The Good
Cloak and Dagger take on Galactus. Bombshell tries her hand out on being a hero, and Miles tries to keep his family safe.
If you're reading this mini-series as well as CATACLYSM: THE ULTIMATES LAST STAND, then you'll be quick to realize that this takes place prior to the events happening in that book. Because the main book ties so heavily to Miles, it's hard to have a tie-in book that stands out on its own. However, this book accomplishes that extremely well. We get a fun and thrilling story featuring all the characters we've come to love from the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN series.
In this issue, there's lots of flashbacks to ULTIMATUM, which happened two years ago in this world. Say what you want about the story, but these flashback sequences works, since this was the last gigantic disaster the Ultimate universe faced. It's nice to see these characters connect back to an event that forever changed the Ultimate Universe, especially in situations where we get to see what happened to Dagger and Miles during that time, before they were heroes.
Cloak and Dagger try their hand at taking on Galactus, and it goes exactly how you think it would go: poorly. This issue really deals with heroes trying their best to deal with close to impossible odds. Writer Brian Michael Bendis really gets the reader cheering these heroes on, even when everything looks grim. We also get to see Bombshell's first time working as a hero. It's a very cool scene and nice to see Bombshell step into her own.
This issue ends with an extremely shocking conclusion. It's a huge reveal that will change a lot in the world of Miles Morales. Obviously, we're not giving anything away here, but it is something that fans will be talking about for a few weeks.
Once again, artist David Marquez does a stellar job with the art. He does a fabulous job with establishing shots and there are numerous panels in here that have an epic look to them. He's great with setting up a scene, and reeling the reading in with some stunning art.
The Bad
The only real problem with the issue is that it builds pretty slowly towards the final reveal page. The mini-series is really on borrowed time, since in the main event book deals with Miles heading into the 616 Universe.
The Verdict
Every issue and tie in to Cataclysm, so far, has been nothing short of brilliant. This is the event to read for 2013. Bendis does a great job with this issue in particular, and even though it feels a tad like filler, so we can get to the reveal, the ride to that point is a ton of fun. Marquez does some bang-up work here as well. If you've ever enjoyed ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, then you need to be reading this.