Ultimate Marvel Team-Up [Hardcover]

Unlike what some reviewers have written down, this is NOT the trade paperback. It is the hardcover book that includes ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM-UP #1-16 as well as ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN SUPER SPECIAL #1. It is basically a collection of Spider-man being "teamed-up" (or in some cases fighting against) other Marvel superheroes/characters in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. If you remember Marvel Fanfare from back in the 80's then that is what this book is like. Now there are some stories in this collection that are wickedly awesome and funny, and others that are just blah. Let's break them down, shall we? ^_^

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up:

#1) This one is one of my favorites. It features our favorite web-slinger and Wolverine of the X-Men. They're kind of thrown together when Sabertooth starts a fight with Wolvie in Time Square. The ending makes you laugh!

#2 & 3) These two feature Spidey and Hulk. The big green guy has lost it and is rampaging through New York, so of course Spidey to the rescue! This one's alright.

#4 & 5) Features Spidey and Iron Man. These two have retro kind of art, anyone familiar with Mike Allred knows what I'm talking about. The story is ok, it goes into Iron Man's past and his IronTech technology; but the art is kind of distracting.

#6, 7 & 8) These feature Punisher, Daredevil, and Spidey. It's by far the darkest story in the series. It's about Punisher going after the men who killed his family, who ironically were his fellow cop buddies. This one's a must read!

#9) The Mahfood issue! Very comical! Basically, Peter Parker goes to visit the Baxter Building where the Fantastic Four are, and accidentally opens a portal unleashing thousands of Skrulls! The dialogue is hilarious and Mahfood's art has funny details that are fun to look at. One of the best!

#10) Spidey meets Man-Thing and Curt Conners as his lizard self. This is an ok story, felt kind of sad for Dr. Conners though.

#11) I LOVE THIS ISSUE!!! The art looks like that of a manga and makes the characters look so cute! Anyway... this one's titled: Peter Parker's Day Off. Very reminiscent of "Ferris Bueler's Day Off". In this one, Peter and the gang play hookie on Senior Skip Day. They go to the mall and bump into the X-Men, where they all start to have a very enlightening conversation about mutants.

#12 & 13) Spidey meets Dr. Stphen Strange. Spidey helps stop some guy from stealing some mystical artifact from Doctor Strange. This is a pretty good story, the art fit's the story very well.

#14) Spidey meets The Black Widow! Very good story! Shows how Natasha Romonov uses her skills as well as her sexual appeal to get what she wants. Also, a quick cameo by General Nick Fury!

#15 & 16) Spidey meets Shang-Chi, MASTER OF KUNG FU! These two are VERY action packed. Spidey learns a thing or two from Shang-Chi as well.


Ultimate Spider-man Super Special #1:

This is an all-out special including:
Blade
Elektra
Daredevil
The Ultimates
Fantastic Four
Doctor Strange
Black Widow/S.H.I.E.L.D.
X-Men
Punisher

Overall, if you're a fan of the Ultimate Marvel comics, you would most definitely like this collection. If you're more into the main 616 universe you might be turned off by it. Either way, it's worth a read!!! Hope this was helpful! ^_^

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is the comic equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie- Lots of action, bare-bones plot, quick, hard-hitting fight sequences....

This beautiful book reprints Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #'s 1-16, featuring the young hero's meetings with Wolverine (Vs. Sabretooth), The Hulk, Iron Man, The Punisher and Daredevil, The Fantastic Four (Vs. The Skrulls), Man-Thing (& The Lizard), The X-Men, Doctor Strange (Vs. Xandu), The Black Widow, and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu. The art is by a wide variety of comic superstars, including Matt Wagner, Chynna Clugston-Major, Rick Mays, Terry Moore, Mike Allred, John Totleben, Ted McKeever, Bill Sienkiewicz, Phil Hester & Ande Parks, and many more. Writer Brian Michael Bendis continues his winning streak with some truly absorbing stories; How many writers can do a story where Spider-Man and the X-Men sit around in a mall food court TALKING and still make it a must-read? Truly superior stuff, highly recommended.

This hardcover edition of "Ultimate Marvel Team-up" encases the entire run of the series along with the "Ultimate Spider-man Super Special". If you want to see the artwork of a bevy of today's top comic talent, you have to buy this book. Ultimate Marvel Team-up was an anthology series, the artist changed with each story-arc, while the ever-dependable Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-man, Powers, Daredevil, Jinx) wrote each issue. Here's a quick outline of what to expect and why this book only get 4 stars from me:

THE GOOD: Everything after the 5th issue/chapter. Specifically issues 6-8, which contain the amazing Daredevil/Punisher story drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz. One of the best stories of the year and the real reason a comic fan has to own this book. Another huge highlight is the Jim Mahfood drawn Fantastic Four issue, it is hysterical, some of the funniest dialogue Bendis has ever written. The roster of artists for the "Ultimate Spider-man Super Special" is a who's who list of top artist's in the field today, and touches on nearly all the Marvel heroes not involved in the 16 issues of Team-Up.

THE BAD: Issues 2-5 are far from remarkable. When these issues originally came out, Bendis kept talking about a bigger picture, about these stories all going somewhere. Well, issues 2-5 were a setup for The Ultimates. 2 and 3 deal with the Hulk. 4 and 5 deal with Iron Man. The Hulk story isn't terrible, the art from Phil Hester(Green Arrow) is pretty good, but it doesn't live up to the stories following it. My biggest complaint with the Iron Man arc is that the art from Mike Allred(Madman, X-Force/X-Statix) was digitally colored, and Allred's retro style does not work with digital coloring. Why Laura Allred didn't do the coloring here is beyond me. The story's alright, but the coloring is beyond distracting.

THE UGLY: The first issue is awful, terrible, and every other negative word you can come up with. The story stinks and the art is wretched. Just skip it. Don't even read it. It's the one true eyesore in this beautiful book.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars