If this report from Bleeding Cool is to be believed, Marvel Comics has told retailers that something important is happening in this week’s Ultimate Spider-Man #157 and Ultimate Comics Avengers Vs. New Avengers #3… Something important enough to catch the attention of the mainstream media, with the story breaking as soon as tomorrow. As a result, BC says, both books have already sold out at the distributor level.
So, is this finally the much-heralded “death” of Ultimate Spider-Man? And if so, how long does anyone actually expect it to stick, considering (a) that they tried to same trick with Ultimatum and that lasted for two months, and (b) that Marvel has an Ultimate Spider-Man animated series launching later this year?
(My bet, not that anyone cares, is that this storyline will end the book, and maybe even the entire Ultimate line as we know it – Bagley’s return has to mean something beyond being nostalgic, right? – before a high-profile relaunch, possibly without Bendis as regular writer, in time for the cartoon’s debut in the fall. Let’s all see how wrong I am together, shall we?)
April 11th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Gee, two days notice for the retailers. That’s a lot of warning.
And yet another comic book story deemed news by whoever it is that deems the ephemera of pop culture newsworthy. Yawn.
All that said, this is one of two Marvel comics I currently love (the other being X-Factor). It’s a shame that Marvel isn’t content to let it be a stand-alone comic and let the rest of the Ultimate line fade away. (It’s worth noting that Ultimatum was such a hit that the massive damage to NYC was handwaved away so that Bendis could get back to telling his stories and nothing more. And no one was upset.)
April 11th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
As much as I’ve been a continued fan of the Ultimate universe over the years (even after it’s Loebotomy), I can’t imagine why anything about it would be mainstream newsworthy. Unless they just want to milk some dough out of those hapless civilians that hear the news and think it’s the death 616 Spidey.
April 11th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
“with the story being completely spoiled as soon as tomorrow.”
Fixed that for you.
April 11th, 2011 at 3:28 pm
Do you really think the general public will differentiate between Ultimate Spider-man and regular old Spider-man for the cartoon? I would think most people would just assume it’s a different name for a Spider-man cartoon that features the same guy they’ve always known as Spider-man. I don’t see how there would really be any added value in relaunching Ultimate Spider-man when the cartoon comes out, unless they were making it an all ages tie-in book.
The cartoon version of Spider-man will always be the ultimate version, or at least what the ultimate version was originally meant to be: accessible to non-comic book readers.