written by Jonathan Hickman
drawn by Marco Checchetto
colored by Matt Wilson
No other comic book announcement in 2023 had me as excited as the promise that Peter Parker would be getting back together with Mary Jane Watson, and that his adventures would be written by no less than Jonathan Hickman. Although all this was set to take place in the "alternate" reality of the Ultimate Marvel Universe and not the regular 616 universe, at least it was happening somewhere. Besides, Miles Morales was born in the Ultimate Universe, and he's pretty much here to stay, with two hit animated movies, one of which won an Academy Award.
Anyway, this new iteration of Peter Parker spins off (hehe) directly from the events of Ultimate Invasion, in which the Maker, aka Evil Reed Richards, basically "cancels" superheroes in this world, Earth 6160, by removing, as much as possible, the events that "created" them. In Peter's case, the Maker captured the radioactive spider that was supposed to give Peter Parker his powers at the age of fifteen, but Tony Stark, having learned what the Maker did, has taken it on himself to restore superheroes to the world.
And what a world it is. Because Peter didn't get bitten by the spider as a kid, he didn't become Spider-Man, didn't become a TV star, and didn't ignore a burglar running past him. As a result, his Uncle Ben is very much alive, and serving as an editor at the Daily Bugle under publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Peter works there too, in an undisclosed but apparently much more stable capacity than as a freelance photographer. More importantly, though, Peter is happily married to Mary Jane Watson, and they have two beautiful kids together.
It's not all roses, though; a cataclysmic attack on New York, which was actually evil Reed and his buddies, has left thousands dead, including Peter's Aunt May. In the wake of this chaos, the Bugle's board of directors decides that the paper's reportage is getting a little too uncomfortably close to the truth their shady benefactors want to conceal. Jameson gets his walking papers when he refuses to compromise. The job is then offered to Ben Parker by the Bugle's secret benefactor: Wilson Fisk himself. Ben walks away to join Jonah on his new crusade of guerilla journalism, but Peter confesses to his Uncle that he doesn't have the luxury of doing the same thing.
That doesn't mean, though, that Peter isn't facing his own internal conflict; upon receiving a mysterious package with a message from the last person he'd expect to hear from Peter learns the truth about who he was meant to be, and is confronted with the question: does he want his destiny back?
I have to say; it was genuinely refreshing to see Peter as a functioning adult with what appears to be a stable job, a family and a nice place to live. We readers have, quite frankly never seen him have it all together like this and it's almost like reading a long-form "What If?" story in which the premise is "what if Peter actually had his life together before getting bitten by the radioactive spider?"
Of course, there are some contrivances here that are a little eye-rolling. It's been written time and again that Peter has a genius-level intellect to rival those of Reed Richards and Tony Stark, so the idea that, at 35, he'd be working a desk job at the Daily Bugle rather than as a scientist in some think-tank or even in an academic setting feels like a bit of a stretch, though I'm willing to wait to see Hickman expand on what Peter does at the Bugle before passing final judgment. Also, I'm really not sure how time works here; in Earth 6160, Peter is notably older than Tony Stark, whom he literally refers to as "kid." I imagine there will be quite a few changes to navigate. One amusing similarity between the universes, though, is that here, as in Earth-616, Matt Murdock is a priest, not a lawyer.
We never really knew exactly what Uncle Ben did before he died; all that's been explicitly said is that he was a working class joe. More, it seems, has been written about what Peter's parents (who were spies) did for a living than Uncle Ben, and as a result, dropping him into a job at the Bugle works, after a fashion. I still hope to see the likes of Joe Robertson and Ben Urich pop up, though.
The issue does a good job of setting up just how different Peter's status quo is from that of his 616 counterpart. so it's worth the extra time it takes to do so. While I would have preferred to have Peter power up and suit up before the issue ended, I can certainly respect Hickman's decision to leave that reveal as a tease for the next issue.
It's a treat to see Marco Checchetto's work here, though the real fun lies ahead as he draws a really good Spider-Man. I only hope that he draws complete story arcs at a time. For all my complaints about what Zeb Wells is doing over on The Amazing Spider-Man, one thing that team has gotten spot on is how its artist rotation is by story arc and not by the number of issues. I would love to see Hickman and Checchetto do complete stories for this book.
I remain cautiously optimistic for this book.
8.5/10
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