Ultimate Spider-Man #91 Review

Ultimate Spider-Man is a regular favorite here at the Revolution. There is not much better than to sit back on our waterbed here at the Bunker and enjoy some fried platanos while we read Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man. Well, a good game of Magno-ball is hard to top, but, anyway, on to the review.

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: John Dell

Rating: 3.5 Night Girls out of 5.

Synopsis: Issue #91 starts with Spider-Man and Kitty Pryde (decked out in a new spider-esque costume) fighting some total mort named the Ringer. The Ringer is basically a white guy spitting out plenty of faux ghetto slang. After Kitty and Spider-Man kick the Ringer’s butt, they head off for a little web-slinging.

They end up at an abandoned house near Peter’s home. Kitty pressures Peter to let Aunt May know they are dating and for them to start going on actual real dates to movies and such rather than crime-fighting together. They share a nice smooch before Kitty takes off in the Blackbird to go back to Westchester.

When Kitty gets back home she is attacked by Wolverine. She is blasted by a ray that can actually hurt her while she is “phased.” She escapes from Wolverine and then is attacked by Storm. She escapes from Storm and sends the Blackbird on autopilot to the abandoned house where she and Peter always meet. Kitty is then blasted unconscious as the Blackbird takes off.

Back at Peter’s house, Aunt May is leaving for a date with some friends. Peter sees the Blackbird over the abandoned house and gets into his costume and hops aboard the plane. The Blackbird then takes off for Westchester. When it lands, Spider-Man hops out and is greeted by Kitty who promptly blasts him unconscious. Kitty then morphs into Deadpool with his 5 cronies behind him. End of issue.

Comments: This was a pretty entertaining issue. The opening scene was hilarious! Bendis’ dialogue is absolute money. The verbal sparring between Peter, Kitty, and the Ringer was great. Bendis is truly one of the best writers out there when it comes to witty dialogue and that is why he is perfect for Ultimate Spider-Man.

I thought that Bendis did a nice job slowly developing this budding romance between Peter and Kitty. Bendis added a few more wrinkles to their relationship as we wait to see if they can have a somewhat “normal” boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

I think Bendis did a nice job demonstrating the difference between Mary Jane and Kitty with regard to Peter worrying about his loved ones being harmed. Kitty’s powers are the best powers for a girlfriend of Peter since he won’t have to worry about her getting hurt.

The unveiling of the Ultimate version of Deadpool will surely excite many fans. It did nothing for me since I have never been a big Deadpool fan. Hopefully, Bendis will be able to make this version of Deadpool more interesting to me. I have my doubts.

As usual, the art was solid. Bagley isn’t our cup of tea here at the Revolution, but many people enjoy his art. For me, what makes Ultimate Spider-Man such a damn good read is Bendis’ writing.

This issue kicks off what I hope to be an entertaining 4 issue story arc. I am starting to like the pairing of Kitty and Peter and am interested to see how far Bendis is going to go with this angle. I think one thing that has been sorely lacking has been a nice stable of supporting characters.

With Peter no longer dating Mary Jane, we are seeing less of him at High School. Also, Aunt May sightings are getting rarer and rarer. Of course, Gwen Stacey is dead due to one of THE WORST deaths ever in comic history. To me, Spider-Man’s strength and appeal have been his vast stable of supporting characters. It seems that that particular aspect has been lacking lately with this title. I hope Bendis can rectify that problem.