Fanboys Anonymous

When last we saw Spider-Man and the heroes of the Ultimate Universe, they stood behind Galactus on the scoreboard, who has completely destroyed New Jersey while the heroes have yet to even slow the Devourer of Worlds. Cataclysm Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 2 steps back before the troupe decided to send Miles and Reed Richards to the 616 Universe to see how Miles' friends fared when Galactus made landfall.


The issue opens with a nice double page spread of the infamous Ultimatum Wave. It's nice seeing that the Ultimate Universe is self aware of the hardships its been through. We then jump to Dagger, Tandy Bowen, who was caught out on the streets when the wave hit. Again, Bendis highlights his mastery of world building as Tandy watches Spider-Man, then Peter Parker, swing to save whomever he can. The book then jumps, as only comics can, in the turn of a single page to the present day, highlighting just how that moment inspired a young woman like Tandy to challenge a being as powerful as Galactus without needing dialogue at all. Although her attack, assisted by Cloak, proves to be entirely futile, it was still a great character moment that grasped at a higher standard than simply "filler tie-in story".

Following Tandy's retreat we move to the scene from Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand 2 in which Miles and the Ultimates break off from their assault on the giant purple man to save what civilians they can. Miles ultimately helps one young man find his father which flashes him back to his family's attempt to leave following the Ultimatum Wave. Here we see Miles' father go on a familiar tangent about his distaste for super powers. The scene is a bit heavy, his dad having to stop himself from saying if his son ever had powers he doesn't want to know, but doesn't last long as we jump again to check in on Bombshell who stops a looting.

It was a bit more dramatic than this

With the exception of the last page, I'd say not much really happens in this book. Its fun to see where all the characters were during Ultimatum and how another doomsday scenario hits them emotionally, but the book is ultimately (no pun intended) filler, at least it almost was until the last page hit. After seeing the boy and the father reunited and seeing first hand how important the bond between a father and son is, Miles swings home and unmasks on the street before his father, despite the man's many proclamations of disgust for super powered individuals. Before that scene I'd say this book, at best, reenforced the Ultimate canon to make old events still carry weight, but following the unmasking I'd say this is an issue most people wouldn't want to miss. Well done Brian, well done.

How do you think Miles' father will react to his unmasking? Do you think he'll take his dad to the 616 universe? Sound off in the comments below and follow us next month as we cover the Ultimate Universe's attempt to repel its deadliest threat yet.