COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1

I was told by Norby to grab Flipgeek’s copy of Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1 for me to do a review. Up to now I still feel that it should’ve been Spider-Kyle, since nobody else in FG’s as close to Spidey as him. He could do a better review about the webslinger, too. But after reading the issue, I’m glad I was the one who got a hold of the book.

Marvel brings Miles Morales into the Cataclysm foray with Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1. A wrap-up to the “Spider-Man, No More” storyline and a jumping point into the Cataclysm event, this isse brings back Miles Morales and sets up what could be the end of Ultimate Universe. Miles Morales is back from the temporary hiatus after the events of Spider-Man, No More”. We see the repercussions of the actions of the teen-age team of Spidey, Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger under the “guidance” of Spider-Woman. We get to see everyone, even the Avengers huddled together, making the impending crisis sound bigger (though of course, Galactus is a big crisis already).

The story’s a mix of humour, cool moments and touching drama. While Spider-Woman spends some banter moments with Avengers, Miles Morales makes his comeback and it’s such a relief to see NYPD give the hero a hug instead of chasing him down again. It is during this part that Brian Michael Bendis proves once again that he’s the guy for Ultimate Spidey. Miles’ got the power and responsibility thing covered and he’s the webslinger that’s difficult not to love.

Also, we Bendis builds up on the other characters, a trait that we’ve seen from him since Ulti Spidey’s #1. Aside from Morales, Bombshell deals with her own troubles after she used her powers last time. She sounded like the kid who’s got herself into suspension or expulsion from school but we know her problem’s more than just that. On the other hand, Cloak and Dagger comes back home, free from being lab rats for Roxxon. The duo’s journey’s a very emotional one as they not only have to move on from their past but also they have to realize that the world has moved on while they were stuck as guinea pigs for experiments.

We’ve got compelling and quite emotional story from Bendis beautifully rendered by David Marquez and colorists Justin Ponsor and Paul Mounts. More than that first two-page spread in this book that features Miles’ comeback where he gets thrown bottles at by bystanders and gets hugged by a policeman at the same time, I love the parts with CLoak and Dagger. The second spread where Cloak’s comforting Dagger’s emotional already but the last one where we get to see a silhouette of Galactus just brought me goosebumps. A silent page with Cloak and Dagger seeing a towering Galactus is such a marvelous wrap-up for a book that’s filled with beautiful pages where Ponsor and Mounts’ colors match up Marquez’ work to let the emotions come across.

Beautiful. Just beautiful. But we also gotta move to the turn-downs. First, this is no jump-in point to new readers. The heck, there shouldn’t even be new readers for Ult Spidey at this point! The events are so tied in to the previous storyline and jumps straight to the next one that new readers can’t expect to have some time to collect themselves and piece together what’s going on.

Next, and probably more importantly, this book feels like the supposed first issue of Cataclysm, even before Ultimates Last Stand. The real conclusion happens here, making this issue the true transition point into the Cataclysm storyline. While the book does a good job in wrapping up what happened after the previous event, when you look at it with regards to the whole mini-series, it seems disjointed or out-of-place.

While the events in this book might not have much to do with Cataclysm events, Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man’s the wrap-up I could hope for. It’s the right transition that would allow not only me but also other Ultimate readers to move on from the Ultimate Marvel universe and embrace the coming of Galactus. Really big thanks I got my hands on this issue, fantastic read I’d say.

Review Score:
10/10

Comic books used for this review was provided by 
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