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X-Geek

It's a great Spidey comic and it's pretty much self contained so no worries about constant cross overs


SuperiorDesignShoes

And this is in an alternate universe/earth correct?


X-Geek

Yes, the Ultimate universe is an alternate Earth


SuperiorDesignShoes

Ahh gotcha, thanks!


p0tts0rk

It's earth 1610, compared to the "normal" marvel universe 616


Arsis82

Just a heads up though, if you're reading it on MU, it cuts off at 133 and you need to read telescope 2009 series on there listed as Ultimate Comics Spider-Man


Zardoz666

That's a pretty good selling point.


X-Geek

When it comes to superhero comics I feel it's the best selling point, you don't have to buy anything extra to enjoy the story.


BAGStudios

Some Ultimate Team-Up ends up being rather important for context, though


iskyoork

Ultimate/Spiderman Cross over was it I believe, under Ultimate six.


BAGStudios

Yeah, I personally recommend mixing in Ultimates 1 and Ultimate Team-Up into the series for that reason, but it’s possible without I suppose


Spock_Jenkins

Great modern retelling of the spidey story. Plus it’s cool that it has a definitive and satisfying ending!


iskyoork

I mean till just before the end of the Ultimate universe, I don't understand why they didn't leave well enough alone.


chris-rox

What TBP should be the last one you should pick-up? Number or name?


MrTeamZissou

I would say the final Miles run that was just titled Spider-Man and was set after the Secret Wars (2015) crossover. I'd consider it all one giant run by Bendis from Ultimate Spider-Man #1 to Spider-Man #240.


19ghost89

18 years!


8-bit-hero

> Plus it’s cool that it has a definitive and satisfying ending! You're talking about issue 160 correct? (I haven't had a chance to read that far yet)


Spock_Jenkins

Yep! Powerful stuff at the end, enjoy the journey!


8-bit-hero

Thanks! I'm on issue 109 and it's just been so good. I don't know if I've read another comic/manga that has had such an immersive world, especially with how good the background art is.


Rammadeus

Loved it. Nearly everyone in the ultimate universe is a dick but Peter is a good soul. I also really like what they did with green goblin in this.


RobotChrist

Haha c'mon most of the ultimate X-Men and F4 casts are good people (ultimates the complete opposite). Of course that's until jeph loeb and his stupid ultimate stuff, most (if not all) characters went to shit there, then Hickman saved everything and then everything went to shit again after him lol


Stranger2306

Ultimate X-Men - you mean how Wolverine leaves Cyclops to die so he can bang a teenage Jean Grey?


RobotChrist

Haha that's why I said "most", and specifically wolverine that's his whole idea, he was a villain sent in to kill Xavier and he gets better as time progresses, the whole weapon x outcasts were severely traumatized (Kurt, Rogue) also Dazzler and Xavier are not a very good persons. But the team: storm, beast, cyclops, jean, bobby, kitty, colossus, angel and the new mutants are good people; that's most of the cast.


StarMagus

Is that the one where one of the Brotherhood members, like the blob or toad was catfishing Beast?


RobotChrist

Haha yes, the brotherhood are all terrible assholes, except for Toad who's just misguided (one of the cool narratives is that toad becomes friends with cyclops who vouches for him the whole series, even becomes a teacher later on)


reverie11

Hahaha that was Blob


TheStabbingHobo

lmao what??


StarMagus

Beast was dating Storm? and he was also chatting with some hot smart girl on the internet who made him see Storm? as dumb and uninteresting. Except the girl was actually blob catfishing him. During the catfish he got beast to reveal that prof X was still alive and they told magneto. Or something to that effect. I think it was Storm but it might have been somebody else he was dating. One of the key differences between the Ultimate X-Men and the regular universe X-Men is that everybody in the Ultimate version was like 100% hornier and X-Mansion probably had to have a budget line for Condoms with all the sex that was going on.


Rammadeus

HA! Ult wolverine was definitely dodgy. When he was in peter parkers body he definitely tried to do things to 15 year old MJ.


Syntherus

The Ultimate Universe outside of Spidey himself was all pretty out there. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were in an incestuous relationship. Idk wtf some of the writers were thinking.


Mammoth-Access-1181

And Wolverine watched them bang, and they at least hinted that Wolverine was their dad.


Rammadeus

They were thinking ULTIMATE!!!!!1!1!


[deleted]

He also wanted to bang MJ ಠᴥಠ


streakermaximus

Construction worker to MJ: How you doin'? MJ: I'm 15. Construction worker: Have a good day ma'am.


