Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility

"Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1: Power & Responsibility" is an amazing reboot from the amazing mind of Brian Michael Bendis. Whether if you're an old school fan or someone who is looking to get into comics, this is the best of the bunch for you to dive right into. No tie-ins, no backstory needed to understand what is going on, no to anything requires you know anything before hand, it's all starting at zero and climbing up from there. For those of you who don't know, this is the comic series that not only jump-started the Ultimate Universe but saved Marvel Comics during a very dark time, plus helped get the first live-action Spider-Man movie off the ground. So much respect is deserving towards this series because without it... who knows where Marvel as a whole would be. We probably wouldn't have the MCU if not for this series. But anyway, long story made short, Marvel was in big financial trouble from the 1990s to the early 2000s, forcing them to sell off movie rights (Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, and X-Men) and take a risk in rebooting Spider-Man by bringing in Brian Michael Bendis to write, while Mark Bagley did the artwork. And the rest is history! I promise that there will not be any spoilers, although that's not necessary as I am sure a good majority of you know how it will go with these first 7 issues that are collected in this, but it will spoiler-free regardless. One thing I absolutely love about this volume is how it takes it time to set so much up. For all 7 issues, this is just the origin story of Peter Parker and his journey towards becoming Spider-Man. And yeah, I know we are all sick of hearing the origin (probably a close 2nd behind Batman's), but you have to understand that this was made in the year 2000. By that point, there were no movies. And the only run was the main 616-universe, which only had a few pages dedicated to the origin of Spider-Man. If anything, this started the trend of overusing the origin story. This series literally takes a couple of issues to build up towards the first appearance of Spider-Man, while building up Peter as a character. And speaking of which, I like the characters a lot. Ben and May Parker are amazingly done in this volume. We get to spend time with Ben and witness his relationship with Peter. And May is not treated like an 80-year-old woman in this version. Mary Jane is also revamped in a way that makes a lot more sense. Yes, she is beautiful, but she has an intelligence and friendship with Peter that allows for their romance to flow very well. But that being said, I do have a problem with certain other characters like Flash, Kenny, and even Harry Osborne for being too one-dimensional, even if it was because they wished to give more time to the other characters. The changes done are very smart ones. Instead of radiation being the source of Peter's powers, it's now genetic experimentation. Instead of Norman being an insane guy in a goblin costume on a glider, he's a Hyde-like-goblin-monster. But the best change is how more realistic this version of Spider-Man is. This Peter Parker faces real problems that don't come off as too soup-opera-ish. He isn't saving the world like his 616 counterpart is, but he's still saving lives in ways that make him feel like a low-level superhero as opposed to taking on real threats like Thanos or Galactus. And above all else, he feels far more human. And that's about it for all that I can talk about without spoiling the comic. I highly recommend this to the 100%! I also recommend this as a gift for the kids, although physical copy will be a little hard to come by. But regardless, this is an amazing comic series that deserves to be read.

Mr.Bendis's Ultimate game on Spider-Man is what really sold me on the comic. This take is a distillation of the previous 40-something years of the Webbed Wall-Crawler, and I really think it did the character & world building justice. This is my favourite telling of the " over-all" Spider-Man story. I think it's a great one to start discovering the character.

This is a wonderful reimagining of Spiderman, it updates the story and handles all the elements of the plot in an entertaining way. The artwork is fantastic and the dialogue is great. I have read various versions of Spiderman graphic novels and this is one of the very best. I give this 2 thumbs up and I will be going to find the next compilation in the series to see what happens next.

This is part of childhood. I adored these comics! 😍I need the rest on here I can’t wait to read the rest of the series

Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 1: Power and Responsibility ( Issues 1-7) This series written by Brian Michael Bendis with artwork by Mark Bagley technically started the Ultimate Marvel universe if I am not mistaken. Since its debut, Ultimate Spiderman has become one of the most influential takes on Spider-Man in recent years. Bendis takes the story of Peter Parker, which hasn’t been revisited to my knowledge since the 1960s and reintroduces him into a world that closely resembles our own and is grounded in our own reality. This means that Peter is very much a product of the early 2000s and deals with concerns and struggles of young adults in a modern setting, which differ from the 1960s in most cases. Peter doesn’t differ too much from his mainstream Marvel universe counterpart. He has feelings for Mary Jane, but it isn’t something that dominates his life. Aunt May and Uncle Ben are pretty much the same figures that we are familiar with, but Uncle Ben seems to have a more prominent role as a father figure to Peter than what he appeared to be in the main stream universe. Bendis perfectly captures the feelings and struggles of a teenager in high school and the angst and raging changes that young adults go through. Obviously, this experience differs from person to person, but Bendis makes it a very prominent force in his run on Spider-Man. Mary Jane differs from her original counterpart as she is very smart and similar to Peter, which she was not in the main stream Marvel universe, initially. She had aspirations of becoming an actress, in the Ultimate Universe she appears to be just as bright as Peter and could pursue careers in the fields of science, more likely. There are plenty of subtle nods to some of the major figures in the Spider-Man mythos throughout the comic and Bendis leaves plenty of plot threads open to explore in further story arcs down the line. Norman Osborn is featured in this story arc as well and he is much more menacing and conniving than he has been in some of his iterations in the past, especially since his inception. My only complaint is that I didn’t really like the Green Goblin in this universe. He is a monster both figuratively and literally, yes, but that’s one of the intriguing things about Norman is that he executes most of the Goblin’s plans himself, but instead he is turned into a giant green demon who can control fire……. yeah, that doesn’t really match up with the Green Goblin. But I do like that most of the prominent figures/ teams in the Ultimate Marvel universe are tied back to the Super Soldier Serum and Captain America and Spider-Man is no different. Mark Bagley’s artwork is very good. I enjoy it throughout his entire run on Spider-Man. Sometimes, I think, when he draws a closeup of a character he puts maybe too much emphasis on the eyes and it appears that they are crying. But besides that, his artwork is amazing and any other artwork that enters the Ultimate Spider-Man line sticks out like a sore thumb and throws off the series. Overall, this is one of my favorite iterations of Spider-Man, very grounded, very human and it is a compelling run to follow.

