(2008 Cover Date Issues - Most current first)

July 30, 2008

Spider-Man appears in Spider-Man: With Great Power #5.
Spider-Man appears in Spider-Man: Brand New Day - Extra!! #1.
Spider-Man makes an out of continuity appearances in Marvel Adventures The Avengers #26.

Story
Eddie Brock has returned to the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man, and that also means that Venom has also made his return. Several weeks ago, Spider-Man has a battle with Venom at the ESU Museum of Art. Venom is eventually taken down, but not by Spider-Man. Silver Sable and her Wild Pack give a big assist to Spider-Man. How all the flashback sequences will work, no one knows just yet, but we do get back to the present, where Peter meets the newest villain to his already deadly rogues gallery of villains: The Beetle. This Ultimate version of the Beetle appears to be much more deadlier than his regular continuity counterpart, and a much more shinier costume to boot! The two battle it out for several pages, before the Beetle escapes into the Roxxon Building for some strange reason still unknown. Spider-Man follows him there, and he gets his but handed to him by the Beetle. Later, at the offices of the Daily Bugle, Nick Fury has a secret talk with Peter concerning the Beetle. The issue ends with yet another little flashback, where Eddie Brock is taken away by Silver Sable and the Wild Pack, but why?

Art
Very Good.
Best Page: The full page introduction of the Ultimate Beetle.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
Nick Fury tells Peter to "back off" regarding the Beetle.
Secretly, Nick Fury intended to entice Peter to stick his nose into the "Beetle Affair".

July 23, 2008

Spider-Man makes a guest appearance in New Avengers #43.
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man makes an appearance in Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #1.
Norman Osborn, and Venom (Mac Gargan/ Scorpion) makes an appearance in Thunderbolts #121.

July 16, 2008

Story
Yet another Kraven was introduced last issue, and she thinks she has Spider-Man all chained up in her underground lair, ready to do as she pleases with him. Unfortunately for "Kravenette", she kidnapped the wrong guy. She kidnapped Peter Parker's roommate Vin Gonzales. This second part opens up with Vin living his own worst nightmare, as Kravenette beats the stuffing out of him. Back at the Parker/ Gonzales apartment, Peter prepares himself to go out for a swing, but finds himself without a costume. He makes a visit to the offices of Matt Murdock (better known as Daredevil), borrows his Daredevil costume, and then swings on over to the police precinct to see what may have become of his roommate (who was just suspended from the police force). After getting some tips, Spider-Man makes his way to the south street seaport, where he runs into an old villain of his: Vermin. The issue ends with a double cliff-hanger: Kravenette orders Spider-Vin to make a run for it, so that she may "hunt her prey". Also, Vermin somehow overpowers the real Spider-Man on the final page, and he begins to black-out.

Art
Gorgeous.
Best Page: The splash-page with Spider-Vin and Kravenette.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
Lady Kraven injects Vin Gonzales with a morphine/ mgh (mutant growth hormone) cocktail.

July 9, 2008

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man makes an appearance in Marvel Adventures Hulk #13.

Story
After a couple of "filler" type issues, we finally get a new storyline. Another "new" villain, and she is introduced right away: A new Kraven. She has Spider-Man hanging upside-down by chains in a warehouse, and she is about to kill him. After that brief introduction, we go back two weeks where we see Spider-Man teaming up with Daredevil battling some obscure villain named Fracture. From afar, the new Lady Kraven (or Kravenette) patiently watches her prey, even though her urge to kill him is almost overwhelming. Lady Kraven watches Spider-Man swing back home, then she goes back to her mansion where she does some computer research on Peter Parker. After five pages are wasted on Peter working at a comic book store (looks VERY much like Midtown comics in Manhattan), we discover what's going on with Peter's roommate Vin Gonzales. Vin is being investigated because his gun was used in the killing of a drug dealer the night before. Vin is now on suspension, and not too pleased. His day gets a little worse when he gets side-swiped by a Mercedes Benz while walking the streets. The issue ends back in the present time, and we are shown how Lady Kraven knocks-out, and kidnaps Spider-Man at his apartment after ordering him to put on his costume. Nice last (spoiler-filled) page ends the issue.

