Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto

[Superboy-Prime]

If the Ultimate Spider-Man is going to be successful, then it has to be Peter Parker. Regardless of Miles Morales, Miquel O'Hara, Ben Reilly and all the other Spider characters over the years, Peter Parker is synonymous with Spider-Man. There's just no getting around it.

Didn't Miles Morales prove this isn't true?

[Digifiend]

Yeah, he lasted four years before they closed the line and moved him to 616.

[Superboy-Prime]

Yeah, he lasted four years before they closed the line and moved him to 616.

And he's always had a Spider-Man book since... I think it speaks to the failure of the Ultimate line rather than Miles' ability to sell books. But fun, new characters deserve fleshed-out universes to interact with. Another version of Peter is perfect for a Universe that's disposable.

[Wally West]

And he's always had a Spider-Man book since... I think it speaks to the failure of the Ultimate line rather than Miles' ability to sell books. But fun, new characters deserve fleshed-out universes to interact with. Another version of Peter is perfect for a Universe that's disposable.

It speaks to the failures of the editorial team bringing in Jeph Loeb and letting him write whatever he wanted

[stillanerd]

Didn't Miles Morales prove this isn't true?

Not quite. Like it or not, Miles Morales is a legacy character. Meaning that him being Spider-Man rests entirely upon Peter Parker being Spider-Man first and well established as such. And that's not just the original Ultimate Spider-Man comic, but also in the Insomniac Spider-Man video games, Spider-Verse movies, and every animated series since 2012. Also, when Miles Morales first debuted, Spider-Man had already been a well-established superhero IP and pop culture icon for almost 50 years. That's five decades--now six decades--of comics, cartoons, television, movies, and games showing a Spider-Man who is Peter Parker. This isn't to say Miles isn't popular or that he's not a great character. Yet in spite of Miles Morales' popularity, has never eclipsed the popularity or name recognition of Peter Parker as the original Spider-Man. Even though Miles Morales is a Spider-Man, it always comes back to Peter Parker being Spider-Man first and foremost.

[Frontier]

If they were going with anyone other than Peter they probably would've changed the suit up more.

[Superboy-Prime]

Not quite. Like it or not, Miles Morales is a legacy character. Meaning that him being Spider-Man rests entirely upon Peter Parker being Spider-Man first and well established as such. And that's not just the original Ultimate Spider-Man comic, but also in the Insomniac Spider-Man video games, Spider-Verse movies, and every animated series since 2012. Also, when Miles Morales first debuted, Spider-Man had already been a well-established superhero IP and pop culture icon for almost 50 years. That's five decades--now six decades--of comics, cartoons, television, movies, and games showing a Spider-Man who is Peter Parker. This isn't to say Miles isn't popular or that he's not a great character. Yet in spite of Miles Morales' popularity, has never eclipsed the popularity or name recognition of Peter Parker as the original Spider-Man. Even though Miles Morales is a Spider-Man, it always comes back to Peter Parker being Spider-Man first and foremost.

Oh, I thought you meant that as in someone else couldn't carry a Spider-Man book... Not that Peter is the first Spider-Man. Because Ultimate Spider-Man being successful isn't dependent on Peter Parker being under the mask.

But it does make it significantly easier.

[Garlador]

I dont even consider myself a purist(few of them do lol), i just want to see Peter being well written and stories and characters making sense. I enjoyed Spencer's run a whole lot because, for all it's storyline faults, he was, IMO, a better character writer than Dan. I felt the character wasn't constrained.

If 6160 Peter is married, single, with or w/o MJ or Mayday, i don't really care as long as the stories are good. The Wells run sucks because it has a lot of nonsensical character beats, undercooked concepts and, my personal biggest gripe, SO MUCH misery porn. I just can't take sad-sack Spider-Man anymore. My own life is hard enough, why suffer this boring vanilla dude who can't figure his life out if it meant getting out of the metaphorical wet paper bag?

So, though i am very much interested in the relationships and romances of Spider-Man, at the top of my wishlist for this one is Hickman putting the Heroics back in the Super-Hero comic book, make Spidey aspirational, inspiring, Odds-Defier etc.

