the plot: After months of consealing his secret identity of Spider-Man from his best friend Mary Jane, Peter Parker decides to confide in her his secret identity. Explaining that the spider that bit him months ago in the Osborn Industries labs gave him spider-like powers, Mary Jane is shocked, but realizes that for the greater good, she must keep Peter's secret. Mary Jane admits that she'd actually thought that Peter called her over to kiss her, and to Peter's surprise at such an admittence, she came over anyway. And as Peter and Mary close in to kiss, Aunt May knocks on Peter's door and Mary Jane is called home. Before Aunt May leaves Peter's room though, she asks (to be utter distress) if he knows about "it", and Peter explains that he and Uncle Ben had the "talk". Aunt May begins to exit, but tells Peter his parents met in high school, something Peter knew. And with a grin on his face, he flops back down on his bed.

the review: For an issue consisting of three people talking, a lot of action happened in this issue, and it was great. Peter revealing his secret identity to Mary Jane made a lot of sense, since in the Ultimate reality (and for that matter in the regular Marvel Umiverse) Peter appears to really need someone to talk to about his powers and everything and the Human Torch isn't around. It also relates to the regular continuity of Spider-Man since it had been later revealed that Mary Jane knew Peter was Spider-Man since high school anyway.

Aunt May's characterisation was top notch here, and far better than what we've seen so far in the Ultimate books, or in the regular books for that matter. The fact that she suspects that Peter and Mary Jane are fooling around in his bedroom the whole time is funny, and her character really comes together here, even moreso than the issue where she and Peter had their first heart to heart since Ben's death.

Mark Bagley's artwork is excellent here, as always, and very dynamic for such a quiet story. I wish that he'd include more average looking characters though more, since it seems everyone is perfectly thin, and those that aren't are grossly obese. But considering this story only had three characters, all of whom had always been thin, I'll let that pass.

The coloring has certainly improved on this title, blending more and looking less unnatural. It almost has a pencil-crayon effect to it and looks very nice.

Brian Michael Bendis is a master at his craft. This issue, despite not being part of the regular Spider-Man mythos, is destined to be a classic and a testiment to his work on this title. The diologue is fresh, the characters alive and a perfect balance between the art and the writing displayed. And as jarring as it seemed in the story, I did get a kick out of seeing Mary Jane's classic "you just hit the jackpot line", something I was sure we wouldn't see in the Ultimate comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man #13 is a great book, and strongly recommended. It gets a solid **** out of *****.

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