About Heroes

This Review was submitted by Spider-ben
Ultimate Spider-Man #106-108
“Ultimate Knights” Parts 1-3
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley

Bagley’s last arc on Ultimate Spidey starts here. While I’m sad as can be to see him go, he sure is going out with a bang. The story starts off with MJ and Peter back together and completely happy. Aunt May still wants to have a heart to heart with Peter, but he insists it wait until she is out of the hospital. Peter takes MJ to the Fantastic Four to run some follow up tests, making sure she is alright from being injected with the OZ formula during the clone saga.

Everything turns out fine, and Peter and MJ return to Midtown High to be approached by Matt Murdock. Murdock quickly let Peter in on the fact that he is Daredevil, and tells the hero to meet him at 8:00 that evening on a certain rooftop. Peter is pissed about Murdock showing up at the school, but interested by what Murdock has in mind.

In the student school network class, Ultimate Jessica Jones is revealed as a senior in charge of the news network for the school. She encourages a bunch of students to sign up for the class, citing it looks good on a high school transcript. Peter is still kind of in shock after everything that has happened recently, when Kitty Pryde shows up as the new student at Midtown High School. Peter still hasn’t broken up with her, and things just get worse. Kong totally wants to date Kitty, while Liz continues to be a mutant racist bitch and makes Kitty feel super unwanted. It gets to be too much, and Kitty phases out the building and heads for the bleachers by the football field. Peter and MJ go outside, and Peter realizes he must talk to Kitty. An argument breaks out almost instantly, and Kitty really made some good points. She claims that the X-Men were off to help during the clone saga arc, and she tells Peter how she told Xavier off for not using his mental powers to make Aunt May forget Peter is Spidey. By doing so, she was kicked out of the Xavier institute.

Peter is shocked that she would do something so nice, and feels even worse. Plus, Peter talks about how MJ almost died and how he has made some mistakes lately (big mistake saying that Pete!) and Kitty just blows up. I can’t blame her though “Oh please tell me I’m the mistake!” is Kitty’s response. Kitty, in tears, goes off with nothing left to say and only feels all the hurt and pain that ended relationships bring about. I really felt this scene, but I’ll mention why in my thoughts section of the review.

Meanwhile, the Kingpin is auditioning for a new assassin. The new assassin is brought in, and Kingpin tells him to kill the man standing next to him. The assassin doesn’t, and Kingpin’s men attack. The killer is revealed to be Shang-Chi, master of Kung Fu. He barely makes it away from the Kingpin’s men, when Daredevil makes him an offer similar to the one he told Peter about. That night, Peter dons the costume and goes to Daredevil’s meeting. He is shocked to see a clan of heroes assembled on the rooftop. They are the Ultimate Knights, consisting of: DD, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, and now Spidey.

They tell Spidey that they are going to kill the Kingpin once and for all. Spidey states he will help them lock Kingpin up for good, but won’t condone killing the man. The Knights claim that there is no other option, and Spidey basically gets up in DD’s face and tells him he won’t allow this. As the hero swings off, the heroes realize they need someone to infiltrate the Kingpin’s ranks before they plan their attack. Moon Knight volunteers, seeing as how he has many identities going on in his head already. The Knights agree, and thigns seem to be shaping up. Cut to the Kingpin’s lair later on. Fisk and one of his men are told the Knights plan down to Moon Knight infiltrating his ranks as a new assassin. Kingpin is pleased with the news, and fans learn Iron Fist has betrayed the Knights. That bastard!

The next day at school, MJ reports on the controversy surrounding Spider-Man attending Midtown High. MJ interviews Flash Thompson, recently believed to be Spidey when kidnapped by Silver Sable and her crew. Then she interviews the principal, who states he doubts that any of his faculty is Spidey, but he hopes one of the students is. He goes on to explain what a hero Spidey is, and how it would be an honor if he had attended the school as long as the fisticuffs are not taking place on school grounds. (A little to late for that pal, see Green Goblin and Venom arcs to name a few school showdowns!) Peter feels like MJ used him to get into the reporting club, but she claims he owes her after all the times she has been kidnapped and threated for being Spidey’s girl. Meanwhile, Kitty is walking the halls, looks at Pete and MJ, and rushes off, still heartbroken. Poor Kitty, I really feel for her. Later, Kingpin meets Ronin, his new assassin for hire. Kingpin knows this is Moon Knight, but continues the charade of not knowing this info. Ronin takes out the Kingpin’s men to show off his skills, and Fisk orders him to find Spider-Man and bring him to the big man himself. Inside Moon Knight’s head, all his personalities argue over this not being a good idea. Hell, even one of his identities is a little girl.

Moon Knight is one messed up guy! Back at the school, Ultimate Ronin attacks, crashing a bus into the school. Then he starts shooting in the air, ordering for Spidey to show up. Kitty takes him on, claiming she has needed something to hit for about a week. Kitty does well, but after all she was trained by Wolverine. Finally, Ronin gets the upper hand and Kitty falls before him. Spidey shows up on the scene after helping his friends get away, and totally wails on Ronin for putting kids in risk. Our hero does good, but Ronin pulls a nasty trick and knocks Spidey out cold. Using his web shooters, Ronin escapes with Spidey unconscious, while MJ watches in horror. At Kingpin’s tower, Ronin delivers Spider-Man to the big man himself.

Thoughts/Comments:
Very very nice! Bendis is keeping the action flowing, and he just totally nails how terrible a relationship can be when ended. Bagley is simply amazing; I loved part two showing all the Knights meeting on the rooftop. Speaking of Bags, I think his design for Ultimate Ronin rocks! Sure, it’s pretty similar to regular Ronin, but Bagley just really adds to the design and mystery of the character. Kind of a bummer with Jessica Jones just being a regular senior in high school, hopefully Bendis has more plans. The big thing that hit me is how bad I feel for Kitty. Sure, I wanted and always will want Peter and MJ together.

It’s just mean to be. But when Kitty heard from Peter about all the mistakes he had made, it just totally clicked in my head. My first love back in high school, the girl I miss even to this day, almost told me the same thing when she dumped me. She claimed she had made some mistakes lately, hiding no doubt that I was one of them. To think I poured my heart and soul out to this girl only to be told one day that I was some sort of mistake just still haunts me to this day. So when Peter said that, I just got cold chills. It’s like Bendis was watching me back in high school or something and new just what to say to end the Kitty and Peter story. So yeah, I totally feel for Kitty. I know just how terrible she feels and I really wish I could go into the comic and make her feel better since I’ve been there. So rock on Bendis, you nailed some kick ass story telling, and really got my emotions going. All in all, a solid A+. Sad to say in two issues, these reviews will get shorter and have lower grades and you all know why. If you don’t, let’s just say I am not going to be happy with the new art direction in a few months. I’ll leave the ranting about that for later though.