Ultimate Spider-Man #1 talk.

[Nomura99]

It's only one issue but Hickman has already surprised with how he wrote Peter, Ben and Jonah (the moments with those two were the best, I already want to read a series about their new venture, lol). We'll see if his MJ can be anything other than a supporting, smoking hot wife

I truly hope he keeps things as small and as character driven as possible in this book, I wanted to see how he does in such a different setting than what he's known for and at least in issue 1 he fucking nailed it. I don't wanna see Stark's Avengers vs The Maker plot be a big thing in Ultimate Spiderman.

[Frontier]

I thought this was ok.

It was mostly set-up and it's already clear this Spider-man is going to be very, very different from what we are used to.

This being said, I had my fears around a Hickman written Spider-man book and some of the fears were justified. Hickman is generally concerned with the high-concept and sometimes (not always) characters and characterization falls by the wayside.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next issue and see where all this goes.

Yeah, I think this veered just to the tip of Hickman's over-reliance on clinical-sounding characters letting you know how smart/clever they are...but not as bad as in his other titles in my opinion.

[marvelprince]

Book was good. Was what I expected from Hickman, intro with some high concepts. I’m pretty interested in how it all plays out now vs in the Ultimate mini series though. Am also chuffed at all the “ best Spider-Man book we had in years” when it’s the first issue and we’ve not even seen Peter as Spider-Man yet. But Hickmans got me a fan of the kids already in one issue and The large focus on Ben was great too, I love that Hickman is really taking advantage of this new world to give us something we haven’t seen yet.

[Daibhidh]

I hope Hickman finds a way to get more use out of Robbie than he has in this issue. I can see why he can't fit Robbie into Jonah's role given the other character relationship he's given Jonah. But Robbie was I think one of the best supporting characters in the first couple of decades of Spider-man: maybe not as good as Jonah and Mary Jane, but maybe not as good as Jonah or Mary Jane is really pretty good.

[SplinteringHeart]

Right then, I've never used the spoiler boxes, there are 3 threads already talking about the first issue and enough is out there to be found already...here's my take:

So, Peter is 35, married to MJ, with 2 kids, Richard (elder, perhaps teenage?) and May (younger, say 9/10?)..Peter has no powers to begin, so nor do the kids...May has eyes on the "sphere" early on though, so watch this space...

Peter‘s all tired, not sleeping, possibly because of some depression over something, ‘cause come on, it can't be just work...Peter works at the Daily Bugle, we don‘t know exactly what his job is...Betty Brant works there...and, Ben Parker works there (Editor)! Yes, Ben is alive but (Aunt) May is not! Jonah is there, Robbie is there, dynamic is though that Jonah and Ben are best pals...

First off it sounded like mean cormudgen Jonah, first words were shouting "Parker!" all over the place, a great foil, ‘cause actually his next words were "hello Peter..let me help you with a tie.."..Jonah is like another Uncle to Pete!

A lot of people (like May, Norman Osborn) died in "incident" with Tony Stark seemingly to blame..this perspective changes later in issue...Matt Murdock is a Priest, Harry is alive and embittered about the death of his father...the Kingpin is on the board of the Daily Bugle..we don‘t know who owns the Bugle though...

Post this as Part 1..

[SplinteringHeart]

Part 2:

Some of the best scenes are between Ben, Jonah and Pete, establishing their close relationship...this time round Ben‘s presence is not just as a memory, he's brought Peter up, with and more recently without May following her death...so, this time we have a stronger masculine care perspective it seems..

MJ is still the beautiful, understanding woman in Peter's life though, she knows he's going to do what he does at end of issue ("get ‘em tiger")...

Tony Stark appears ( in holographic form) after the "sphere" is activated, Tells Pete he should have powers and gives him the radioactive spider (looks like a black widow, ouch!)....note: what happens to that spider afterwards....hmm

3 things stick out to me:

Need more on why Tony is powering up Pete, and others, unknown yet..

