Ultimate Spider-Man #128 Review

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Story - War of the Symbiotes: Part 6

Review
After the last issue placed more of a focus on Peter Parker than Spider-Man it was inevitable that this issue would be an action pack conclusion for "War of the Symbiotes" arc. For as much as hate Venom and Carnage in the regular 616-Universe but I have to admit that I've enjoyed the Ultimate version of the symbiotes. The thing that seperates the 616 version of the symbiotes to those from their Ultimate Universe counterpart is that there is a much deeper connection with Peter in the Ultimate Universe.

Bendis does a nice job showing that even though Peter considers Eddie one of his more dangerous enemies he still wants to help him out due to their previous brotherly bond they shared before the whole symbiote thing between them. It is gret seeing Peter playing mediator between both Gwenage and Venom during the big fight sequence since he shares a deep bond in with both characters. I was actually kind of upset that the fight between Spider-Man and the new monstorous version of Venom was cut so short.

I was happy to see that Gwen is back on this book, even if it was spoiled in Ultimatum, and it will be interesting to see various character reactions to Gwen being back especially those at Midtown High School. But with Ultimatum tie-in dominating the next few issue of USM I don't think that we will see Bendis pick up on this until after the tie-in issues.

One of the stand out moments in this issue were the ones with Aunt May. Ever since learning Peter is Spider-Man we have gotten to see much more of May than before and it is a good thing. It looks like May is a lot more paronoid about keeping Peter safe now since I have never seen May ever pull out a gun out on anyone before. Even without seeing Eddie for a long time, since they did not meet in the "Venom" arc, she new Eddie was dangerous and her willingness to pull a gun out on him shows how much learning Peter secret has affected her. I also enjoyed it that Peter, as Spider-Man, had to take Eddie to another location because of how scared she was from what Peter was doing. It looks like Peter and Aunt May may need to have another talk about his duties as Spider-Man have affected her.

As with much of USM Bendis used the ending of this story to set up future storylines with Beetle capturing Eddie/Venom and taking him back to Latveria. Hopefully Bendis picks up on this ending after Ultimatum and has Peter team-up with the Fantastic Four to fight Beetle and his boss as well as having to fight Dr. Doom since it might take place in Latveria and we have yet to see Spider-Man fight Dr. Doom in the Ultimate Universe yet.

Unlike most of Bendis work this issue was mostly a big brawlfest between Venom, Gwenage, and Spider-Man which plays to Immonen strengths as an artists. The fight scenes had a lot of energy to them, and I got to say that I love the splash page of the new monstorous form of Venom and I hope we see him in the future. Still this was probably Immonen strongest issue of USM to date.

Issue Rating
Story: 9/10 - Bendis did a nice with the conclusion of this arc while also laying the foundation for future USM arcs after the Ultimatum tie-in issues.
Art: 8/10 - This issue played to Immonen strength as an artist though I still don't like how he draws character faces outside of costume.
Overall: 8.5/10 - As with the previous issues Bendis and Immonen have started to work a lot better as a creative team and it seems Bendis is starting to write to Immonen talents a lot more.