Ultimate Spider-Man #1 Reinvents the Wall-Crawler for a New Era

Spoilers ahead for Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #1.

When I read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 for the first time, I sat there looking at my iPad, laser focused, unaware of the world around me as I fully got absorbed into all of it, all 44 pages of it. Once I finished reading it, I jumped from my chair as it fell to the ground, and shouted,

“YES!”

Then I had to pace around for about fifteen minutes as I processed the issue and took it all in.

It’s an understatement to say people are hyped about this book. People are over the moon about this, all hands on deck, expectations that reach sky high, mine included. I am so happy to say that Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit grab that expectation with a THWIP! and swing around like a Spider-Man that is familiar to you, yet with a style that you’ve never quite seen before. 

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 might be the biggest swing a creative team in comics has taken on the character since ONE MORE DAY. It’s a brand new coat of paint that’s left me analyzing every detail and thinking about how much has changed, and for good reason.

This book isn’t just a good Spider-Man book though, it’s also a good Hickman book, and that to me is what makes it stand out almost immediately. You can feel that touch through every panel, every dialogue, every page. But the words don’t always point everything out- sometimes Checchetto and Wilson get to tell the story purely through visuals, making sure your eye is on something that will pay off later, and it invariably does in exciting ways. 

I think the coolest part about this issue is that it’s a 40 page book of people talking. That’s right, a Spider-Man issue where people just talk. There’s two pages of dialogue-less action, but that’s it. It’s similar to the original Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Bendis and Bagley in that regard, but where that book feels like it’s a 2000s book, this one feels like a book from the 2020s. It’s phenomenal that within those pages, you’re never bored and always invested. Of course, I think this book does run with the expectation that you know some of these characters, but come on, this is Spider-Man we’re talking about, a character who’s so popular that even his side characters are household names. You know who they are, and what their usual function is within a Spider-Man story, even if through tertiary means. 

That’s exactly why this book works. It’s similar to the original Ultimate Spider-Man where it’s not an absolute complete reinvention of Spider-Man, that’s expecting too much, but it maintains the very soul, the very essence of what Spider-Man is, while unlike where the original was Lee/Dikto’s work updated for the 2000s, this shapes the pieces differently enough where you go, “Huh. Okay… Into it, into it, let them cook,” and we get the first of that seven pages in. It looks like a standard enough day at the Bugle, Peter’s in, and then Jameson is rushing, shouting “PARKER!”. You as the reader imagine that it’s just a day in the life, but then… Jameson is nice to Peter, and you’re confused as to what just happened.

And then you turn the page to see Ben Parker, Managing Editor of the Daily Bugle.

When I first read that moment, I had to do a double take. It was a change that played in my mind, especially considering that the bite does lead into his death eventually, but I didn’t expect this, and it rocks. It’s here that we get a taste of what the Daily Bugle dynamic is in this universe, and it’s so much fun. Jonah and Ben being friends is a fantastic change, and I can’t wait to see what comes out of that. 

Father Matthew is a nice touch, I’m interested in if we’ll see more of him, and if we do, how that deviates in comparison to what Saladin Ahmed and Aaron Kuder are doing with Father Matthew in the current 616 Daredevil book. More so than that though, the change to Harry Osborn is fascinating. We’re used to him and Peter being friends, whether it be in comics or adaptations, so seeing a universe where they don’t know each other at all, but are going through similar losses, is fascinating. It’s one of those things that I’m really chewing my teeth on, because Hickman’s good at a lot of things, and one of them is the ideological clash between two very good friends. 

Eventually, we do get the big twist that Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, owns the Bugle, which leads to both Jonah and Ben quitting to start their own news company. Two things off the bat: firstly, I love that the bar they go to is named “A Bar with No Name”, neat little nod. Secondly, Peter remembering to return Jonah’s tie but them not really talking about it is a really subtle example of letting the art do the talking which I love.

But the conversation at the bar is fantastic. Frankly, I think it’s been too long since we’ve got some really meaty conflict that makes Peter Parker and Spider-Man’s worlds collide, and if this set-up goes through, we’ll not only get that, but also some good real world commentary on journalism and what that looks like in today’s world. The latter of which is especially fascinating to me, through Jonah and Ben’s conversation, where Ben talks about telling the “truth” as doing journalism right, while Jonah laughs and counters it by talking about how journalism is a dirty business and promising not to “lie”. 

That’s the thing, right? You can’t really do the Ultimate Universe without acknowledging that you do need to tackle present day elements. You need to accept that eventually, these books will be reflective of the time they were made in rather than timeless, and for a title like Spider-Man, the two ways you tackle that is through an exploration of class and an exploration of journalism. We’ve yet to see if we’ll get anything from the former, but it’s safe to say that we’re getting the latter, and I’m all here for it.

After this conversation, Jonah leaves, and we’re left with Ben and Peter, where Peter finally talks about the one thing we’ve been wondering as a reader, but not directly. He asks about what to do now that he’s finally been proven right about a realization he’s had all his life, and Ben’s response to this is the speech about Great Power and Great Responsibility, except he doesn’t say those words directly, rather something just as powerful. We all know the line, your grandma knows the line, so why keep repeating it when you can do something new for this universe that works in the context and will stick with you?

The book begins and almost ends with Peter talking to MJ and his kids, after all, it’s a day in the life. First of all, it’s still incredibly funny that MJ’s genes suplexed Peter’s so hard to the point where they have the red hair and the freckles. I really like the family dynamic Hickman sets up with the kids. It’s not much, so we don’t really know much about what May and Richard are like, but I like the little ways he does characterize them in the short while we see them…

And then there’s MJ. It’s no secret that I love Peter and MJ, after all, they’re my favourite couple in all of fiction, and the team here really shows that they get them. Hickman’s voice for MJ is perfect for a modern MJ, at least from what we’ve seen so far. Of course, she’s not saying the wild stuff she was in the 60s and 70s, but that was also the 60s and 70s, I don’t think anyone should be expecting that. During their conversation as the book closes too, he really shows that he understands their dynamic, about how they’ve always got each others’ backs, and I adore that. I cannot wait to see more of them as the book progresses. 

As it ends, we finally get a couple of answers. What is it that Peter keeps alluding to? What was that ball Peter took from May at the beginning of the issue? What’s been plaguing him? It’s revealed to us that it was sent by Tony Stark, who explains to him that the world has been changed. It’s good because while it is exposition, it doesn’t feel like it, but it does quickly catch up readers to what’s happened in  Ultimate Invasion and Ultimate Universe without them feeling like homework. 

“These people stole your future. These people robbed you of your destiny. The question is… do you want it back?”

I’m going to be honest, I’ve read this issue seven times by now, and every time I do, I tear up at this scene. It evokes the same feeling in me that the Leap of Faith from Into the Spider-Verse does, because it showcases one of the core tenets of being Spider-Man through a new lens – the entire idea that being Spider-Man is a choice. When faced with the choice of being Spider-Man again, he takes it, because he knows it’s the right thing to do. It’s one of those moments that’s so easy to get wrong, because it can come off as tacky, but Hickman builds up to it so well, with some fantastic art by Checchetto and Wilson to complement it, that it ends up being one of the best spider-bites to have ever graced us in any medium. It’s perfect. 

If you’ve read to this point, you’ve already read the issue by now. If not, you should. Not just because it’s a great Spider-Man book that truly sets the stage to redefine him for the 21st Century, but because it’s a great comic book in general that shows that you can take huge swings on the most beloved of characters and still get it right. 

I can’t wait for Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate X-Men, the Ultimates, and the next issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. We are in for something truly special with this new take on the Marvel universe.