Ultimate Spider-Man #6: The Key to a Healthy Marriage (and Surviving Kingpin)

To some, subversion has become a dirty word in storytelling. The era of the revisionist murder mystery, prestige crime stories, and a proliferation of metatextual stories dominated the landscape in recent years, creating a systematic approach to approaching stories not as they unfold but in how they are being told. Tropes and clichés became beats to ding or write off when they graced pages or screens rather than using them as well-worn paths on the way to a new location. A great writer can use subversive elements as a fulcrum to deliver an innovative story surrounded by the familiarity of plot beats. A case in point to that fact is a book like Ultimate Spider-Man, which continues the trend of subverting Spidey fans’ expectations into compelling stories one after another. 

Ultimate Spider-Man #6 – written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marco Checchetto, coloring by Matthew Wilson, and lettering by VC’s Cory Petit – brings the first arc of the series to a close, bringing some resolution to ongoing plotlines while focusing on a central antagonist for the story going forward. The issue opens with a bloody and bruised Peter sitting down for breakfast and immediately revealing his dual identity to his family. A flashback shows Peter and Harry’s confrontation with Kingpin, questioning the crime lord about the person pulling the world’s strings. The controller of New York easily dispatches the two heroes, tossing them like ragdolls after defeating them mentally with his tricks and traps. 

After escaping, Peter returns home and the plot syncs back into the present, first trying to hide his secret life. May quickly blows that ruse, worry superseding her promise to keep a secret. Mary Jane and Richard are shocked at the revelation but roll with it immediately, letting Peter explain and tell the story of Kingpin. Peter and MJ then share a more private conversation between spouses, with Peter offering total honesty and a promise of protection for the family. The two don’t fight or break up, instead coming to an understanding as MJ provides a name for Peter’s alter-ego. 

Hickman infuses a real sense of tension into yet another table-centric beat, centering the bulk of the issue around Parkers’ breakfast table. A common version of this sequence would be rich in hurt, betrayal, and overflowing melodrama. Instead, Hickman makes it clear this family unit is understanding and accepting, internalizing Peter’s superheroics quickly to care more about his wounds. It’s a bold choice that reverberates louder than the possible scene outlined above. The absence of a knock-down, drag-out fight inside the household is refreshing and functions as an underlining of the Kingpin fight. With no oxygen given to a family conflict, the brutality and dramatic tension in Kingpin’s office skyrockets, making Harry and Peter’s beating all the more visceral. 

Scripting the book in the dual timelines also serves to provide a framework that echoes the original Ultimate Spider-Man. The Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley penned series was notorious for its use of non-linear storytelling to create mini-cliffhangers and propulsive pacing. Here, the choice to rearrange the timeline of the story works to create opportunities for subversion, allowing Hickman to set up strife and undercut it for dramatic effect. Instead, certain Spider-Man fans (myself included) are given what they want in the form of a mature, established, and nurturing partnership between Peter and MJ. It’s not a sanded-down approach to their romance but offers a healthy and moving look at how a marriage offers an avenue of absolute support and understanding. 

In sharp contrast, the action sequence is written in a way that maximizes the expectations of a Spider-Man comic. Peter cracks some jokes, battles with his villain, gets the tar beat out of him, and then goes home to regroup. Where Hickman excels in the sequence is baking in propulsive tension at every moment, allowing the flow of the fight to dictate the path forward for the story. Harry takes charge while Peter provides backup, unsure of the entire plan due to the quasi-illegal nature of it. Character bleeds from the page for Peter, Harry, and Wilson Fisk alike. Each one gets an opportunity to prove their merits and flaws in the span of half an issue. 

Without Checchetto on art, much of that nuance and development would have been reaching at best. The artist is a master at both types of renderings in this issue, excelling at blocking action sequences and twisting anatomy into their most expressive forms. There is a double-page splash in this issue that will sear itself in the reader’s mind, mixing and matching multiple layouts to convey the overwhelming force of nature that is Kingpin. It is a jaw-dropping showcase of technical prowess that cements the artist as one of Marvel’s top illustrators. The two pages alone would be enough to justify that crown, but it functions as a lead into a multitude of other pages and layouts that are just as engaging. 

For every pulse-pounding action beat Checchetto puts to paper, he has a symmetrically stunning dialogue page to go with. The blood and bruises that litter Peter’s face feel like natural progressions to his actions, and Checchetto makes them feel natural to the story while living on the page as exaggerated damage. The evolving shock and worry that creeps onto Richard and Mary Jane’s faces is palpable, and this becomes a lingering sense of emotion that creeps into the story, altering the emotional approach to the text. Checchetto had multiple years to reinforce facial expressions full of tortured expressions and worry for reckless superheroes thanks to his time on Daredevil, and Ultimate Spider-Man makes great use of that experience. 

The bloody action and lingering damage are driven right into the brain thanks in part to Wilson’s coloring choices. The exact shade of purple for Peter’s black eye and the bright pops of red for his cuts and injuries are arresting on the page. They’re sharp contrasts to the cooler tones of New York at night, as Peter and Harry plan their attack on Kingpin. The choice to put those injuries in sharp contrast to the warmth and beauty of Kingpin’s highrise also works to help distinguish the various worlds that Peter is moving through. The high tops of this city, in this universe, are one of decadent colors and warm lighting, in opposition to the chilling tones down at the bottom of the city. These small decisions reflect the massive scale of influence that Wilson’s color imbues on every page.