In honor of Bendis Week coming to its close, I am more than proud to offer up this Friday Recommendation. A long time ago, back when I wasn’t as big of a comic nerd as the one you’ve all come to love and respect since this site began. When I was growing up, my parents bought me a lot of the popular comics of the 90’s, and all of the exciting story lines of the time, such as the Clone Saga (yeah, you all remember that). As I grew older, I began to read a very select few comics based only on character appearances and stopped buying anything on a regular basis. If a book had Eddie Brock in it, I’d buy it without question. He was and has been my favorite character for a long time. I still knew a lot of what was going on in comics, and kept up with plot lines regularly, but did I read them as much as I used to? No. No, I did not.
Then one day, a friend came to my house with a backpack full of comics. He was planning to spend the night and he informed me that, before I left, I needed to read every issue that was in that backpack. As I opened it, I found a book that I had heard of but never read called Ultimate Spider-Man. I had heard of this book, and how it was a relaunch of my favorite superhero. Initially I said, “Are you kidding? That’s going to be terrible.” But I decided to read it anyway. I read 59 issues in the next 24 hours, and the next day I went out and bought all that I could find.
And that’s how Ultimate Spider-Man and Brian Michael Bendis officially got me back into comics.
Ultimate Spider-Man was the first book on the Ultimate line, a proposed new universe of continuity where hot new creators were given the opportunity to write brand new books the way they wanted. It was also aimed entirely at readers who had either fallen off the wagon of comics (like me) or had never read a book in their life and were looking for a jumping on point to discover the wonder that is the graphic fiction medium. It was with that that Marvel trusted a new young writer named Brian Michael Bendis with the keys to the city, as it were, and the chance for him to really go off on a tangent. They would come to allow a great amount of creative freedom in other titles, but this was his first opportunity to start from scratch within the company in a brand new creative initiative. And it very clearly paid off, because if this book had never existed, then this website would never have existed! (Crazy to think about, no?)
Ultimate Spider-Man brought everything back down to basics: Peter Parker was once again a teenager in high school who, through a freak accident, was given incredible power. He could stick to walls and was much stronger. He once again followed the path of his 616-counterpart and tried out wrestling for money, only to have it lead to the tragic death of his uncle. But unlike the 616 Universe, his accident directly brought on the creation of two of his deadliest foes: an all new version of the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. The finale of the first major arc featured a triumphant battle against the Green Goblin, though this was only the first of many against the formidable foe. As the book progressed, we saw reinventions of many classic villains and story lines, with prime examples being Electro, Kraven, and the Sinister Six, as well as the eventual introduction of the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock, or even the Clone Saga. Ultimate Spider-Man re-told many classic story lines during it’s initial run, most of which came with great success.
There were two things that really made this book so great. The first was it’s “back to basics” approach. For years now, Spider-Man has been an adult in the normal universe. His younger adventures are a great memory, but not something that most readers can get into anymore. With Ultimate, the book was updated to fit closer to the main audience of the book, and once again the book became something we could relate to. Peter Parker was young and inexperienced and had to go through many of the trials we all did in high school, and Bendis captured his voice perfectly. I would go so far as to say that not since Stan Lee initially brought the character to life did we have a representation of young Peter Parker done so well. The best part is that Bendis didn’t choose to adhere to stereotypes. There were no examples of Peter freaking out because he couldn’t FIND A DATE FOR THE PROOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!! No. Parker was still a rational young man. But kids today act differently than kids did when the book first popped up, and this took a big part in how the book was written. This included the way Parker’s relationship with Mary Jane was handled, and even in the way the characters interacted with one another, such as how Eddie Brock was brought in as a college kid dealing with issues of inadequacy, and even Harry Osborn dealing with his father’s actions.
