Spider-Men by Brian Michael Bendis & others

[katekintailbc]

Spider-Men
by Brian Michael Bendis & others

This book suddenly showed up in the library catalog when I was doing a search and I immediately put it on hold. I love Brian Michael Bendis's Spider-man stories and his Ultimate Comics universe with the new Spider-man. This story, collecting five issues, has a unique twist--the (adult) Peter Parker we all know and love (from the Marvel Universe) gets taken to a parallel world (the Ultimate Universe) where their Peter Parker died as a teenager and 13-year-old Miles is the new Spider-man. When they meet... things go as you might expect: they freak out and fight each other, not understanding what is happening but knowing it can't mean anything good.

But there's just as much emotion in this as action. Peter showing up in tears at Aunt May & Gwen's house, of not being able to explain to MJ, of giving Miles encouragement, of Mysterio's freakin terrible projections of worst fears. There's Tony (who drinks) totally fanboying the tech needed to bridge two worlds. There's Miles totally coming into his own in front of everybody and doing what they can't. There's Nick Fury realizing the other Peter's Nick Fury is white. There's just a lot of everything I love about Spider-man, who isn't even one of my absolute faves... or, at least, not unless Brian Michael Bendis is writing him. I think I need to send that guy a fan letter or something. LOL

Really, it's an interesting concept that is cleverly executed and helps the characters grow and cope in unexpected ways. I really appreciate that it's not just some interesting concept--it goes much deeper than that. I really enjoyed the story and hope there's more of this crossover in the future, as the end hints there may be one day.