Ultimate Reading Project

Alan M. December 13, 2009 at 2:02pm

Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 1: Power And Responsibility

Towards the end of 2000, Marvel undertook the Ultimate line, wherein they would take their familiar characters and reintroduce them in a whole new universe, with none of the pre-existing continuity. I don't know that fans — or possibly even the creators — really knew what to expect from this line, but everyone's first introduction to it was Ultimate Spider-Man. Accurately or otherwise, this is what the first few issues of that title showed us we could expect:

Same ol', same ol': Despite being dressed up in more modern clothes and science, the first few issues of Ultimate Spider-Man were essentially a re-telling of Spider-Man's origins from Amazing Fantasy #15. More teen angst, less radiation, and a larger supporting cast, but basically...the same.
Decompressed storytelling: What took a handful of pages in Amazing Fantasy #15 took five issues in Ultimate Spider-Man.
Connections: From the first issue, Ultimate Spider-Man shows us that the connections that tie this universe are going to be much tighter, and much more present from the beginning, than they were in the original Marvel universe. From Osborn's role in Spider-Man's creation to Otto Octavius working at Osborn Industries, to references to Captain America and mutants, they're setting up early on that this universe knows it's going to be getting bigger.

So what about the actual story? Well, stop me if you've heard this one... High school student Peter Parker is on a school field trip when he gets bit by a spider that's been scientifically altered. The spider's bite gives Peter the proportionate strength, speed, and agility of a spider, as well as a kind of sixth sense that alerts him to oncoming danger. At first seeing these gifts as a chance to profit as a professional wrestler, an act of irresponsibility on his part leads to his beloved uncle to be murdered. Realizing that with his great power must also come great responsibility, Peter decides to use his spider powers to fight crime as the Spider-Man.

In other words...nothing new there. There are things that are new (or at least new-ish), of course: primarily being the earlier appearances of Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn in Peter's life, but these are kind of superficial changes that don't mean much within the progress of the story. More significant, perhaps, is the connection between Peter and Norman Osborn, and the Osborn Industries compound that gave rise to both their super-powered alter-egos. (And speaking of, we could perhaps point to the redesigned Green Goblin — now a physically transformed Norman who can shoot fireballs from his hands — as the first hint of greater-than-cosmetic changes that will be coming down the pipe in later volumes and other series. At this point, though, it mostly is just cosmetic, with the physical transformation taking the place of the mask and costume, and the fireballs taking the place of the pumpkin bombs.)

No, at this point, the main thing that's driving this story to be worth attention is a combination "what will they change" fascination (which can only last so long), and the talent of the creative team on the book. On that front, writer Brian Michael Bendis holds his own, providing well-drawn characterizations and solid storytelling to keep us traveling down this mostly familiar road. Penciller Mark Bagley does some solid work as well, although there are points at which his art seems rushed, resulting in muddled proportions and awkward character designs. He never fails to convey his characters' emotions, though, and his action shots of Spider-Man are always excellent.

Right now, the main appeals of the Ultimate universe appear to be the strong storytelling of Bendis and Bagley; beyond that, it's too much familiar ground to draw anyone who's trod it before. But expect a bit more change to be afoot when we reach our next book in the Ultimate Reading Project...

Ultimate X-Men vol. 1: The Tomorrow People

Jeff of Earth-J December 13, 2009 at 4:43pm

I've got a short box plus of Ultimate titles. I started with Spider-Man, X-Men and Team-Up. Team-Up didn't last all that long IIRC, and I dropped X-Men 20 or so issue in. I stuck with Spider-Man throughout Bagley's run and read ever one of those issues. I had been looking for a good jomping off point, and the end of the Bagley/Bendis collaboration was it. Somewhere along the way I got a really sweet deal on a Barnes & Noble "omnibus" collecting the first 39 issues plus. I haven't read it yet, or any of my Ultimate issue a second time, and although I do plan to do so at some point, not enough time has passed yet. Whereas I'm not Bendis' biggest fan, I do think his USM represents his best work. If I have one thing to say about the early issues it would be, "What took a handful of pages in Amazing Fantasy #15 took five issues in Ultimate Spider-Man," and you've already said that. I look forward to reading future intallments of your "Ultimate Reading Project" and, although I won't be reading along with you, I'll likely comment from time to time.

