Ultimate Spider-Man #13: Thy Fearful Symmetry

Warning: Spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #12 & #13

Sometimes the most compelling (and terrifying) villains in fiction are the ones that mirror the hero. A motivation or experience that shapes both characters for the better and worse can create an interesting parallel track, allowing an artist to play up how symmetry haunts the mind. At the absolute peak of that approach to the villain as a foil or recursive soul is when they can make the audience flinch at how similar the two are. It creates tension in just how far a hero could go while instilling sympathy or compulsion in the reader for the villain. That mirroring is at the center of Ultimate Spider-Man’s newest arc, with the reappearance of a classic rogue. 

Ultimate Spider-Man #13 – written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto, colors by Matthew Wilson, and lettering by VC’s Cory Petit – picks roughly one month after the cliffhanger of the last issue, ushering out Christmas for the last week of January. Peter and Harry are still MIA while the nanotech suit approximates Peter, allowing Richard to operate it to show that Spider-Man is still active. The sequence of Richard in the black costume bookends the issue, with a surprise encounter occurring at the end, setting up an interesting character interaction.

The bulk of the issue focuses on those responsible for abducting and then holding the two superheroes. Kraven is the mastermind behind the abduction, using the vast subterranean Savage Lands under Moleman’s control as the place to hide them. The hunter has been working to break the two over an unspecified amount of time, now offering a last meal before he drops them into the dinosaur-infested lands. At the thought of entertainment, Moleman agrees to allow his territory to be used, while Mysterio is content to wager on the outcome of the dangerous game. Peter and Harry are dropped right into the center of the jungle landscape and face their first trial before the issue returns to Richard’s plotline. 

From the get-go, Hickman does an excellent job of filling in gaps from the shock of the last issue while moving the story forward at a clipping pace. Putting Richard in the suit and having him talk with the faux-Peter not only allows for the audience to get caught up in the Spider-Man beat, but gives a window into how the family is processing Peter’s disappearance. It’s a tight five-page sequence that plays at just the right tempo, lingering in Richard’s perspective of getting to websling with obvious stumbles. That quick momentum is like a jolt to the issue that carries right into the book’s main plot. 

The bookends are also an opportunity for Checchetto to take his big swings (apologies for the pun) in depicting the wallcrawler action. Echoing the opening of issue two, which saw the protosuit-clad Peter swinging for the first time, Checchetto depicts a similarly silhouetted Richard taking the swing. The difference comes in the angle that Checchetto chooses, using a low shot pointing to the suit in the distance rather than a high angle looking down on the acrobatic form. 

That specific shot comes on the second page of this issue, playing up the reveal. It’s a stunning choice that Checchetto depicts in rich detail, adding his signature sense of cinematic sheen to the moment. Even as Richard stumbles, it’s clear that Checchetto’s linework is naturally evolving and becoming even more of a fit for the character/story, something that seems almost impossible at this point. 

In an interesting downshift, the center stretch of the issue moves a bit slower with less action or kinetic movement on the whole, but Hickman manages to keep tempo with an extended conversation sequence. Moving into the physical space of the Savage Land, first with Kraven, Moleman, and Mysterio before shifting to the table with Peter and Harry, is an excellent way of breaking up the dialogue into an appetizer and main course. It’s a smaller choice that compounds into a boon for the story, as it gives a sense of the decadence of Kraven’s choices while showing he is still stuck in the game orchestrated by Kingpin (and ultimately the Maker). 

Without wasting time or momentum, Hickman then shifts the narrative back into a higher gear in the second half of the sequence. In a fascinating beat between a mocking Kraven and a silent Peter, the hunter sees something captivating in Peter’s face. Checchetto renders this moment in a gripping fashion, utilizing symmetrical panels for both Peter and Kraven, showcasing the two sides of a predator. Even down to the body language and facial structures, Checchetto creates a mirror effect that sparks a chill from Peter’s expression. While Kraven is filled with amusement and intrigue, Peter is containing a smoldering fury behind his bloodied face. 

Wilson’s coloring at this moment is an excellent layer that helps to reinforce that fearful symmetry on the page. The artist uses a neutral brown behind Peter and Kraven alike in different sizes to showcase the slight differences in their builds. As Kraven holds the power, his figure is larger both in Checchetto’s design and in the amount of background coloring that is absent. Peter is surrounded in that moment by the color, which also works to contrast with the blood on his face and resolve in his eyes. The eyes specifically, share a similar hue between the two. An ocular exchange is the primary sense of conflict on this page, and WIlson’s small touch brings them into a sense of emotional convergence at the moment through the select shading. A hue difference for either set of eyes would have undercut the moment.

After the intense staredown, Kraven decides to begin the game early, dropping the two from their seats into the Savage Land. Instead of immediately having Kraven leap at their situation, Hickman scripts an encounter to show just how lethal, and comics accurate, this Savage Land is. The plotting also gives a deeper insight into Peter’s character, having the powered individual jump straight in and deal with the raptors while Harry is on the sidelines. It’s a departure from his behavior thus far in the series, as Peter was much more of the reactive type from issue one. Peter is the one formulating a plan, rescuing Harry, and taking the fight to the dinosaurs. Part of that is boiled down to the enhancements from his powers versus Harry’s reliance on a suit, but it’s also a chance for Hickman to move Peter closer to his more confident self, mostly seen in costume. 

In a similar way to the action elevating the recap at the start of the issue, Checchetto brings a real sense of threat and danger to the Savage Land. While the artist’s style feels most at home in the claustrophobic skylines of New York, there’s an enthralling sense of dangerous beauty to his depiction of a natural landscape. In the establishment of the locale, Checchetto switches up his panels from the wider frames to slim, tall ones, letting the shape dedicate the sense of gravity and arboreal sprawl. It’s an effective flip in structure that immediately conveys a totally different perspective on a narrative and aesthetic level. As Peter and Harry land and gather their bearing, the page recalibrates to a more familiar sense of composition, returning to those wider, cinematic panels. 

The other element that helps to calibrate that difference in the upper and lower aspects of this world is Wilson’s coloring. After the book’s opening plays in the bright, almost harsh blues of a cloudless sky, there’s a shift into earthier tones in the first half of the underground sequence. The greens of life and nature will come in later, but the dinner beat is brought alive with warm browns and striking reds for the meat being served. In an issue that feels more saturated in general, these moments like the meat and blood streaking Harry and Peter’s faces absolutely pop. Wilson draws the eye to the little things in these wide panels and sprawling caverns. 

Once Kraven throws the two into the Savage Land, the book’s palette shifts back to those natural colors, layers of various greens giving way to an equally claustrophobic setting. Instead of a gorgeous, relaxing landscape, the earthy tones serve well to hide the dangers lurking within. Flashes of emotive background colors in the action scene between Peter and a raptor flash red, illustrating the primal power that lurks and the anger Peter has that can match it. It’s an absolute triumph of a change in scenery that allows for a narrative similarity between two diametrically opposed settings.