Ultimate Spider-Man #2 Review

Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Marco Checchetto
Colors by: Matthew Wilson
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Marco Checchetto, Matthew Wilson
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: February 21, 2024

Ultimate Spider-Man #2 finds Peter Parke getting used to his new powers when he encounters his first supervillain. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk is increasingly bothered by another masked individual with a murderous axe to grind.

Is Ultimate Spider-Man #2 Good?

Let’s get this out of the way right now. Ultimate Spider-Man #2 is better than issue #1. Why? Because issue #2 focuses where it should have in the first place – on Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man, and for Hickman’s part, he makes the act of becoming a fun ride.

When last we left the Ultimate version of Peter Parker, his nagging feeling that something was off was solved when Tony Stark sent him a radioactive spider to undo what Maker did 20 years ago. However, the issue oddly focused most of its time on Ben Parker’s life-changing departure from the Daily Bugle due to creative (read: ethical) differences with management via Wilson Fisk. The issue ended with Parker getting his famous spider bite and Fisk’s car blown up by the Ultimate’s Green Goblin.

Now, Peter practices his web-slinging at night to get used to his newfound powers and the nifty picotech suit gifted to him by Tony Stark. Peter encounters his first supervillain, the Shocker, committing a bank heist, but Peter loses to the Shocker two nights in a row. Between losing and considering how to get a handle on the hero thing, Peter accidentally lets his identity slip to May Parker during a late-night snack. Meanwhile, Fisk desperately tries to keep the Green Goblin’s attacks quiet but still draws the disappointed ire of the Maker’s Council, who warns Fisk to get his costumed character problems under control.

Is Peter’s suit really all-black, or was that last-panel image in the first issue just a silhouette? It is indeed all-black, but May’s knowledge of Peter’s secret leads to a creative suggestion that may play out in the next issue.

What’s great about Ultimate Spider-Man #2? The major down point of the first issue is corrected in this issue by putting the focus where it belongs – on Peter Parker. You get the fun & games of Peter figuring out his powers, his trademark quips make an appearance when he faces the Shocker for the first time, and Peter learns that villains don’t always tell the truth, which leads to amusing outcomes.

What’s not so great about Ultimate Spider-Man #3? Again, one of the draws of this series, pushed heavily by Marvel marketing, was the notion of the Parker family coming together as Team Spider-Man. But for a few brief but wholesome interactions between Peter and May, the family gets very little panel time, and Peter’s marriage to MJ gets almost no exposure except for a brief panel or two. For the hook, Hickman appears to be taking his sweet time paying it off.

How’s the art? Checchetto’s art is phenomenal in this issue, particularly during Peter’s web-slinging scenes when he tries and sometimes fails to stick the landings. Much like this series so far, Peter hasn’t quite found his footing, but in the case of Checchetto’s art, that’s a good thing.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Ultimate Spider-Man #2 significantly improves over the first issue by putting more focus on Peter Parker as he tries, fails, and tries again to figure out how to be a superhero. Hickman wisely balances the wonder of a person getting superpowers with the maturity of an older man who thinks before he acts. That said, the second draw of this series is the Parker family and they still aren’t given much exposure or anything to do, which is a bummer.