Yesterday Ultimate Spider-Man #133, the very last issue of the nine-year-old ongoing series, shipped. I don’t think I could have been more disappointed and unhappy with the way it ended if I turned to the last page and Brian Michael Bendis himself somersaulted out of the book, punched me in the stomach, and then magically disappeared with my wallet.
I wasn’t disappointed because the work in the comic itself was sub-par, and this piece isn’t really a review anyway (though it sure is long; if I were you I’d skip it entirely), and I wasn’t all that terribly disappointed that the series had come to an end, although I’ve greatly enjoyed reading it over the last almost-a-decade, and have long considered it one of the best super-comics being produced regularly.
Rather I was disappointed because of the way that it ended, as it seemed antithetical to the way it began and the way it was for most of its long existence, and the available evidence seems to point towards the next incarnation of a Bendis-written Spider-Man with the word “Ultimate” in the title remaining antithetical to the Ultimate Spider-Man that was.
When the book launched in 2000, and the Ultimate line with it, the concept sounded simple enough, even if it was perceived as risky from Marvel’s perspective (and the perspective of plenty of industry watchers).
As good as any Marvel comic book might be, as naturally interested as any potential reader might be in reading a Marvel comic, they’re going to have to contend with decades worth of continuity, spread across thousands and thousands of pages of comics collected in hundreds of trades. Even if the books are made as accessible as possible, and are perfectly new-reader friendly, their age and the perception of impenetrability, of having missed the boat, will keep new readers away.
So instead of ignoring these potential new readers, who are going to have their interest in Marvel comics primed by the Hollywood movies that were then just about to enter their boom period, why not create a whole new line for them? Why not reboot the Marvel Universe, keeping everything about the characters and scenarios that was more or less timeless, but updating them so they were of the 21st rather than the mid-20th century, and applying modern creative sensibilities?
Looking at the numbers available to those of us who don’t work for Marvel, I don’t know how well it worked. Perhaps not as well as Marvel might have hoped (That is, it’s not like one-in-three people who saw the Spider-Man movies bought a subscription to Ultimate Spider-Man or anything). But anecdotally, I know from personal experience it worked. Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men were my gateway comics into the Marvel Universe and the Marvel line, as I know they were for others, and, for a couple years at least, I associated the Ultimate brand-name with good comics I could confidently read without worrying I’d feel like I walked in on the middle of the movie.
Mistakes were made in the management of the Ultimate Marvel Universe, of course, and it never had a powerful writer/editor equivalent to Stan Lee; Bendis shared similar duties with Mark Millar, but more chefs were rapidly added to the kitchen. And then there was the inescapable problem that the same problems that befell the Marvel Universe—too many books over too many years—would eventually befall the Ultimate Universe.
Ultimately, that happened a lot quicker than it should have, given how small the line was, and before it even reached its ten-year anniversary, it was clearly broken.
Which is really too bad, given how obvious some of the mistakes were.
The Ultimates title quickly fell off-schedule and became a series of inconsequential miniseries that the monthlies like Ultimate Spider-Man would simply ignore. Ultimate Fantastic Four was launched without a regular creative team, burning through writers and artists at alarming speed. Millar left Ultimate X-Men perhaps too quickly, and it too began burning through creators, too many of whom began introducing the very elements the title succeeded by previously ignoring. The brand became diluted with unnecessary miniseries and annuals. The Ultimate Universe crossed over with properties that crossed over with the Marvel Universe (The Marvel Zombies, Squadron Supreme), inching toward the point at which Marvel said the Ultimate Universe would become superfluous. And then there was the Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira Ultimates 3 miniseries which—and I’m not saying this just to be mean, this is my honest assessment of its quality—was perhaps the very worst comic book ever assembled by professionals.
However big a mess the rest of the Ultimate Universe got, however, Ultimate Spider-Man was unaffected. Bendis wrote every single issue of it, plus a special, a miniseries and the annuals. Mark Bagley drew it for six years, Stuart Immonen for about three, and only a handful of other artists ever even drew that version of Ultimate Spider-Man. The title had its ups and downs, with some story arcs being better than others, but there was no denying it was the most consistent and most dependable book on the stands, virtues that were only accentuated by the eventual chaos in the rest of the line.
That’s what made it so disappointing when Ultimate Spider-Man was finally sucked into the Ultimatum storyline.
Ultimatum is, of course, the five-issue miniseries being written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by pencil artist David Finch, a series starring the whole Ultimate Universe, the lines equivalent of a Crisis on Infinite Earths or Secret Wars type of crossover.
