[.ca] Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 2: Learning Curve (ISBN 0785108203)

Loved it!:
If you're collecting this series, this is a good one! I enjoyed it. Still, if you're starting there's a limited hardcover with the whole series its 1000 pages! That's the one I wanted my friend has it but getting them one by one is good too.

this one was ok:
This one was okay, it was fun going from page to page with spidy and the art work was wonderful, except for the first two pages

this one was ok:
This one was okay, it was fun going from page to page with spidy and the art work was wonderful, except for the first two pages

The most consistently well-written comic today:
"Learning Curve" is the second volume of Ultimate Spider-man. Ultimate Spider-man is Marvel's seperate brand of comics that, in a sense, are "new", seperated from 42 years of continuous storytelling. The idea is that any new reader would be hopeless trying to read modern comics since they can't first go back and read the 1000+ issues that proceeded it. So Ultimate Spider-man takes a familiar hero, Spider-man, and starts him from the beginning; a whole new story for readers to enjoy. What is amazing about this series is that it has caught on not just with new readers, but with long-time comic fans. This is because not only does it have clean, accessible art, wholesome writing, and completely accessible and fun dialouge, but it features a "truer" version of Spider-man than the one in the regular comic. In the "Amazing Spider-man" comic, Peter Parker is married, has a job, nothing very interesting for comic readers. In Ultimate Spider-man, he is still 16, still in high school, still struggling to balance a girlfriend, classes, internship, all while putting in swingtime as the misunderstood webslinger. This collection, number two in the series (I recommend getting number one first), features Spider-man's battle with the Kingpin. The story is chock full of intelligence, with things going on as they would in the real world. No comic book death traps, no silly villians. The final battle with the Kingpin is not only well-written, it is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a comic book. And the final chapter features a great moment in the very real and heartfelt relationship between Peter and Mary Jane, a relationship that gets more real and more interesting with each succeeding chapter. Buy this book, hell, buy the hardcover with volumes one and two if you can find it. It's worth reading, and it'll be worth taking off your shelf in years to come. Good for kids and adults.

The Ultimate Spider-Man's first encounters with the Kingpin:
There are some noted examples of a writer coming in and revitalizing a comic book by tinkering with the fundamental nature of the character, as Alan Moore did with "The Swamp Thing" and Frank Miller accomplished with "Daredevil." But starting from scratch, as Marvel is attempting with "Ultimate Spider-Man" is a much rarer attempt (e.g., John Byrne starting over with Superman). However, writer Brian Michael Bendis is well aware of the high stakes game he is playing and through this second trade paperback collection of comic book stories ("Ultimate Spider-Man" issues 8-13) the results are quite admirable. At first glance the obvious intent here is to condense the story of Spider-Man. In what we know consider Volume 1 of "The Amazing Spider-Man" Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the Kingpin, does not show up until issue #50 (and really did not become the monolithic New York City crime boss until Miller worked the character into "Daredevil"). Here he catches Peter Parker's attention in issue #8 and it is Spider-Man's attempt to bring down the secretive crime lord that creates the story arc of this collection. This means that we get to avoid the Terrible Tinkerer and other abominations from the early years of Spider-Man under Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. On the Peter Parker side of the equation we pass Betty Bryant and Gwen Stacy and go immediately to Mary Jane Watson. The theme of these stories is that Spider-Man, who is in point of fact almost sixteen years old, is in way over his head as a superhero. The Kingpin proves this by taking about a half dozen pages to defeat Spider-Man and toss his unconscious body out the window. Spider-Man's early attempts at crime fighter are so inept that he actually contributes to the idea that Spider-Man is a criminal, making it easy for J. Jonah Jameson to trash the hero in "The Daily Bugle." In the end it is as much Peter Parker as his alter-ego that scores an initial, tentative victory over the Kingpin; plus Spider-Man's verbal battle with the Kingpin is a minor comic (as in comedic not as in book) gem. But Bendis is interested in doing more than creating a more streamlined version of the story of Spider-Man. In the final issue of this collection he unveils a radical change in the whole secret identity part of the character's dynamic. It will be interesting to see how this plays out (especially since it kills one of the my all-time favorite scenes from the original "Amazing Spider-Man"), but I have to admit I appreciate the character's motivation for doing so. The Spider-Man story is enough of a soap opera without resorting to the more inane traditional elements of the genre. All in all, this is a first rate retelling of the tale, enjoyable both by those who are well versed in the character and those who come to this series in the wake of the blockbuster film. The pencils of Mark Bagley and inks of Art Thibert create a unique artistic interpretation of Spider-Man (think Titian inked by Todd McFarlane) and Peter Parker (whose can match Mary Jane strand for strand for hair in the face). I am not sure if the credit goes to the writer or the artists, but bonus points for having the saved new and improved Electro from having to wear one of the worst costumes in the history of comic books.