By Jamil of Jamil's Comics
Spider-man is turning 50 this year. To commemorate this occasion Marvel has planned the Ultimate team-up of Spider-man.
Peter parker first appeared as the Spider-man in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962, the last issue of its series. Peter is a teenager who accidentally comes across great powers by a freak accident. Teenage superheroes were usually cast as side-kicks at that era. But Marvel gave Peter his own series in 1963 called 'The Amazing Spider-man'. This teenage hero has survived the test of time, becoming perhaps the best known super-hero since the golden age. Stan Lee, the father of modern comics, created 'Spidey' with artist Steve Ditko.
Spider-man has given us fans many classic stories. From the Green Goblin menace to the death of his first love Gwen Stacey, to the birth of the clones and the clone Spider-man, the alien symbiote from the Secret Wars world - and recently, in the year 2000, the creation of the Marvel 'Ultimate Universe' through the making of Ultimate Spider-man by Brain Michael Bendis.
The Ultimate Marvel universe is similar to what Earth-Two is for the DC universe. Of course, the DC Earth-Two is the original universe, with Earth-One being the world of its Silver Age heroes (our heroes, meaning our version of Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern). The Ultimate Universe is just opposite. In 2000, Marvel decided to create a different universe where the heroes would be moulded to suit the different era of comics. The Ultimate Universe is very different from the normal Marvel Universe. But perhaps the biggest difference is that Peter Parker is dead.
Peter died defending his loved ones from the Green Goblin in Ultimate Spider-man #160. Since then, the Ultimate Universe saw the new hero, Miles Morales, don the mask of Spider-man (first appearing in Ultimate Fall-out #4). Marvel let Miles take over the Ultimate Spider-man series, starting with his own #1 in 2011; written by Bendis, and drawn by Sara Pichelli.
For more than a decade Marvel has kept the two universes separate, despite a lot of fan pressure. This Summer Marvel is celebrating the 50th year of Spider-man with the heroes of the two worlds meeting for the first time. Back in the mid 1960s our Flash Barry Allen made history when he somehow broke the barrier to meet the original Flash Jay Garrick in Flash #129. Now, it is time for worlds to merge again.
Here is what Marvel officially states about the event: “When Peter tracks down one of his deadliest villains, he suddenly finds himself thrust into another world where Peter Parker is dead… and there's a new Spider-Man in town. As these two heroes learn the truth about their identities and their universes, they'll embark on a journey that'll leave them forever changed - and reveal a startling truth about a key player in the Spider-Man mythos!”
So here's to it.
Many portrayed an alternate reality as the unreal city, and though quite a few were very good, this one, for its subtlety and its style won out. Next week we have the topic: Little Me. All submissions need to be sent in to [email protected] by Sunday noon. Word limit: 350-500 words. Good luck......................................................................................................................................................
Unreal World
By Raisa Rownak
Dive in, and swim away from all your loneliness and miserable days. Wake up on your own. Look around you, and you won't be alone. Let your high hopes flutter away, and they'll survive. Because this is a new world and you are alive.
Here the mornings don't bring hope, they bring assurances. Here afternoons come and feed you for the day, they comb your hair and wash your face and dress you in colours that you never tried before. Here naked children don't sit around on dirty pavements, here hungry dogs don't bark in dark alleys. Here windows bring dusks, caressing mildly; and no one turns the light on, not until you are ready. Here nights come in light-footed, marking no territory, they sit next to you like an old friend, visiting everyday, yawning and stretching, inspiring new insides and swallowing the old ones.
Here daisies push through floors and sunflowers peek through windows while little sharks swim with the silverware in the kitchen sink. Here laughter echoes louder, there is more place for it to scream and shout, and if it is in the mood for, to sing. Here ecstasy sometimes becomes a charioteer that carries you to castles on clouds high above. Here reverie whispers into your ears stories of the past, when you ignored the sunshine, when your eyebrows touched each other without telling you, when your eyes wanted to see further into mountains and oceans, but all you saw was the overflowing garbage on the streets and the depressed crows chewing on stuff that only crows can chew on.
Here the funfairs last for ever and there are roller coasters that carry you to the moon. Here fairy lights hang from silver stuffed clouds at night. Here the subways run under blue oceans and swim in rhythm with the dolphins and sea horses.
Here truth is never bitter; it is chocolate flavoured and sometimes even vanilla. Here dreams run in veins, and even the eyes know how to smile. Here there is no black or white, no brown here we have only human.
Where is this place you ask? Here is where you will be when there becomes here and all things here becomes yours.