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Of course, my favorite element of the book was that it took no prisoners (the above image being a perfect example). There was a lot of trepidation going into the Ultimate universe, assuming that some of it would placate to a younger audience instead of trying to make something enjoyable to both, and the Spider-Man book was a perfect example of how to strike the balance. The first example that comes to mind is the Legacy arc. About 10 issues after Peter decided to reveal his identity to Mary Jane, the Green Goblin returned and threw her off a bridge. Now, Parker was able to save her without snapping her neck, but it showed that not only could it hold true to classic tropes (despite the original woman throwing belonged to a character brought into prime later in Ultimate Spidey), but it wasn’t afraid to risk the lives of it’s characters, or even their emotional stability. Right after the Legacy arc we had the death of Captain Stacy, and Mary Jane broke up with Peter, which would continue to be a big part of the story, and Gwen Stacy moved in with Peter and his aunt. Soon after, about 30 issues later, Gwen Stacy would be murdered by Carnage. Gwen Stacy was always fated to die, but in a book that I had originally heard described as something aimed at a younger audience than myself, I was surprised by it’s attitude, so unafraid to move forward and do what was necessary for it’s characters to evolve.
And, as I said, the above image of Shocker manning up and bringing a beat down to poor Peter Parker was an issue I will never forget, and one of the finest of the series (#122). It was easily the best issue of the book before Ultimatum came and destroyed the universe’s stability.
What really did it for me was the writing. While the art obviously wasn’t an eye sore by any means, in this book I found a new writer who greatly captured the voice of a generation. If I had to pick one thing I really love about Bendis’ writing, it’s his ability to write witty and fresh dialogue in a new setting that doesn’t seem out of place or forced. Granted, you have books like Alias or Daredevil which obviously have a much grittier tone, but in this book he’s writing kids, and he writes them as kids. In our interview with Bendis, he stated that a lot of research and time is spent trying to perfectly capture the characters that he is writing, and Ultimate Peter Parker is a perfect example of this character. A young growing man put in a difficult position, the story flows wonderfully in regards to where a modern teenager would go if given these powers, as well as what he would say. When he talks to his friends or any of the characters, you really believe that he is a young man growing up in today’s New York, and that is the key to the book. A lot of writers feel they need to do things like reference Twitter (which didn’t exist at the time) or Facebook and Myspace (which did) in order to tell a story of young adults, but Bendis clearly recognized that there is more to the young people of today than that, and he played it up wonderfully.
Of course, when Ultimatum happened, many of us feared for the life of what was one of our favorite books. We had had 129 issues and 3 annuals before this moment, and Ultimatum featured the “death” of the poor young hero. It was one of the saddest moments when I thought I’d never have another issue of Ultimate Spider-Man, but I refused to believe it. And when Spidey was revealed alive under a pile of rubble at the end of Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem, I knew it was a good sign. In fact, it was the single greatest moment of the entirety of Ultimatum. With the reboot of the Ultimate line in full effect, Spider-Man remains the best book on the line still. With a new take, a new artist, and an “Amazing Spider-Man and Friends” feel to it, now is the perfect time for new readers to discover what I discovered oh so long ago.
So when I sit here and think of how to recommend Ultimate Spider-Man to you, the reader, I can’t think of any better way to do it. With two absolutely fantastic artists on the title (Mark Bagley for the first 111 issues, Stuart Immonen on the next 23) and an amazing future ahead of it (with artist David LaFuente bringing an amazing new feel to the book), Ultimate (Comics) Spider-Man is a wonderful book. It’s great for both new readers to Marvel, to the Ultimate line, or comics in general, as well as an amazing read for fans of the past book. It has 100% returned to form post-Ultimatum. Bendis handling of Parker as a young adult has improved ten-fold, and his comprehension of the cast of characters of the book makes it an incredibly wonderful read. It really is somewhat The Amazing Spider-Man and Friends these days, except it keeps its serious tone and still takes no prisoners. In the first issue, Mysterio threw Kingpin out of a building and began to take over the crime empire of New York. That should tell you something. And with the last issue, we had a long internal monologue from Parker that could have been taken straight from a real teen’s LiveJournal, followed by a great reveal of an original character at the end that helps to keep this book a great read.
If there’s one Ultimate book you need to read, it’s Ultimate Spider-Man.
