Ultimate Spider-Man Retrospective

The comic, that is.

In September of the year 2000 Brian Michael Bendis with the help of Mark Bagley launched the “Ultimate universe”, an alternate reality where the laws of continuity were reset. This all started with Ultimate Spider-Man #1 on September 6th, 2000. It featured a young Peter Parker still in high school and no super powers (yet). Then, after a 5 issue origin arc, the launched into (what I believe) is the most influential Spider-Man run ever. This is my Ultimate Spider-Man retrospective!

Brian Michael Bendis is a name that just about anyone who is a fan of modern comics should be aware of. He is responsible for the Secret Invasion event, an excellent Daredevil run under the Marvel Knights line of comics, and of course: Ultimate Spider-Man. His writing style feels extremely human in the Ultimate universe especially, with characters sometimes stumbling over words or generally being embarrassing. He did a fantastic job capturing the feel of high school and he brought a lot of new takes on classic Spider-Man stories and characters.

The most apparent change right from the gate is the inclusion of Mary Jane Watson in the high school years. I’m sure that her presence in this comic is why many people believe that she was always Peter’s first love in the mainstream stories, which is inaccurate. Secondly, Uncle Ben has a ponytail for some reason and it gets brought up more than I thought it did.

The biggest positive I can give this series before I even jump into some of the actual stories is Mark Bagley’s artwork. I can’t fully describe in words how much I love his scenery and characters, but I feel as though I am actually there in New York swinging around with Spidey. This New York has so much detail in every building and each character has a distinctive emotion on their face, I love it. Many people criticize his art sometimes because they feel like everyone has the same face. I can somewhat see this point because each face has the distinct Bagley style of drawing, but it’s still amazing personally speaking.

Right before I jump into some stories I want to take a look at some covers. From the first issue up to the end of Ultimatum the cover art had a very remarkable tone. I’ll show you what I mean:

Each cover showed the sleek design of the Ultimate Spider-Man logo in the top left corner, they all featured amazing cover art from Bagley (until issue #112, but more on that later). They also featured the issue number in big font on the right side and underneath it showed the title of the issue, which is something I found unique with this series. Most mainstream comics leave the title of the issue for the inside, but most of the Ultimate comics in general showcased the title, not just Spider-Man’s. I also love the spider emblems that run down both sides of the comic, it adds to the overall tone that the Ultimate line generated.

Now, let’s jump into some storylines. Most of what you’d expect from a Spider-Man series is here. We have a Sinister Six story, we have a few Venom arcs, a couple of Carnage stories, and then they even worked on a Clone Saga. If anyone has read the original Clone Saga, you’ll understand why it’s so controversial and has a mixed review from critics and fans alike. It was created in a messy era of Marvel with many writers and company heads throwing their two cents into the arc which caused the Saga to run for over a year and was bounced back forth between multiple ongoing Spider-Man series at the time. It was a jumbled, chaotic time for the webhead, but the idea of Spider-Man clones running around isn’t automatically a signal for failure. Bendis understood this and crafted his own take on this story. To showcase how insane the original arc is compared to Bendis’, the saga in the 90’s took 77 issues to complete, spanning over multiple tie in series. The Ultimate version is over in 8 issues plus an epilogue. It is uncanny how Bendis is able to take something so full of disarray and break it down to a terse, yet enjoyable, arc that is full of action and heart.

To say the overall story of Ultimate Spider-Man is great is an understatement, at least until Ultimatum.

Ah...Ultimatum. The event that saw numerous iconic heroes meet brutal and disgusting deaths that served no purpose other than to be mean spirited and explicit. I’m unsure of exactly why Marvel decided to be so violent and terrible to this many household names, but my guess is they wanted to prove just how edgy and cool the Ultimate universe was. I agree that a lot of Ultimate Spider-Man had a bit of a darker tone and edge than some of the mainstream Spider-Man, but Ultimatum is just terrible and violent for all the wrong reasons. So many people have complained about the event that I won’t go into much detail, but Spider-Man does have a pretty nice arc for this event.