It’s everything the Ultimate line was supposed to not be. Not only is it a line-wide crossover, but it actually ties-in to the other books, usurping their storylines. Rather than featuring slightly better story and art than the main Marvel Universe books, it features worse story and art. And it’s also behind schedule, which is perhaps appropriate for the Ultimate line as a whole (In addition to the epic Millar/Hitch delays, there was the legendary break between the first and second halves of Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk), but is a problem that never plagued Ultimate Spider-Man—in fact, the only time USM shipped late in nine years was when the second-to-last issue was apparently held a few weeks to coincide with the release of one of the other Ultimatum tie-ins. (To underscore how unusual that was, Bendis and Bagley were so productive on the title that there was a period where it was shipping more often than monthly, on a every three weeks or so sechedule).
For the last four issues, Ultimate Spider-Man has been a tie-in to Ultimatum, and while Bendis did an admirable job of trying to keep readers up to speed via a long passage of telepathic exposition delivered right into Spidey’s brain (and that of the readers) by the X-Men’s Professor X explaining what was going on in the Ultimatum miniseries, these issues have mainly dealt with Spider-Man and his supporting cast reacting to the plot points occurring in another book.
So for four issues now Spider-Man has attempted to rescue civilians caught up in a natural disaster in his hometown, while meeting up with guest stars like the Hulk and Dr. Strange. And in this, the final issue, the culmination of Bendis’ nine years on the title, we get a completely silent issue that is completely devoid of Spider-Man and/or Peter Parker.
He’s not in the book. Not a panel. The first half of it involves the Hulk and Spider-Woman fighting, the second half involves the various supporting characters making their way to Aunty May’s house, seeing a torn up Spider-Man mask, and crying. The end. There’s your climax. That’s the conclusion of a nine-year, 132-issue storyline. The lead character dies off-panel between issues, when a character from another comic book punches a magical maguffin that makes a magic mushroom cloud of pink energy.
I know it’s not the end of Brian Michael Bendis writing comics about Spider-Man with the word Ultimate in the title, because I’m the sort of comic reader who reads the company’s solicitation online months in advance. But this is supposed to be a comic book for new readers, right? This is the gateway comic, isn’t it?
There’s something called Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem Book One #1 scheduled for next month, and something called Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #2 scheduled for July, and then in August, Bendis will be joined by artist David Lafuente for Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, which might pick up from where this series left off, and might not (the solicitation is quite coy).
It’s quite possible it’s all just marketing, a chance to freshen up the old Ultimate brand with a new #1 and some new packaging, but then, restarting a title with a new #1 just to goose sales is something that Marvel Universe comics do, something that the Ultimate line should avoid. Like line-wide crossovers and revolving door creative teams.
Either way, the end of Ultimate Spider-Man could have used an ending of its own, some sort of sense of closure, or some resolution to the ongoing conflicts of the previous nine years worth of story. Bendis and Marvel had a fairly unique opportunity to give a real ending to a story, something rare in serial comics, and practically impossible when it comes to Spider-Man comics, and they opted not to take it (A colleague once suggested that Ultimate Spider-Man should follow the example of Cerebus, and devote itself to a single, 300-issue long complete story with a beginning, middle and end; Ultimate Spider-Man doesn’t have to continue publication indefinitely, nor does the character have to remain forever immortal and unaged, because the real Spider-Man has that covered for him in the Marvel Universe line).
So the ending was disappointing. But it was also infuriating, for a completely different reason.
The last issue of Ultimate Spider-Man cost $3.99, an entire dollar more than the previous 132 issues. That’s about a 33% increase. It appeared to be oversized given a higher page count, but it wasn’t really—there were only 22 story pages, with the extra pages devoted to a heavily illustrated, seven-page interview with Bendis.
By now I assume you’ve heard about the recent investor’s conference in which Marvel’s general counsel quite candidly explained that the decision to raise the price of certain books an extra dollar was simply a matter of the company wanting to make more money, and charging more for the same product was the easiest way to do that (I’m paraphrasing a bit, obviously).
As a consumer, I find that pretty irritating, but only in an abstract way, as $2.99 is my personal limit for 22-pages of comics. For the most part, the increases have been on books I’m uninterested in personally, and, if books I am interested in do carry the higher price tag, I know they’ll all eventually end up in trade paperbacks that I’ll get for free from a library.
As someone who cares about the industry and spends a lot of time thinking and writing about it, I find it rather heartbreaking that the industry leader is deciding on a strategy of getting more out of the same customers instead of trying to increase customers (Not that the they can’t do both, but if you’re successful enough at the latter, you don’t even need to do the former). Like a lot of the business moves the direct market’s two biggest players have engaged in over the last few years, it’s a strategy that looks to succeed in the short-term while risking the long-term.
That’s kind of scary. If I were a retailer, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night.
