Ultimate Comics Spider-Man vol. 4

What should’ve been a blockbuster event — Miles Morales confronts Ultimate Venom — falls regrettably flat here.  Bendis skillfully updated one of Spider-Man’s best villains by strengthening the relationship between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock and tying it to research done by their parents.  Such care and planning is virtually absent here.  This version of Ultimate Venom is more of a gooey tentacle monster who comes upon some information about Spider-Man’s identity and beats a path straight to the Morales’ family apartment.  He’s after the character for some vague, unspecified reasons and the reveal of his identity is giant anticlimax.  I can understand the writer’s desire to have Miles throw down with one of Spidey’s iconic foes, but it was really too soon for this particular villain to be wheeled out.  Better for the series to have gone on for a while longer and built up a character whose reveal as Venom would’ve been genuinely shocking.  The only person who remotely fits that bill right now is Ganke — and making him Venom would’ve been a TERRIBLE idea (save for the thought of seeing him geek out about being inside of and able to control a giant tentacle monster).

It’s a shame that the main story doesn’t connect in the way it should here as the rest of the volume is quite solid.  Bendis’ banter between the characters is spot-on as always and he continues to make Miles more likeable with each major story.  I continue to love J. Jonah Jameson’s change-of-heart towards the title character as his reasons for doing so are completely understandable yet utterly within his established characterization.  You wish everyone had the kind of integrity Jameson displays here.  Then you’ve got the shocking moment at the story’s climax that changes the nature of the series and reinforces Miles’ fears about telling his dad that he’s a superhero in a traumatic way.  Like the use of Venom here, however, it still feels a bit too early in the character’s lifetime to pull a “Spider-Man No More” moment — he’s only been around for two years.  Still, a dramatic story like that plays better to Bendis’ strengths than the monster-of-the-week schlock we got here.  I can only hope my optimism turns out to be well-founded when the next volume arrives (in softcover).