The New Fifty-Tw... I mean All-New Ultimate Spider-Man No. 1

[Nique]

Alternate thread titles:

'Snoop-Dogg is totally in a Spider-Man comic'

'Fan letters are pretty annoying'

Anyone read this? I know it's in a bag and all but it's ok, you can open it.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this and, aside from the incredibly random circumstances behind Miles receiving his Spider-Powers, I felt like just the fact of another Spider-Powered person occurring kind of made sense.

Now, we already had a big discussion about how huge of a betrayal and a disgrace to every red-blooded God-fearing American geek it is for them to kill Marvel's B-List version of Peter Parker which was obviously only done for the sake of affirmative action and totally not to add any sense of meaning to Marvel stories or respect the diversity of their audiences personal experiences and backgrounds, but what's done is done. [/sarcasm]

I'm a little more interested/ concerned about the setting Miles is in and how his parents and neighbors are being portrayed as well as if and how this is having the impact the writers intended. There are a lot of cliches and tropes being thrown around here - Like I said, one of the characters is totally modeled after Snoop Dogg and is implied to probably be a smooth-talking drug dealer. There are other more benign characters in there as well, but, at least for now, they appear to be no less of a stereotype. I'm concerned that I'm reading too much into it, but since I have no real-life frame of reference for inner-city life in a poor and/or ethnic neighborhood, and Miles' situation is basically what I kind of think that's like, I have to assume that it's pulling from every late 80s movie about life on the street up to and including Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Buggalo.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

[O}ne of the characters is totally modeled after Snoop Dogg and is implied to probably be The Prowler.

FTFY

[Nique]

Huh. Ok I totally thought that was Dead Pool. My mistake.

[Fifthfiend]

The bit of this that I saw online give me hope that Miles Moralez indeed has what it takes to become a successful and well-regarded character and remains so for the next ten to twenty years it will take for some douchebag with a grudge to come along and throw him out for the character HE cares about from HIS childhood late adolescence / early adulthood

[The Sevenshot Kid]

This issue was just alright. Don't particularly care for the set-up of how Miles gets his powers. It feels a little after the fact but it doesn't make any major continuity problems. I did like Miles' family dynamic. Right off the bat I like his parents and I even like his uncle who turns out to be the newly introduced Ultimate Prowler. Right here we have a set-up that has me interested.

I'm hoping Bendis doesn't see fit to kill off a member of Miles' family because Miles isn't Peter Parker. He doesn't have to lose someone. Right here we have a kid who's parents are trying to push him towards a better life than they had and I think that right there is a good motivation to stick with. Him as Spider-Man might make sense if it comes from his desire to do well in life.

The uncle is a character I'm looking forward to seeing expanded. The inevitable conflict with Miles, no matter how far down the line it may come, is something that I'm looking forward to immensely.

I miss Pete, he was my hero growing up, but I'm willing to give the kid a chance.

[Nique]

he was my hero growing up,

ULTIMATE Peter Parker was your childhood hero?

[The Sevenshot Kid]

ULTIMATE Peter Parker was your childhood hero?

I'm sixteen!

[Kim]

GET OUT

[The Sevenshot Kid]

GET OUT

You'd think I've declared it enough in all the comic and Smallville threads (of which there were like two) for people to notice by now.

[Premmy]

Ultimate Spider-man launched in 2000, and was a big hit. Anyone in their teens or early twenties grew up with the Ultimate line as a potential childhood/teenage favorite. Seriously, deal with it. Anyways, fifth, got that sample?

[Kim]

Ultimate Spider-man launched in 2000, and was a big hit. Anyone in their teens or early twenties grew up with the Ultimate line as a potential childhood/teenage favorite. Seriously, deal with it.

I'm not sure if this was directed at me or Nique. On the off-chance it was directed at me, my "GET OUT" wasn't exactly serious.

[Premmy]

Nah, just needs to be established because the "It's not real spider-man/the spider-man that matters" thing comes up a lot all around. For a whole ass-load of people,"Real" Spider-man IS Ultimate Spider-man or at least the spider-man that matters.
The ultimate Line was created to bring new, young readers into the marvel Universe, and Ultimate Spider-man was successful as hell at that. Pretty much more than any other attempt of the comic business. Which, when worded like that, isn't really saying much, but still.

People getting mad because "THEIR" spider-man was killed, and the validity as a literary criticism/fanboy-ishness of that concept notwithstanding,Is not completely unfounded.

[Nique]

I completely *heart* Ultimate Spider-Man and despite not collecting basically see it as one of if not the best ongoing comic series of the last decade. I'm just not used to interacting with people who see this version of Peter Parker as their icon as opposed to Marvel proper or the 90s cartoon.

People getting mad because "THEIR" spider-man was killed, and the validity as a literary criticism/fanboy-ishness of that concept notwithstanding,Is not completely unfounded.

