You Will Believe A Boy Can Climb Walls

By completely cutting away all the muck and goo that had been in place since the character's creation in 1962 (that includes the many loves, deaths, backstory, villian origins, idiotic plots, and time progression), writer Brian Michael Bendis (a writer who made his mark with a lot of mature comic titles like A.K.A. Goldfish, Jinx, Sam and Twitch, and Powers) and artist Mark Bagley (who worked on "new Marvel" titles like The New Warriors and Thunderbolts as well as becoming THE Amazing Spider-Man artist of the 90s) launched Ultimate Spider-Man in the fall of 2000, which basically brought the original concept about a teen who struggles to live life knowing he has a strange power that is both a blessing and a curse.

The hero is still Peter Parker and he still wears the best costume in comics today. Everything else has changed for the better, from his origin to his villians to the ladies in his life. Of course, if you didn't know that a popular crime fiction writer like Bendis wrote this, you would have sworn this was a comic from the mind of Kevin Williamson, minus the over-the-top references and dialogue that would go over the head of the target group. Peter Parker is the ultimate nerd with his basement lined with computers and a mini-lab that once belonged to his father. He's a genius, but because of peer pressure, he's very timid and keeps to himself. Mary-Jane Watson is transformed from a vapid airhead to a cutie brainiac with a secret crush on the kind-of-cute brainiac Peter Parker, not unlike Joey from Dawson's Creek. Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's first real love in the original comics who sadly met her demise in the 70s, is changed from a sweet girl to a rebelious party girl with a tender side, not unlike Jen from Dawson's Creek (keep your comments to yourself about my viewing habits; I just can't stand that damned theme song). Come to think of it, didn't the woman who played Aunt May in the movie also play Jen's grandmother on that series? Aunt May in the Ultimate Universe is a little more feisty and not so frail. These changes recently made it to her Marvel Universe counterpart.

The familiar Spider-Villians have also undergone some changes. Kraven's now a Crocodile Hunter-like nature show host. Venom, better known as Eddie Brock, who recently was introduced in the Ultimate Universe, is an old friend of Peter Parker, who was just a couple of years younger. Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, is more Hulk-like in his first appearances than the familiar madman in the regular Marvel Universe that he is. Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus's origins are closely related, and they both have something to do with Spider-Man's origin.

Don't be shocked or throw your fists in protest, Spider-Man still is bitten by a radioactive spider at a science field trip. Unlike the original origin as well as the later movie origin, Peter's reaction to the spider bite is quite hysterical, with him completely spazzing out and accidently tossing the spider in Mary-Jane's direction (when Peter revealed to MJ that he is Spider-Man, she actually gets jealous that she didn't get bitten so she could become Spider-Woman!). When he examines his DNA, he realizes that it has been changed. Of course, you realize that Peter is elated that he could climb walls, and you feel it. You feel the excitement in the stories. It's the best Ultimate Marvel comic out there, and it basically showcases what the Ultimate titles are supposed to be. Ultimate Spider-Man reintroduces the legendary character in a modern incarnation to a whole new audience as well making the character popular again, just in time for 2002's Spider-Man feature film, which found a lot of inspiration for the origin scenes in the first couple of issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, from the Flash/Peter fight scene to the relationship between Peter and Uncle Ben, which had never been seen in the original comics.

(Minor mini-rant . . . I read the original Amazing Fantasy comic that introduced Spider-Man, and I don't remember Uncle Ben telling Peter Parker the whole "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" line. That was Stan Lee who wrote it in a box, but if I'm wrong, you know where you can correct me)