Ultimate Spider-Man: Suspended
Issue: #48
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital

No one at the Daily Bugle is having a good day. Peter goes to J. Jonah Jameson’s office to retrieve a set up computer disks and has words with Jameson. He was just asking a question, Peter points out, in the hopes that the older man could answer it, and instead he gets fired. Jameson fires him a second time and Peter walks out. Editor Joe Robertson rebukes Jameson; Peter is a bright young man coming to him for answers, and he takes out his frustrations in life on the boy. Robertson walks out.

As Peter swings away from the newspaper building, he sees that the anti-Spider-Man billboards are getting larger. Furious, he goes to confront the Kingpin but ends up slamming into a window at Fisk Towers. He bounces off, catches himself, and sees Fisk looking down at him from behind the glass. Spider-Man tries to break in, but the glass holds. Finally he swings away in frustration.

In Peter’s social studies class, the teacher offers to spend the last ten minutes discussing current events. Peter asks about how Wilson Fisk could go free when he was in fact a murderer. The teacher replies that the court has said he’s innocent. The judicial system has its flaws, she says, but people need to look at the bigger picture. Peter expresses his anger over the compromising and apathy that allows the guilty to go free. The teacher tells Peter to calm down and then, when he doesn't, to leave the room.

Peter confesses to Aunt May that he’s been suspended from school. His teacher took his comments the wrong way. He also tells her he’s been fired. Aunt May thinks his fixation on the Wilson Fisk case is due to his fears that his uncle’s murderer will be set free, and she assures him that that won’t happen. She makes him promise to apologize to his teacher. Then she picks up the phone and calls Jameson, giving him a scathing scolding for firing Peter for no reason.

Meanwhile, Ben Urich has been sent to interview Sam Bullit about his political platorm. Urich begins by questioning Bullit about why he’s focusing on Spider-Man when there are so many other problems in New York. Bullit replies that Spider-Man and other vigilantes make people feel like victims. He’s also opposed to the fact that vigilantes have no one to answer to for their actions. Urich turns the questions to mutants and Bullit’s views on them. Bullit dodges the question by saying he’s looking into the issue.

Urich notices a picture of Bullit, Walter Dini, and Wilson Fisk on the wall. Dini is Fisk’s lawyer and Bullit’s law partner. As District Attorney, Bullit will have to make decisions on organized crime cases. The implication is that Bullit has ties to organized crime. Bullit suddenly turns on Urich and threatens him, smashing his tape recorder.

Back at the Daily Bugle, Urich reports the incident to Jameson and Robertson, revealing that he had a second tape recorder going in his jacket pocket during the interview. He and Jameson argue about the Bugle’s endorsement of Bullit. Robertson joins in, questioning the endorsement, and at that moment the phone rings. It’s May Parker, calling to tell Jameson off about his firing of Peter.

Submitted By: Seldes Katne