Thus far, Marvel has apparently just been testing the waters with their $3.99-for-22-pages books. First it was just Marvel Knights and Marvel Max books and Secret Invasion. Then it was all non-Marvel Adventures miniseries and one-shots, and Hulk, New Avengers, Thor and Dark Avengers (three of those are by either Bendis or Loeb, two of the most notorious “decompressors,” which make them odd candidates for a $3.99 price tag).
This was the first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man that cost the extra buck. Those goofy titled Requiem books will both be $3.99 too. And, according to Marvel’s August solicits, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 will cost $3.99 for a 32-page comic book (usually, that means 22 pages of comic, ten pages of ads). Likewise, Ultimate Comics The Avengers #1 will cost $3.99 for 32 pages.
Now that, that’s disappointing. The Ultimate line was supposed to be Marvel’s gateway comics, the low-pain, easy way in for new readers and would-be Marvel fans. But when they get new #1 issues and a slight re-branding, they will be at a higher, harsher price point?
If you’re a kid who digs the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon so much, or a grown-up who quit reading comics when you discovered girls but liked Iron Man II so much you want to see what comics are like these days and wander into a comic shop, the Ultimate Comics books would seem like an ideal place to start, but are you really going to want to spend $4 a month? Granted, it’s not too much different than $3 a month, but why on earth would Marvel want to make the comics specifically designed for newcomers ones that they sell at their less appealing price point?
Marvel has managed to keep their kids comics at $2.99, and the trade collections of the same cheap digests. One would hope they would do the same with the relatively few other comics they publish that might appeal to people who don’t already spend a $20 bill or more at their local comic shop every Wednesday.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I’ve only kept up with USM sporadically, mostly by reading the collections, after the first year or so. That’s not because I didn’t think it was a great book, but just because Spider-Man in general never appealed that much to me and because Bendis was specifically writing for the trade with this series.
I think USM is probably the second best series Bendis has ever worked on (after Powers) specifically because there was little editorial interference or mandate. The weakest stories were the ones that tied directly into other titles, like Ultimate Secret Six.
Having said ALL that, if USM’s first goal was to make an easy entry point into Spider-Man’s mythos, it’s kind of difficult to do that with 10 years of story. If I were to give the last issues before the Ultimatum crossover to my nieces or nephews to read, how easy would it be for them to understand what’s going on?
While I’m sure the new series will just be introducing a new status quo to the character, it may be warranted.
As far as the final issue kind-of-cliffhanger-kind-of-bookend ending… well, what do you expect? Over at DC, I don’t think I’ve read a mini or regular series that actually finished a story in the final issue in years. Everything’s open ended, because the publisher wants you to buy that next #1 issue.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:28 am
That’s bizarre. Even the 3 times Flash has been canceled in the middle of a big crisis event (COIE, Countdown, Final Crisis), they’ve given the character a self-contained send-off of sorts in his own series.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Wow… I’ve read a few of the Ultimate Spidey trades, kinda liked them, but never followed through on collecting them. Now, I’m simply not going to bother. They really killed him off? Then again, it sounds like that whole Ulitmate universe turned into one big clusterfuck worthy of Dan Didio’s handiwork, so killing that Spidey off may have been for the best anyhow. Kill that whole damned universe off with a big mushroom cloud, since they’ve been slowly killing it over time anyhow. Your own fault, Marvel.
I really enjoyed the Ultimate X-Men trades I’ve read too. I’d given serious thought to collecting those, but I never did given all the bad press I’d read about the various crossovers and crap… The very stuff the Ultimate line WASN’T supposed to be. Too bad, ‘cuz it was a nice idea.
As for Marvel’s pricing strategy, I’m going to have drop their titles and wait for the trades soon. It pains me to drop Captain America and Iron Man, but it’s coming soon. I’m going to try to find a good jumping off point for New Avengers too. Bummer, as I’ve generally enjoyed all of those books the past few years (esp. Cap). Trades are just the better deal, so be it.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I’ve loved just about the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man. Sure, there were a few bumps along the way, but for the most part Ultimate Spider-Man has been THE Spider-Man for me. It’s also been the last regular Marvel comic I’ve been reading. At the comic store yesterday, I flipped through issue #133 and saw the un-end where Spidey just flat out disappears. Everybody knows he’s not dead, it’s just a cliffhanger to draw us all into Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, or whatever it’s called. I promptly put the issue back on the shelf and walked away. The $4 price tag didn’t even factor into that decision. I don’t remember if there was a storyline between the end of the Ultimate Clone Saga and this Ultimatum stuff, but I think that’s as good a place as any for me to consider the end of the series, and my jumping-off point. Thank you Bendis, Bagley and Immonen for a mostly stellar run on Ultimate Spider-Man, but I’m out. Marvel’s decisions regarding their characters have been so bad these last few years that I don’t recognize the Marvel Universe anymore and so I’m done. Call me when MY Marvel Universe returns and I’ll think about coming back.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Why do you people complain so much? Why? You call yourselves comic book fans? God! Your ridiculous. Who cares if some books are $4. Sorry the artists can’t crank out more than 22 pages a month. Get over it. Seriously.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:53 am
“[Ultimatum's] everything the Ultimate line was supposed to not be. Not only is it a line-wide crossover, but it actually ties-in to the other books, usurping their storylines.”
