- Written by: Jonathan Hickman
- Art by: David Messina
- Colors by: Matthew Wilson
- Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit & Joe Sabino
- Cover art by: Marco Checchetto, Matthew WIlson
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: May 29, 2024
Ultimate Spider-Man #5 recounts the circumstances of Harry Osborn’s transition from ne’er do well son of Norman Osborn to the head of Oscorp to the Green Goblin.
Is Ultimate Spider-Man #5 Good?
When last we left Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man #4, he and Mary Jane went on a double date with Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy to talk about life, business, and (secretly between Peter and Harry) the great responsibility that comes with great power.
In Ultimate Spider-Man #5, Harry Osborn is late to one of his father’s important social events… again. Little did Harry know that the disappointed phone call he received from his father would be the last time he ever heard his father’s voice as the attack on NYC that will eventually be blamed on Tony Stark wipes out several city blocks.
Weeks later, Harry and his wife Gwen learn they receive control of Oscorp and a strange invitation from Wilson Fisk. Harry attends the meeting with Fisk alone wherein the Kingpin of New York explains he intends to sell Stark/Stane Enterprises to Harry in exchange for tech development on demand and the firing of disloyal employees.
More weeks later, Harry, Gwen, and Dr. Otto Octavius break into an off-the-books laboratory within Stark/Stane Enterprises to find several Iron Man suits, self-sustaining arc reactor technology, and much more. Several encrypted files confirm Wilson Fisk belongs to a secret cabal of elite individuals in service to the Maker, and that his parents’ death was orchestrated by the cabal. Harry decides that exposure won’t work, so he orders Otto to construct a mech suit with weaponry to tackle the cabal head-on. The Green Goblin is born.
The emergence of the Green Goblin leads to the reported attacks on Wilson Fisk and the eventual run-in with Spider-Man.
Now, Harry is on a crusade to bring the cabal down, starting with the capture and interrogation of Wilson Fisk’s enhanced bodyguard.
“Wait! That’s it? The entire issue is flashback and fill-in information without any action?” you might ask. Yes, that’s correct. At this rate, Hickman will be world-building for a very long time before we get to see Spider-Man in action. After five issues, we’ve only seen Peter in the red and blue suit (briefly) once.
What’s great about Ultimate Spider-Man #5? If you like world-building and getting to know the characters as real, fleshed-out people inhabiting a fully realized world, Hickman is at the top of his game. You get all you need to know about Harry, how he became the Green Goblin and why in issue.
What’s not so great about Ultimate Spider-Man #5? It’s clear either Hickman has no short-term objective with this arc or he’s treading water while waiting for some other story to debut/catch up. At $4.99 an issue, it seems incomprehensible to go five issues in a Spider-Man title with almost no Spider-Man. You’d have to be really in love with Hickman’s writing to exhibit the patience required to make it this far, and if Hickman doesn’t pick up the pace soon, the number of people in love with his writing is going to start dropping significantly.
How’s the Art? Messina and Wilson are doing the Lord’s work giving life to Hickman’s informative but mostly dull script. The character moments are rendered well, and the art team squeezes in every ounce of drama they can with very little to work with.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
Ultimate Spider-Man #5 is a fully realized, organic origin story explaining how Harry Osborn became the Green Goblin. The art team packs in all the drama they can, and Hickman is at the top of his game when it comes to world-building, but the net result is Ultimate-ly a dull comic with (again) no Spider-Man in sight.
5.5/10
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