About Heroes

This review was submitted by Spider-ben:
“Ultimate Knights parts 4 and 5”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mark Bagley
Covers: Bagley and Isanove

Ladies and gentlemen, give a huge, huge, huge round of applause for Mr. Mark Bagley. Bagley has dedicated a good portion of his life illustrating the adventures of our web clad wonder, and he deserves tons of appraise for his commitment and dedication. Bagley has drawn Spider-Man in various comics over the years, including: What If volume 2 issue #4, Spider-Man Unlimited #2, Marvel Age Spider-Man 30th Anniversary issue, Amazing Spider-Man issue #351-415 (with a few fill ins here and there) and of course, Ultimate Spider-Man #1-110. So thank you so much Mr. Bagley for your hard work in brining my favorite hero of all time to life month after month.

OK, back to the issues. Ronin, AKA Moon Knight brings Peter to the Kingpin. Kingpin once again unmasks Peter and tells him that he owns all the copy right material with Spider-Man’s image on it. This amounts in lots and lots of cash that Peter will never have. Kingpin taunts and torments Peter, then tells his thugs to beat the crap out of Ronin, since he realized that it is secretly Moon Knight in disguise. Kingpin then tells Peter that Matt Murdock is Daredevil and also his lawyer. Later, Daredevil and Doctor Strange try to find Peter with little luck. Bendis does a great job when Dr. Strange casts a spell showing what happened to Peter and Daredevil claims he can’t see what is happening. This mystifies Dr. Strange, but we readers know that DD is blind! There is some great dialogue in these pages between the two.

Later, Peter notices his fellow knights meeting on a rooftop and he goes ballistic on them, thinking DD was really working for the Kingpin all this time. Spidey tells DD that Fisk knows that he is Matt Murdock, and boom, Murdock’s law office explodes across the street from the heroes. Clearly there is a traitor in the ranks, and due to DD being a human lie detector he quickly realizes Iron Fist is the traitor. Iron Fist tells the heroes that Kingpin was going to go after his family and was holding his daughter ransom. The heroes are still disappointed in him, especially his friend Shang-Chi. Daredevil realizes that he is in serious danger with Kingpin knowing his secret identity, and takes the fight to Fisk personally.

Meanwhile, Kingpin’s goons take Ronin out to the river and shoot him in the head. It looks like old Moon Knight is done for, but inside his crazed mind his personalities clash with one another, refusing to lay down and die. The Ronin personality takes charge and shocks the body back to life, and Moon Knight realizes he has to do the right thing and turn himself in. At Fisk tower, Daredevil goes after Vanessa Fisk, ailing wife of the Kingpin. This actually scares the Kingpin, and he tells his men to stand down. Daredevil is furious and ready to kill Vanessa when Spidey shows up. Spidey tells DD that he is a good man and shouldn’t become a killer, no matter what Fisk has done to him. Then he tells DD about the burglar killing his uncle and how Peter wanted to kill the burglar, but realized he was better than that and above the taking of a life. DD backs down and tells Fisk to leave the country and never, ever return.
Later, Fisk is fuming about what DD and Spidey have done and gives the order to destroy them all and blow up Peter’s school. Luckily, the NYPD show up and admit they now have evidence to put Fisk away for good. It seems Moon Knight turned himself in, confessing everything that has transpired. It seems that the Kingpin has taken the fall for now, but I’m betting he will be back.

Thoughts/Comments:
A great ending to a great story. Sure, the story started off slow but I’m really glad that Fisk got arrested at the end of the story. This guy has been such a pain to the heroes of the Ultimate Universe, and it’s great seeing him finally be nailed to the wall. I loved the dialogue between Dr. Strange and Daredevil in part 4, and Bendis really showed how much Peter has grown into a mature hero when talking DD out of not killing Vanessa Fisk. Bagley is and always will be the man. It’s a shame to see him go, but the good news is he is drawing half of issue #111. Unfortunately, Stuart Immonen is also coming onboard. You all know how I feel about that, but I’ll continue to buy the book to support both Bendis and Spidey. But how about one last round of applause for Mark Bagley! Can’t wait to see his work on the second Mighty Avengers story arc! All in all, these issues get a solid A! Way to go Bendis and Bagley, thanks for the awesome ride.