Ultimate Spider-Man #15: ‘’Cause I understand you’ve been running from the man/That goes by the name of the Sandman’

Depending on who you ask, a family vacation can be framed as a bonding experience or a crucible that tests the group’s strength. These trips are the right combination of tight quarters, changes in routine, and attempts at bonding that can either drive a wedge or reinforce the familial dynamics. Now, in that instance, it is enough to be a crux but with the addition of a superhero in the family and the dangers of revealed secret identities, a trip is enough to make or break the family unit. 

Ultimate Spider-Man #15 – written by Jonathan Hickman with art by David Messina, colors by Matthew Wilson, and lettering by VC’s Cory Petit – hits the road with a new installment that puts distance between the Parkers and New York as Peter grapples with the events of Kraven’s hunt. Pete, MJ, and the children loaded up into an RV and found themselves in the deserts of Utah, surrounded by conspiracy nuts and UFO chasers. Even cross-country, the fledgling superhero can’t escape twisted science experiments gone rogue, as the Ultimate Sandman makes his debut and attacks Peter and Richard. Besides hiding out from the Sinister Six, Peter is taking some time to check in with Richard, who’s still acclimating to the nano-tech suit.

Peter calibrates the bond between Richard and the black suit, reaffirming the ground rules and ensuring the programming will protect the teen at all costs. In between spidey-team ups and sleeping in, the coy flirting heats up in Richard and Felicia Hardy’s text thread. Repartée about morality and local crime stories lead to Richard making a bold move, only to be undercut by a lack of signal. Later on in the issue, Peter makes his own contact with the outside world, checking in on Ben and Jonah. That call gives way to a meeting between the reporters and Kingpin, who’s dispatched with the mysterious Ben Reilly pseudonym and finds the distractions raised by the Paper as entertaining. 

Hickman’s script does an excellent job of capitalizing on the built-in time jumps to disorient the audience, utilizing the change in scenery to heighten that feeling. From there, the issue is paced like a family vacation, with equal stretches of flying time wrapped in a weary lounging. The action beats contain the most kinetic moments, trading in the stylized fights from Marco Checchetto’s issues for an adventurous webslinging chase in the desert. Messina’s art captures the freedom of the movements, capitalizing on the change in art to evoke a different feeling through the fluid motions. Hickman’s plotting for the story ends in a contrasting manner, allowing compassion and help to save the day instead of violence. It’s a great reminder of how Spider-Man (both of them) can affect positive change in others thanks to the core ethos and reliability of the character. 

Once the book leaves the Sandman plotline, beats and scenes are given a slower pace that allows for the characters to breathe. The moment of Richard and Felicia’s texting is an excellent case of the teenager getting to just be a teenager while achieving a bit of exposition on the scripting side. Hickman reveals that the cat burglar is still stealing and on the rogue side of the law but the meat of the scene teases out a possible shift in the character depending on the course of this romance. The scene also does excellent work of reminding the audience about the stakes of Richard putting on the black suit, indicating what it is he’s risking by getting caught in the superhero web. Richard’s tension feels akin to the Urtext of Spider-Man, with the juggling of adolescence, romance, and crime fighting. 

The other standout moment of quiet introspection is Peter and MJ’s late-night chat as they stargaze in a web hammock. It lasts just a few pages and does little to push forward the plot or reveal exposition. There’s a quick reference to Gwen and then a transition beat to introduce the calling Uncle Ben moment, but primarily it serves as a place to get a window into Peter and MJ’s married dynamic. While the two have presented a unified front through the first two volumes, it becomes clear just how in sync they are at this moment. 

Even as they grapple with the uncertainty of their future without outwardly addressing it, there’s a resolution to their willingness to question and adapt. Add in the dash of banter and teasing about the reasons for their marriage, and Hickman delivers a beautiful moment of clarity, with the love and trust palpable from the page. Moments like these, in which Peter and MJ’s relationship is light and breezy with the undertones of respect and devoted passion, is the crystallization of what marriage fans want. Hickman’s scripting and Messina’s soft pencils capture the dynamic, lived-in history that pushes the duo to be and do better in the face of an uncaring at best, hostile at worst, world. 

Ending the issue with the most hostile scene allows for a sense of creeping dread that propels the reader to the back cover.  Uncle Ben and Jonah’s running c plot keeps one foot in New York while turning up the heat for the ongoing Kingpin narrative. The New York ruler comes on behalf of his newspaper, The Daily Bugle, and reveals that all of the Ben Reillys have turned up dead and is requesting a comment. In a chilling sequence, Hickman builds out the consequences that come with reporting for Ben and Jonah. It’s a tight and efficient scene that reinforces the reach and scope of the Maker’s control flowing down into Kingpin’s purview. 

Messina’s artwork does a good job of selling the pressure that comes from being in this Kingpin’s presence. While not quite the immovable wall depicted by David Mazzucchelli, Bill Sienkiewicz, or John Romita Jr., Messina’s anatomy for crime lord is still overwhelming in comparison to Ben and Jonah, oftentimes filling the frame of a panel. Sometimes, a wide cinematic panel is used to display just the shoulder width of Fisk. That touch does an excellent job of reinforcing on a visual level the ideas of power and influence at work in the plotline. The sequence trades in a series of close-ups to give the conversation a personal touch, allowing the fear, smirks, and resolve to guide the eye in the panels. 

An efficient creative tool to help calibrate the expectations and differences for this issue comes from Wilson’s coloring choices. Only the final sequence operates in a familiar set of hues, with the greens and yellows of The Paper’s offices standing in contrast to the desert tones. The palette for that last scene serves as a dynamic background for Kingpin as well, with Wilson using his black suit as a natural silhouette that reinforces his overwhelming presence. Even when Fisk steps outside to his car in that scene, the darker colors contribute to the sinister tendrils taking root in New York. 

That sinking sense of the coloring in New York is a sharp contrast to the bulk of this issue, which trades the cooler blues of the city for rich, vibrant tones for the expansive sky. From the soft, golden pinks of sunrise to the expansive azure canvas with orange spires, Wilson evokes a stunning sense of place for the setting. Layered into the coloring in these backdrops are gorgeous Ben-Day dots blended into the clouds that add an enthralling texture to the backdrop. Those creative choices build and build into the most breathtaking coloring choice of the issue, which is the vast night sky in the desert. 

Wilson utilizes a warm blue radiating from the moon and overhead stars to bathe a comforting light on Peter and MJ in their hammock. Instantly, the moment feels romantic and safe, making use of nature’s beauty to elevate the tone of the conversation for the married couple. Even when the panels are filled with detail due to the rock formations and webbing, Wilson’s coloring cuts straight through and infuses that sense of awe from the natural world around. That shifting in color even reads differently to the more dangerous natural hues found in the harsh woods of the underground Savage Land.