Rating:  -
The individual issues that are collected in this TPB contain the best (as of the time of its publication) crossover of Ultimate universe characters to be found. Spider-Man is hunted by a newly envisioned "Sinister Six" and must take sanctuary under the mighty wings of SHIELD and the Ultimates if he is to survive. Throughout the series, Spider-Man interacts with Nick Fury and the Ultimates, learns how truly dangerous and maniacal his enemies are, and worries about the safety of the people he holds dear. This series also presented very interesting interaction between Nick Fury and Captain America, with the latter correctly realizing and vocalizing the connection between these crazy super-powered villains and his own origin. This creates a significant fissure in the relationship between these two characters. All-in-all, this series provided more of the excellent storytelling and art to be found in Ultimate Spider-Man.
Rating:  -
I LOVE the Ultimates series. I own ALL the Ultimate X-Men Titles, ALL the Ultimate Spiderman Titles etc. What attracted me initially was the artwork - there are literally dozens of pages throughout these volumes that are absolutely stunning in color and detail. UNFORTUNATELY, this issue, drawn by Trevor Hairsine, breaks the chain. The characters are rather roughly sketched, and many complex scenes lack sufficient clarity or detail - adding unnecessary confusion. For example, Kraven the Hunter looks quite similar to Tony Stark who looks quite similar to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assigned to protect Aunt May. In particular, I was disturbed by the many faces of Peter Parker - who simply does not look like himself at all in the later chapters of the volume. The story is exciting enough, and the dialogue is fair, but quite lacking compared to the witty exchanges of earlier Spiderman issues. To be honest, if I didn't already LOVE the other 8 issues, I would have never bought this one, and I think that if Trevor Hairsine continues to do the drawing I'm going to limit my Ultimates purchases to the other three series.
Bottom Line - THIS is WAY different looking than the other Ultimate Spiderman collections. My advice is to have a look before you buy ........ I wish I did! ....
Rating:  -
Ultimate Six
The Concept: Part Ultimate Spiderman, Part Ultimates- the characters of these two books serve to highlight the books true stars- the Ultimate villains. The book presents a unique look at the Ultimate rouges gallery.
The Good: Fans of both book will find there is something for everyone here. Whether it is the continuing development of Peter Parker, or the widescreen cimatetic epic battles for the fans of the Ultimates. Bendis does a superb job of keeping the pages, and the suprises comming. I am confindent many a fan will find themselves glued to thier seat.
The art is by newcomer Trevor Hairsine. The good news is that his art is like Brian Hitch- it is epic, conveys lots of detail, and strength.
The Bad: Mr. Hairsine is not Brian Hitch. Oh he is good, and I look foward to his next projects, but if you read this expecting the slick, and scarily realistic blockbuster art of Hitch you will be disapointed. Some of the action gets a bit cluttered, and Hairsine's art is very slightly reminiscent of another Europeon artist- igor Kordey.
Overall: A smart, suspensful,and suprising rollercoaster of a book. The Ultimate line at its very best.
Rating: -
This story is very complicated and for fans who haven't read any Ultimate Spider-man or Ultimates books, don't get this one. There is a little background information that you'll need to understand this. First, Spider-man is about sixteen and has faughten each of the villains he is up against: Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven, and Sandman (note: thats only five villains!) The Ultimates are a super-team to help fight mutant terrorists. They're just improved Avengers. They include Captain America, Giant Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, and Thor. Ok, now the story starts with Ultimate Spider-man #46 where Spider-man fights the Sandman. Later, the story branches out to a SHIELD contaiment prison for the five Spider-man villains. They team up and break out of the prison. They then kidnap the young teen and threaten to kill his aunt if he doesn't cooperate. The team becomes....The Six! The showdown with the Six and the Ultimates begins! Which side will Spider-man fight on???
Rating:  -
This graphic novel is listed as #9 in the Ultimate Spider-Man series, but really only contains one Ultimate Spider-Man comic in it with the other six being Ultimate Six comics.
I grabbed it eagerly hoping for more Ultimate Spider-Man, but the storyline picked up more of the convoluted typical comic fare than the simple-sweet personal style of Ultimate Spider-Man. The art after the first issue isn't typical of that series either, and is made up entirely of the more "realistic" art of Ultimate Six that leaves something to be desired if you're a fan of Ultimate Spider-Man's style up to this point.
Overall it's #9 in the list of these graphic novels, but if you were to skip it there's only a minor detail leading into what will be in #10 that you will have missed (and will pick up soon from there anyway). Since my interest is much more toward Ultimate Spider-Man than what Nick Fury and the Ultimates are up to these days, I found this graphic novel to be very disappointing both in story and art when all I wanted was more Spidey.
Aside from the first issue in the book and its action introduction of The Sandman, the rest is forgettable and not up to par with the eight that preceeded it.
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