This series relives the adventures that Spiderman has in the current Ultimate Spiderman TV show. The issues do this by taking pictures from the show and then planting them in the comic with some dialogue. Basically, you get to read the episodes in case you don’t watch TV. It can definitely seem like a cash grab since it’s very easy to make these, but I doubt that they sell very well either. Ah well, let’s see if these issues hold up well anyway.
One of the issues involves Harry Osborn as he becomes Venom. Spiderman’s going to have to deal with this threat, but Harry is his friend so that presents a pretty big dilemma for our young hero. Spiderman’s going to have to convince Harry to give up his newfound power the easy way…or the hard way!
Another comic involves the Taskmaster. Doctor Octopus hires him to infiltrate Spiderman’s high school to find out which student he is. Peter Parker is quickly dropped from suspicion since he’s not very good physically, but Iron Fist, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson are suspected to possibly be the hero. Spiderman can’t let them fall into harm’s way so it’s time to suit up once more. Will he be able to defeat this vicious foe!?
The Living Laser strikes in a team up comic that features Iron Man as a guest star. Tony Stark gives Spiderman an Iron Spider armor, which immediately gets to the web crawler’s head. His teammates become irritated at this and decide to give him the cold shoulder. Spiderman can’t be deterred and there’s still a villain to stop. He’ll do this…even if he has to do it alone!
Finally, we have a comic with the Hulk. Mary Jane guest stars (It’s a little scary to think that one of the biggest Spiderman supporting characters has been reduced to a guest star role….) as she wants to film this to show the world what a hero Spiderman can be. Spidey is happy to hear it since he hasn’t gotten such good press in a long time. Unfortunately, happy days are cut short as the Hulk engages in battle with a being made of electricity. SHIELD and the government may be after the Hulk, but whose side will Spiderman take? You don’t want to miss it!
I have to say that the usage of the pictures was a little more awkward than usual. They didn’t do a good job of making sure that they make sense. This results in fights that end very abruptly and the characters are already moving onto the next subject. Naturally, they can’t take a picture of every second, but this results in very stilted dialogue and plots. It’s especially noticeable if you’ve seen the show and then you can see all of the parts that are missing. They do manage to cover a lot of ground with these pictures so whoever’s in charge gets some props. It just could have been a little better and more seamless.
Naturally, I can’t even talk about the dialogue or the art that much because it’s all taken from the TV show. This is not a new experience so you should definitely not be reading it if that’s what you’re looking for. At least it is an interesting alternative to watching the show and I still think it would be interesting to see if anyone actually does make that choice.
It’s not really necessary to talk about the character portrayals all that much since it’s the same from the show. In light of this, I’ll just quickly speak about them. Hulk is safely in character, although he looks pretty weak. Zzax is as tough as always, but he’s still not very smart. Taskmaster is a pretty good villain and he was probably the toughest hand to hand fighter that Spiderman’s been up against in a while. Harry is pretty good for the most part and he handled his powers pretty wisely. (Too bad Peter wrecked it) Mary Jane is in character as well and Coulson takes everything in stride. The heroes openly try to mock him, but Coulson’s always prepared.
Peter Parker continues to show the world why he can barely make it as a superhero. He makes a lot of mistakes and he doesn’t act like he has a lot of experience. I can see why his teammates don’t trust him even if they don’t perform much better. I like Spiderman’s portrayal in the show, but just judging from these comics….he doesn’t look so good. Even his famed Spider Sense can’t save him now!
Overall, this is a decent collection of comics. The Iron Man, Venom, and Taskmaster ones were pretty interesting, but I didn’t care for the Hulk story all that much. I am glad that Spiderman stepped up and went against the government. That took character! The action is decent, but the comedy can be a bit much. I can’t recommend this to anyone who saw the show since the show is the definitive way of experiencing these adventures. If you have not watched the show, then these stories can be fun. Remember, it’s just a bunch of pictures that are placed together so don’t come in expecting a lot of artwork. It’s a unique reading experience and it definitely won’t be for everyone. I prefer this to bad art, but I’ll take a comic with average art over this style. You may like this comic for the fight scenes or it may not be enough. I’d sooner just recommend reading the original Spiderman comics from the 60s.
Overall 6/10
I forgot to add this the other day, but I obtained the Platinum!!! HOORAY!!!!! It’s always an epic feeling and playing the story again was worth it. I won’t be forgetting this game anytime soon.
The Transformers saga continues in this volume! The last one may not have been as impressive as I had been expecting, but this one is back up to par. Ironically, the plot is slightly less interesting because most of it is a story, but you can’t win every battle I suppose.
