The Origins of the Spider-Man Hero:

Back in 2000, Marvel created an Ultimate Universe to provide readers with an all-new 21st century version of the classic Marvel characters. Ultimate Spider-Man first saw print in 2000 under veteran Spider-Man artist, Mark Bagley and writer, Brian Michael Bendis, who expanded the 11-page original story into 180-pages. This duo continued to collaborate until issue #111, when Mark Bagley left the book and was replaced by Stuart Immonen. Bendis and Bagley with Ultimate Spider-Man set the record for longest continual run on a Marvel Comics series by two people, blowing away Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who had previously held the honor for Fantastic Four.

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I am a big Franco Belgium and Anglo American comic book series fan and of Superheroes. Spider-Man is one of my favourites. I guess you can even call me an old-school fan, as I’ve really enjoyed much of what Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did with the Spiderman character back in the 60’s. It was a treat to see the original 1960’s story characters re-imagined in Ultimate Spider-Man with a more modern feel. Ultimate Spider-Man #1 is well written by Bendis accompanied by superb, vibrant artwork from Bagley.

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Spider-Man is the typical Marvel character – superhero trying to lead a ‘normal’ human life. As Spider-Man makes the transition from boy to man he has to deal with his own personal tragedy. He experiences difficulties with friends, family, sweethearts and employers. His powers enable him to do good, but not to improve his own lot in life. He is one superhero who has not lost the common touch, and in fact he is frequently described as “your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

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The Story:

The story is about Peter Parker who is a nerdy high-school student. Orphaned as a child, bullied by jocks, and shy, one day all that is about to change. While on a school excursion to a laboratory a runaway radioactive spider bites him… and his life changes in a way no one could have imagined. Peter acquires a muscle-bound physique, clear vision, ability to cling to surfaces and crawl over walls …  I won’t spoil the story so you can discover this wonderful series. Just let me say he will encounter a number of villains including Green Goblin and Kingpin.

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All in all, the Ultimate Spider-Man series is an incredible package of well-written characters, with lots of action that brings Spider-man back to his high school years. This book above all brings the character back to the audience it was intended for: the youth. Bendis and Bagelymanage to capture the most essential aspects of the characters; their age, passion, struggles to enter manhood and innocence or lack thereof. These stories are a refreshing change to the Spider-Man of the original Marvel Universe who became a grown up, married with kids and deals with major melodramas (because the series ran for such a long time).

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The revised Spider-Man series focuses on Spider-Man as a youth. Ultimate Spider-Man is a story about a boy becoming a man, learning to grow up with superpowers and to accept that “with great power comes great responsibility”. Ultimate Spider-Man is an absolute must-read. As a nice little bonus, the cover art is included as well as character concept art in each album. Ultimate Spider-Man is the ultimate Marvel book.

Christophe Chanel / Max Romano