I wasn't way into comics and the internet was still young but when Superman died and was replaced with not one but four different Supermen including a young "punk" version and a *gasp* black version, I don't recall the letters section being quite so volatile in those issues.

[Premmy]

letters section. It takes a hell of a lot of anger to get pissed at some comic thing then write out a letter by hand. Buy a stamp, mail it off, wait for it to get there, and then hope they print it.

[Jagos]

I wasn't way into comics and the internet was still young but when Superman died and was replaced with not one but four different Supermen including a young "punk" version and a *gasp* black version, I don't recall the letters section being quite so volatile in those issues.

... You haven't seen the stories about the protest of Green Lantern have you? Fanboys are a strange beast. ESPECIALLY in comics...

[Token]

I'm a little more interested/ concerned about the setting Miles is in and how his parents and neighbors are being portrayed as well as if and how this is having the impact the writers intended. There are a lot of cliches and tropes being thrown around here - Like I said, one of the characters is totally modeled after Snoop Dogg and is implied to probably be a smooth-talking drug dealer. There are other more benign characters in there as well, but, at least for now, they appear to be no less of a stereotype. I'm concerned that I'm reading too much into it, but since I have no real-life frame of reference for inner-city life in a poor and/or ethnic neighborhood, and Miles' situation is basically what I kind of think that's like, I have to assume that it's pulling from every late 80s movie about life on the street up to and including Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Buggalo.

I'm not seeing it. We saw six characters, and none of them were stereotypes. We have Miles, who we're seeing doesn't like getting something for nothing, but is implied to have little problem with less than legal methods, because they are work. We see his parents; both okay with the lottery method, because it means the best (they can get) for their son, and the father doesn't approve of Aaron's methods.. The uncle, who clearly is engaged in some shady shit, but wants the best for Miles too- whether or not that he views that the same way his parents do. The only one who hasn't been fleshed out much is his mother, but I didn't see her being stereotypical, unless wanting your son to live a good life is an overdone trope these days. I'm seeing the beginnings of real characters here.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I knew there was reason my heart's been aching for a while. I didn't have my PIC when it comes to Ultimate Spider-Man here to represent with me.

[Nique]

letters section. It takes a hell of a lot of anger to get pissed at some comic thing then write out a letter by hand. Buy a stamp, mail it off, wait for it to get there, and then hope they print it.

Right I'm just talking about the letters section of this issue, not all the online hubub ... albeit I'm sure they're intentionally printing some of the more colorful ones.

I'm not seeing it. We saw six characters, and none of them were stereotypes. ...unless wanting your son to live a good life is an overdone trope these days. I'm seeing the beginnings of real characters here.

Well, the thing is I think that a successful comic book series is basically going to hinge itself on using common tropes well. I think the idea of a black, urban, youth getting into a better environment (College, neighborhood, or in this case, a Charter School) is a pretty common one and I can think of several films and books that have used this as their premise in recent years. I don't know if it's overdone but it's certainly been done. So, it's a trope or a stereotype if you like, but it's totally ok for them to use it becuase yeah it's dramatic and there's a certain amount of realism to it. It's how they explore the trope that I'm squinting at in an extremely judgmental way.

The issue could be that they simply haven't fleshed out these characters enough but Miles was the only character who seemed to have some genuine personality, mostly becuase of his reaction to the lottery. Everyone else seemed to be more of a caricature. I'll have to read it again to really get into it but my first impression of the book was pretty mixed. Like I said, I enjoyed it, I just don't know that I want to keep seeing some lady yelling 'Ohhh Lawd!' in every issue.

I don't know. I guess about a year ago we had a big discussion about Avatar (not Airbenders) and I was kind of on the other side of this discussion. But, in large part becuase of that discussion, I've found myself scrutinizing fiction and how people are depicted in movies/comics/games/books a lot more carefully. So, whoever wants to take credit for that is totally welcome to it but you also take responsibility for anything stupid I say after this.

[Token]

Issue two was pretty great, and gave a lot more depth to Mr. Morales. A little bit to Miles too, but I'm not too worried about that. He hasn't taken center stage much yet, and what we've seen of him, I've liked. I trust Bendis, and I'm sure he'll be suitably fleshed out soon enough- I just hope he doesn't spend too much time on a supporting cast and neglect him for too much longer. Still, issue 3 is out in two weeks, and I'm psyched.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

I liked it too for most of the same reasons you said but I'm getting increasingly worried by Miles' age. He strikes me as much younger than Peter was at the time and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable about putting him in danger.

[Nique]

He seems... 15 ish to me?

[The Sevenshot Kid]

He seems... 15 ish to me?

I can't remember where I read it (might have been in the comic or an interview) but he's about 12/13 ready to move into his first year of junior high.

[Token]

I liked it too for most of the same reasons you said but I'm getting increasingly worried by Miles' age. He strikes me as much younger than Peter was at the time and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable about putting him in danger.

You're right. That is sort of skeevy. BRB, dropping Batman and Robin. :P