Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man 72-96

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 1

Yeah, I’m ripping through these.  So addictive.  Brain Michael Bendis has been exceptional at making these arcs flow seamlessly from one to the next.  Nothing feels forced, as if each story could only lead in one direction.  As for the stories themselves:

Harry Osborn returns, and for some reason, everyone’s surprised when he transforms into the Hobgoblin.  Peter’s victorious, but breaks up with MJ when she puts herself in peril one too many times.  Peter’s mental state is completely understandable, as the stress of so many physical and emotional hits (especially Gwen’s death) takes a horrible toll.  Good thing MJ is made of sterner stuff.

The yelling's not cool, but he has a point.

Poor Peter.  Poor MJ.

At least he's funny when he's driving himself crazy.

After that’s a massive brawl between the Kingpin, Hammerhead, Elektra, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, and Spidey.  Not quite up to Bendis’ usual standards, but still fun.  

Then Peter and Kitty start dating!  They’re super cute, but obviously not the OTP of the story.

Spidey runs afoul of Roxxon Corporation and Silver Sable, then joins the X-Men on a Murderworld adventure against Deadpool and the Reavers.  Today’s comics end with a Morbius two-parter.  

Things have fallen into a nice rhythm for Bendis and Mark Bagley.  Nothing particularly stands out, but mostly because everything stays at such a consistently high quality.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good (Pretty good for 79-85)