I don‘t "buy" this Pete having a feeling he was meant for something else, and the answer is spider powers, that's going to take some explaining...he's 35 already, he has a lovely family, a job...why isn't that enough for him? What's his motivation to be a Spider-Man hero..?

One disappointment was, with Pete having a lovely family, with two lovely kids..it seems he‘s not the best of loving fathers, to me..he's unnaturally depressed or too busy with work..all his interactions with the kids in this issue were "gotta go, bye kids"! We're yet to see him engage lovingly with the kids, with MJ yes, but not the kids, who clearly love him though..

[Aura Blaize]

I remember picking up Ultimate Spidey all those years ago and being pretty amazed and interesting in this new reimagining. This modern take.

I feel the same reading this but with one difference. The original ultimate, as good as it was, was still a modern retelling of Peter's origin. Peter gets bit, Uncle Ben dies, boom Spider-man.

This is different. Peter is an adult already. He's married with kids. All BEFORE he becomes Spider-Man. Not to mention all the other things. Jonah and Ben being besties. Aunt May being dead. Norman being dead. Harry and Peter NOT being best friends. Everything is absolutely different. It's so freaking exciting.

MJ is just as great and understanding as expected. Absolutely love the answer when asked if this would change anything between them. "Never". If that's not a take that, I dunno what is.

The kids are great too. Richard is intriguing. He's not a brat or anything. If anything, I'd say he reminds me of Ultimate Peter. The old one...er...young one.

Can't wait to see where this goes., And I'm hoping they don't kill Ben off. It's refreshing to have him still be around...and be an absolute badass at that.

[Mister Mets]

I thought it's decent.

Checehetto's great. The Parkers seem lived in, like they exist outside of the pages of the comics.

We get a good sense of the initial challenges with Kingpin and a Green Goblin.

I like the idea of Peter dealing with some earth-shattering news that he can't share with his family.

I do have two quibbles.

I don't like idea of Uncle Ben as Perry White, purely because it means that Peter is in an important family. He's been raised by a member of the media elite.

Some of the dialogue just seems boring. I can get that it may highlight normalcy (and there is a later revelation that Peter haws much more on his mind), but the opening family scene wouldn't be interesting outside as a standalone scene.

Hickman is great at payoff and there is enough here that's enjoyable, so I'm not too concerned.

[Frontier]

Book was good. Was what I expected from Hickman, intro with some high concepts. I’m pretty interested in how it all plays out now vs in the Ultimate mini series though. Am also chuffed at all the “ best Spider-Man book we had in years” when it’s the first issue and we’ve not even seen Peter as Spider-Man yet. But Hickmans got me a fan of the kids already in one issue and The large focus on Ben was great too, I love that Hickman is really taking advantage of this new world to give us something we haven’t seen yet.

If Peter wins his first fight as Spidey (without help) I will call it the best Spider-Man book we've had in years .

I hope Hickman finds a way to get more use out of Robbie than he has in this issue. I can see why he can't fit Robbie into Jonah's role given the other character relationship he's given Jonah. But Robbie was I think one of the best supporting characters in the first couple of decades of Spider-man: maybe not as good as Jonah and Mary Jane, but maybe not as good as Jonah or Mary Jane is really pretty good.

Yeah, board member Robbie and separating him from Jonah will always feel wrong.

[Hurricane Billy]

I remember picking up Ultimate Spidey all those years ago and being pretty amazed and interesting in this new reimagining. This modern take.

I feel the same reading this but with one difference. The original ultimate, as good as it was, was still a modern retelling of Peter's origin. Peter gets bit, Uncle Ben dies, boom Spider-man.

This is different. Peter is an adult already. He's married with kids. All BEFORE he becomes Spider-Man. Not to mention all the other things. Jonah and Ben being besties. Aunt May being dead. Norman being dead. Harry and Peter NOT being best friends. Everything is absolutely different. It's so freaking exciting.