The series’ main, overarching “villain” - Nick Fury - was snatched out of the title thanks to another crossover: Ultimate Power. Hardly a word of explanation. He goes off to live with the ersatz Justice League, and that’s that. Vic Mackie moves to Orange County, but it’s okay, dude! Ronnie Gardocki is JUST as morally ambiguous as Vic! Keep reading! Oh GOD, keep reading!
The series was brilliant in so many ways, and flawed in others - often revolving around the same plot points (the “ticking clock” plot kicked off at the end of #25? Not even questioned until ~#105) - but ultimately (AHAHAHA), it was just another stupid superhero comic, utterly subservient to and a distant second thought behind the Next Stupid Crossover.
Learn the lesson. Don’t think for a minute that the relaunch will change this. The occasional thrown bone of a standalone character study won’t ameliorate the pain of having to wade through five months of derailed plots and other people’s bad ideas.
//\Oo/\\
(I watched three series of that show and still had to look up Ronnie’s name)
June 4th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Clark, do you work for Marvel or something. You’d think by the way you reactin’ you got some stake against fans believing four dollars an issue is too much. Only quality comics deserve our money, which doesn’t grow on trees. And even then, four dollars is pushing it. But I sure wish I was Clark. So many damn poor fans!
June 4th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I have left Dark Reign: Elektra, Dark Reign: The Hood, and Dark Reign: Hawkeye on the shelf just for the sheer fact that they were $3.99 a piece. And, I wanted to get them.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
To be fair, while I have yet to read either issue, I would assume that Ultimate Spidey’s death (if he is indeed dead) occurred in Ultimatum #4 or the upcoming #5. That would be a huge moment in a crossover and, again I assume, Marvel would want it to happen in the main crossover series and not a tie-in book.
Either way, I’m not impressed yet by the direction the Ultimate universe is headed towards. Bendis and Millar have some major hurtles to jump before the bad taste of recent ‘events’ is gone.
SL
June 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
well clark, why do you care so much about people being upset with a 33% price increase. Especially since comics are a luxury, but i guess you have plenty of free time and money to buy every comic available and to whine about people whining online. Perhaps you should get over your inflated view of yourself.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
By the way, SPOILER, there was no body for Peter found. And it was a magical explosion. What do you want to bet Mephisto and Quesda are laughing hysterically at us, sharing a brandy, because they hit Spidey with the magics…again. Would not put it past them. Jerks.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
One of these days I’m going to have to write that dissertation about to demand quality from any business we’re giving our money to.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Crap. Let’s try that again:
“One of these days I’m going to have to write that dissertation about WHY IT’S IMPORTANT to demand quality from any business we’re giving our money to.”
There. That’s better.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The Ultimate line hasn’t been a new readers gateway for years, if it ever was–that went out the window with double-digit issue numbers. Still, it’s sad to see the fact that the creative talent involved with it can apparently think of no better way to differentiate it fromthe mainstream line than wholesale destruction and killing dozens of characters. Go team 90s!
June 4th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Clark said “Why do you people complain so much? Why? You call yourselves comic book fans? God! Your ridiculous. Who cares if some books are $4. Sorry the artists can’t crank out more than 22 pages a month. Get over it. Seriously.”
Clark, why do YOU complain so much about what other people think? You think the only opinion that matters is yours? Now THAT’S ridiculous! People have a right to their opinions, and their free speech. Berating people over not liking Marvel’s (admitted) cash grab in a time where the economy’s in the shitter. Get over it. Seriously.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Thunderbolts still rock @$2.99!
June 4th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Let’s not bury Ultimate Spider-Man but praise it (with the caveat that I never needed to buy a single issue, between early free online comics from Marvel.com and the tendency of every library in the NY area to carry either the trades or the floppies)…
I was among the skeptics. The idea didn’t sit right at all…it will be too hip, I thought, it will just be another teen hero and Spider-Man. And why Bendis (whose other work has never grabbed me)? I gave it a year.
