Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto

[Spider-Tiger]

Without getting into too much spoiler territory, I thoroughly enjoyed this issue. There were some interesting twists to the Spider-man mythology that I wasn't quite expecting, but it felt true to these characters. I could see this set-up going in so many different directions and I'm excited for what's to come!

[Spider-Tiger]

spoilers:

I’m surprised Hickman went with Peter and Harry not having a history here, but I think the intent is that they will begin as heroic partners and over the course of the run their partnership will devolve.

end of spoilers

I'm really hoping a future issue maps out this Peter's past.

spoilers:

I'm assuming this Peter was never a science major at ESU and so never became friends with Harry and Gwen. Perhaps he decided to pursue journalism instead to follow in his Uncle's footsteps. But there are clearly more differences to this continuity than expected such as Ben's occupation and Peter moving in with May and Ben at age 15.

end of spoilers

[JT221]

Without spoiling anything, I completely loved this issue. For the first time in forever, it felt like I read a Spider-Man comic. This is going to be fun!

[Mister Mets]

I never got the impression these are separate groups (or that those who think in these terms are a particularly large group). Even Slott and Wells treat Peter and MJ as "endgame."

Fair, but I think we can agree that the Spencer run appealed to people who liked Peter and MJ together.

One complicating factor is that some readers had unreasonable expectations, figuring that Nick Spencer was going to reverse One More Day. There was the complaint with the Wells run that Marvel shouldn't have let Peter and MJ get back together if they were going to break them up.

I don't think Ultimate Spider-Man comes with any expectations that it will affect later runs of Amazing Spider-Man, but we'll see.

[Mister Mets]

Manga or Japanese comics/graphic novels is different from American comics in way they have an ending in mind. It is more about the journey of these characters we experience, but in American they want to tell the same story with a different twist.

I am Pro-marriage not because of the marriage, but the character development over the years. The problem with young characters, they will grow up, as the people who read them as they grow up. You write, IMO, when they are as a teen as teen and write them as adult as an adult. As a I said it before Spider-Man comics make a big deal of responsibility, sure Spider-Man is responsible but Peter as an human fail in all his responsibilities to everyone around him, that I cannot wrap my head around it.

It's not that manga always has an end in mind, but it's typically in its own world.

Dragon Ball and Naruto may both appear in Shonen Jump, but there's no shared universe (and if there is, it's very rare.)

[wyokid]

Fair, but I think we can agree that the Spencer run appealed to people who liked Peter and MJ together.

One complicating factor is that some readers had unreasonable expectations, figuring that Nick Spencer was going to reverse One More Day. There was the complaint with the Wells run that Marvel shouldn't have let Peter and MJ get back together if they were going to break them up.

I don't think Ultimate Spider-Man comes with any expectations that it will affect later runs of Amazing Spider-Man, but we'll see.

According to Dan Slott editorial is why OMD wasn't undone.

[Vordan]

But a core difference between Ultimate Spider-Man and the 60s stuff is that Amazing Fantasy #15 tells the story of a boy learning what it means to be good.

Ultimate Spider-Man is the story of a man who knows what it is to be good but has finally learned to stop lying to himself.

https://x.com/shuofsin/status/174495...487sLx_4UoiJsQ

[Refrax5]

I'm really hoping a future issue maps out this Peter's past.

spoilers:

I'm assuming this Peter was never a science major at ESU and so never became friends with Harry and Gwen. Perhaps he decided to pursue journalism instead to follow in his Uncle's footsteps. But there are clearly more differences to this continuity than expected such as Ben's occupation and Peter moving in with May and Ben at age 15.

end of spoilers

That part caught my interest, too. It seems like the kind of detail that wouldn't be there without a reason. I'm probably in the minority on this board, but I'm not especially interested in the kid characters. Im more interested in how this Peter's life/personality/motives differ from ours, since his life has gone so differently than the one we know.

I keep wondering if Goblin's identity is going to be a surprise since it seems too obvious who it is.

Cool issue with a lot of interesting set-up. I didn't love Hickman's characterization in X-Men, where it felt like so much character growth and relationship dynamics were abandoned in service to the larger concepts, so I hope that doesn't happen here.

[Frontier]

I'm really hoping a future issue maps out this Peter's past.

spoilers:

I'm assuming this Peter was never a science major at ESU and so never became friends with Harry and Gwen. Perhaps he decided to pursue journalism instead to follow in his Uncle's footsteps. But there are clearly more differences to this continuity than expected such as Ben's occupation and Peter moving in with May and Ben at age 15.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Yeah, this Peter doesn't come off like a science wiz. Still smart and clever, but not as super smart as 616 Peter. That might be why he has organic webs, because this Peter couldn't make web-shooters.

end of spoilers

That part caught my interest, too. It seems like the kind of detail that wouldn't be there without a reason. I'm probably in the minority on this board, but I'm not especially interested in the kid characters. Im more interested in how this Peter's life/personality/motives differ from ours, since his life has gone so differently than the one we know.

I keep wondering if Goblin's identity is going to be a surprise since it seems too obvious who it is.

Cool issue with a lot of interesting set-up. I didn't love Hickman's characterization in X-Men, where it felt like so much character growth and relationship dynamics were abandoned in service to the larger concepts, so I hope that doesn't happen here.

I feel like in terms of character focus it'll go Peter -> Ben -> MJ -> Jonah -> The kids.

I do feel like this veered a little too close to Hickman's penchant for characters going "we're smart and clever and we're going to make sure you know it" but not by too much.