I'm not expecting this to be all sunshine and rainbows. You don't get LESS problems as you get older, typically. How they tackle his new life challenges will be interesting to see.

It's a new continuity, so nothing HAS to be like the previous status quos. But the thing I want most - which is what the marriage in the 616 really stood for - is just letting Peter grow and develop again. Let him more on to the next phases of his life without trying to be pull a "how you do, fellow kids" with younger superheroes half his age.

[Frontier]

Just don't make MJ a reporter .

[Daibhidh]

It speaks to the failures of the editorial team bringing in Jeph Loeb and letting him write whatever he wanted

Loeb's writing certainly finished it off, but I think Millar's Ultimates actually started the road to ruin.

[Huntsman Spider]

Loeb's writing certainly finished it off, but I think Millar's Ultimates actually started the road to ruin.

Millar's Ultimates was one of the foundational books of Ultimate Marvel, along with his Ultimate X-Men, so if we were to go there, the rot was already built into that whole system. Ultimate Spider-Man, the original series, lasted as long as it did largely because it remembered that its protagonist was supposed to be a hero and a decent person at heart, struggling against the injustices of the world and the cynicism of so many around him who were trying to tell him he wasn't cut out to be a hero or to "shut up and get with the program." That he wouldn't give up on his principles, no matter how much pain it caused him to uphold them, was what made him a genuine hero compared to the likes of just about everyone else in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, and that was why Spider-Man, whether Peter Parker or Miles Morales, was the crown jewel of that whole line.

[Tapioca Blitzkrieg]

I'm not expecting this to be all sunshine and rainbows. You don't get LESS problems as you get older, typically. How they tackle his new life challenges will be interesting to see.

It's a new continuity, so nothing HAS to be like the previous status quos. But the thing I want most - which is what the marriage in the 616 really stood for - is just letting Peter grow and develop again. Let him more on to the next phases of his life without trying to be pull a "how you do, fellow kids" with younger superheroes half his age.

Oh, 100% agree on that, the thing is Wells' take on Peter seems to crumble, emotionally or physically, at every new challenge he faces. Even when he eventually ''overcomes'' conflict it either doesn't feel earned or it just seems to take a massive toll on the other areas of his life to the point where, as a reader, i end up musing if it was worth the trouble. And as you say, there is always this underlying feeling that ''OUR'' Peter, the one we've followed for decades who's overcome all sorts of hurdles, personal and Super-heroic alike, should somehow have the experience to deal with said conflicts and come out stronger, bolder, more experienced etc.

But that being said, yes, i'd even take a Spider-man book with a fair bit of grit and tragedy AS LONG AS it was done in a way we could see him evolve and overcome, and not just have him be a perennial punching bag.

[CaptainUniverse]

Saw an interesting theory on how we might have already met Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man (the one in the red and black costume who has Arthritis) during his Amazing Fantasy #1000 story. It's probably not him but you never know, maybe Hickman will decide to tie that story to Ultimate by having him don this suit in the future and meet 616 Peter from a point in the recent past.

[Huntsman Spider]

Saw an interesting theory on how we might have already met Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man (the one in the red and black costume who has Arthritis) during his Amazing Fantasy #1000 story. It's probably not him but you never know, maybe Hickman will decide to tie that story to Ultimate by having him don this suit in the future and meet 616 Peter from a point in the recent past.

And then they all admit their own struggles in their lives. That was actually pretty sweet.

[Vordan]

Saw an interesting theory on how we might have already met Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man (the one in the red and black costume who has Arthritis) during his Amazing Fantasy #1000 story. It's probably not him but you never know, maybe Hickman will decide to tie that story to Ultimate by having him don this suit in the future and meet 616 Peter from a point in the recent past.

Speaking of which:



More than anything this feels like Hickman boiling down what makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man. I expect this is probably where he had his epiphany on how to approach the character. Wouldn’t surprise me if his USM is built off of a similar base to how Hickman lays out Peter’s foundation here - with Ben, May, Gwen, MJ, and Harry being the key players in Peter’s life.