Written Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Brooks
Published by Marvel Comics
As of this year, the Ultimate experiment has officially failed. No longer can the imprint pretend that it succeeded to bring new comics readers in droves, or cry out that its continuity is any less confusing and long-winded than the regular publications.
Of course, everybody else knew that anyway. Trying to bring new readers to comics by telling them that this version of Spiderman is totally different from the other version of Spiderman, even though they look exactly alike and have the exact same personality, was never going to work. The main reason non-readers don't buy comics is because of Spiderman and all his underwear-clad friends. The second reason was because the stories and art for their homoerotic adventures are not very good...fortunately, story and art have never been a problem for Ultimate Spiderman.
One of the things that has gladly gone away following the period when comic book sales dipped so badly in the late 90's was the "annual." Designed to cost more than a regular comic and usually poorly done by unpopular creators, "annuals" existed merely because compulsive collectors (which all regular comic readers end up becoming) felt forced to buy them, often because some minor plot development that occured in the annual becomes part of the regular series lore. When the Ultimate line of Marvel comics brought back the annual last year, it was surprising to find that each and every one was done so incredibly well: sought-after writers and artists doing extensive stories that stood independently from the regular series. Basically, Marvel gave people what they wanted: a comic book that stood alone from the series the characters were drawn from. It's refreshing to note that this tradition has continued into the second year. Ultimate Spiderman 2 is a rollicking good yarn, full of all the crazy action and toungue-in-cheek humour that has become the series trademark. Addressing everything from the need for low-rent heroes like Daredevil and Moon Knight to "team up" simply because they keep showing up at the same crime scenes and getting confused to the simple legality that when Spiderman catches a mugger and ties him to a lamppost the mugger is then set free--as no charges are pressed and Spiderman doesn't ever give the police a statement, the Annual was a joy from start to finish. Unlike every other comic that came out this week, which would require extensive explanation to a first-time reader, Ultimate Spiderman is a totally independent read that also succeeds in being pretty damn good. With three more annuals on the way in the coming months from various other series, there is some reason for excitement on the part of the regular comics buyer, and after the dismal failure of this summers past reads, that excitement is very much needed.
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