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Volume 5 of the "Ultimate Spider-Man" hardcover collection brings together the "Ultimate Six" mini-series and the "Hollywood" story arc from the comic book (Volumes 9 and 10, respectively, of the tradepaper back collections of the "Ultimate Spider-Man"). The first annual for "The Amazing Spider-Man" had Stan Lee and Steve Ditko coming up with "The Sinister Six," where Spidey had to take on Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, the Vulture, Electro, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter. For this update version scripter Brian Michael Bendis, artist Trevor Hairsine, and inker Danny Miki bring together Spider-Man and the Ultimates to deal with the "Ultimate Six." The roster changes are pretty significant because Mysterio and the Vulture are gone to be replaced by the Green Goblin and...Spider-Man himself. Since Norman Osborn knows that Spider-Man is really Peter Parker threatening Aunt May is enough to get our young hero (who is about 16 at this point) to do anything to make sure she stays alive.
The other big change, as you would expect, is that the Ultimates (the new and improved Avengers) do not sit on the sidelines as they did in the original story and show up to save the day. The roster assembled at this point consists of Captain America, Giant Man, Iron Man, Wasp, Thor, Hawkeye and the Black Widow, under the direction of Nick Fury, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. The super villains were all being held at a S.H.I.E.L.D. containment center and when they escape Fury sics the Ultimates on them (Thor vs. Electro is a very good idea). But the bad guys manage to destroy the Ultimates' stronghold, the Triskelion, and kidnap Peter Parker. The big show down comes on the lawn of the White House as the battle comes down to the Green Goblin and Spider-Man, although not exactly the way you would expect. It seems Norman thinks of Peter as the son he never had (which will be interesting news to Harry to be sure).
This story line will appeal to fans of the Ultimates more than Spider-Man, although it has obvious consequences for the Ultimate Spider-Man story line. One of the key elements of the Ultimate universe is the government's concern with illegally obtained super powers and the idea that the next big war will be fought against mutants. In dealing with the flip side of this, "Ultimate Six" also gets into the distorted psyches of the villains. Once I got used to the idea that Spider-Man was going to be a spectator for most of the action I was able to get with the program. Besides, I like the idea that Spider-Man really is in way over his head at this early stage in his superhero career. The scene were Captain America confronts Spider-Man is a good indication of how far over the rainbow we are in this story from the traditional Marvel universe, which is a main part of the appeal of the Ultimate titles.
"Hollywood" is clearly a story line where "Ultimate Spider-Man" was helping readers gear up for the summer release of the "Spider-Man 2" film. All of the Spider-Man titles were doing Doc Ock stories (along with a couple of Doc Ock mini-series), and in "Hollywood" the idea is that there is a movie being made about Spider-Man. However, it is not that Spider-Man ends up in Hollywood, but rather than Hollywood brings the magic of movie making to Spider-Man's home turf. Aunt May is out of town leaving Peter and Gwen Stacy alone and there is a story on the news about a Spider-Man film about to be made in Hollywood, starring Tobey Maguire and telling the story of a nobody/loser who grabs the world's imagination when he puts on a mask. The kids at school are all excited about trying to get parts as extras in the film while Peter can only tell MJ "I live in Hell." Spider-Man goes down to the movie set in NYC to chastise the actor and director for doing this. Then Doctor Octopus breaks out of jail; it seems he has heard about the movie as well.
Bendis (story), Mark Bagley (pencils), and Art Thibert (inks) have more going on behind the cameras than they do in front in this six-part story. At school Kong is excited to get a part in the movie but Gwen cannot get past the fact that as far as she is concerned Spider-Man killed her father and Peter is unable to tell her anything different. When Doctor Octopus attacks the movie set Spider-Man has to deal with the insult added to injury because he has to save the actors and crews from the super villain. But the attack was just a reason to bring out Doc Ock's true target, which is Spider-Man himself, and our hero gets to go someplace he has never been before.
The "Hollywood" has a nice mix of comic moments (e.g., Mysterio) with more personal ones, especially given the horrible thing that is going to happen in the next volume of the series, "Ultimate Spider-Man: Carnage." Reading these stories again known what lies ahead made several of the scenes especially poignant. I think it is clear that Bendis et al. have a clear view of the big picture and the long term with this particular comic book, which is why the "Ultimate Spider-Man" experiment has worked so well. You can appreciate it on its own terms or you can enjoy the way they work in twists and turns on the original Spider-Man stories. I am happily ensconced in the latter camp and will be for some time to come.
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