Ultimate Spider-Man #83

Background

A new mob boss, a mutant known as Hammerhead, has made a move against Wilson "The Kingpin of Crime" Fisk's mob holdings - and pitted Spider-Man against a new costumed vigilante: Moon Knight. At the same time, Fisk - whom Spider-Man has long tried to put behind bars - provided Peter with concrete evidence linking Hammerhead to a recent murder.

Hammerhead's attempt to extort money from a Kingpin-owned restaurant in Chinatown brought Shang-Chi (the Master of Kung-Fu) and Danny Rand (the Iron Fist) into the mob struggle. As if that weren't enough, the Black Cat (a former jewel thief who has a personal interest in Spider-Man) arrives on the scene, tracking down Hammerhead.

But perhaps the most dangerous of all is the Kingpin's personal assassin... the woman known as - Elektra!

Story Details

Tokyo Club, some mobsters talk about joining Hammerhead. Elektra crashes through the door. She has a message to those who would break their word to the Kingpin. It's their dead body.

On a playground. Mr. Grant and Mr. Spector are talking. A little girl with no eyes is sitting on a swing. They discuss who to take down first. It's Hammerhead, then the Kingpin. It's time, Moon Knight joins the party of three. Spector then wakes up, he's in a meeting. He calls a lunch break and when the other suits have left, he opens a hidden compartment. The Moon Knight costume is in there.

Brooklyn, a police station. The Ox is being questioned by some officers. They make him tell where to find Hammerhead.

Midtown High School. Peter is daydreaming about the Black Cat. MJ joins him, asking to be friends. They have a discussion about it. Bottom line, Peter thinks MJ is careless and he can't take the responsibility for that. But she's in love with him, and he's in love with her, says MJ. Still, he leaves.

Little Russia. Shang-Chi and Iron Fist are beating some Russian mobsters, trying to get the location of Hammerhead.

1736 Racine. Spider-Man is holding a piece of paper in his hand, on it the address he got from the Kingpin, where he could find Hammerhead. Hammerhead arrives with a limo. Suddenly, two hands blind Spider-Man's eyes. It's the Black Cat. She's flirting as they discuss what to do. Shots are heard and both rush down from the roof into the building where Hammerhead just entered.

Inside they find, Hammerhead, Elektra, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi, Moon Knight and several mobsters. Both Spider-Man and Black Cat are not sure who the good guys are and who the bad guys. To be continued...

General Comments

MJ makes a point about Peter spending more time as Spider-Man than as Peter Parker. I like this development, in the past months we've seen enough character building, it's time for some action. And with the current story, it's action all the way. Throw in some hot babes and what else do we fan boys want? Just kiddin' course, 'bout the babes, my wife might read this.

What's going on here? Dunno, and really, don't care at this moment. It feels like Bendis is building up to a grand finale. Sure, it's always building up to something, but here he does it with action. No slow, just talking, scenes. Sure there are "just talking" scenes, but they're not slow. Finally...

Overall Rating

Most excellent full page image of Spider-Man, no balloons, just art. Definitely worth making a poster of this one. That gives the issue a .5 additional web, making it a total of 4.5. Yeah, I'm very pleased with this one and can't wait for it to continue.