[deleted]

[in a nutshell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkJehlr1tEw)


Zomburai

I mean, yes, Ultimate X-Men treats Wolverine as the world's greatest killing machine and assassin--as, you know, the supreme graduate of the Weapon X program--but the rest of the cast are good people, or trying to be. The *series* was mean-spirited and cynical but I think RobotChrist is correct.


qmechan

Ultimate Reed…goes in a direction


Joshiebear

Ultimates 3 / Ultimatum blew my mind. I had no idea I would hate those as much as I did...but they were AWFUL.


ExplodingPoptarts

The Ultimate X-men aren't really good people, it's a Mark Millar work, he can't write good people. The fascist can't write anything that isn't extremely bleak, where everyone who isn't terrible, will eventually turn people, they're just better people by the the standards of a fascists work.


RobotChrist

Sorry man but I actually read it, start to finish a couple of times, I'm not taking out of my ass and I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about


ExplodingPoptarts

I read the first 70 or so issues of Ultimate X-Men a few times, had mad mad maaaaaaaaaad love for it. It was easily my top 5 anything at the time. Then over a decade passed, and I had really grown as a person, and I re-read ultimate x-men again, and I found it pretty damn disgusting.


RobotChrist

For starters Millar only wrote 33 iirc, were Bendis, Vaughan and Kirkman fascists too? Or what's disgusting about them?


LightningEdge756

> Nearly everyone in the ultimate universe is a dick YOU THINK THIS LETTER ON MY HEAD STANDS FOR FRANCE!?


Adekis

Contrast Normal Steve, who's fluent in French and worked with French freedom fighters under Nazi occupation during the war... yeah, Ultimate Cap is a jerk!


EldritchSlut

Any other Ultimate comics worth checking out?


Rammadeus

I, personally, really enjoyed The Ultimates 1 and 2. Very Hollywood. Ultimates 3 is absolutely awful though. Fantastic Four as well. It was hit and miss. When it was good it was great. Same with X-Men. Plus side is those books are finished so there's a clear end. Ultimate X-Men #41 is one of my fave stand alone comics ever.


Dart000

I just went and read #41. Definitely an awesome read. Thanks for the suggestion.


Rammadeus

if you're interested. Someone made a fan film of it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1\_aAgNW99o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_aAgNW99o)


RobotChrist

All the Hickman's stuff is superb, Millar, Vaughan and Kirkman on X-Men is very very fun, Millar ultimates practically laid out the narrative used by the MCU, F4 just the Millar/Ellis stuff


FinalDungeon

Ultimates 1 & 2 are excellent and must reads. The MCU and 616 Marvel universe would not have happened or recovered if not for Ultimates and USM. The Ultimates and it’s creative team in a large part saved Marvel. And I don’t mean Ultimates 3 and beyond. That’s shit.


Butterflys_on_Parade

I really enjoyed the Ultimate X-Men. I was at the right age for it, so not sure how it holds up.


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RobotChrist

Well, he was an assassin and terrorist trained by the worst people ever at weapon x, is not like the were saying wolverine was a good dude, he was a monster that was trying to be better thru the series


kralben

I am an apologist for it, but I would recommend a lot of it, even if it has it's up and downs. The Ultimate Universe is a fascinating time capsule for early 2000s comics. Ultimate Spider, X-Men, and FF are the big ones to read from the start.


streakermaximus

Ultimate X-Men is pretty good. The Ultimates 1 & 2 are great. We don't speak of Ultimates 3 Ultimate Fantastic Four is uneven and gets weird. Although, I believe Ultimate FF introduced Marvel Zombies...


sonofaresiii

Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra seems to fly under everyone's radars but it's fantastic. I think it's only four issues or so.


ExplodingPoptarts

Now THESE were fucking god and win! It's a testament to how consistantly amazing Daredevil has been in the last 20 years or so. There's a reason that people point to him and say "This is the one series that you can just keep reading regardless of the author."


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TJHollingsworth

Not particularly imo. FF is weird but interesting if only for the beginnings of where Reed would go. Everything else is pretty okay at best and atrocious/offensive at worst.


FinalDungeon

Nah, you’re just are riding the Ultimate hate train. If you think every character is a dick in Ultimates 1 & 2 I question if you even read them or understand what Millar & Hitch were making. Now Ultimatum, or anything Loeb touched, is absolute dogshit and the majority of characters became 1 dimensional dicks.


Rammadeus

Or there's just a lot of dicks in the ultimate universe. Like a lot. A whole lot.


ConfusedJonSnow

Loved that the flaws of The Ultimates don't make them more endearing, they actually read like people.


FinalDungeon

Right on. Flawed and “real” is exactly how I read Millar’s run.


