Brian Michael Bendis gets it. He gets how to tell fresh, entertaining Spider-Man stories, of course – he’s been doing it consistently for eight years now. But he also gets what an annual should be – an entirely standalone story, rooted in the main title’s themes and overall continuity but without necessarily being sequential to the ongoing story; and it should also feel a bit special in some way, like it’s doing something important either story-wise or thematically. This was achieved in superb fashion with the first of the USM annuals – still one of the absolute best issues of the title – which set off the Peter/Kitty Pryde relationship, and although the second one disappointed a bit in comparison, this one feels like much more of a “sequel”, dealing as it does again with Peter’s love life.

It works because Mary Jane is more of a character than she is in any other version – hers and Peter’s relationship feels right because we’ve known since issue #1 that she’s really just as much of a geek as him (rather than the usual unattainable model). So a story about that relationship can genuinely sustain an issue like this – and while it might attract controversy for exploring ground that the title has previously mostly shied away from, it’s done in a way that doesn’t seem unreal or forced – and the closing pages are genuinely satisfying for those of us who’ve been with the book since the beginning (it’s somewhat reminiscent of the famous issue #13, in fact). Elsewhere, the “superhero” bit of the story is perhaps a bit more by-the-numbers, but it’s still a decent self-contained tale – and in Mysterio contains one of the best “Ultimizations” for a while, creating a sense of genuine, er, mystery while giving him a new look that still manages to invoke the original. I look forward to seeing more done with the character, anyway.

While LaFuente’s art doesn’t really match up quality-wise to Immonen, it’s well-suited to the Peter and Mary Jane scenes, reminiscent as it is of something like Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. He struggles a bit with the regular Spidey sequences (head proportions all wrong, for one thing), but it’s not really jarring, especially in the context of a one-off issue. All in all, while it’ll be pretty meaningless to any new reader (although it’s pretty accessible for someone wanting to jump onboard, demonstrating as it does some of the series’ best strengths, particularly in its dialogue), it’s just another example to us converts of why USM

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is one of Marvel’s most prized assets.