Ultimate Spider-Man #68

Background

Two brilliant scientist, Reed Richards and Sue Storm; Reed's best friend Ben Grimm and Sue's younger brother Johnny pierced the barrier to the N-Zone and through a strange accident acquired fantastic powers. (For the full story, read Ultimate Fantastic Four, #1-6) And Peter Parker is still reeling from the violent death of his friend Gwen Stacy at the hands of Carnage, a genetic monstrosity half cloned from Peter's DNA.

Story 'Popular'

The Baxter Building, right in the heart of Manhattan. Ben and Johnny are having breakfast. Reed and Sue tell Johnny he needs to graduate. He doesn't like it but finally agrees to go, the thought of meeting high school hotties does the trick. It has to be nothing fancy, so the choice is Queens.

Queens, at their high school, Kong makes Peter fall. The kids all yell, fight! A handsome guy is observing the crowd, Liz notices him. A teacher breaks up the crowd. It's lunch time. Liz talks to Mary Jane about the new fellow, she wants MJ to go talk to him, on her behalf.

In the cafeteria, the handsome guy, who is of course Johnny Storm, is having lunch. His meat is cold, so he uses his torch powers to heat it up. Immediately his cell phone rings, Reed warns him not to use his powers in front of the other kids. Then MJ stand at his table. A bit clumsy, she starts a conversation. They end up talking about Liz and decide that Johnny can meet them at the parking lot after school.

And so he does. While MJ talks to Peter about going on a real fancy date, Johnny makes arrangements with Liz. The whole group goes to the beach, on Friday night.

At the beach, the girls are enjoying Johnny's body. I mean, the sight of his body :-). Afterwards, they all sit around a large fire. By accident, Johnny lights up his arm, Liz screams! He then flames on and while flying above the group says he can explain this.

General Comments

Well, this is a real short review. Why? Nothing really happens, it's all talk and talk and talk. Mind you, not dull, but repeating every sentence here would be silly. Besides, then you would not have to buy the book yourself. Right?

So, what else can be said about this book? The teacher that breaks up the crowd is called John Williamson. To me, that name did not ring a bell. I think it might be nice to remember this little detail. Why? It's the only thing new about the book. And I think I'll leave it at that.

Oh, almost forgot. Please, do read issues 1 through 6 of Ultimate Fantastic Four too (out now in TPB format). Besides being a great read, it'll give you all the background you need to know about the FF in the Ultimate Universe.

Overall Rating

Nothing fancy, that's what the high school has to be where Johnny is to graduate. And that's exactly what is story is too, nothing fancy. It takes a while to read, all the talking and not that much action. Still it's a fun story and I'd love to see Johnny explain the "flame on" situation.