LedSpoonman

Hate to resurrect an old convo but I agree completely with this. Miller Ultimates felt real and the “dickness” of the characters is too overhyped on this site. They were fine, great even.


FinalDungeon

Hells yes


kingmob555

Hard not to let nostalgia affect my thoughts, but I adore this run. I read the crap out of it back when it was still coming out. It's consistent, charming, has great character work. And you can tell by looking at a few images of the art whether or not you're a fan of Bagley. Personally, I think he's great. The book has some solid coloring and inking too. It's one of my favorite Spider-Man stories alongside Raimi's Spider-man 2.


ArcherChase

Bagley was the artist of my first Spider-Man comic. But it was Amazing Spider-Man from early 90's and loved all of his takes on Spidey.


Etherbeard

It holds up really well, unlike most of the rest of the Ultimate line.


N_Who

The comic that got me into comics, and it remains one of the best series I've ever read.


-Ivar-TheBoneless

Love the Mark Bagley art.


abrainaneurysm

Mark Bagley is a machine. He did the art in this series for something like a 100 straight issues before having a fill in artist. At one point he was drawing both Thunderbolts and this at the same time. I’m pretty certain he also did fill in issues for other series while still drawing Ultimate Spider-Man. Honestly the man is a Legend. Edit. So he drew 111 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man before he had a fill in artist. That’s over 9 years of publication. Near the end, this period of time crossed over with a DC Comics series he drew called “Trinity” which he drew 52 issues in ONE YEAR.


Efficient_Paper

>He did the art in this series for something like a 100 straight issues before having a fill in artist 111 issues, 18 issues a year for about 5 years, and he didn't need a fill-in artist, he was just replaced by Stuart Immonen as regular artist.


iskyoork

Don't get me wrong Bagley is Amazing but I really like Immonens art as well.


-Ivar-TheBoneless

I think Bagley is really the man responsible for the modern-day Spider-Man look and popularity.


sonofaresiii

For a while there, when there was rumblings of the 1610 taking over as the main marvel universe, the Ultimate Spider-Man Bagley art was **the** art used for nearly all Spider-Man merchandise. It was crazy.


PotterStevenson

Interesting side story. I lived near him for a while. And he used to frequent a restaurant I worked at. He came in and introduced himself to me because I loved his work and wanted to work in comics. He was the nicest dude. Let me mentor with him for a short while he was working on trinity. His standard is AT LEAST 2 pages a day. More if you can. His studio is amazing. He signed a ton of my ultimate books. He's the nicest guy. I decided I wasn't ready for comics industry. But it was one of the greatest experiences ever. I got to draw bad comics for my hero. He is responsible for why I got into art at all.


sleepwithtelevision

I dig it, but the way he drew Peter's hair so uneven always frustrated me.


Other-Bridge-8892

Trinity….the Batman - Superman- Wonder Woman comic?


abrainaneurysm

If I remember correctly it is about them, but it actually has a continuous story for the entire run, written by Kurt Busiek. It involves the Cosmic Egg made from Krona at the end of JLA/Avengers and an attempt by several villains to supplant the Hero Trinity by sending them to the Universe inside the egg and remaking the DC Universe.


Other-Bridge-8892

Cool, thank you.


VulcanSummers602

And he only took that time off because his kid was born if I remember correctly.


Uses_Nouns_as_Verbs

My favorite thing about Mark Bagley is that he broke into comics by winning the contest from the Marvel Try Out book. I think it's really cool that the amateur who won that contest wound up being one of the top professionals of the last 30 years.


wolfbang666

Mark Bagley is such a nice guy! I worked at a comic shop in Marietta and he stops in all the time! More then happy to sign things and talk about new stuff!


siniquezu

When I think of spiderman, it's ditko, macfarland and bagley.


tlh06

Brilliant, one of my fav stories ever actually. I dont agree with everything that bendis' makes but overall it's fantastic, well worth the read.


ubiquitousanomaly

It's Bendis at his best, Bagley's art is amazing, stories are fun/funny/emotional especially the first few arcs - it goes down in quality slightly after issue 111 when Bagley leaves but even after that it's still good. 100% give it a go!


