 2013 and written throughout by Brian Michael Bendis) follows Miles and his close circle of confidantes from ordinary tragedy and peril into total chaos as America succumbs to a second Civil War when global crises, ineffectual leadership and rogue elements in power converge and whole swathes of ordinary Americans secede from the Union…
A day resident at the prestigious BrooklynVisionsAcademyBoarding School, Miles spends only weekends at home and is coming to terms with some unpleasant truths. Foremost is that he has secrets to keep from his parents, but also poisoning the air is the fact that his father used to be a street-thug and now passionately hates costumed heroes – like Spider-Man.
The Prowler has been secretly grooming Miles ever since some of his loot bit the youngster, transforming him into a super-strong and fast kid who can walk up walls, turn invisible and deliver a devastating venom charge through his hands, and the action opens here as the manipulative creep tricks Miles into attacking Mexican gang-lord and prospective new Kingpin of Crime the Scorpion.
The action (illustrated by David Marquez) begins with a blistering raid on the Mexican’s plush new club where, in the heat of battle, the novice wall-crawler at last realises Aaron isn’t reforming or making amends, but simply clearing out the opposition for his own attempt to take over New York’s underworld…
Events come to a tragic head when the gangster accosts Miles at school and tries to blackmail him with threats of telling the boy’s father all about Spider-Man, resulting in a devastating showdown. Equipped with years of criminal experience and an ingenious arsenal of gadgets he murdered underworld tech-savant The Tinkerer for, Aaron goes crazy, determined to finish his rebellious nephew.
The fight inevitably escalates, endangering a busload of civilians who all apparently see the neophyte wall-crawler first save them before killing the Prowler in a horrific explosion…
Meanwhile in the wider world: In the wake of the global inundation, ongoing internecine strife amongst the covert ops community, and deadly brushfire wars all over the planet, ousted spymaster Nick Fury regained control of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s army of agents and officially-sanctioned super-squad The Ultimates as well as clandestine task-force The Avengers, just as civilisation began coming apart at the seams…
Metahumans had become the preferred “Weapons of Mass Destruction†and personal superpowers were the focus of a terrifying global arms race. In Asia, emergent federated nation SEAR dissolved into bloody conflict soon after developing a serum that randomly sparked fantastic abilities in ordinary humans. The plan had been to win the organic arms race but events quickly overtook the leadership when they tried to stack the deck by simultaneously releasing a virus that neutralised genes which triggered natural mutations.
With a plague preventing the birth of any more mutants and lab-produced metahumans roaming the streets, SEAR collapsed from internal dissent and open warfare…
From the conflict, dual metahuman nations were established and both Celestials and Eternals began offering super-powers to anybody brave or greedy enough to want them…
When WWII super soldier Captain America vanished, the gods of Asgard, who had been dragged from their heavenly halls and marooned on Earth, were slaughtered by a new fantastic race called the Children of Tomorrow, whose appearance presaged a deadly fight for control of Earth by the Maker – disgraced former superhero Reed Richards.
The deranged genius had created a high-tech Dome where enhanced time, forced evolution and ruthless scientific augmentation enabled the inhabitants to hyper-develop thousands of years in the space of a few days.
The war against the Dome involved most of the world’s metahumans, allowing corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Flumm to oust Fury and blackmail Bruce Banner into attacking the future city. The Hulk’s assault went tragically wrong, however, once The Maker convinced the man-monster to switch allegiances and the American President, distracted by one too many crises, allowed genocidal anti-mutant activists to turn the southwest into their own hunting preserve, inspired by the hate-filled preachings of Reverend William Stryker…
With Sentinels and militias controlling Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Oklahoma, and carrying out a successful campaign of extermination, and Texas declaring independence, many other states saw opportunity and followed suit, even as the President launched the nation’s entire nuclear arsenal at the ever-evolving Dome.
The nuclear fusillade and a metahuman attack could not obliterate the Dome but the component intelligence of the living City was badly damaged. In retaliation Richards unleashed the Hulk and a very special Child of Tomorrow he had cultured without the knowledge of the Dome hive-mind. The child detonated with nuclear force in the Capitol, utterly eradicating WashingtonDC and the American government…
Even though the Dome was no longer an urgent threat, President Howard – who only the day before was the earnest but under-qualified new Secretary of Energy – was in already well in over his head.