And at first, I wasn’t really won over. The decompressed storytelling was not my thing. Where was the radioactive spider? Who were these people calling themselves Aunt May and Uncle Ben? There was one thing, though, that was right immediately: Peter Parker. Nerdy, bright, funny, shy, well-meaning, small, young, and above anything else responsible. BMB took what made Peter Parker great in 1962 and 1972 and 1992 and built everything else around that. (I think, BTW, that the problem with the current BND stories is that the Spidey there is less responsible than just a funny loser with bad luck. I will take the USM version any day.)
In time I got used to the decompression - it suited this book when it still rarely worked elsewhere. I got used to a younger (and even tougher) May Parker, to the travails of this Peter’s life, to new versions of old villains (some great, some not so great). I of course came to appreciate Bagley’s light touch. And even when the stories weren’t perfect - sometimes BMB came up short when telling old stories in a new way - they were fun. That was this comic’s secret: the writer who was gaining acclaim for dark, gritty tales in Alias and Daredevil was writing one of the few fun comics on the market.
It’s a shame that editorial mandate and price hikes make whatever is coming next sound less appealing. It’s a shame that a comic that ran 133 issues and that was always on time (even during when it was on the racks 18 times a year) is being ended not because it’s reached a natural end but because We Need a New Number One. And it’s a shame that no one higher up seems willing to trust this book to be what it was for years: popular, entertaining, fun, and smart.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
What a SPOT-ON, PERFECT synopsis of how a great idea went bad. The first 50 issues of Ultimate Spidey, Millar’s Ultimates and the first arcs on Ultimate X-Men and FF, respectively, were spectacular comic books. Then, the high concepts and fresh ideas were swiftly abandoned in favor of ‘Ultimatizing’ nearly every mainstream Marvel Universe character and storyline. Save the brilliant Ultimate Galactus miniseries, nearly the entire rest of the line became stale and uninteresting.
I’m refusing to buy $3.99 Marvel books, on principle alone. A 33% price hike is unprecedented and unjustified.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
very disappointed with this! so will the title be ultimate Spider-Woman because it seems peter may be dead! or perhaps we get a fable 2 and she drinks a potion and becomes a boy LOL!
June 4th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Ultimate Spider-Man was at one point my favorite book. it was a well written book on a consistent basis.
And 133 is a joke. Come one! $3.99 for a book WITH NO DIALOGUE!?!?!?! REALLY?
Honestly, i think Marvel should have ended the Ultimate line. it served it’s purpose a few years ago getting new readers in comics.
What happened you ask? all the ultimate readers moved on to the regular marvel line.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I agree completely with the original article and that the poster Clark is a tool.
I wrote something very similar on marvel’s ultimate board:
http://tinyurl.com/oc7hlr
June 4th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I like the Ultimate line and I want it back. I blame the ruination of the ultimate line on Queseda and Loeb. That’s why they’re bringing Millar back to fix everything.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Just finished “reading” the issue. It took me probably less than two minutes. What a rip-off!
There was absolutely no need for this comic to be silent, unless Bendis was just phoning it in that month. Almost HALF of this book are panels of Kitty or Spider-Girl looking around frantically for Spider-Man. That’s not worthy of a silent panel, that’s just boring storytelling. The entire “story” of this issue could have been told in the last two pages when they show up at Aunt May’s house with Spidey’s mask in hand. I mean really, there’s non-endings and then there’s this.
I just paid $4 for NOTHING. There was absolutely no entertainment value in this whatsoever. It was simply pictures, with barely any story between them. Just random fights, random rescuing, random searching, etc.
Also, about the price hike, does anyone think Marvel is doing this to kill off monthlies? Its just a hunch I have, but so many people talk about the price hike and say they’re going to switch to trade paperback format. The trades have a much wider market base as they are sold in everything from book stores to retail chains, while monthlies are pretty much comic shops and magazine racks (if you’re lucky). Plus almost every story Marvel puts out now is done as a 4-5 issue arc, making them prime for trade collection. I’m starting to think the price hike is to get the fans off the monthlies so they can start making them disappear. Just a theory.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I just read that the Ultimates line will be $3.99. Looks like more Marvel titles will need to be cancelled.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Wow. I haven’t bought it yet (will have to since its on my lLCS list) but thanks for the heads up on such a crappy issue. I’m surprised that bendis disappoints this time.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Marvel (Queseda et al.) should study the GM/Chysler fiasco before they jack up their prices like they are. No company is invunerable.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
jus buy em @ a con for .50 cents a pop or a trade for half off or less. there r ways 2 get ur comics w/o goin broke.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
USM was the most Awsome Spidy book of the decade, tied with JMS is Amazing (which would have been better if a certian EIC would not have made him do stupid things, but from a buisness perspective I can understand why the EIC had to do what he had to do. Still USM was FAR BETTER than the CRAP that Ultimate X-MEN, Ultimate F4, and The Ultimates became! Thats for sure!