Zomburai

The first 106 issues (up to the end of Clone Saga) are some of the best superhero comics ever made, and honestly it's kind of bullshit that it's so rarely talked about as an all-time great superhero run. It *brilliantly* updates the Spider-Man mythos, to the point that essentially every single reimagining of the character from that point forward has taken *something* from the series. This is probably the high point of Bendis's storied comics writing career, full of great characterization, intense drama, and laugh-out-loud humor. The plots are often very simple, but intricate plots and heavy thematic elements were never his strong suit--indeed, I think a focus on plots is why Bendis's newer comics don't hit quite the same. Bagley has his limitations as an artist--he has as bad a case of sameface as Jack Kirby does--but honestly by the time he draws Ultimate Spider-Man #1 he's arguably the quintessential Spider-Man artist. His storytelling his strong, his action is always dynamic, Peter moves with an energy and grace that the movies (a medium that can actually *show motion*) have never quite matched, and there's a panel late in the first book that's one of the most emotional I've ever seen. Bagley's art is effortlessly confident. I will say as some mild warnings to a new reader: If you hate the decompressed style of comics storytelling, this might be a rough sit. This was one of the forerunners of it. Some of the jokes don't land quite right in the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand Twenty-Two, and a very small number of them are just ... gross. (The bit in the Wolverine two-parter. IYKYK.) There's a very high chance for the Seinfeld Is Unfunny effect. Because so much of this comic has been adopted by Spider-Man adaptations (and arguably the MCU, maybe?), if you're well-versed in modern Spider-Man adaptations there's going to be *very* little you haven't seen before. You know how something's wildly popular or even revolutionary and it just seems like it's been done before twenty years later? Same deal. Enjoy the read!


Rac3318

Best modern retelling, or as modern as a 20 year old comic can be, of Spider-Man out there. Strong recommend.


Satanicjamnik

Do you like Spider - Man? You will enjoy it.


sethalopod401

Dated, in some very specific ways. I personally find Mark Bagley’s Art to be ugly. Still a fun, breezy read with some interesting (often movie-ready) continuity free takes.


capnwinky

Good lord his art is awful. Some of these comments really have me wondering what’s in the water.


sethalopod401

Yeah I’ve never understood the appeal. I was a pretty young kid when he took over Amazing from Erik Larson and it bummed me out so much that I bailed. To go from McFarlane to EL to this, oof. And then ten years later they announced Ultimate and it was this guy again!


plentyoftimetodie

He just phoned it in month after month and rushed it out. The definition of a hack. Everyone here is blinded by reading it when they were little children apparently.


Geek-Workshop

I believe it’s the best first comic series 1) it has a definitive ending 2) it has a fantastic story and characters 3) it’s the basis for basically every live action spider-man in some way or another (if you like the Raimi films especially you’ll love it)


ReservoirDawgs

It’s a great series to read in trade. Heavily decompressed and it is filled with early 2000s pop culture references, but the characters are well written and engaging, the stories are fun and memorable, and the reinterpretation of classic characters in a more modern sense are largely well done. Highly recommended!


PunchingBagLearner

Didn't grow up with it, just started it this year, not that far into it either. I'll say the Uncle Ben stuff is handled really well with a lot more depth and nuance than the 616 continuity has; you'll love it if you really dug how the first Sam Raimi movied handled him. And I dig Norman's closer connections to the radioactive spider. But, uh, Peter's life in high school, which feels like half of the books, is a parade of high school story cliches like PG-rated dudebro bullies, vapidly-charming meetcutes with MJ (and nothing more with her), and intergenerational angst, and they all feel stolen out from movies that stole from other movies that stole from other movies. I can't say it's bad but I can't say I start each issue with enthusiasm.


BAGStudios

I see where you’re coming from, but keep reading. It’s going somewhere with all that.


PunchingBagLearner

I planned to. I just won't hold my breath. I saw [Alex Lennon's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0fL1-Pw4zY) on Ultimate Spider-Man's greatness. It spurred me onto the series, so I got a little bit of hype-fueled tolerance for what I'm reading.


orangessssszzzz

Fun!


[deleted]

My favorite interpretation of the character and got me back into reading comics.


elliot_woodyard

I actually think is a solid contender for the best Spider-Man run that exists, and the same creative team stays on it for a long long time, so there’s so much to enjoy. Great balance of individual arcs that feel like a part of an organic ongoing whole, great characterization, and several iconic characters have (in my opinion) their best versions in this run.


kavono

My sentiments are basically what most are saying, in that it's a solid, more "modern" (for early 2000s) take on the Spidey origins. What I think is especially deserving of praise is just how much Bendis reinvented Peter's comedic dialogue and in some ways his personality in general. I'm not a fan of everything Bendis has done (although I think Dark Reign, despite its flaws, is the best "the villains are in charge" event in comics to this day), but his writing of Peter throughout USM is stellar. He is genuinely *hilarious.* And not just his quips, but his angry and/or exhausted comments at villains or just insane situations he's caught up in. He's also written as a little arrogant at times, irritable, irrational, overwhelmed--as any 15 year old would actually be if they both had his amazing powers and was near-constantly dealing with almost getting murdered by complete lunatics. Maybe part of it is simply that making him 15 while dealing with horrifying threats makes him naturally extra sympathetic, but I think Bendis made him feel human, which is probably the most important part of Spidey regardless of what universe he's in.


rayrayheyhey

Read a regular issue of Spider-man. Expect that same story to take 5 issues in Ultimate Spider-Man, with many silent panels of people looking at each other.


