Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #17

Background

There is civil war in the US and Spidey has joined Cap and the Ultimates to help stop the Hydra terrorist uprising.

Story Details

There are two stories told concurrently this issue. One that follows Miles and the other that follows Miles' Dad. To make things easier I'll just summarise both separately to avoid over using the word 'meanwhile'!

Spidey joins a pitched battle against Hydra with the Ultimates and other forces of SHIELD. Spider-Woman (Peter Parker's female clone), is concerned for Miles, she doesn't think he should be part of the battle. During the battle, Spider-woman rescues Miles and tries to send him away from battle, they are attacked by some War Machine units though. Spidey manages to take out a few units and is feeling pretty confident. When trying to take out another unit, he is flown away from the battle and in a crash, is knocked unconscious. He awakes the next morning in the middle of field, with nothing around.

Miles' dad was arrested by SHIELD peace-keeping forces in New York last issue. He is being taken, with others, to a holding facility when the van he is in is attacked by Hydra forces. The Hydra forces execute the SHIELD officers and ask Miles' dad to join them. We aren't shown what happens next, but later, Miles' mum returns home to find her husband sitting dazed on the lounge with a machine gun in his lap.

Two semi-cliffhangers, one issue.

General Comments

A fairly solid issue, with some interesting cliffhangers to make you want to read the next issue.

Spidey was understandably out of his depth on the battlefield. It was interesting to see the way Spider-woman acted towards him, particularly because Miles has no idea who she really is or why she is acting the way she is. The art was kinetic and clear for these scenes, but maybe a bit sparse a times, which meant the scale of the battle was sometimes lost.

I find Miles' dad to be an interesting and unpredictable character. He is principled and stands up for what he thinks is right, but since we don't know all his principles and he has a rugged past, I am really not sure what he did when he busted out by Hydra. Did he run? Feign joining up and then sneak off? I'm not sure.

Overall Rating

Great issue