So, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially hooked on comics again. Yes, thanks to mike and this blog I now wake up and read comics, go to work, come home and read comics, and find myself wanting to blog. This no doubt going to cut into everything else I do. I’ll probably start showing up late for work, reading comics before my 4 am shift at target, and putting off everything important that needs to be done. Thanks Mike. Anyway to continue on with my opening blog series, here’s the review of the next arc in the Ultimate Spiderman series, “Learning Curve“.

In the first arc we saw how Pete got his powers, how he dealt with them and his first battle with Green Goblin. In this arc, you can see just how difficult the super hero life can be. It also dives more in depth as to who Peter really is, and how he deals with his problems. As previously mentioned, the first arc demonstrates Pete’s knack for being hilarious in combat. In the second arc, Brian Michael Bendis shows that off even more. Every spoken line during a fight scene, except for the obvious uh-oh’s that come just before he gets pummeled, is a joke. Bendis either put a lot of thought into these jokes or he’s just a really funny guy. (ask Mike and Nick, they got to meet him) The comedy in this series is wonderful and it’s the main reason I love this series so much.

Arc two also introduces another one of Spiderman’s biggest foes. (pun intended) Wilson Fisk, A.K.A., Kingpin. This whole arc is about dealing with Kingpin. I’m going to leave out the reason why to keep the spoiler factor low, but I am going to spoil one thing, and it happens to be one of my favorite comic book scenes of all time: Kingpin crushes someone’s head with his bare hands. How cool is that?

One thing is for sure, you definitely have to think twice about messing with someone who can do that, and that is the basis of this whole arc: Thinking and learning. Pete has to get smart for hero work or he’s going to end up pushing up daises. He also has to learn to deal with life without the costume on as well, especially with what happens at the end… hehe

I can’t finish without saying a few words on the art for this arc. Overall, Mark Bagley has impressed me, as usual, but I do have to make a special mention on this arc. Bagley does a wonderful job on the art for the Kingpin. He really captures his emotions very well. From his evil grin to his worst fear, you know how the Kingpin is feeling. This isn’t to say that Bagley doesn’t do well with the other characters, just the opposite in fact, but in my opinion, the Kingpin art was done on a whole other level. I will say though that his artwork is not without flaws. There are a few frames here and there that bugged me, but you get over that pretty quick because in the end the good outweighs the bad by far.

Once again Bendis and Bagley deliver an excellent addition to this very young series. I consider it a must read for any comic book reader, but that‘s no surprise.

Thats all I have for you so keep reading until next time, which thanks to Mike will probably be late tonight or tomorrow sometime. I need to feed my addiction…