Now that we’re more than halfway in, is it fair to call Death of Spider-Man the worst crossover since the “red skies” Crisis books? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the stories told in either Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates (I love that title), just the “crossover” part of the proceedings. Spoilers for people who didn’t pick up the latest issues under the jump.So, apparently, the entirety of the crossover between the two stories is Spider-Man getting shot. That’s it. Literally a page of USM screentime, and little more in UCUAVNU (The title may be even better as an acronym), and then the two series go their separate ways again, judging on what we saw this week. Am I the only person who feels as if this was the cheapest of stunts, even though I expected a pretty cheap stunt? I mean, sure, it looks like we’re going to get a “death” of Spider-Man by the end of the story in USM, but… aside from Spidey literally swinging in just to get shot in the Ultimates series, what does that book have to do with anything “Death of Spider-Man”-y, especially considering the shot didn’t actually kill him, just weaken him so that he can make a heroic last stand against the Sinister Six over in his own book?
I may be jumping the gun, I know. There may be some massive swerve coming in both series to tie Ultimates into the Spider-Man story in some tighter manner – Mark Millar’s “Oh -as they say – HELL yes” to whether Spider-clone the Spider will appear in the series before the story is done today makes me suspect so, and also suspect that the Spider will be the new Spider-Man – but as it is right now, I’m not seeing a smart (or bold) “That’s so random, just like real life!” aspect to Spider-Man wandering into another book to get shot, I’m just seeing the laziest of crossovers that undermines the story in USM considerably.
May 19th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
IIRC, I read several interviews that seemed to indicate this was the case. I remember Millar saying that they wanted to make connection between the two titles, but not so to the point that you couldn’t read each story individually. I also think he said that they would tell their own stories, come together near the middle, then go their own separate ways again.
Call it a cheap stunt if you like, and it might have been for the people that don’t patrol sites like these, but I knew it would be like this, and that’s why I haven’t felt like it’s been necessary to buy UNAVNU to enjoy the story.