Book Review: Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 by B. M. Bendis et al.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1: Power and Responsibility written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Mark Bagley

In this modernized retelling of Spider-Man's origin story, not much is changed. The story arc is the same: Peter is bitten by the spider, gets strange powers, tries to cash in on them, and fails to stop a petty crime. His uncle is killed by the criminal and Peter decides to become a hero. He's still a high school student with all the problems that come with being a nerd in high school. Mary Jane Watson hangs out with him a lot and has a crush on him, though Peter is a bit clueless.

The big difference here is Norman Osborn. Head of a scientific corporation named after himself, Norman does all kinds of cutting edge research in technology and biology. His experimental spider is the one that bit Peter during a class trip, though one of the other classmates kills the spider. At first, Osborn is worried about being sued. When Peter recovers and has some changes, Osborn is more interested in getting a hold of Peter for experimentation which doesn't work out. Doctor Otto Octavius works at the company and helps build a new machine to recreate the spider's enhancement. Osborn want to experiment on another human test subject and skip the spider step of the process. Osborn uses his own DNA for enhancement. As the process starts, a horrible explosion happens. Osborn winds up as the Green Goblin, a green-faced muscle man who is mistaken by students as the Hulk when the Goblin goes after Peter at school.

Another notable difference is Peter. He's a lot more bratty than in previous versions of the origin. He's picked on at school but uses his abilities to become a star athlete, which causes more trouble than he wants. I suppose the idea is to make him more like an average teenager with typical overreactions, though I found the depiction jarring and less sympathetic.

The book goes for a weird balance of being more over the top and more grounded. For me, neither effort was as successful as it could have been. Still, Spider-Man's origin story is great (probably the greatest comic hero origin) and the book really doesn't go wrong, it just doesn't do anything particularly new or fascinating. Osborn is interesting at first but after the transformation he's nothing more than a brute.

Recommended because it's Spider-Man.