I love me some Ultimate Spider-Man. In fact, the recent news that Bendis is involved in the new Spidey movie series reboot has got me pretty excited. The guy can hardly do any wrong when it comes to the series. But I wasn't completely on board with this latest issue. It's maybe the first time in the series that I really couldn't follow the story.

Some neighborhood kid named Rick Jones turns out to have some weird powers that nobody quite understands. In fact, they almost killed him. So Spidey, Human Torch and Iceman introduce themselves to him (in costume, of course) to try and alleviate any concerns he has about this new stage of life in which he's entering. Then we see some of his powers. Apparently, he can zip across vast distances in a blink of the eye. And speaking of an eye, where did he get these powers? Well, that's where this issue lost me.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #7

Suddenly, we're shown a flashback with the Fantastic Four and some freaky eye thingy that apparently has chosen someone to be a new guardian. I did not know at all what was happening at this point. I had to do some independent research to find out that this is apparently picking up a reference from the Ultimate Origins series - something to do about the Watchers.

I'm a fan of sci-fi and weirdo outer space stuff, but I've never liked that sort of thing appearing in Spider-Man, and yet here we are, at the brink of galactic doom on the doorstep of Peter Parker. I'm not sure I like that. What I like even less is that the "previously" box at the start of the comic gives no background to this very important backstory that is explored in the ensuing pages. The editor of this book should have realized that not everyone follows every Ultimate series as closely as they think we do.

What I did love about the comic is that Aunt May is becoming like a Charles Xavier in training. I love this new delegation role of hers, sending the kids in the house out on missions. It's pretty great, actually. Now I suppose Peter can have some direction in life and maybe organize his time better now that he has a manager of sorts.

Also, this issue marks the debut of artist Takeshi Miyazawa. Ironically, his style is less manga-inspired than David LaFuente's, and I think that's a good thing. I didn't mind LaFuente's work as much as some out there, but Miyazawa has a good read on the characters. In fact, I find his characters evoke their classic interpretations. Gwen and Aunt May especially look like they did back in the day in Amazing Spider-Man. I think it's a nice look that suits the series. I don't know if he's in for the long haul, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

While the content of the book itself didn't offend me, the lack of background necessary to follow the story made this one miss the mark. Hopefully we get filled in more in the next issue.

Score