The Good
Miles is stuck in Wisconsin, and ends up in the fight for his life against a giant woman on the side of Hydra. Back in Brooklyn, Jefferson deals with the fact he has to do some pretty awful things in order to get away from Hydra, all while worrying about where his son has been the past day.
Back in Wisconsin, we are treated to a pretty cool fight between Miles and the giant woman. It's a back and forth battle of cat and mouse, and a fight that will suck the reader into thinking that there's no way out. While it's not a story changing battle by any means, it's a fun one, and it truly establishes Miles coming into his own as a hero, and one that doesn't need help from his other super buddies in order to get the job done. Sure, he may be only 13 years old, but he's coming into his own more and more every issue.
The most intriguing part of this issue is Jefferson dealing with Hydra agents. He recounts this event with his wife, and it's a pretty heart-wrenching stuff, which writer Brian Michael Bendis is known for on this book. This family has dealt with a lot of tough times in this book, especially with Jefferson's brother, who turned out to the The Prowler. It's a close family, and they're wearing their emotions on their sleeves in this issue.
I've been a fan of artist David Marquez for quite some time, and as always, I really enjoyed his work on this issue, especially during the scene where Jefferson tells his wife about being held hostage. As this chaotic story progresses, and emotions rise, the panels borders becomes shaky and not clean, adding a bit more to the scene. This is a great artistic choice for this scene, and adds a lot to the already great art coming from Marquez.
I am very excited to see the friendship/relationship develop between Miles and Jessica Drew. She's been a bit of a mentor or instructor for Miles and an incredibly mean and strict one at that. Jessica opens up emotionally here, and I'm very excited to see how this relationship blossoms.
The Bad
Not too much going on in this issue. With the focus mainly on Miles' parents, mainly father, we're left with a quick story of Miles fighting something larger than life, then making his way home. It's pretty cut and dry and leaves the reader feeling a bit unsatisfied with the issue.
The Verdict
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #18 does a great job at developing all of its characters a little bit further and makes them feel real. This is one of my favorite Marvel books currently, and while I had some problems with the side of the issue featuring Miles because it left me a tad disappointing, everything else about this issue was an A+.