MJ is just as great and understanding as expected. Absolutely love the answer when asked if this would change anything between them. "Never". If that's not a take that, I dunno what is.

The kids are great too. Richard is intriguing. He's not a brat or anything. If anything, I'd say he reminds me of Ultimate Peter. The old one...er...young one.

Can't wait to see where this goes., And I'm hoping they don't kill Ben off. It's refreshing to have him still be around...and be an absolute badass at that.

I really doubt Hickman will do that, especially considering that he already seemingly killed Aunt May off in the NYC attack and how rare of an opportunity it is to explore a living Uncle Ben and flesh him out as his own character apart from being the Anointed Saint of Queens NYC that haunts every waking moment of 616 Peter's life choices.

I do however think there's a good chance that Hickman's going to eventually kill Jonah off as he and Ben continue their crusade to start a new news company of their own and investigate the truth behind what actually happened in the NYC attack and the corporations and the Maker's Council's involvement in that. I hate saying it, because this version of Jonah won my heart over really quickly, but he SCREAMS Maes Hughes vibes to me. This J Jonah Jameson is just wayyyy too lovable for his own good. He's going to die and Ben will wind up doubling down on their efforts to take down the Council via investigative journalism.

[Kevinroc]

Giving Ben the job that Robbie usually has at the Bugle is a super interesting idea. Robbie is usually presented as a father figure in Peter's life. What if Peter's (adoptive) dad had that job?

It should also be noted that this comic outright states that Peter didn't come to live with Uncle Ben and Aunt May until he was 15 years old. That is VERY different from the usual Spider-Man narrative.

But Ben Parker brings out the best in people. And we see that in his relationship with Jonah.

This comic says more about Uncle Ben than any Spider-Man comic has in a long time.

(I do hope Robbie gets to do something in the future. Kinda feels like he got the short end of the stick here.)

[Prime]

So how will Gwen? Felicia? Fit into all of this if Peter is married. Also, wouldn’t it be kinda a great twist if Jonah gets killed and Ben basically becomes the guy that smears Spiderman because of it ?

[Celgress]

As I posted in the general thread -


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.

[Solias]

Also, wouldn’t it be kinda a great twist if Jonah gets killed and Ben basically becomes the guy that smears Spiderman because of it ?

Gaaah, that's my fear too, Jonah is almost seemed more Uncle Ben than Uncle Ben based on the tie interaction. Will be interesting to see if it's built on more.

[Hurricane Billy]

So how will Gwen? Felicia? Fit into all of this if Peter is married. Also, wouldn’t it be kinda a great twist if Jonah gets killed and Ben basically becomes the guy that smears Spiderman because of it ?

I suspect Gwen will be working at NYPD, either as an officer like her father or as a forensic scientist at the morgue.

If Felicia's around, the immediate guess would be that she's up to her usual shenanigans- but then again, this issue definitely indicates that there'll be pivots and swerves to the typical roadmap that a lot of the cast typically follow. So maybe she's a professional thief who Ben and Jonah recruit at some point to get dirt on Fisk as they start to piece together the broader conspiracy behind the NYC attack?

I could maybe see Jonah or Ben smearing Spider-Man in their new paper, but my gut is leaning towards that happening over at the Bugle at the behest of Fisk as the company owner. I do think Jonah is probably going to get killed though and that the impact that will have on Ben's character and his role in the narrative will be rather drastic. Maybe it'll wind up building up to something of an emotional test of character for Ben and demonstrating that even a morally just and well-intended individual like him can feel temptation to give into selfish desires like revenge as the Council's acts take more and more people close to him away.

Gaaah, that's my fear too, Jonah is almost seemed more Uncle Ben than Uncle Ben based on the tie interaction. Will be interesting to see if it's built on more.

Oh I definitely think it's likely that Jonah is going to get caught in the crossfires and die at some point in this run. He's far too immediately lovable and kind to Peter and Ben for his own good.