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) December 14, 2009 at 3:57pm

I think my experience with USM mirrors Jeff's. I do think it one of Bendis' best series, and I left when Bagley did, or maybe a few issues later I don't recall exactly. I thought it was a wonderful retelling of Spidey's origin myself.

Figserello December 17, 2009 at 12:18am

As someone interested in superhero comics from the Big Two, I'm interested in the Ultimate experiment, but I quickly lose interest in any of the series I pick up.

Lee and Ditko's Spider-man did it perfectly first time. Same with Lee and Kirby's Galactus tale. The Avengers #1 is a delight of pelmel 'anything goes' plotting.

Retelling these stories is something of a dead letter to me, and a sign of some deep malaise in the industry.

I guess Millar's approach of way over the top nihilism and cynicism in 'The Ultimates' is one way to get away from that, and I enjoyed the first two series of that at any rate, but when I think about continuing where I left off, the urge isn't really there. (Especially as I know Jeph Loeb is due to come on board after Millar!)

There is a little fascination in wondering 'what will they change?' and 'how will this play in Bush's America, that has the internet now?', but it is hardly the same thrill as seeing a top-class creator pushing the form and content into wholly new directions.

Hmmmm... I didn't mean to sound so down on the Ultimate comics. I actually started this post to say that I'd be interested in reading along. I've just ordered the first 3 Vols of Ultimate Spider-man from the Library, so will have them ... sometime. One of my best buds, who doesn't buy a lot of comics, has been getting this series since the start, so I owe it a look for that reason alone.

I'll read along at least until we meet the Ultimate Lizard. God, I hate the Lizard. He is a lame two-armed villain, if ever there was one. That lab-coat does nothing for him either!

And, since I'm getting from the library too, I'd like a look at your reading order for this line. Ironically, for a whole line that was introduced to simplify the MU for new readers, I have put off reading a lot of these books because I didn't know where a particular book fitted into the overall 'grand narrative'.

I've ordered some of the X-men books too. At least with Millar at the helm, there should be some mad fun.

The Ultimate line must certainly be popular, as only the most popular books tend to be kept by my local library system and they seem to have have all the Ultimate X-men and Spider-man books, for starters.

I do hope we look at what the Ultimate line says about where Marvel is coming from these days (or going to).

Alan M. December 17, 2009 at 9:18am

Glad to have you along, Figs!

It's interesting what you say about retelling the stories being a dead letter, because I think a lot of older fans have that same sentiment — and, as I pointed out, the first Ultimate Spider-Man storyline doesn't really do anything to disavow people of that perception. But once you hit Ultimate X-Men, I think Millar does a better job of saying "This is what reimagining the concept can look like." If there's any similarity between the earliest X-Men stories (either original or "All New, All Different"), it's pretty slim; even the characterizations are radical departures.

I have my reading list in a document at home, so I'll post that tonight, but in rough outline, it's staggering Spider-Man / X-Men for the first couple of volumes, with Ultimate Marvel Team-Up worked in there around-about volume 3 or 4 of the respective books. (I have at home right now the first four volumes of both series, and am still waiting on Team-Up, so that may affect reading order slightly.)

The placement of Team-Up was actually a little tricky; there were three smaller volume collections of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, the first collecting #1-6, the second collecting #10-14, and the third collecting #15-16 and the special (IIRC), but rather than work with those individually, I'm just working with the single-volume Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Ultimate Collection, because the multi-volume editions don't include issues 7-9 for some reason.

(Oh, and I'm not bothering with Ultimate Adventure, Joe Quesada's Batman pastiche contribution to the U-Decide debacle of the early '00s. Because really, it's not terribly relevant, is it? Unless someone wants to convince me otherwise...)

