Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #2 Is the Most Basic Crossover Chapter Imaginable

Marvel’s Ultimate books are basically the crown jewel of their publishing slate, with Ultimate Spider-Man turning heads as one of the best superhero books on the market. The rise of the new Ultimate Universe had readers asking a question that was presaged from the start — when was Miles Morales going to find his way there? As one of the few survivors of the old Ultimate Universe, fans knew it was only a matter of time before he was involved in the Maker’s shenanigans, and Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion shows his first entry onto Earth-6160, after his sister used the card that the Maker left Miles to allow him to enter this new universe. Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #2 continues that story with an entertaining yet altogether unremarkable issue.

Writers Deniz Camp and Cody Ziglar are creators on two entirely different levels, and this book’s script is definitely an example of that. One thing that kept popping into my head as a I was reading this issue was that it was basically a comedy of errors — the Wakandans have a misunderstanding with Miles, Wasp, and Ant-Man that leads to a fight, Miles’s sister is left with a secret agent of SHIELD who tries to bring her to the organization, and the Silver Samurai kills her, keeping Miles from finding his sister. This is all crossover 101 stuff, and while it’s certainly entertaining, it’s also kind of disappointing. The Ultimate books have found a way to transcend the formulas that have been driving Marvel — and superhero books in general — but this issue not only doesn’t do that, it doesn’t feel nearly as special as it should.

This is a huge disappointment. Miles Morales meeting with the Ultimate Universe heroes should be a blockbuster, but this book never really finds what makes the Ultimate Universe so interesting. The only time it gets close is when we get into Ant-Man’s head, and he talks about his relationship with the Wasp. We get to see that this Hank isn’t much different from the one we know so well, and it’s the kind of interesting character moment that has become a huge part of the success of the Ultimate Universe. The Ultimate books boast some great heroes, and showing the complexity of Hank Pym is a step in the right direction. However, it’s a small step in a book that really doesn’t have much going for it other than a travelogue of the Ultimate Universe. I have a feeling that this book will play into the Maker’s grand entrance back to the world he created — we’re told several times that Miles’s sister is the key to the City, the Maker’s base — but the foreshadowing is so clumsy and basic, I have a problem believing that a writer of Deniz Camp’s ability would telegraph things so obviously. Ziglar I can see doing that, but Camp? He’s proven to be better than all of that.

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Jonas Scharf’s art is pretty good throughout the book. His lines have a weight to them at times that really works for most of the images, and he’s always been a good action penciler. The book’s fight scene is pretty cool, and features a great moment where Ant-Man goes into an ant hill to recruits helpers. There’s a fluidity to his art that makes the action kinetic, which really helps the fight. His character acting is also really, really good. The Ant-Man flashbacks take full advantage of this ability; you can see how happy Wasp is to see Ant-Man come out of his coma, and Scharf is able to wonderfully capture Ant-Man’s love for Wasp.

If there’s one problem I have with his art, it’s Miles without his mask. Young adults and children can be hard to draw, and while Scharf does a fantastic job with Miles’s sister, his Miles looks like he’s in his thirties, completely skipping a decade of his life. It kind of took me out of a few scenes; Miles looks so old. However, I love the way Scharf renders Miles’s Spider-Man costume. When his mask is on, it looks great. When it’s not, well, you’ll wish it was.

I think that everyone was pretty excited about this book when it was announced, but so far, it hasn’t really lived up to the expectations of being a part of the stellar Ultimate line. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad story. It’s perfectly fine, but this doesn’t feel like one of the Ultimate books, it feels like something from the mainline universe that I wouldn’t be incredibly interested in buying. A travelogue of the Ultimate Universe is fine, but there’s really nothing about this book that could make a new fan interested in picking up any of the Ultimate books. It’s an okay Miles Morales book, but that’s really all it has going for it other than some good art.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion #2 is on sale now.