Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2
My back hurts. I can't sleep. I need something to do to take my mind off the pain. This is it.

This is a VERY GOOD issue. Having come in to the Ultimate universe only recently, having missed all previous appearances of Punisher, Daredevil, and Moon Knight, it's a very self-contained story. You don't need to know who all these people are in the Ultimate universe, nor do you need to know where they've been. That's one of the benefits to only having three true ongoing titles in this universe. Ultimates comes out only infrequently, special minis never get finished, and minis that do finish really don't impact on X-Men, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four very much. And the ongoing titles don't impact one upon the other very much either. It's nice. You get the benefits of continuity in a shared universe without having any of its negative aspects. For the moment, that means that you get a nice little story where Spider-Man, Punisher, and Daredevil are all set on the trail of a rival of the Kingpin, deliberately, by the Kingpin himself, albeit through channels. They all show up at roughly the same time. And Moon Knight just happens to show up in the same place to comlpicate matters. Mayhem ensues, and the Kingpin wins...or does he?
That's not even the best part of the story. The best part comes at the end where Daredevil meets Moon Knight at his home and proposes putting together "a bunch of us" to counteract the corruption on the streets as a unified force. That's interesting. It could actually end up leading to another ongoing Ultimate title, but with what corrollary in the mainstream Marvel universe? I have no idea. But it would certainly be an interesting concept, one which I would readily read monthly. Since Bendis is apparently leaving Spider-Man after issue 100, (wow - even James Robinson or Neil Gaiman has never hung on for that long. Is this a modern age record?) perhaps he'll be writing that title. I can't figure out enough stories to make this title last longer than 12, maybe 24 issues, but maybe that's why I'm not a comic book writer - yet. Still, it's an intriguing concept. One can only hope.

Good night, I'm going to try to sleep now.