June 4th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
“And, according to Marvel’s August solicits, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 will cost $3.99…”
It’s possible that just the first issue will be $4, then it will go down to $3 with #2. Deadpool’s up-coming second series is starting like that. #1 is $3.99, but #2 is $2.99.
June 4th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
For me the problem is not much the 3.99 price BUT the increase in titles. Aside from the increase in price Marvel also has increased the number of titles they released each month. Many are mini series that are Tie-ins to Dark Reing. Most of these are 3.99 even of those minis were at 2.99 the monthly comic bill would have already increased. So those 2 factor (in my case) made me not pick up many new minis (mostly the increase in titles). I cannot afford so many titles and the price increase does not help.
Also someone remember that when the Ultimate line started and since it was so succesful there was a rumor that maybe the normal marvel universe would be cancelled?
June 4th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Awesome article. You nailed the beef I had with the Ultimate line and you made me explicitly aware of other troublesome points.
I really hope someone from Marvel, without their eyes covered, reads this. It not only exemplifies the problems and reiterates what the Ultimate lines should be but it is clearly written.
Kudos. They should make mine Marvel.
June 4th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I got into comics through the ultimate titles- USM and UXM- for the very reasons that the line was started for. (Well, I followed Daredevil too, because I came on just wehn Bendis was starting his run and it was a good jumping on point). I’ve sence become a huge comic nerd and follow both Marvel and DC, but the Ultimate universe always had a special place for me and I’ve always really enjoyed it, even when they’ve fumbled things. I’ve followed USM from the beginning. I collect the series in trade but I do follow it monthly, usually online, because singles are just too damn expensive and hard to keep up with from an organizational/collection standpoint. Especially with the new price point. Buy a trade that collects all the issues of a story line and sometimes extra content and you end up paying less than you would buying the single issues- plus trades are easier to read and fit nicely on a bookshelf. No boxes needed!
But I digress… USM, as J.C. mentioned, has been the most consistent (both time and quality-wise) title I read for the last decade. It’s a shame that it had to end the way it did. Yes, I read the last issue. Yes, it was a really crappy end to an otherwise awesome series and I’m extremely disappointed. If Peter really is dead, then I won’t be following the Ultimate titles- any of them- from here on out. I’m normally not “that guy” that just bans entire lines because of a few bad decisions, but in this case ending USM and Ultimate Peter the way they did will be a deal breaker. Not to mention the decision to let Jeph Loeb anywhere near the universe. Not to be a jerk, but the man hasn’t written a decent thing since his Hush run. Instead he’s butchered just about everything else he’s had his hands on. (The aforementioned Ultimates 3, as an example.)
June 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
The $3.99 price point is a killer, especially given the decompressed storytelling in modern comics. I just don’t get enough entertainment bang for the buck out of today’s comics. I’ve been reading and collecting for more than 30 years, and this latest price hike is the first time I’ve ever dropped titles because of cover price. And if Marvel can shake someone as addicted to the monthly fix as me out of the habit, that doesn’t bode well for the future of the “floppy” format — or the industry as a whole.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
This is one of the best articles I’ve read on Newsarama. Very good, well-reasoned look at a great title that was woefully mistreated by Marvel in the last few months.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’ve never read an issue of Ultimate anything, so I can’t really weigh in on the content of this issue…
However, I agree completely with the price hike on certain books. I don’t get why Marvel can’t do for their All Ages books what DC has done for their Johnny DC line…print them on the cheaper quality paper and charge $2.25 or $2.50 per issue. This would be ideal for the Marvel Adventures stuff. Now, don’t get me wrong, my son LOVES MA Avengers and MA Spider-Man, but I’m surprised they haven’t ditched those series to do monthly adaptations of “The Spectacular Spider-Man”, “Wolverine & The X-Men”, and “Iron Man: Armored Adventures” cartoons.
Even 20 years ago when Marvel raised the prices of certain titles to $1.75 when most of the others were $1.25, I wondered (even as a 10 year old kid, I wondered…) why Marvel didn’t raise the price of the books they KNEW they were gonna sell tons of (Spider-Man, X-Men, Wolverine, etc.) and keep the lower price point for the “underdog” books. I would think that would be more incentive for a reader to pick up something new if it was priced lower than the big books, and Marvel would still get their money cause you know there are legions of fans that will buy Spidey, X-Men, and Wolvie no matter what.
