This One Sticks

This guy and I were talking about Spider-man (mostly Spider-man 3) non-stop for the past few days (though you can’t read it here, as we discussed this on yahoo messenger) and both of us managed to post our reviews of that lackluster film. Now before I move on to discussing something slightly-related, let me add a few things that worked in Spider-man 3. None of these were saving graces, but I think that they need to be recognized. Really, not saying them aloud bothers me a lot in my sleep. No wonder I got this stupid cold (yeah, I know I’m digressing, but I said that to let people know how I’m doing lately).

I still like J. Jonah Jameson. He is the editor-in-chief of Daily Bugle, the newspaper where Peter Parker works as a photographer. All of his scenes were funny. There’s no greater schadenfreude than watching J. Jonah Jameson lose his temper and lash out snide remarks, which he did all the time he appeared. If the movie were just about him it would’ve rocked. Alas he appeared only in a few scenes, so just like everyone else he was underdeveloped.

I also like the Stan Lee cameo. He actually spoke to Peter Parker. Really, that’s the only reason I like his cameo, but that’s reason enough.

Anyway, I still think that the movie sucked even if I’ve suggested that you watch it just to laugh at how funny it is. Because Spider-man 3 sucked so badly, I took interest in reading Ultimate Spider-man just to wash off the poor tastes the movie left in the mouth. So, did the comics do that? Was Ultimate Spider-man any good? Yes (in spades) and yes.

All comics from Marvel’s Ultimate series retell the origins and the major events of Marvel’s superheroes, with minor modifications such as setting them on modern times. In Ultimate Spider-man, Peter is living at a time when internets and youtubes are already well into public awareness; I think those were done to make the story feel closer to home. Beyond appearing different from the comics of the olden days, though, the story remains (mostly) the same. Ultimate Spider-man still has the same feel as the early Amazing Spider-man. It’s action-packed, fast-paced, and has a story more down-to-earth than most other superheroes’. And good news: you’ll actually like Mary Jane Watson here. No singing too, and that’s a good thing.

Although I recommend Ultimate Spider-man, I have a couple of complaints. First is that I’m already at around 30 issues, yet none of all the 5-6 villains that have appeared so far have been very well-developed. They just exist to kick Spider-man’s butt and they don’t have a lot of personality. Now, really, don’t get me wrong, as I do think that sometimes a villain is really just a bastard and not a misunderstood person needing our sympathy, but c’mon, this series has wasted time on five (or six?) of such villains! Wouldn’t it tell a more compelling tale if some of the villains were not so one-dimensional? Then again, this comic seems to be aimed for kids so the portrayal of the enemies as simplistically evil may be intentional. I don’t know.

My other complaint is that the comics do not have high re-read values. This may be because there aren’t many profound messages sprinkled throughout the story, and the dialogues are mostly just funny one-liners. In a way, reading Ultimate Spider-man is like watching 24 (I had watched it before it jumped the sharked) in that I just keep wanting to move the story forward without ever wanting to look back. It’s just the kind of comic book series that does not require a lot of mental effort to plow through, and it may be good if you’re in the crowd that wants that. I, personally, find that as a welcome change of sceneries in this era where some super artsy indie comics of late exert a major influence on the industry (and it shows on some of the atrocious JMS’s Spider-man’s stories), but it still does bother me that a comic series that provides not much but cheap thrills has to cost so much. Marvel’s Trade Paperbacks are never cheap and they tend to last forever, and this one is no exception. I’m just glad the Ultimate Spider-man I read isn’t mine and that I did not have to spend any money to read it.