/4.webp)
/6.webp)
/5.webp "Ultimate Spider-Man #5")
While I rate the book a bit higher than you, all your points are valid. Nothing wrong with wanting more Spider-man in a Spider-man book considering what a disaster the mainline book is.
Ultimate Spider-Man #5
| Writer | Jonathan Hickman |
| Artist | David Messina |
| Cover Price | $4.99 |
THE SECRET HISTORY OF HARRY OSBORN!
How does the heir apparent of Oscorp become a masked vigilante? And what does Green Goblin know of the true status of the world he lives in? All and more will be revealed!
Rated T
CRITIC REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
ComicBook.com - Spencer Perry
May 29, 2024It's frankly not fair to the rest of the comic book world that Ultimate Spider-Man is this good. Read Full Review
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9.6
Comic Watch - Dustin Gebel
May 29, 2024Ultimate Spider-Man #5 is a fascinating penultimate chapter for the first arc, as it reaffirms and reinforces many of the thematic throughlines of the story. Hickman puts the focus on Harry and his journey to the Goblin identity while building out the Ultimate Universes political structure and exploring Harrys contrasts to Peter. Messinas art excels in depicting the conflicted expressions in tight close-ups but stumbles in illustrating the bigger action sequences. Wilsons coloring adds a sense of visual continuity between Messinas two issues while making it feel distinct from the work established in Checchettos issues. This is another slam dunk that justifies itself with a well-told story both on the written and visual level. Read Full Review
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9.0
AIPT - David Brooke
May 29, 2024Ultimate Spider-Man #5 fleshes out Harry Osborn quite a bit while informing readers of whose side he's on. A larger battle is underway, and this issue effectively loops Spider-Man into that fight right in time for Ultimates #1 out next week. Read Full Review
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9.0
Nerd Initiative - Michael Rothman
May 29, 2024I mean, this series is extraordinary. I simply can't get enough. Read Full Review
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8.7
The Super Powered Fancast - Deron Generally
May 29, 2024Messina delivers some great art in the issue. The imagery is beautifully detailed and perfectly captures the dark tone of the story and the character. Read Full Review
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8.0
Impulse Gamer - Matt Fischer
Jun 02, 2024All that being said, this is a damn good-odd issue. We get some fantastic art, with callbacks to a world that might have been (The Ultimate Armor, Bullseye) and a story about a boy who must very quickly become a man. We meet some new old characters (Otto!), and we get more exploration of how Harry came to own Stark Enterprises. With a bit more Spider-Man, this would have been a 5. This is still the best of the Ultimate line. Read Full Review
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7.7
Graphic Policy - Logan Dalton
Jun 02, 2024After last issue, the interactions between Harry and Peter feel out of sequence, but Hickman and Messina make young Mr Osborn as complex as he's been in years. Read Full Review
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7.7
Major Spoilers - Christopher Rondeau
Jun 03, 2024Ultimate Spider-Man #5 continues with its excellent characterization, but I fear the plot's pacing might be too slow. Read Full Review
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7.0
Comic Book Revolution - Kevin Lainez
May 29, 2024Ultimate Spider-Man #5 is a world building issue centered around Harry Osborn's Green Goblin origin story. While the absence of the Parker Family is certainly felt, Jonathan Hickman makes up for it with more great character and world building. The one-shot style pacing helped to maintain interest in what goes on to look forward to where the developments involving Harry, Gwen Stacy, and Otto Octavius will lead to. Read Full Review
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5.5
Weird Science Marvel Comics - mrgabehernandez
May 29, 2024Ultimate Spider-Man #5 is a fully realized, organic origin story explaining how Harry Osborn became the Green Goblin. The art team packs in all the drama they can, and Hickman is at the top of his game when it comes to world-building, but the net result is Ultimate-ly a dull comic with (again) no Spider-Man in sight. Read Full Review
USER REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
Plot The drama of Harry Osborn's life began with the death of his father and mother during The Maker's attack on New York, where Tony Stark was blamed. Harry stopped being an irresponsible playboy to dedicate himself to learning about his company, but being an Osborn means entering a secret circle led by Kingpin that the Stane/Stark company offers him. Harry begins to investigate all the information that Tony Stark handles, discovering that he is still alive and that he has been in charge of changing history and bringing back the heroes and villains. Harry now investigates Stark's clues and already knows that The Maker is responsible for the death of his parents. That involves torturing Bullseye to find out what the Kingpin is hid more
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10
One of the best reads I've ever read. The art is outstanding. The pacing and the time transition all build up to fast but calculated introduction to Harry Osborn. We also introduced to otto octavius. This series is more mature and carefully written than the original ultimate spiderman it doesn't have the whacky and silly dialogues due to the age difference. It's a remagined version of far fetched character for newbies and also die hard fans who thrives for change.
