The relatively clear sailing is interrupted from this point forward by the events of Ultimatum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)ĭoes not really impact USM, but the Ultimate Gah Lak Tus trilogy occurs during these issues. Ultimate Spider-Man #54 – #85 Ultimate Lizard appears in a dream sequence, as drawn by Mark Bagley in Ultimate Spider-Man #60. This is a must read – the Ultimate universe Sinister Six! This semi-inexplicable separation has probably led to more Ultimate Spider-Man related confusion than anything else. For all intents and purposes, these are Ultimate Spider-Man issues, just given a new name. To my mind the most essential non-USM tie-in series. It really doesn’t impact much of anything in USM, but it’s a larger universe event that takes place during this time. You can read Ultimate War during this timeframe. The issue is included in the Ultimate Marvel Team-Up trade. To the best of my knowledge this Super Special (basically the first annual) doesn’t appear in Marvel Unlimited. Read Ultimate Marvel Team-Up on Marvel Unlimited Rather than clutter the pages of USM with “This is how Spidey met Wolverine” stories, Marvel Team-Up offers a place to enhance Spidey’s place in the larger Ultimate universe. Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is not necessarily essential to USM continuity, but it does offer a lot of fun team-up stories. Here’s our first foray into non-Spidey titles. Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1 – #8 Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The primary exceptions come in the form of separate Spidey stories told under different series titles. Honestly, you can plow through the first 133 issues of Spidey and almost never branch outside the Ultimate Spider-Man title. Ultimate Spider-Man rarely suffers from this.
You likely have to contend with tie-in issues and crossovers to major events to understand the full context of the Marvel Universe and your selected character’s place in it. Longtime Marvel 616 (main Marvel universe) readers know that reading a Marvel series isn’t necessarily as simple as picking up every issue in that series. Ok, It’s Good – Can I Read Ultimate Spider-Man All the Way Through Or What? They took those elements we all love about Spidey, and over the course of 9 years, they carefully rearranged them into 133 issues of near perfect Peter Parker.Īnd then Bendis and various artists kept going.Īnd Ultimate Spider-Man hasn’t missed a beat. The answer is simply that Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley wound up delivering the most satisfying, cohesive Spider-Man saga of the decade. Why would I read these again, but in a watered-down form? This is why I held off on the Ultimate Universe for a long time. There’s an understandable concern with the Ultimate Universe that it will read as nothing more than an echo of the originals, or that it will desecrate the beloved stories with attention-grabbing twists that miss the core of what makes a character special. As any reader can attest, the Ultimate universe offered unparalleled opportunity to redefine solidified canonical elements of Marvel story, such as the origins of Spider-Man. The Ultimate universe was launched in 2000 as a way to reimagine the Marvel universe and characters for a modern audience. This became particularly important with the upcoming X-Men and Spider-Man movies finally giving the world the Marvel universe in a cinematically palatable form. There are a handful of exceptions which I’ll discuss, but for the most part you can pick up Ultimate Spidey and plow through over a hundred issues uninterrupted by questions like “Wait, who’s a Skrull?” You Want Me To Read The Ultimate Universe? Not For Me!Ī brief history lesson: As Marvel bounced back from a late 90’s bankruptcy (this is still amazing to me this was like yesterday), the editorial team was looking for ways to draw in new readers. Whereas many Marvel heroes and teams have a convoluted history of impenetrable continuity (I’m looking at you Avengers), Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the easiest titles any new reader can dive into. Ultimate Universe? What’s That? Do you recommend reading the ultimate comics in order or can I just read ultimate Spider-Man straight through? Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading! When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.Ĭomic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.Īny size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content.