Ultimate Spider-Man #12

Recap
A VERY MERRY SPIDER-CHRISTMAS? Season’s greetings from the Parker family! But why is Peter acting so strangely during the most wonderful time of the year? And what’s got Gwen so concerned? Don’t miss the thrilling conclusion of the second arc – and the first year – of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN!
Review
The big winter holidays, especially Christmas, are a rich dramatic time for stories thanks to the inherent tensions built into the holiday. A veritable pressure cooker, Christmas can put stress on even the most aligned families with the notions of presents, massive dinners, and the seasonal blankets of depression. Taking those elements and crafting them into stories results in elevated drama and conflicts, resulting in diamond tales of family, redemption, and celebration while lingering in the bittersweet. That’s the exact mode that Ultimate Spider-Man operates in when it arrives one year into its larger story, ringing in the year with a bombastic holiday special.
Ultimate Spider-Man #12 – written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto, colors from Matthew Wilson, and lettering by VC’s Cory Petit – is a propulsive holiday special that puts the fun in family dysfunction. A Christmas party at the Parker/Watson home is the center of the issue, bringing together the main cast and some new yet familiar faces. Uncle Ben and Jonah join from the Parker side while Aunt Anna, MJ’s sister Gayle, and their mother, Madeline, round out the Watson clan. Tensions fly high in and around the kitchen, as old wounds between sisters flare up.
Meanwhile, Jonah and Richard continue to bond over Jonah’s book, discussing personal philosophies and possible budding romances. Sparks are also flying back with the Watsons as a potential love triangle starts to shape up between Madeline, Jonah, and Ben. The sharkish Jonah and Madeline ponder their pouncing, Ben is stuck in the middle, about to be prey. The romance flies just as Gayle and MJ hurl insults and aggression, anger and resentment festering to the surface as Gayle reveals a pending divorce. All throughout the party and symphony of interpersonal drama, Gwen is spamming MJ’s phone, the call resulting in a startling cliffhanger poised to kick the next arc into high gear.
Hickman’s scripting for this issue is dense and rhythmic, gracefully dancing from multiple family pairings like a bottle episode. Outside of Gwen’s phone call and the epilogue pages, the entire issue is set and stays in the Parker/Watson apartment. It’s a deliberate choice that adds to the tensions of the holiday, creating a pressure cooker for the entire extended family. That choice also allows for plenty of subtextual moments, like glances across the room and compressions in physical space. It’s an extension of the chaos that comes from family during the holidays, creating an atmosphere that’s equal parts comforting and awkward.
The conversations throughout the issue are like a rich meal spread across the dining room table. MJ and Gayle hashing out their sibling complex is an excellent main dish, contrasting the differences in their lives (and inverting the dynamic from the main universe). While Gayle is the more steadfast figure in the 616 continuity in contrast to MJ’s party girl persona, the two switch for interesting tensions. The shifts in the universe and history of these characters are then extrapolated further in that sister dynamic by revealing Gayle’s central issue with MJ; she views Peter as MJ’s choice to settle, the man being a bland, boring fit. It’s a great crystallization of what was wrong with Peter in this universe pre-powers. He was average, unmoored in life without a purpose. Seeing it from an outsider’s perspective makes it easy to see, and puts a nice capper on Peter’s growth over this first year.
While those themes and cutting dialogue are a strong meal of their own, it’s Checchetto’s linework that elevates it into the sprawling feast. Front and center are his anatomy and blocking, both working on a whole new level to deliver and make compelling moments for these familial spars. Checchetto masterfully makes the most out of the physical space in the family’s apartment, contracting and expanding it through creative angles and blocking. At times, it can fill the space of a wider panel to feel spacious enough for everyone to have elbow room and then suddenly snap into a tight squeeze in the smaller panels and grids.
That sense of contracting comes into sharp focus when MJ and Gayle collide, their conversation frames like an old west showdown. Checchetto composes the pages around wide, narrow panels that spotlight the sharp gazes that the sisters throw at each other. It’s not a stretch to imagine an Ennio Morricone arrangement scoring the scene as the two inch closer together, neither flinching. Checchetto infuses the most dynamic sense of momentum in the smallest choices, exemplified in these exchanges. That sense of tension and oscillating space plays just as well as any action sequence seen in previous issues.
Ratcheting that tension and creating a dynamic visual language for the conversation comes as a result of Wilson’s coloring. The sequence with Gayle and MJ arguing is filled with expressive, swirling red and blacks that read like anger infecting the sheetrock of the apartment. It patterns and textures the backdrop in order to heighten the emotion to the highest place possible, offering swift pressure to the throat as sisters bare their fangs. That expressive hue also enriches the standoff blocking, evoking that deeply cinematic approach to characters facing each other down.
In just as many moments in the book, Wilson’s coloring also offers moments of warmth and comfort. Soft blues, warm oranges of a roaring fire on a cold night, and lively greens on the Christmas sweaters all lighten the story in places. These foundations of the palette enrich and give a wide perspective to the holidays. The moments of joy and comfort stand equal to the family frictions, offering the total spectrum. It’s a masterful choice by Wilson to center the issue in these flowing tones, understanding the thematic core centered in this issue.
Final Thoughts
Ultimate Spider-Man #12 is at the same time a piping hot meal on a cold winter day, enriching the reader in the comforts of the holidays while also delivering rich, cutting family drama. Hickman’s writing perfectly captures the barbarous family discussions that can arise from tight quarters and stress over massive meals. Checchetto then takes that base and elevates it to a higher visual concept by leveraging the blocking and panel work into dynamic, cinematic moments of pure tension. Throw in pinches Wilson's dueling colors of comfort and conflict, and the result is a filling meal that hints at a gambit of flavors. Ultimate Spider-Man #12 achieves both a great cap to the year and a memorable Christmas comic that is sure to be an instant classic.
Ultimate Spider-Man #12: It’s a Spectacular Life
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10