Ultimate Spider-Man
* Note: This is concerning the original run from the early '00s, and not the newer Miles Morales series, which I have yet to read.
Ultimate Spider-Man is just the ****. It's pretty much everything I could hope for in a Spider-Man comic book. The super hero stuff? Flawless. The battle scenes are dramatic and emotionally tied into the theme of the story arc in a way that makes them more than just "the battle scene". The drama? Remarkably fleshed out, with charming yet tasteful Buffy-style high school melodrama, seamlessly side-by-side with hard-hitting issues that develop the personalities of not just Peter Parker, but multiple supporting cast members in ways that really make this an ensemble series. Love, love, love this comic.
The star of this series is clearly the slow-burning writing of Michael Bendis. Rather than the usual enemy of the week that even some of the best comics of today fall into,
Ultimate Spider-Man takes its time. The first story arc, which details Spider-Man's origin (this being a non-canon "relaunch" that begins with Peter Parker as a fifteen-year-old high school student without powers), rather than taking up two or three issues, as it could, instead lasts for seven issues, and I believe we don't even see Spider-Man until issue six, (Though I could be wrong as it's been a couple months since I read that arc.) This could easily become tedious, but brilliant characterizations that really make Peter, MJ, Gwen Stacy, Norman and Harry Osborn, Aunt May, Ben Parker*, and a host of others all seem like real people, making their lives just as, if not more interesting than the spandex elements.
*I actually think I might have just noticed an inconsistency. In a later issue, Aunt May claims that Peter's mother was her sister, which would mean that Uncle Ben was an in-law to the Parkers, and would assumedly not have the last name "Parker". And yes, I checked, and I'm fairly sure his last name is still "Parker" in this universe. Of course, he's an old hippy now, so maybe he was just being anti-establishment or something.
Peter's journey though is obviously what any Spider-Man comic lives or dies by. Even the original series never quite made him feel like the child that he really was, but Ultimate Spider-Man really sells that dynamic. It's a really great touch to make him fifteen (he was actually originally seventeen). It allows him to really come across as the kind of insecure man-child, uncomfortable in his own skin, that only a child at that stage of their life can be. Whether it's fear of women, fear of humiliation, or fear of the wider world in general, his teenage neuroticism makes him appear completely out of his depth in his new role as a hero. Artist Mark Bagley is just as instrumental to this as well. With his short stature and gangly frame, Spider-Man has never looked more like a shrimp who couldn't win a fight with a wet paper bag. Against the likes of the Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus, it really looks like David vs. Goliath. When these Bendis and Bagley combine their talents, Peter's sheer terror at the truly harrowing predicaments that he finds himself in make it a feat of heroism all by itself that he can even find it within himself to move when faced with these challenges, let alone banter.
Another thing that I love is that this series, like any Spider-Man comic worth the name, never takes itself too seriously, while avoiding camp, except in small, charming doses. I took this comic back up after a short break after unsuccessfully trying to get into
Uncanny X-Force. That is a series which does seem to be rather po-faced, though admittedly I didn't make it much past issue two or three. Aside from the delightful inclusion of one of my new favorite comic characters, Deadpool, this series is all serious, all high comic book epicness, all the time, with a severe art style to match. It kind of makes it hard to really connect with the characters when they're so grim all the time, so what should be gripping drama just feels kind of flat.
Ultimate Spider-Man on the other hand, isn't at all afraid to bathe in quasi-
Gossip Girl drama, but with its focus on strong characters you're too busy falling in love with them to care that you're twenty-eight years old and hoping that Peter and MJ quit being such goobers and tell each other how they feel al-****ing-ready. The result is that despite, or possibly because of, the lighter tone, you end up becoming more emotionally invested in the characters, so that when something happens to them, you really care (To date, I have become misty-eyed twice; one of those times officially has me shipping Peter/Gwen over Peter/MJ.) Michael Bendis clearly has a love for Spider-Man that can only come from a gushing comic book fanboy who doesn't give a **** that his parents spent much of his teens/twenties hoping he'd just grow up and get a real job already.
The only real complaint I have about the series is some of the artwork. While the the facial expressions are certainly engaging, the faces themselves are kind of goofy looking. It doesn't detract too much, but Bagley's facial
structures aren't exactly his strong suit. Also, what the **** are with those squiggly lines on Spider-Man's suit's eyepieces? They kind of look like those triangle eyes in anime, where the character is closing them because they're really happy, and it just looks really weird for no apparent reason. It wouldn't be so bad, but sometimes, in dramatic moments, when he should look shocked or angry or sad, he just looks happy and content.
Right there, in his eyepiece. Seriously, what is that? Why is that there?
Well, other than those
very minor things, this series is one of my favorite finds. If you dig Spider-Man, then you need this comic in your life. Like, yesterday.