June 4th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I felt just as robbed as everyone else. The price hike alone is driving me nuts. At least DC is offering backup stories to their $3.99 titles. But $3.99 for their Wednesday Comics?! A normal paper costs $0.75 - $1.25 (depending where you live). Basically, Marvel and DC big wigs have their collective heads up their asses to the point that they do not even notice the damage they are doing to us and themselves. Like GM and the auto industry, its time to gut the idiots and get some new blood in this place. People who care about the fans and what they want, not whats in their wallets.
Mr. Q
June 4th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Rwe1138, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #1 is 3.99 because it also contains a reprint of Deadpool (1996) #4.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I am so glad I didn’t pay for this comic - it was a complete waste and spat in the face of the 132 issues that came before it.
The reviewer was 100% spot on.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Long time reader, first time poster to these blog articles.
I collect USM in trades only.
I have to say that this is the most thought-out article I’ve read on Newsarama for a while.
Well done, Mr. J (sorry, I don’t know your first name).
June 4th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Ultimate Spiderman Vol. 6: Venom got me into comics.
It was a few years ago, I was 15 or so, and I caught a glimpse of this at my local library. I had never really read many comics before, and hadn’t even realized the library carried them before that day. I had a vague idea of who Venom was from the old TV show, and decided to pick it up on a whim.
I was floored by the comic. It felt real, funny, and enjoyable; I could sympathize with Peter Parker like no character I’d ever read in a book. The art was kinetic, and told the story without getting too confusing. I must have read that thing two or three times the day I got it. I immediately went back to the library to request every comic I could find with ‘Ultimate’ in the title. I liked them all, but I loved Ultimate Spidey. From re-imaginings of villians I recognized to those I’d never heard of, from the intricacies of Peter’s home life to his circle of school friends, I loved it all. Those books quite possibly changed my life.
It’s been a few years now, and I’ve collected a LOT of trades. I’ve got almost every Ultimate book out there, plenty of mainstream Marvel, DC, and all the rest, but Ultimate Spider-man will always hold a special place in my heart. I really can’t believe it’s ending, and hope that the new start will maintain the quality of the title that came before. Goodbye, Ultimate Spider-Man. It’s been a great ride.
P.S. By the way, If Brian Bendis ever reads these boards, which I doubt, I just want to say thank you to him for all the hard work he’s put into this title. I may not love everything else you do, but this is just perfect
June 5th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Wow. Reading that synopsis makes me glad I dropped my Marvel books a few months back.
Everything in the mainline Marvel books is a crossover. Everything in the Ultimate line is a crossover being run by Loeb (Which one is worse is up to the individual.)
The minute I heard that Loeb was being given the reins on the Ultimates line, it was time to go away. I know I sound like a terrible person for saying it, but he hasn’t written a decent thing since his son died. I feel bad for the guy, but he needs to take some time off instead of continuing to destroy the goodwill he built with readers with books like Long Halloween and his initial Superman run.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:28 am
“Clark Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Why do you people complain so much? Why? You call yourselves comic book fans? God! Your ridiculous. Who cares if some books are $4. Sorry the artists can’t crank out more than 22 pages a month. Get over it. Seriously.”
Yea, many of us are getting over it. So over it that we arent buying the books anymore.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:44 am
The Ultimate line was born out of Marvel thinking the comics were too inaccessible at the time of the first X-Men movie in 2000.
It’s not the same anymore. Since then the Ultimate Line has became silly and unnecessary.
plus, the sales of Ulimate Spidey tanked after Bagley left making it obvious he was the real star of the title and never got the credit he deserved.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:51 am
well said Caleb! Well said, indeed! You’ve touched on all the reasons I think Ultimate universe went bad, and all the reasons why Ultimate Spidey never faltered. I read the last issue on scans, i was disappointed enough as it was without realising it was a 3.99 price tag. how ridiculous
June 5th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Solid article. And I can sympathize with a lot of folks here who are upset with the current state of the Ultimate line. I hate to be one of these people who pins the blame on just one person, but I think the lion’s share of the blame lies with Jeph Loeb. His ULTIMATES 3 was fun to read as it came out, mainly because of the Joe Mad art (and personally I loved the evolution of Ultimate Hawkeye), but in hindsight it took the cast and series in the wrong direction. His ULTIMATE HULK ANNUAL was just too over the top and gratuitous (the ULTIMATE CAP ANNUAL was a little better, barely entertaining). And ULTIMATUM has been a major disappointment. I really don’t get the point of it. Are they killing all of these character just to bring them back? That goes against so much of what the Ultimate Universe has been about: when big changes and shake-ups happen, they are supposed to stick and they are supposed to mean something. If they aren’t bringing these dead characters back, then what was the point? There was a lot of potential wasted in the space of just a few issues. Makes no sense at all. Also, as far as I know, Loeb brought in the two guys who took over the writing chores on ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR and ULTIMATE X-MEN. Other than the UFF/UXM ANNUAL crossover, their work on the books has been horrendous. The best thing Marvel can do for itself is to get Jeph Loeb as far away from the Ultimate books as possible. Look at HEROES. As soon as Loeb was gone from that show, the quality level soared through the roof again. I don’t think that’s by accident.
