Spider-Men 01

Writer - Brian Michael Bendis

Artist - Sara Pichelli

Colorist - Justin Ponsor

Letterer - Cory Petit

I came into this read with extremely negative expectations. I remember way back when the Ultimate Universe was still in its infancy and it was outright stated that they were never going to do a crossover. But that was 10 years ago and as Bendis has pointed out in an interview about the crossover, "Things change." It just seemed gimmicky and lately, gimmicky has taken precedence over quality content and depth, such as with Marvel's AvX and DC's New 52 for the most part. Lately Bendis has just not been impressing on a lot of his titles. There is one thing that Bendis knows how to do well and I have always enjoyed and that is his writing on the Ultimate Universe. One of the reasons I had such reservations about this arc was because this arc would be a crossover of a universe that Bendis writes that I love and a universe that he writes that I have been thoroughly disappointed. 

After having read the first issue, I am tossing all that fear and those pesky reservations out the window. I enjoyed this series so much I was shocked. Bendis was writing like he was BENDIS again. The writer that can do no wrong. The writer that creates a story that you cannot help but get sucked into. Funnily enough, it only featured regular Spider-Man almost the entire time. Bendis has certain flare for comedic writing where Spider-Man is concerned. If only AvX was written like this. But to be fair, I think Bendis has a stronger understanding of Spider-Man than the characters littering AvX, he has been writing Spider-Man for a decade (even if it was the Ultimate Universe one).

The art is a knockout. Ultimate Spider-Man readers will recognize the work of Pichelli right away. She has been on most of the new Ultimate Spider-Man run and did a few issues from Death of Spider-Man. It just fits perfectly with Bendis Spider-Man writing. Comedy in comic books is just as much on the shoulders of the artist as it is with the writer and I can think of few artists that could be better for this mini. Something about it reminds me of Amanda Conner, one of my favorite comic book artists. The action is solid as well. It just looks realistic. No issues with the art at all for this one. Pichelli was someone I have kept an eye on for a few issues but now she is climbing the favs list. 

The story is pretty straightforward. Spider-Man (the regular one) is thinking about how he loves New York and beating up a few baddies when he sees some energy blast come from a dilapidated building. Turns out someone got their hands on Stark tech and that someone is Mysterio! Punch, kick, quip and webs ensue and Spider-Man is thrown into the energy coming from the Stark tech. Suddenly he is in a New York that is familiar, yet different. Hilarity ensues as he attempts to be the hero he is and people react to his costume. For those of you who do not know why... shame on you!

Overall I felt this first issue did its job of getting me interested and then some. I most certainly will be getting the next issue that comes out and I hope you do as well. It is a solid 4.8/5. My only gripe is that this issue had a lot of splash pages. Splash pages are great but sometimes, less is more and it felt like an extremely fast read because of it.