Synopsis
THE NEW ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN FOR A NEW ULTIMATE UNIVERSE!
Review
After covering Absolute Batman #1 last week, I thought it would be a good idea to backtrack a little to May of this year and another major reimagining of a classic superhero. Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2024), written by Jonathan Hickman with pencils by Marco Checchetto, provides a fresh new take on the Wall-Crawler that is both welcome and ironic at the same time.
Who Spider-Man is – and what he represents to different aspects of fandom – has been an ongoing debate for years. This new comic ostensibly represents what Marvel once sought so fervently to avoid: a grown-up, domesticated Peter Parker. And yet, it’s one of the best, most popular comics from 2024.
Hickman – responsible for numerous major Marvel Comics arcs in recent years, including the incredible if ultimately frustrated Krakoa era for the X-Men – gives us a middle-aged Peter Parker who never got bit by the radioactive spider. His life is pretty great; he’s married to Mary Jane and they have two children, Richard and May (who kind of has a thing for crystal balls, hmm…); he works for The Daily Bugle alongside his very much alive Uncle Ben, the managing editor; Ben is good friends with a decidedly calmer J. Jonah Jameson, and their bond is one of the best features of this new iteration; but despite all that, Peter is miserable.
Peter feels like his life isn’t what it should be. The reader gets a sense of this as well with the very involved backstory for this new Ultimate Universe – different from the last, more on that in a second – when we discover that Peter was meant to be bitten by the spider, but his ascension to superheroics was undermined by The Maker. The Maker, an evil variant of Reed Richards from the first Ultimate Comics universe (Earth-1610, from where Miles Morales originates), came to this universe (Earth-6160) to eliminate all superheroes and rule as an unseen despot.
Some more backstory establishes Tony Stark discovered this and is actively trying to restore the heroes, including Peter, though the world at large views Stark as a terrorist for events that killed not only Aunt May, but Norman Osborn. A lot is going on in the comic, typical for Hickman, but it never overwhelms what reads like a slice-of-life comic. Next to nothing happens plot-wise, save for some interesting complications at the newspaper, and the focus is really on character. It’s fantastic, especially for this writer, whose main project in life is a superhero universe in fiction.
It’s also rewarding as a lifelong Spidey fan. I was thirteen when Peter and MJ got married, and it never occurred to me that this unwarranted or unwanted. As Spider-Man comics became wayward in the 1990s through unending Clone Sagas and more questionable story choices, frustration toward his status quo produced two major things. One is the first Ultimate Comics universe in 2001, where a teenage Peter Parker is back to who he was at the beginning, save for some modern updates. The other was One More Day, an event from 2007, where the main universe Peter and MJ trade their marriage and all memory of it to save Aunt May’s life. This didn’t just reset the status quo, it erased decades of continuity, upsetting fans for the sake of editorial fiat.
Despite some excellent Spider-Man comics produced since, the character has never really recovered. And the irony is now in 2024, Marvel has given fans a Spider-Man who should have emerged organically. He’s one who reflects the average age of most comic readers at Marvel and provides an avatar for people as much as the teenage Spidey did. In that way, this comic is very successful and is no affront to any particular sensibility. As I said before, Miles Morales emerged from the original Ultimate universe (destroyed in the 2015 Secret Wars event, also by Hickman), and Miles and Spider-Gwen are testament to how varied Spider-Man is.
He can be anyone.
Fans looking for a new take on Spider-Man or maybe wanting a look at how the last twenty years could have gone will enjoy this book. There are lots of interesting zigs and zags in the storytelling. Checchetto’s art is clean, detailed, and patient. You get the sense that once the action kicks in, things will really pop. The series is now about nine issues in, and well worth catching up on. The new Ultimate Universe also includes other notable entries, including Ultimate X-Men by Japanese artist Peach Momoko, which may be the boldest superhero comic on shelves today.
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