This collection brings an annual and then we have three regular comics, which split into the current time and a story that the Autobots are talking about. The annual shows the Autbots as they look for an old colony of tough fighters who helped to make Drift into the person that he is today. Unfortunately, they are gone and a galactic peace keeping association want to take the Transformers down once and for all. They won’t be able to debate their way out of this one, but can Ultra Magnus bring himself to take down these law abiding aliens?
Also, there seems to possibly be a traitor afoot as Rodimus finds an Autobot in a vat of oil. This couldn’t have been an accident and it smells like a Decepticon attack. Rodimus is going to need to get to the bottom of this right away. Meanwhile, there is an Autobot who is basically in a coma so the others decide to tell him a story since it might cause his brain functions to start up again. They speak of a tale from millions of years ago that could actually be true. Optimus Prime is in it along with Prowl. It was good to see some of the old faces again.
Optimus Prime is pretty much as epic as usual. He’s in his Orion Pax form, but in this contiunity that really doesn’t affect his character. He’s still the Optimus Prime that we’ve come to know and root for. Pax definitely does a lot of damage to the villains and his ethics are still in place. He may put a little too much trust into his pal, but it happens to the best of them. Prime may only appear in the story, but that will have to do until he returns for real.
Drift is pretty cool as per usual, although he seemed to be a little out of character in the comic. Knocking away the other Autobots when they began to insult him was going a little too far. It’s possible that he is finally losing it or maybe it was just a one time thing. Aside from that moment, Drift is still someone that you can root for and it’s nice to see his swordsmanship in action.
I was more than a little iffy of Rodimus Prime’s role in this comic. At first, he definitely lost his way and I was pretty worried. Was the hero that I had once known starting to forget his morals? Luckily, the selfless decision of another Autobot causes him to rethink his decision and make the correct choice. I’m glad about that and hopefully this will help Rosimus for future issues. After all, he used to be my favorite Autobot for a while. I’m hoping that he can continue to look good and keep hold of his heroism amidst a world of dark deceptions.
Ultra Magnus gets a decently big role in the first comic. Initially, the heroes force him to grin so that they can wipe out some really small villains, but things get a little more serious when the Galactic Peace Federation guys arrive. Ultra Magnus is the only one who really understands the law and he does well in his counters. The villains try to recruit him, but Magnus is an Autobot through and through. He’s definitely a pretty likable guy.
Chromedome is a main character in this collection since he’s the guy who is teaming up with Prowl in the story. He’s surprisingly smart and he does well during the investigation. I was expecting more of a Sherlock and Watson situation. He was decent in Headmasters and I’d say the same for this comic. There’s no real reason to dislike him, but there’s nothing about Chromedome that makes him stand out. He’s an average fighter and he’s basically an average Autobot.
Prowl was pretty cool in the comic. His design is a little too similar to Drift’s, but his personality helps to separate them. He’s very smart, but he doesn’t seem to understand how corrupt the government is. He goes off on his own and it would seem that he never showed up again. A pretty abrupt end to a fun character. He may not have been the best fighter, but he was a good guy to have around in a mystery.
Of course, the main problem that I have with this volume is the fact that it’s basically filler. The annual wasn’t really relevant and the story about the good ole days was decent, but nothing really came of it. I do applaud the final twist at the end due to how shocking and intense it is. It’s a twist that is ultimately fillerish, but having some extra back story can be a good thing I suppose. I’m expecting the plot to unfold a little more in the next volume. We really need some story progression because not much has really happened since the first volume if you think about it.
The artwork is still very good and it’s what I have come to expect from the series. We don’t have a lot of fight scenes in this volume, but the art even helps the brief skirmishes that we get. Optimus Prime’s ground slam on one of the villains was pretty epic. Narration is also benefited by the art because it makes reading the text bubbles a lot easier since the drawings in the background are so crisp. Hopefully the art will stay this good for future volumes.
Overall, this was a pretty good Transformers comic. The stakes were definitely a lot lower than usual and the plot didn’t really move, but maybe it was good for a change of pace. This collection was definitely a lot lighter than the last one and it made for a fun read. It’s not quite as interesting, but it’s interesting enough to keep you entertained. Thanks in part to the art and the characters who are participating in the action. I would recommend reading the first two volumes before this one even if most of the issues are a story of the past. It’s just more enjoyable if you know who the story tellers are and why they’re even here. Whirl gets to appear, but it’s a very small role which is why he didn’t get his own paragraph earlier. I definitely recommend this to all comic readers!
Overall 7/10
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