[Refrax5]

spoilers:

Yeah, this Peter doesn't come off like a science wiz. Still smart and clever, but not as super smart as 616 Peter. That might be why he has organic webs, because this Peter couldn't make web-shooters.

end of spoilers

I feel like in terms of character focus it'll go Peter -> Ben -> MJ -> Jonah -> The kids.

I do feel like this veered a little too close to Hickman's penchant for characters going "we're smart and clever and we're going to make sure you know it" but not by too much.

Yeah, pretty much my feelings. Don't get me wrong, I liked the issue and I'm pretty excited about the new Ultimate Universe in general, but Hickman is one of those writers who can get a little too self-indulgent at times, which you noted.

[Celgress]

My two cents -

The best issue of a (Peter's) Spidey-related comic book I've read since the Superior run ended. It is easily 4 out of 5 stars, IMHO. I thoroughly enjoyed it, fantastic.

I only wish this was 616 Peter, but oh well.

[ZeroBG82]

This was fantastic. The character voices felt familiar despite the very different life circumstances. The art is AMAZING. And there are some excellent setups for stories moving forward.

This Peter is fascinating so far. He's successful, has a loving family and yet still seems unhappy, or perhaps unfulfilled. Will becoming Spidey really change that? Should we be worried that his initial suit is basically a proto-black suit? Obviously not a symbiote this time, but that outfit comes with certain expectations all the same.

I cannot wait for issue 2.

[Frontier]

This was fantastic. The character voices felt familiar despite the very different life circumstances. The art is AMAZING. And there are some excellent setups for stories moving forward.

This Peter is fascinating so far. He's successful, has a loving family and yet still seems unhappy, or perhaps unfulfilled. Will becoming Spidey really change that? Should we be worried that his initial suit is basically a proto-black suit? Obviously not a symbiote this time, but that outfit comes with certain expectations all the same.

I cannot wait for issue 2.

Makes you wonder whether it's some cosmic sense that he must inherently become Spider-Man, seeing all the injustices in the world that he's powerless to do anything about (which I don't think they really conveyed in the 1st issue), or maybe just a bit of a thrill junkie in him.

[Coop]

This was fantastic. The character voices felt familiar despite the very different life circumstances. The art is AMAZING. And there are some excellent setups for stories moving forward.

This Peter is fascinating so far. He's successful, has a loving family and yet still seems unhappy, or perhaps unfulfilled. Will becoming Spidey really change that? Should we be worried that his initial suit is basically a proto-black suit? Obviously not a symbiote this time, but that outfit comes with certain expectations all the same.

I cannot wait for issue 2.

People keep describing him as depressed and unhappy but we have to take into account that we meet him a few hours after being told that he's part of a insane time traveling plot meant to destroy the concept of superheroes and create a fascist utopia run by evil men and that his aunt was killed as part of this. And that he's been given the chance to become a superhuman. And that the life he was going to have before the maker intervened was that of a superhero inspiring others and saving lives. Both Ben and MJ react to him as if his behavior is not typical in this issue. Which makes sense because you don't typically get told that sort of crazy ****.

I think many people no matter their life circumstances think about what could have been or perhaps feel a calling for a dream that was unfulfilled or something missing in their life. And then Peter's case he he's just learned hours ago that that feeling he's had was not just typical malaise not just regular unfulfillment but the direct result of otherworldly intervention altering his fate as part of a universe and time spanning scheme that's created a bleak and unfulfilling world for most of its citizens.

I don't get the vibe that he wakes up every morning and his family thinks he's detached and depressed.

[ZeroBG82]

People keep describing him as depressed and unhappy but we have to take into account that we meet him a few hours after being told that he's part of a insane time traveling plot meant to destroy the concept of superheroes and create a fascist utopia run by evil men and that his aunt was killed as part of this. And that he's been given the chance to become a superhuman. And that the life he was going to have before the maker intervened was that of a superhero inspiring others and saving lives. Both Ben and MJ react to him as if his behavior is not typical in this issue. Which makes sense because you don't typically get told that sort of crazy ****.

I think many people no matter their life circumstances think about what could have been or perhaps feel a calling for a dream that was unfulfilled or something missing in their life. And then Peter's case he he's just learned hours ago that that feeling he's had was not just typical malaise not just regular unfulfillment but the direct result of otherworldly intervention altering his fate as part of a universe and time spanning scheme that's created a bleak and unfulfilling world for most of its citizens.

I don't get the vibe that he wakes up every morning and his family thinks he's detached and depressed.

Hence why I offered unfulfilled as a possibility. Because I don't really get the sense that he's unhappy, per se. He clearly loves MJ, and he doesn't hate his kids. He's got a solid job he's good at. But he clearly wants for something more. And has for a long time. We're explicitly told as much.

Spider-Man as an analogy for a mid-life crisis? Some guys buy a ridiculous sportscar and flirt with 20 something women. Peter Parker dons colorful underoos and swings about on spider-esque webs? That feels too simple for Hickman, but it could work.

I too wonder if we're going to be treated to some kind of destiny angle, where Peter had a feeling he was always meant to be this. But then that leads into a potentially darker question... what would he sacrifice to keep it now that he has it?

I can't help but notice that, just like 616 Peter at the start, this is inherently a selfish action on Peter's part. Maybe he genuinely wants to help people, sure. But he appears to be doing this because he wants to be special, to be awesome, and not to just be a random schmuck in an office. Which likely means he's going to have a come to Jesus moment where that turns, which would traditionally be Ben's tragic death. But there is a lot more for this version of Peter to lose. And a lot of different ways, not all of them traditional, that Hickman could bring him to that place. If he even does. All bets are off with this new status quo, and I won't presume we wind up with a traditional Spider-Man setup just because we usually do.