After the highly charged and somewhat depressing events of Carnage, the Ultimate Spider-Man line needed some lighter arcs to brighten the mood. Those arcs, packed with superheroic guest stars, are collected in Superstars.

The first two-issue arc begins with an apology from writer Brian Bendis, so you know you're in for something weird. And you are. Peter Parker wakes up in the ursine, unhygenic body of the X-Men's Wolverine, while Logan wakes up as -- you guessed it -- Spider-Man. How did their minds and bodies get switched? Well, obviously I'm not going to tell you. But hilarity ensues as each tries to maintain the other's cover -- Logan as a goofy teen with a suspicious aunt and girlfriend, Peter as a grim stalker with claws spring-loaded into his hands. (It's a good thing Logan's body heals quickly. It's lucky for Peter that Mary Jane is a forgiving soul.)

The next arc shows what hijinks begin when Johnny Storm, secretly the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, enrolls to finish high school in Peter's school. There's some heroing to be done, obviously, but much of the story deals with the perils of high school dating.

And, finally, Peter gets ensnared in a nightmarish, extra-dimensional trap when he pays an unexpected visit to the home of the novice Dr. Strange. I'm typically less fond of stories that rely so heavily on magic, but it's well handled and, by the end, loads yet another pile of angst on our young hero's shoulders.

I'm glad we had a bit of a breather after Carnage. Superstars is the perfect dose of relief to clear the air for Spider-Man and his readers alike.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
1 July 2006