Getting Into Comics: Ultimate Spider-Man.
Avengers Endgame is the highest grossing movie of all time. Period. If you‘d asked me when I was a teenager if this was possible, I definitely would’ve given you an emphatic “no.” Two of the top five highest grossing movies of all time are based on comics: Infinity War and the aforementioned Endgame. Black Panther, Far From Home, and also Aquaman and Joker have all made $1B within the last two years. With this comic book movie hype at an all time high, the question I’ve gotten the most is “I want to read comics, how do I start?” I think the perfect answer, whether you’re a DC or Marvel fan, is with Ultimate Spider-Man.
When I was a kid, I absolutely LOVED reading. I still love it now, but its nowhere near as much as when I used to drag my dad to the library once a week. Every time we went, I’d stack my books high with Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Junie B. Jones and my absolute favorite, Ultimate Spider-Man. Ultimate Spider-Man is a series written by Brian Michael Bendis in an entirely different universe than the Peter Parker mostly everyone knows from TV shows and movies. This book’s purpose was to appeal to a younger audience of comic readers and give them an entry point into comics. So for me, a new comic book reader, it was absolutely perfect.
Yes, a radioactive spider on a field trip to OsCorp bit Peter Parker.
Yes, a robber killed Uncle Ben.
Yes, Peter and Harry Osborn are best friends.
Just about everything else about Ultimate Spider-Man is different. It focuses primarily on Peter’s high school years and the challenges he faces balancing school, his wild love life, and being Spider-Man in a city absolutely riddled with heroes and villains. Peter has to contend with the Green Goblin while also wrestling with a break up with Mary Jane, midterms while Wolverine has swapped bodies with him, and detention while a gang war breaks out in Chinatown!
Now why would I recommend Ultimate Spider-Man for first time comic readers? Since USM is primarily focused on newer readers, it assumes you know nothing about Spider-Man and walks you through its construction of an entirely new universe. There’s no required reading before you start USM, you can literally just pick up the first volume and go. Bendis does a great job of involving other heroes and villains as well. So while reading USM, it’s very easy to find other heroes/villains you’d be interested in reading. Peter has run ins with the Avengers (Ultimates), Nick Fury, Moon Knight, Daredevil, X-Men, Shang Chi, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones etc.
USM also introduces the character of Miles Morales towards the end of its original run. The event that gives birth to Miles set ripples throughout the entire Marvel universe. He became so beloved so fast that he was given a crossover event with the Peter from Earth-616 (regular Spider-Man).
Unfortunately, Ultimate Spider-Man ends when the Ultimate Universe ends due to Secret Wars. It’s thanks to this, though, that Miles Morales was brought into the 616 Universe with the rest of the heroes that we know and love. Ultimate Spider-Man is the premier Spider-Man comic, in my opinion. It has very relatable characters and very real stakes in every issue. You’ll find yourself laughing at Peter’s antics and feeling his pain when he goes through it, and trust me, he goes THROUGH IT.
You can find volumes of Ultimate Spider-Man on Amazon and InStockTrades for $11; I’ve linked both below. Feel free to read and shoot me a message somewhere if you do! I’m interested in knowing how other people feel about Ultimate Spider-Man.
InStockTrades (this actually collects the first three trades for a super steal): https://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Marvel/ULTIMATE-SPIDER-MAN-ULTIMATE-COLLECTION-TP-BOOK-01/JAN072434