With a nuclear-armed Texas threatening the Union, Sentinels rampaging through the southwest and militant local militias sparking rebellions all over the country, the President declared martial law as the nation splintered around him. Flumm was also rapidly losing his grip and could not handle more bad news…
And then word arrived that Captain America had returned from his self-imposed exile…
(For fuller comprehension the reader is strongly advised to consult companion Ultimate Comics series X-Men and The Ultimates. These will greatly enhance understanding of the parlous state of this alternate universe in its darkest hours…)
With the Land of the Free ripped apart by a rash of local rebellions and actual state secessions, this binary publishing event – designed to create a jumping-on point for new readers – opens for Spider-Man with the 2-part ‘Divided We Fall’ as the Sentinel of Liberty stops in New York long enough to learn that there’s a new – 13-year old – wall-crawler.
Keenly aware that the previous Spider-Man died because of him, Captain America overreacts and hunts down Miles, just when as the boy is trying to deal with being accused of murder – and unsure whether or not he was actually guilty….
A battle against opportunist thief Batroc the Leaper is a cathartic relief for the troubled boy but things get complicated again aftr during a shocking, surprise confrontation with May Parker, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson which changes Miles’ life forever.
Peter Parker’s loved ones have been following the new boy’s short career and now they give the poor kid their full support and approval – as well as the original martyr’s web-shooters and secret formula.
At last Spider-Man will be a web-spinner again… unless the furious and outraged Captain America shuts him down for good…
The clash of wills is only resolved when the rampaging Rhino breaks loose and Spidey saves the day, leading the Star Spangled Avenger to grudgingly permit the kid to carry on… under strict adult supervision and training.
The saga culminates with the concluding 4-chapter ‘United We Stand’ (illustrated by Marquez & Pepe Larraz) as Civil War explodes west of the Rocky Mountains and, in locked-down New York, Spider-Man gets a huge boost when he learns from the cops that he wasn’t responsible for the Prowler’s death.
However, even as the ebullient arachnid rushes to enlist in the Ultimates’ push to retake America, his own strait-laced father is being arrested for breaking curfew. The horrible ramifications of this misunderstanding will bring the loving, concerned parent to the edge of insanity…
Cap is still trying to make his exuberant teenaged volunteer go home when a devastating attack by Hydra-backed separatists plunges Miles into the thick of the action. Convinced by the boy’s conviction if not capability, the Sentinel of Liberty at last welcomes the new kid to the team.
Events quickly overtake everybody however when President Howard is informed by seditious elements of his own government that he has no official mandate to rule. In the middle of the war the over-burdened leader calls an emergency Recall Election…
With the election and daily battles on every news channel, the tirelessly fighting Captain America is elected to the battered nation’s highest office even though he was unaware that he was a candidate. Without breaking step, the hero gratefully accepts before getting back to the job of re-Uniting the States…
The fighting shifts to Casper, Wyoming for the final battle against a million-strong militia manipulated by the secret magical mastermind behind the entire crisis, with President America in the vanguard as usual. Sadly, Spider-Man is elsewhere, lost and near death…
The boy was partnered with the constantly objecting Spider-Woman Jessica Drew – who obnoxiously insisted that he was too young to be there at all. Far worse than his wounds and prospects is Miles’ suspicion that she might have been right after all…
The fighting was fast and furious but after a spectacular skirmish the Amazing Arachnid saved the President’s life and was knocked out. He woke up wounded and lost in the flat vastness of Wisconsin with a Hydra-controlled Giant-Woman trying to squash him like a bug.
Nobody was there to see him achieve his most impressive victory ever, but even though he was feted all the way back to New York as the victorious Union forces began the long, tedious job of consolidating power whilst attempting Reconstruction and Reconciliation, Miles had bigger problems.
He now had even bigger secrets and a far more complex double-life to keep from his folks and his father was acting really, really strangely…
To Be Continued…
This extra-long volume also contains a gallery of covers and variants (by Kaare Andrews. Jorge Molina, David Marquez, Rainier Beredo, Sara Pichelli & Adi Granov) and this so-contemporary saga also incorporates a 21st century extra for all those tech-savvy consumers with added value in mind, as many chapters contain an AR icon (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which gives access to all sorts of story bonuses once you download the little dickens – for free – from marvel.com onto your iPhone or Android-enabled device.
™ & © 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.