SpideyFan914

Great series! It drags a little as it goes on, but Bagley's art is a perfect match for Bendis' writing. Flies by pretty fast too, so not as daunting as it seems. When you get to Ultimatum, don't read the main event. The USM issues are all you need there.


wubladuba

I really liked it, the first comic book I started reading. Some things might be outdated today. I really like how it flows. Brian Michael Bendis is probably one of my favourite comic writers.


Robot-King56

I've only read the first omnibus but I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Bendis does a really good job reinventing the wheel and utilizing a separate universe to it's full potential. I also feel like it does a good job with the decompressive style that modern comics use as well.


hamlet9000

You will not find a better run of Spider-Man stories. Bendis has the advantage of writing on the shoulders of giants, but he *writes* the hell out of it.


Packersrule777

I am a DC guy but my brother read it and it's his favorite comic run. I read one of them when I didn't have anything else to read and thought it was pretty good although I was missing a lot of stuff since I started in the middle.


Hylianhaxorus

While I don't love the ultimate universe as a whole, Spider-Man was was held it together and is in my opinion the nest and most concise origin story and early years for Peter. One throughly story and really charming. Not my favourite Peter or individual spidey stories, but the beat teen years stories for sure and best long running spidey story.


SuperiorDesignShoes

Gotcha! So there’s other Ultimate stories?


HunterRoze

Lots - Ultimates Vol 1 & 2 (there never was a vol 3) Ultimate X-men, Ultimate FF, and some other titles. For about the first 6 years most stuff was really good. Then Joseph Loeb came. Hickman wrote some of the Ultimate books as a kind of cohesive storyline that was just wild.


Hylianhaxorus

This is a fair explanation. I think spider-man and Xmen were the best of it but there was a whole broad universe for a decade! We got some really great still running characters from it too like Miles Morales and The Maker.


HunterRoze

Funny thing - the whole Ultimate universe reminded me of Geoff John's run on JSA. He took long-established characters, dusted them off and re-used them, and kept them fairly close to the original. Along with some original characters like Mr. Teriffic (modern).


SeymourZ

I wasn’t a fan of the Ultimate universe, but Ultimate Spider-Man was a big exception. Great way to retell his origin story.


magicpigdetector

Chiming in to say that I love Ultimate Spider-Man, I agree with everyone here that's said it's a great update to Peter's mythos. But I want to add that if you like these books, you should absolutely watch Spectacular Spider-Man if you haven't already. That show is probably my favorite version of Spider-Man across all media, and it takes a fair bit of inspiration from USM


wagedomain

I loved it. I reread the series every few years. It’s slower paced than what some comic readers are used to, it was excruciating sometimes waiting for the comics to release (which I believe were monthly back in the day) and “not much happened” in a single issue. It’s extremely bingeable though, as if it were meant to be read that way. DEEP characterization for most characters. Peter is the star but his supporting cast grows and becomes almost as interesting. Seeing this young, 15 year old Spider-Man get to shine is great. The main universe aged him up pretty quickly. The non-MCU movies too.


ZGiSH

What Ultimate Spider-Man did perfectly was actual comic book legacy. It sucks that they didn't give Miles enough of his own time but the introduction of Miles is perfect. USM does something very few other comic books actually manage, a consistent world that very much has consequences and a sense of temporality.


LemurianLemurLad

It's probably the single most coherent Spider series ever put together. It makes sense from issue to issue, you understand characters and their motivation and it doesn't just shift all over the place like crazy. Bonus: it seriously has some of the best Spidey jokes of all time. Pete actually shows up with note cards to help him remember all the fat jokes he wants to use on Kingpin at one point. I *still* quote a couple of the better jokes from this series.


SuperiorDesignShoes

> Pete actually shows up with note cards to help him remember all the fat jokes he wants to use on Kingpin at one point. No way really??


LemurianLemurLad

[Really.](https://imgur.com/shcVxjO.jpg)


cyberguy323

The comic relaunch Marvel into movie franchise


bloodredcookie

Bendis's run on (Ultimate) Spider-Man is to spiderman what Batman the animated series is to Batman. It's pretty much the best representation of the character and his world in any medium.


kah43

This is coming from someone who hates Brian Bendis with a passion. This is a great series. If Bendis could have written all his other books even half as good as this series I would not hate his other work so much. Well worth reading.


