Reviewed by Matt Singer

(Here's my best impression of Harry Knowles)

Back when I was just a wee one, still unable to discern between imagination and the cold shell that is reality, I loved Spider-Man. Spidey, or as I called him back then, "Meh-Meh" was even one of my very first words. Long after I began to pick up other complex words like "sleep," "mom," and "transmetropolitan," I still called him "Meh-Meh." My parents still cannot understand why I did that.

Oh, and I read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN. It's good.

(You like?)

Rather than beat that dead horse for the next fifteen paragraphs, let's just skip past my recollections of Spider-Man Underoos and that Amazing Friends cartoon, and go straight to the actual review, shall we? Right.

Well, with a word like "ultimate" in the title, the book better be damn good. And by gum it is! This is the first book featuring that infamous wall-crawler of my youth that I've really enjoyed in quite a long time.

The premise is the stuff of skeptical fanboy e-mail. The Spider-Man books needed a bit of a buff-and-polish after forty years of "comic book time." So the powers that be at Marvel enlisted hot writer Brian Michael Bendis and perennial Spidey artist Mark Bagley to reinvent him for their new "Ultimate" line of books.

In the Ultimate re-start, gone are the wife, the college and multiple careers. Gone is basically everything. In its place is a stripped-down updating by Bendis (with story help from Marvel President Bill Jemas) that works. Updating the classics can be dangerous (look at John Byrne's CHAPTER ONE), but Bendis and company make it look easy.

I love the new take on the characters. Uncle Ben's the aging hippie. Norman Osborn's the corporate raider. Ben Urich's the young upstart newspaperman. Nothing too wild and, admittedly, we haven't seen much of these characters yet. But in the first seven issues Bendis has given plenty of teases for some interesting stuff to come. For the first time since I was thirteen reading Spider-Man comics is fun.

Let's dwell on that seven-issue figure for a moment, shall we? These seven issues take the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko work from AMAZING FANTASY #15 and stretch it out. It might sound like unnecessary padding, but it works. Bendis and Jemas take that extra time to flesh out Peter's relationships: with his uncle and aunt, with jocks Flash and Kong (a welcome addition), with Mary Jane and with others. They also tweak out the actual origin itself, adding some changes - all of which work.

I'm also enjoying the Mark Bagley art and finding inker Art Thibert a nice match for his pencils. But be warned: it's not everyone's cup o' tea. I frequently hear the complaint that Bagley makes everyone look emaciated. "Why don't they eat?" my friend said to me when he read the first issue. To each his own.

Brian Michael Bendis continues to show just how versatile he is. Having carved out a niche in black and white crime books (JINX, TORSO), it's surprising how easily he transitions to straight superheroics. (Read his even better POWERS to watch him mix the two deftly). The thick dialogue full of repetition, the starting and stuttering, the "realistic" stuff, all of it is here but toned down from the other books. In only seven issues, Bendis has a good handle on the characters. And I love his Peter. From the angst-ridden teen to the witty wisecracking superhero (and Spider-Man's jokes are actually funny), Bendis writes a great Spidey.

So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Is it mind-blowing revolutionary stuff? Not particularly. Is this book going to save Marvel Comics? Not all by itself. Is this something you should pick up if you hate superheroes? Well, unless you enjoy punishing yourself, no.

But if you like superheroes, and Spiderman in particular, then yes, it is a good book, and a nice first step in re-inventing the wall-crawler for 2000.

I'll be reading.

RECOMMENDED

Matt Singer contributes regularly to From The Wire, and enjoys making "THWIP!" noises at strangers on the street.

PopImage Forum - Discuss this message at the PopImage forum.