Written by Brian Michael Bendis (who also happens to write the comic book series Ultimate Spider-man) together with Paul Dini and Man of Action (the guys behind Ben 10), Ultimate Spider-man gives us a fun to watch, often silly, but always very action-packed new take on Spider-man, new in the sense that while Spider-man is still the same insecure teenage Peter Parker we’re all pretty familiar with (and probably sick of by now), but now thrust into a new world of adventure by teaming up with Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D., gaining access to some pretty fancy gadgetry, and finally being put on a team of heroes consisting of White Tiger, Luke Cage, Nova and Iron Fist!
Ultimate Spider-man puts a twist into the origins of many of Spider-man’s more classic villains, but at the same time digs deep into the archives to bring back many of the minor faces as well as tease all the hardcore Marvel fanboys by inserting loads of references to different costumes, events and storylines which only a real fan would catch. A lot of the humor is slapstick based and gets combined with a very frequent breaking of the fourth wall, where the action freezes, you as the viewer gets directly addressed by Peter/Spider-man, before finally returning to the unfolding action.
This does get a little old fairly quickly, but it’s a minor annoyance when you realise just how much this action packed Spider-man and super pals adventure sucks you in, and at the same time makes you giggle more than once.
The animation is extremely slick, detailed and well done, particularly the choreography of the numerous fight scenes. Similarly, the voice actors all fit their respective characters like a glove, which is then wrapped in some fantastic soundtrack music.
Well worth the watch, and contains an extra sense of feel good to all the already hardcore comic book fans who will undoubtedly catch most of the little extras the writers seem so keen on including!
Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Spider-Man_%28TV_series%29
Damn my weakness when it comes to gaming. I specifically told myself I wouldn’t purchase a new game until I’ve completed all the games I’m currently busy with. Lo and behold, last night I pop into Tygervalley Mall for a quick trip to Pick ‘n Pay and decide to make a quick stop in at Musica just to have a look around. And there was the damn Ultimate Spider-man (PS2) game I’ve been looking to get for a while now just staring at me at the wonderfully low price of R150. Unable to control my collector obsessive disorder that plagues me to this day, I regrettably have to say I purchased, all the while grinning like an idiot.