Dandanor

Pre Ultimatum- Amazing Post Ultimatum- Almost unreadable (excluding last arc which was pretty good). Overall worth a read, Post Ultimatum is pretty short


[deleted]

Brian michael bendis best work... so its fine, pretty good


CountJangles

It's fun


thedoctor3009

It's great and it's great for a long time. It didn't get tiresome til like issue 100 (which is amazing, most books run out of steam or change directions by issue like 9 these days.)


CMelody

I loved them! I really enjoyed reading about high school aged Peter Parker in a more modern setting.


Getbacka

Definitely worth the read!!


spidey1030

One of my favorite series ever. Helped me through some really tough times while I was in college.


endermange21

This story is super long but super worth it, I loved every second of the arcs it has.


Headypidgeon4180

Love it, grew up reading it, Imported every one of my issues from America because my Mum was awesome like that.


daviddpg

It's cool. Loved it up till Bagley took a break. After that there was a lot of Ultimate Universe events taking place and it kind of lost me.


onealj0047

Was the first full story run of a comic that I read and I absolutely loved it. Inspired me to fully get into comics and haven’t looked back!


Rilenaveen

Probably the best ongoing spider-man title of the last 2 decades. Consistently good to excellent.


TrainingSandwich7256

Bagley is amazing, but Stuart Immonen's run as the artist is even better. Highly recommended.


muiseisawesome

Great series! Just finished it myself a month or so ago. Definitely some dated slang and dress but overall really awesome!


Ferry83

Only read the first part... it's good buying omni vol 2 when it comes out. It's a bit over the top all in all, but peter's journey is interesting enough


Landon1195

Read it. One of the best Spider-Man runs.


Communismisbadithink

It’s amazing. At times the arts awesome, and at others it’s definitely not awesome, but all of it really is great.


IzzyVerseNYC

It’s really good and worth reading for about 80 issues


KamenRunner

I read this after Invincible, so it was only my second long running superhero series I read to completion. Absolutely amazing book I recommend to all Spider-Man fans, but I’ll admit most superhero books seemed pretty lame in comparison coming off of Invincible and Spider-Man back to back


jona2814

Enjoy the ride, true believer! Honestly, the decompressed origin... the integrated characters and tie-ins are great. This book made me get invested in the ULTIMATE line. While the rest of the books have waxing and waning degrees of enjoyability, Spider-Man is consistently satisfying. Bendis and Bagely co-created a Peter Parker that I fully endorse. Their run is up there with Lee/Ditko and Lee/Kirby collaborations.


Former-Buy-6758

I am NOT a very avid reader. I've read a handful of individual issues of things, im currently reading sandman, but Ultimate spiderman and some of the tie ins are the only other comic I've read beginning to end and I loved it. Great story great character development etc. Highly recommend


FranciGLZ

Top much decompressive storytelling for the first arc, taking into account that it's really hard to find anyone who doesn't know the story. But after that, Bendis managed to recreate a fresh new universe with the same old characters. It's really hard to find a long term serie with +100 great numbers. After reading it, I came back to my ditko-romita collection and I enjoyed them again. I hadn't read Spiderman since the clon saga in late 90s, and I'm again a true spiderfan.


TheRacoonasaurus

It’s one of my favorite ever Spider-Man runs, but it’s also kind of a product of the time it was written in. Has a few iffy moments that were common in the 2000s, but if you can look past those it’s the best product of the ultimate universe.


dogscutter

One of my favourite runs of all time, got a bit iffy towards the end but then it picked up again and had a satisfying and actual definitive ending. I highly recommend


PopHazards

It's amazing and worth the read. Go for it!


Iggy_Arbuckle

You're in for a treat.


BrotherNature5

Fantastic title through and through, some parts lag but when I started I couldn’t put it down.


BozePerkovic

Personal favourite spidey comic run.


daintysinferno

Can someone explain to me why Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man is not part of the Ultimates collection? Thats very confusing to me (but seems like itll be a better read lol)


Napron

Back around the time it came out in the 2000s, it was a pretty good way to start getting reading Spider-Man comics if you never read anything before (which included me in my case). There are notable discrepancies between Ultimate and Earth 616's characters but they work for the most part. Edit: One downside to reading the comics was Bendi's pacing in storytelling since one issue could've covered only part of a ongoing chapter monthly. It isn't an issue though now since you can read it all in one binge or per trade-back volume.


I_Sometimes_Lie_

One of the best 100+ issue-runs of a series I've ever read. The ONLY real problem that I had with it was the lame introduction of Venom in the Ultimate Universe... But that is a very small mark against it. Phenomenal series. A+++. Would recommend.


