Growing Pains
Release: October 4, 2000
Cover: December 2000
$2.50
Story: Brian Michael Bendis and Bill Jemas
Script: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inks: Art Thibert
22 pages
I’m reading Ultimate Spider-Man #1-5, a modern telling of the story of Spider-Man, originally told in Amazing Fantasy #15; a focus is figuring out why the same story takes 12x as many pages to tell. This issue in particular covers the same ground as about 4 panels on page 4 of the original, where Peter Parker starts to understand his powers.
Part of the answer for the page count lies in layout. This issue favors bigger panels, less per page, more varied layouts. The original adheres pretty rigidly to 3 rows of panels per page, with 2-3 panels per row. The only exceptions it make are for the first page splash page, and a larger panel to open chapter 2.
Another factor is the willingness to emphasize things the original was happy to merely convey. In terms of understanding the characters, this issue retreads a lot of ground of the first issue. Scenes with Flash or of drama with May and Ben mostly convey the relationships established last issue.
Another factor is the additional story elements. In the original, Peter showed off his powers only in the Spider-Man identity. Here, we see the effects at school. He finally impresses the basketball coach and defeats Flash Thompson in a fight, breaking his hand. Some of these elements would show up later in the series. The fight with flash resembles a scene we will see in Amazing Spider-Man #8, for example. Others are additions for this version.
Also there is the story of Norman going on. He’s on his way to becoming Green Goblin. And we meet Otto Octavius, who works for Norman. This will tie yet another character’s origin in, as Otto Octavius will become Dr. Octopus. Three unrelated stories in the original, all woven together here.
Two issues in, still no Spider-Man. We do see more of Peter’s powers. Wall-crawling, super strength, a spider sense… Plus he no longer seems to need his glasses
I’ll note I really, really dislike the covers for Ultimate Spider-Man. Any one of them is fine. But they start to look the same. They’re absurdly generic. This cover is just a picture of Spider-man, obviously computerized. So is the next cover. And the next…
Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5), 65/100
Strong writing and art drive the issue, and the scenes between Peter and May and Ben are touching, but there’s so little forward plot movement here.
Characters:
- Peter Parker
- Flash Thompson
- Kong
- Mary Jane
- Harry Osborn
- Norman Osborn
- Uncle Ben
- Aunt May
- Dr. Otto Octavius
Minor characters:
- Coach
- Michael (in gym class)
Story notes:
- Opening scene a reference to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
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