Jeff of Earth-J December 17, 2009 at 4:38pm

Did he ever even finish it?

I'm starting to warm up to this project. I also bought a few early issues of UFF.

Off-Topic: I have all of my DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks saved as a timeline (by publication date of the original issues) in two respective ExCel documents. It's interesting to see (especially in DC's case) how the Golden Age melds into the Silver.

Alan M. December 17, 2009 at 6:07pm

Okay, this is the reading order I came up with, based pretty much on when the last issue of each collection was published:

Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 1
Ultimate X-Men vol. 1
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 2
Ultimate X-Men vol. 2
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 3
Ultimate X-Men vol. 3
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 4
Ultimates vol. 1
Ultimate X-Men vol. 4
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 5
Ultimate Daredevil & Electra
Ultimate X-Men vol. 5
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 6
Ultimate X-Men vol. 6
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 7
Ultimate X-Men vol. 7
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 8
Ultimate X-Men vol. 8
Ultimates vol. 2
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 9
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 1
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 10
Ultimate X-Men vol. 9
Ultimate X-Men vol. 10
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 11
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 2
Ultimate X-Men vol. 11
Ultimate Electra
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 12
Ultimate X-Men vol. 12
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 13
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 3
Ultimate X-Men vol. 13
Ultimate Ultimates II vol. 1
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 4
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 14
Ultimate X-Men vol. 14
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 5
Ultimate Iron Man
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 15
Ultimate Galactus trilogy
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 16
Ultimate X-Men vol. 15
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 6
Ultimate X-Men vol. 16
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 17
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 7
Ultimates II vol. 2
Ultimate X-Men vol. 17
Ultimate Vision
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 8
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 18
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 9
Ultimate X-Men vol. 18
Ultimate Power
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 19
Ultimates III
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 20
Ultimate X-Men vol. 19
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 10
Ultimate Human
Ultimate Iron Man II
Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 21
Ultimate X-Men vol. 20
Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 11
Ultimate Origins
Ultimate X-Men vs. Fantastic Four
March on Ultimatum
Ultimatum: Spider-Man
Ultimatum: X-Men/Fantastic Four
Ultimatum
Ultimatum: Requiem

The only thing that's not represented in here from the Ultimate universe (besides Ultimate Adventure) are the Ultimates annuals, because those were only reprinted in the Ultimate Annuals trade, and I really wasn't sure where to file that in, given that the first annual is from Ultimates, and the second is from Ultimates II. My plan was pretty much to get that book and read the relevant annuals when I finished the trades of their requisite series. Oh, also, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spider-Man both had 1/2 issues which aren't reprinted in the regular trades (but are reprinted in some of the "Ultimate Collection"s that are two trades' worth of comics), so those will be shuffled in if/when I get access to them.

Figserello December 17, 2009 at 6:33pm

Cool. I've already ordered the early Spider-man and X-men volumes.

I have a hunch that while the original creators are on board the first half of that list may be quite good, but when the properties start getting passed around...

We'll see.

Alan M. December 17, 2009 at 6:43pm

Figserello said:

I'll read along at least until we meet the Ultimate Lizard. God, I hate the Lizard. He is a lame two-armed villain, if ever there was one. That lab-coat does nothing for him either!

I had to check on this a little, because I've read the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man and I don't remember him actually turning up at all as a villain (although he'd been referenced in an off-hand, urban legend kind of way as early as issue 8 or so). According to Wikipedia, he only turns up once, in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #10, and then "only in flashbacks and dream sequences" in subsequent USM issues.

So you might be more or less safe. :)

Figserello December 17, 2009 at 7:11pm

That's something at least.

It's not so much that he's lame, but that I keep running into his stupid one-note story.

I'd buy a reprint of the Ditko years - its the Lizard! I sit down to watch the old 60's cartoon, its a Lizard episode! My then girlfriend gets me a view-finder and some superhero reels, and she's included a Lizard episode of the 90's cartoon! Even the reels of Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin she got me were more welcome! (TBH, they were better than the movie)

Did I mention I hate the Lizard?

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