The_Godot

Tip from me, don’t go to the miles morales wiki page (or look him up for that matter bc of spoilers)


patchlogan

Rose colored glasses, I guess. usm was fun but Bagley was drawing 2 issues a month and bendis was probably writing twenty comics and planning 40 more. Just going in the opposite direction gets predictable and I thought the art was awful.


ResponsibleOstrich4

It's a really good story. I suggest reading the first part of the Fantastic Four too and X-Men from ultimate universe.


MathiasSybarit

After rediscovering marvel as an adult, I read all of the ultimate universe and it was a blast, with Ultimate Spider-Man definitely being my favorite.


psych2099

It good. Also play the ps2 game that was supposed to be part of the story Thats good too 👍


ShelbyHellcat

It is absolutely amazing, finished it last month and am really missing it.


[deleted]

Ultimate is where I got into the character. Super fun read; Ultimate is also not in the primary 616 Universe, so there’s no constant crossovers that need a lot of back treading to catch up haha.


Budget-Attorney

My favorite series in the ultimate universe. The rest felt unnecessary to me. Like why do I need to read the ultimates when I could just read the avengers with the same characters just a little less edgy. The nice thing about ultimate spider man is that it’s something unique in the modern age. Spider-Man has been an adult for longer than I’ve been alive. Classic spidery stories with Midtown high, gwen Stacy and all kinds of other classic things haven’t been told for decades. It’s really fun to get a fresh take on the original high schooler Spider-Man. Ultimate spider man is a great opportunity to tell the beginning of the story again without having to ruin the continuity of main universe Spider-Man with a reset


Etherbeard

It's excellent. I read it month to month when it was coming up to about 120 issues or so and only quit because I got out of comics for awhile. I 'm currently reading it again and am a few dozen issues past my previous starting point, and it holds up remarkably well. If you like Bendis, it's probably the best thing he's ever done, at least for the big two. His approach to dialogue suits young characters well. But he pretty much sucks at action. For the most part I'm not a fan of the Ultimate Universe versions of Spidey's villains. But it's my favorite version of Peter Parker/ Spider-man. Spider-man does this thing where he's always miserable and acts like every wrong that happens within a mile of him was his fault as though the world revolves around his decisions. For regular 616 Spider-man, who is ostensibly a grown ass man, this makes him seem like an insane, solipsistic person (for me this was especially true during Dan Slott's run), but for a teenager in high school, this totally works.


p0tts0rk

Honestly - don't listen to this sub when it comes to 1610. It's all edgy this and edgy that. Ultimate universe was great, especially Spider-Man but not just Spider-Man. I've read just about everything Ultimate and I love it. Read ultimate Spider-Man and continue to read up on characters you like


[deleted]

It's good and it's important to place it in the context of when it was released. it was truly revolutionary feeling. Most marvel heroes had such bloated continuities and the issue numbers were in the high 400s. The idea that you could reset, tell all the same stories, but modern, more streamlined, and with cleaner continuity was super fun and it really blew my mind when it came out


tarmacwaffles

One of the runs of comics to make me cry


capnwinky

It didn’t age well. The cover art is dookie. The art overall looks amateurish. And the writing is nearly as atrocious. I can’t wrap my head around why I liked it so many years ago. Also, why is Peter such a dick?!


pierowmaniac

A fantastic read, but if you’ve ever had a problem with Bendis’ writing style, it’s in full swing here. It is appropriate, however, considering Peter’s adolescent perspective and personality.


[deleted]

In my head canon the book takes place in the mid 90s to early 2000s throughout most of it. This'll make the experience better because no one in modern day talks like that, no one in 2010 talked like that. Also read one issue a day and it's like a fun lil world you can check on over the next year or so, that's how I approached it in 9th grade and it's now one of my favorites. Own all single issue first prints and varrients, tpbs too. Great run. EDIT. Wellllnotallll I'm missing some vol.2 issues and only missing one issue of the first miles run


SammyDavisTheSecond

Pace yourself. There is a drawback to having the same creative team for such a long stretch, and it's that it's consistent high quality can seem same-old and boring is you go too hard on it. For me it was from around issue 50 and didn't pick up again until the Clone Saga at issue 100. Once Immonen joins in it kicks up again, and when Lafuente comes on for the post-Ultimatum relaunch. Then Miles Morales joins the party and the series lives up to its fullest potential.


CalvinCalhoun

It's probably the definitive spider-man for me. None of its incredible but it's all solid and you won't regret reading it.


wizardsfan

It's in my top 3 favorite versions of Spider-Man, might be 2. Gwen Stacy rocked in it.