Excelente

This a good book

What is the point with super heroes comics? More: what is the point with Stan Lee's super heroes? Take, for instance, Spider Man. Created 40 years ago the caracter still remains as fresh today as at the ocasion of his debut. Want some proof? Take the new retelling of the webslinger launched at the middle of the last year. Despite his great talent for dialogue and plotting, Mr. Brian Michael Bendis, the new writer of the now called "Ultimate" Spider Man , doesn't need to change nothing on young Peter Parker and his secret identity. The only changes refer to updating 1960's to a new millenium, i.e., welcome computers and celular phones, bye remingtons and walkie talkies. But don't fool yourselves. Mr. Bendis is a real gifted writer, and although he has a perfect and established caracter to play with, he ads new nuances to old friends and foes of Spiderman/Peter Parker. Take for instance Norman Osborn, a.k.a. Green Goblin, and his son, Harry. The classic ones were archetypes of the distant father and the troubled son. Now, in our more complex times, we had a father that doesn't seem even to recognize the existence of his son, and a son that, although had problems with that, seems to be satisfied only with the dad's money. Another goal here is the lenght of this retelling. Where Lee has only 20 pages to tell the origin and establish his character, Brian has more than 170. So we have more details, more pacing, more suspense and deep characterization. It is an Spider Man with more space to remember the old fans of what is a real super hero character, and to show the new ones of which stuff legends are made.

You know what you are reading every time you read an origin story! Still it’s amazing to read in a new spiderverse

I am a big fan of DC comics and their characters. I mainly follow the stories of Batman,Superman and the Justice League of America. I have never really got into Marvel at all, but have been a fan of the Spiderman films, and then my girlfriend started to tell me all about the sub-plots of the characters, so i decided to give this volume a whirl, figuring that if i didn't like it, it was no great shakes. I have to say that i was really surprised bu the quality of the story-telling, sub-plots, background, characterisation and of course, the art-work. This volume deals with the origins of Spiderman, and although I believe it isn't quite the original version that first came out all those years ago, i thought it was very well done. It follows elements from the first Spiderman film with the Goblin, Harry Osborn,Doc Ock, Mary Jane, Aunt May and Uncle Ben, but gives the story some real depth. We see Peter as a typical teenager, with built-in angst and struggles against authority whilst not being able to tell the girl he is attracted to how he feels about her. We see how he gets his powers, and how he strives to find his place in the world - what he should be doing with them, how best to use them etc... What i really liked was the pacing of the whole volume. It wasn't all about fighting and action sequences.It was punctuated by them, and not at the expense of the story or the characters. There is plent of smart humour in here too, and i liked that - it is something that other writers should take heed of. Sometimes a comic needs to have some fun too! I read through this volume in pretty much one go. And i bought the next few to keep me going!! There are a lot more to come, and i for one, will be adding them to my collection. I would recommend this volume to anyone who likes the films and wants to know more about Spiderman and all the other characters he meets. My girlfriend knows the original story-arc and says that for the die-hard Spidey fan these are excellent re-workings of those classic beginnings. So, i guess there is something here for everyone!Old and new fans alike! Finally, i have to say that this is one of the best graphic novels i have read in a long time.I am a huge DC fan, but have found their recent work to be a little hit and miss. Some of their works are too action heavy, or too serious, or under-developed or don't add anything to the great characters they have. This collection by Marvel outshines anything i have read by DC in a long, long time - and that probably goes right back to Kingdom Come by Alex Ross, which is about 10 years old now! I can't wait to read the next volumes in this series - excellent, one-sitting stuff!!!!!!

Read this many times. So good. I love this take on spider-man and the new spin on the character. 5 stars

Nice version to put on the shelf. I have always loved the series.

I always wanted to read it and now I want more. I Would always recommend newcomers this series insted of the new Spider-Man comics.