These "new" villains have got to end. Seriously. Fill in the "blanks" with the already established older villains, flesh them out, make them more interesting, redefine them, bring them back from the dead. Anything but make a second, third, or in this case a fourth version of an older villain. The surprise ending was nice, even though many readers probably saw it coming. Art was absolutely gorgeous, specially the Spider-Man - Daredevil - Fracture battle pages.

Art
Gorgeous.
Best Page: The page with Spider-Man and Daredevil swinging in to battle Fracture.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
Peter is served with a subpoena against Spider-Man, because he is Spider-Man's "photographer".
When Lady Kraven unmasks Spider-Man on the last page, it turns out to be Vin Gonzales and not Peter Parker.

Story
Spider-Girl's friend Push (Nancy Lu) comes for a visit to recruit Mayday Parker's classmate Sara Hingle into the Xavier Institute. Sara is now associated with the group of anti-human mutants Spider-Girl fought in issue #21. This group includes Impact, Pirouette, Headcase and their leader, Magneta, the mistress of magnetism. This new group, called the Sisterhood of Mutants, is pushing their hard-line pro-mutant cause. And they are more than willing to plow over any humans, or even more tolerant mutants such as the X-Men, who get in their way. Naturally, this leads to a fight with Spider-Girl and Push in this issue.

Also, Mayday's relationship with Gene Thompson continues to decline, as she accidentally embarrasses Gene in front of his friends. And how do Wes and Simone fit into this equation?

Back in issue #20, Peter learned that a second Mayday Parker is in a suspended animation tank at Osborn Industries. Apparently, she's been there for the past 16 years and according to the notes of the original Green Goblin (Norman Osborn), she's the real Mayday Parker! This storyline continues, albeit slowly.

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.

Art
You know what you are going to get with Frenz & Buscema. These guys give us quality, consistent work month after month.

Best page:  Spider-Girl takes a ride in a flying convertible, courtesy of Magneta!

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
Peter Parker is showing signs that being exposed to the Goblin formula (in issue #20) is affecting his personality. He's rude and abrupt with his daughter here.
The Goblin Queen breaks out of prison. She is behind the "brand new May" plot, which she calls the "Final revenge of the Green Goblin!"

July 2, 2008

Spider-Man appears in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #41.
Spider-Man makes a two page guest appearance in Avengers/ Invaders #3.
Spider-Man makes a two page guest appearance battling Menace in Secret Invasion: Front Line #1.

Story
Not one, not two, but three writers contribute to this issue, where a three-way encounter between Spider-Man, Overdrive, and Policeman Vin Gonzales give their own take on the events of the day. Very similar to the 1950 Akira Kurosawa directed movie Rashomon, where the events of a crime is recalled by different people with different points of view (excellent movie - and yes it has subtitles, deal with it!). Anyway, Spider-Man is first up with his take on the events of the day: He finds himself chasing after the villain Overdrive near Yankee (ugh!) Stadium in the Bronx, while off-duty police officer Vin Gonzales (who is also Peter Parker's current roommate) calls in for help. Overdrive makes his way into a school bus full of children, and uses him "trick out" powers (yes I agree, that is a ridiculously silly power) to transform the little yellow school bus into what appears to be a hot wheel toy from the 1970's we used to get from the bottom of a Captain Crunch cereal box. Spider-Man ends up saving the day, but then again this is his point of view on what happened. Next up is Vin Gonzales take on the same event of the day. We learn that Vin takes his father to the Yankmee game, in return for all the games his father took him to while he was younger. Of course, Vin makes himself to appear more like a hero in his take. Lastly, we get the villain Overdrive's recount of the day's events. Unfortunately for him, he is telling all this to Mr. Negative, who he works for. While Mr. Negative's henchmen (the Inner Demons) are working over Overdrive, we learn that Overdrive was to pick up some kind of device called a Sonic Pulse Generator in the Bronx. After he takes the generator, Overdrive is caught by Spider-Man, and he gives up the device. After hearing about the current whereabouts of the generator, Mr. Negative orders his Inner Demons to "dispose" of Overdrive. Who gave the closest account to what really happened that day? Who the heck knows? Get ready for yet another new Kraven next issue.

Another issue that felt like filler. Back to the "regular scheduled" programming next issue.

Art
Excellent.
Best Page: The page with Spider-Man doing a back-flip while battling Overdrive.

Continuity Police
No tickets given.

Spoilers
The Sonic Pulse Generator appears to be in police custody.
Overdrive escapes by tricking out the car he was "disposed of".

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