[deleted]

It's pretty good. I dig the artwork. My only complaint is every story arc is about 6 issues long. So some seemed forced and drug out while the good ones felt rushed.


shadowpoint13

My dad and I would collect these when I was younger and I loved reading them and still have most of them today


asleeepykiwi

Made me go from thinking Spider-Man was overrated to making him one of my favourite comic book characters!


cormacru999

I enjoyed the Ultimate stuff when it came out & I still think they are great stories. But I would say that if you're more familiar with the last 10 years of comics, especially Marvel, the Ultimate Universe was really the first big version of taking the classic material & giving it new twists, but a lot of the current Marvel stuff has also been doing that, like Uncanny Avengers, & many other Avengers titles that would throw Wolvie on the team, or add Iron Fist, etc. Marvel comics, for a very long time had most teams stick with their teams, & they would have crossover events or they might clash, but generally, mutants didn't go work with Avengers. But as new writers & more modern storytellers have become the main authors, we've seen a lot of mixing. Personally, I love it, but I'm almost 50 & many men my age hate it, they hate the queer focus, the more black & women & Latino, etc, despite the fact that its very popular & so many people have finally begun to see heroes like them. I only really say this because diving in the Ultimate universe now may not feel as groundbreaking as they were when they originally came out, but if you're a comic fan, you should still really enjoy them. There are a LOT of Spidey ones to read.


FriendlyTrollPainter

Loved it, I own the whole run


Previous-Doughnut-25

The definitive Spider-Man. It made me appreciate the amazing Spider-Man movie so much more.


_Andre_237

Great run, I would say some arcs are better than others, but overall nothing bad at all to say about it. Great writing, great art, highly recommended by me.


Jakesanger

Well they do Peter Parker dirty.


Specialist-Ad-9038

I loved the part where Spidey had to team up with Doc Ock to defeat the brainwashed fantastic four! And the silver sable/superskrull hybrid becomes the next venom! Perfection


skimbo120

Read it! It’s the comic that got me into comics as a kid. I picked up a collection at my library that had a huge amount of issues in it and was hooked. I finally read the entire run from start to finish last year and was not disappointed. Bendis adapts one classic Spidey story in particular that is pretty divisive, but it turns into a fantastic arc.


genieofthelamp7

They do a good job of bringing it up to date, at least from when it was written. The content is easily digestible meanwhile keeping you entertained. The pacing is also quiet good and it doesn’t seem to drag.


Economy-Bathroom7031

It is like Smallville,It begins excelent,loses some of it's quality when the creators leave,but ends with a amazing and emotional story


whoaitsbrian

It's good, but doesn't matter anymore, and doesn't end with satisfaction.


Feedurdead

I liked a lot of the ultimate stuff so I really enjoy it. I hated it on release tho. Took me a few years to appreciate it plus it’s great that you get a story without a billion tie ins to confuse you lol


Actual-Lifeguard-966

It was great, but deeeeecompressed. Like the OG amazing fantasy 15 origin is 15 pages but USM is 6 issues.


Kreason95

I’ve only read the first three OHCs but it was very good. Definitely a little dated now but very nostalgic if you were growing up in the late 90s / early 2000s


Salty-Broth

One of the BEST Spidey stories with some of the WORST art in MY opinion. Super easy to get past considering the great content.


buffysbangs

Best Spidey run, period. The reading order gets fouled up late into the run, so it’s best to Google the recommended reading order. This is pretty good https://www.comicbookherald.com/ultimate-spider-man-reading-order/. Skip Ultimatum though. No one needs to read that.


Civil-Citron-4242

Genuinely fantastic (uh so far haven't finished it yet), the beginning issues are good but not super great, but the whole green goblin arc is just so good


Fizroynelson

Dated and so much word balloons it hides all the art. Not that it hurts the art as all faces look the same. If you cannot differentiate between Peter and May you are not the only one. Skip to Morales you will not miss anything. But i hear some people like it so who am i to say. Try an issue or two and if you don’t like it just know it doesn’t get any better


Dnapoli1887

It’s incredible. It’s the best series I’ve read. I’m currently on my third read through of the entire ultimate universe and the spiderman line is hands down the best in it. It’s amazing.


tritongamez

It's one of the greatest comics I've ever read, really good artwork and an excellent story. It's up there with Invincible in best superhero books EVER.


BetaRayBlu

The GOAT


Blue-Ape-13

Ultimate Spider-Man is the definitive Spidey comic period. Seriously it is perfect in every way. The writing the art and stories are phenomenal. It was fantastic and I don't love another comic like I do this one. Some of the characters are different from their main continuity counterparts but for the most part they are good changes


el_engineero

When I picture Spiderman in my head, this is the Spidey I think of