Peter Parker has had a rough couple of weeks, with switching bodies with Doctor Octopus and dying and such. Spider-Men is a glimpse to a more lighthearted adventure, with him entering the Ultimate Universe and meeting the Spider-Man of that reality.
The only thing that I really wasn’t too keen on this story was how Peter winds up getting into the Ultimate Universe. Longtime illusionist and lame villain Mysterio has acquired some sort of trans-dimensional gateway that Peter accidentally activated, sending him to another reality where he meets Miles. Mysterio now has the opportunity to kill the two Spider-Men.
While dodging Mysterio’s robot avatars and such, the two bond. Miles really looks up to Peter, who himself is amazed on how respected the alternate version of himself was by the people of Ultimate New York. Knowing that he doesn’t belong, the Ultimates agree to help find a way to send Peter home.
The best parts of Brian Bendis’ story are when Peter meets up with this world’s version of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, both of them who are still mourning the loss of their Peter. Things are also odd for Peter, as he’s talking to a version of a girl he was deeply in love with, but whose life was cut short in his reality.
This really was really made the book for me were these exchanges. Peter and Miles could have not punched a whole thing through it; the story was fine without any action. There was plenty; the Spidey’s and the Ultimates team up to stop Mysterio. The ending is a little odd; Mysterio learned a lot about Peter Parker’s secret identity and such by watching him through his device, and the Ultimates wound up imprisoning him in their world to keep Peter’s secrets safe. But mostly it’s important for Miles and the Aunt May and Gwen that he knows; they were able to get closure knowing that somewhere there is a Peter very close to the one that they knew who is living a wonderful life.
When that Peter got home he Googled Miles, and we don’t know what he found online. But between that and Mysterio stuck in the Ultimate world there are two plot points to pick up at a later date.
The art on this was by Sara Pichelli, whose work is really growing on me. I read that she does most of her work on a Wacom tablet and I’m amazed about how thin her line work is. It’s very clean and looks great.
Getting back to Spider-Men, I give it a glowing recommendation It’s more a Miles than a Peter story, but it doesn’t matter which Spider-Man you prefer. It’s a great Spider-Man story all around.
Ridiculously Awesome 