To set the stage, the world is basically having an apocalypse level catastrophe. Magneto has Mjolnir and he somehow reverses the poles of the Earth or something (comics) and a bunch of people die. Spider-Man’s Ultimatum arc has him basically swinging around and saving people because New York is literally flooding at this point. We meet up with some familiar faces from throughout the series and then at the end everyone thinks Spider-Man dies. He doesn’t, but that’s what everyone thinks.

Right after Ultimatum the series (somewhat) kicks back up, but it really isn’t the same. Gone is just about everything I loved about the series other than Bendis’ writing. Allow me to show you a cover of 2009 Ultimate Spider-Man, so you can fully understand what I mean.

This cover is as basic as it gets.

Gone is the cinematic feel of the pre-Ultimatum art. Gone is the slick logo in the top left, and they even got rid of the little spider emblems on the sides. There isn’t even a title for the issue which was something I loved about the old covers. Now, it’s back to issue #1, and everything is smushed together in the very top of the cover with this ugly salmon colored title. This was where my enjoyment for the series began to run dry.

I mentioned that Mark Bagley left the series after doing artwork for issue #111. Issue #112 began featuring artwork from Stuart Immonen. If I’m not mistaken, Bagley and Bendis’ run together is the current record in Marvel for the longest an artist and a writer had worked together on a series. I do enjoy Immonen’s work as it still feels like Ultimate Spider-Man, the absence of Bagley is absolutely noticed. The reason why I’m mentioning this is to showcase the stark change in tone from Immonen to the artist for the 2009 revival, David Lafuente.

This is a stellar action scene from Immonen. Notice how sleek and dark the criminal’s face is shaded. It all feels...I don’t know...EDGIER. **EDIT** I also feel I should mention that Immonen was an artist for the Ultimate Fantastic Four series...something to keep in mind, reader!

Now check out this scene from issue #1 of the 2009 renumbering. Look how cartoonish everything feels. They even give poor Peter a little redness on the end of his nose! I don’t feel like I’m reading the same comic anymore. This looks like a fantasy story with elves and Disney creatures. They even cut Pete’s hair later in the series, getting rid of his iconic droopy style. Later he sports a shaved look with the backside faded. I hated it.

Around this time is, unfortunately, when the stories start to dry up. They feature a story where someone dressed as Spidey starts robbjng banks, which is incredibly stale at this point. I honestly can’t think of any memorable moments from this era, save for maybe the final Venom story they threw in near the end of this series. Speaking of the end:

Only a few months of the David Lafuente era passed when it was time to kill Peter Parker, for real this time. No plot twists like Ultimatum, this was the honest death of Spider-Man, and it was amazing. This was the reunification of Bendis and Bagley, which is the best way to finish this story in my opinion. It shows Spider-Man fighting all of his enemies while also having been shot. He goes out in a blaze of glory by smashing Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) into the ground with a car. He falls to the ground and gives a final teary goodbye to Aunt May before dying in her arms. It’s somber, it’s emotional, and it left a ladting effect on me. So much so that I didn’t pick up the following Miles Morales story until much later. 

The death of Spider-Man arc symbolized how much I loved the Ultimate universe. I literally grew up with this series, reading the comics whenever my dad would buy me one and playing the video game for hours on end. Then, having Peter die so a new face could take over the mantle was, to me, a representation of the 2009 renumbering. The old face of the Ultimate Spider-Man series is iconic, but it died after Ultimatum to bring a new face. One full of cartoony artwork, tired and mediocre stories, and a Brian Michael Bendis that was growing tired of the series in general.

In conclusion, I will always remember Ultimate Spider-Man as the first series I read to completion. I’ll always remember the stellar artwork of Mark Bagley and all of the memorable moments that Bendis was able to bring to series. I will always recommend the series to anyone that is even remotely interested in reading comics, and I will urge them to push through the 2009 renumbering just so they can experience the death of Spider-Man firsthand.

Thank you for reading the very first article on a comic series. If I missed anything you’d like me to add, send us a message and we will read it.