This is a shame, really. The “Legacy” arc of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN is what made me come back to Marvel for certain in this decade. I had been picking up some Marvel books here and there, but “Legacy” was the one that made me say “I’m a kid again, and DC can piss off”. I think the best thing I can do is, despite enjoying many of the issues Stuart Immonen drew, look at ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN as having ended when Mark Bagley left. I’ll apply the same to UFF with Mike Carey and Pasqual Ferry’s last arc, BKV’s last on UXM (sorry, Kirkman did not live up to his potential), and Millar and Hitch’s ULTIMATES 2.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:59 am
so what, you want to be happy when a character dies? spiderman dies, you’re unhappy. thats the idea dudes.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Clark Says:
June 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
“Why do you people complain so much? Why? You call yourselves comic book fans?”
Who are you calling “you people”?
June 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am
A concise, lucid review. While I think USM stopped being well written around #30 or so, I agree that it certainly was consistent and well run.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. It is such a terrible shame to see how far this line has fallen in so short a time - and for no good reason.
June 6th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Does anyone know if this will be part of the USM oversize hardcover collection? Do you know when?
June 6th, 2009 at 7:32 am
“Also, about the price hike, does anyone think Marvel is doing this to kill off monthlies?”
You also see this ULTIMATE plan brewing in Marvel’s dark cauldron.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
sigh…thx for the memories….and now it official I have no more spidey books to pick up….
June 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Marvel has continuely shot itself in the foot in the past few years regardings some of it’s books. They have a good thing going with some of the Ultimate books, so they destroy the two of them that were the most popular (Spider-man and the Ultimates). Especially considering the fact that they destroyed Amazing and it has 0 credibility as a book now the alternative reading is gone. Q has been… I mean ‘who’ has been coming up with these ideas? None of them make sense in either line: THor shows up, it’s not Thor. Captain Marvel comes back, it’s not Captain Marvel. Resurrected Spider-man’s identity is revealed, it’s didn’t happen and wasn’t much a story to begin with. Ultimates 3 where they hire Joe Mad back from Video Game Land and then have his artwork buried beneath Digital Coloring… and then there’s the awful story. I’m not trying to be mean, but that was really awful.
Bye, Ultimate Line.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
This is a great analysis of the whole Ultimate debacle. Now that I think of it, I wonder if Mr. Bendis was making a statement about Marvel with his “ending.” Probably not, but one might like to think he was flipping someone the bird (and not the fans.) Excepting this last arc which was pretty poor (yes, I’m being nice) he did a fantastic job with the book and I’m still looking forward to reading this next Ultimate Spider-Man series, although I might not buy it right away. I’ll still check out anything Mr. Bendis writes in the future.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Very nice summation of the Ultiverse. I agree 100%!
As one of the very few (the only one locally) who purchased *all* the Ultimate titles I felt very slapped in the face with the “final” issue of USM! Not being a fan of Immonen’s work it was especially disappointing for me and then I saw the price tag! When I complained the Manager of the store said “but you get a series synopsis in the back for your extra buck”. OK, I said, but I have those issues so it’s *still* wasted money/space for me. Then I get home, “read” the issue (another waste of 2 minutes - would it have killed Bendis to put dialog in those places where it felt missing? - was this his way of protesting the way USM “ended”?), and discover the “synopsis” is really an interview that’s *already been published online for FREE*!!! I’m still fuming…
I’ll purchase the 2 requiem books for no other reason than to complete the original run but then I’m done with the Ultimate line. That’ll leave 2 $3.99 Marvel titles in my file for now… but even those are on the short list because of the price increase.
To “Clark” telling us to “get over it”… I have a limited budget for comics, as do 99% of the people I know who read comics. A price increase, no matter how small, forces me to take stock of what I’m reading and why. What typically happens is that I drop the higher priced “superhero” book(s) because they’ve lost my interest and frequently were being purchased out of habit. The 33% increase from Marvell is outrageous in my eyes and reason enough to send a big “up yours” with my lack of purchases of those books! With the way both Marvell and DC are ruining entire lines and the price hikes from both companies the indies are getting more and more of my business.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
i find that ended the ultimate spider man comics is bad. I loved ultimate spider man, it was the only comic book i read seriously. Can someone please tell me what happened in issue #133? In really liked ultimate spider man comics and thought they were the best. wHy did immonen end the sereis?