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9.0
Stellar performance by Hickman and Messina. Where I was concerned with Messina's abilities last issue I really think this was a truer example of his talents. Sure he isn't Checchetto but he's still a brilliant artist all the same. I appreciate these slower issues building the world around the characters since we know that we're taking such big time jumps between issues. While almost completely absent of Peter Parker I'm just as interested in Harry and his role to play in this story. His ambition to take down Kingpin and the rest of the cabal that framed Tony. It's thrilling. Not something we get a lot from Spider-Man books. We're not sure yet how that is going to affect his relationship to Peter. Is this Peter going to be less inclined to more
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9.0
Look, I simp for good things, and Hickman's writing is a good thing.
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9.0
I live for these slowed down and build up Hickman issues where I'm well fed. I really like this series. Messina's breaks out of the mold he tried to be in last issue and made this issue his by delivering his own beautiful style without trying to match Checcheto. Great stuff!
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9.0
I know this book is called "Ultimate Spider-Man," but I really appreciate Hickman diving in on Harry's recent past to give us a lot more context on where he's coming from. Messina did a better job here with his interiors as well, in my opinion. Not that he did bad in the last issue, but I just think his art worked even better this time around.
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8.5
The art is bit of a downgrade, but I think Messina does a good job still. While I do like almost everything in this comic, reading this monthly and having the pacing be slow, even if a lot of groundwork is done, makes this more difficult to enjoy. It's still really great, but not peak like the first issues felt. However, I imagine with the next issue this will truly ramp up. Original USM was also very slow, but that ended up being mostly great.
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8.5
Jonathan Hickman keeps hitting home runs. This issue gives us a captivating narrative that goes deeper into Harry's tragic backstory & his journey to becoming the Green Goblin. It's a testament to Hickman's exceptional storytelling ability, as he seamlessly subverts Harry & Peter's classic & iconic origins/relationships in such simple, yet nuanced ways that feel authentic to this universe. You really get a sense of how much the Maker has put his thumb on the scale to create a world completely of his design. Hickman's talent for crafting compelling dialogue shines through yet again in the conversation we see with Peter & Harry near the end, as well as what we see from Harry, Gwen, & the new inclusion of a young Otto Octavius. He astutely more
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8.5
This is a better display of Messina's talents than last issue, and we see Hickman further flesh out this new universe.
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8.5
Great world building
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8.5
The momentum takes a hit here, but it's still strong overall.
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8.5
A really good issue that explains Harry's origin. Nothing extremely groundbreaking,but very solid.
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8.5
I would say Harry's story so far has been more interesting than Peter's, great issue
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8.0
This issue is a bit slow and the art isn't as good, but this is still the best spidey series so far
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8.0
Good issue. Messina is clearly brought on to write more of the sitting and talking issues, and I guess I am fine with that. Interesting to learn about Harry's past leading up to current time. Hickman continues to world build and I do enjoy the world and people he is building. Honestly not as great as the previous issues but still played an important role. Seems like we are getting right back into the action next issue so this lull isnt too bad for me.
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7.0
This seems to be a hot take considering most of the other reviews on here but I was bored by this "flashback" issue. The first three issues were really promising, but the previous issue and now this one have left me unimpressed with where this series is going. I want more Spider-Man in this Spidey book. Also, this is a monthly book and Marvel can't keep the main artist on it for more than three issues? C'mon Marvel!
+ Like • Comments (1)• Likes (2) -
7.0
Art: 3.5/5 Story: 3.5/5 Total: 7/10
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6.5
I'll grant that this issue was an improvement over the snoozefest that was the last issue, but unfortunately not by much. I've never cared for long arcs where they take a break from everything for an issue that's entirely flashbacks. AT least this wasn't following a cliffhanger forcing us to a=wait a full month more. I really hate when they do that. We're 5 issues into this series' first arc and the pages actually containing Spider-Man can still be counted by hand. Not to mention he hasn't even appeared in costume since issue #3. Books like this wouldn't have lasted in another time. Luckily we're in a time when readers are used to this sort of thing. Not all of us like it, but we are used to it. If history has taught us anything it's that more
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