Why don't I like Ultimate Spider-Man?

So. I decided to read the entire Bendis run of Ultimate Spider-Man during Spring Break, because I had been avoiding it for a while, and I'm a Spidey fan. After reading dozens of issues, I realized something when I finished: I didn't like it. There are a few aspects that I can really pinpoint for my dislike

Villains: I think Ultimate Gobby is a huge downgrade, his design sucks and his motives are just to kill, and I find that really boring. Every time it's "He breaks out of prison, kills some guys, Peter fights him, goes back to prison". It was so annoying every time he pooped up. Other villains felt meh, no stand outs and not much to look forward too
Supporting Cast:Not a fan of the new characters, every supporting character feels like an angsty version of the originals,and the Gwen/MJ personality swap felt strange to me
Marvel Universe: Why are there so many other heroes in this book? Feels like every other issue has some Avenger or something teaming up or talking shit about Spider-Man. Tangentially, why is everyone in this universe a huge asshole?
Art: I really don't like the art in this. Pic related looks good but the rest of it looks really uninspired and bland to me, it's really easy to tell it's some early 2000s stuff

Anyway one else feel this way? I wanted to like it really bad but I just couldn't, and it kind of soured me on future Spider-Man books if this is really what the fans say is the best of the best

The Ultimate universe was "616 dialed up to 11" from the get go. Mark Millar cemented that idea when he wrote The Ultimates (the ORIGINAL Ultimates, not the current Carol Danvers garbage), and it just stuck from then on. Everyone was an asshole, and they all ended up dying like assholes. They deserved it. Miles escaped thanks to Bendis but he deserves it too.

It makes it hard to enjoy the comic though when everyone is unlikeable. They're not total jerks r anything just annoying at times

tbqh senpai I think there is some nostalgia involved. This was a slot of people's firs Spidey comic and they read it as teens likely. I think it's decent today but definitely not one of Marvel's best like some suggest

Ultimate Spider-Man sucks, Reddit just memed that it was an essential read, when it really wasn't. Here's my top ten for the best Spider-Man stories you should check out.

>Death of Jean DeWolff
>Kraven's Last Hunt
>Best of Enemies
>Boy Who Collects Spider-Man
>Spider-Man Blue
>Death of the Stacys.
>If this be my destiny
>Parallel Lives
>The Gauntlet/Grim Hunt
>Marvel Knights.

Don't fall for the Reddit memes, friend.

The only somewhat memorable villains are Kingpin and Doc Ock, even then it's, like everything Bendis writes, is inconsistent. Green Goblin is just a boring crazy bad guy with none of the 616's charisma and the rest is really damn bland and forgettable. You know, with how many issues Bendis loves to waste on telling his stories, he could've spared some time on character development for villains.

People were praising Ultimate Spider-Man before Reddit was even a thing.

>Anyway one else feel this way?
Yes. I like USM, but it is overrated. Everybody remembers all the good stuff, like the Kingpin stories or Spider-Man switching bodies with Wolverine, or Aunt May pulling a gun on Venom. One thing I particularly remember that I liked was Nick Fury's talk with Peter, outlining that Peter was prime supervillain material because of all the shit he's been through but still chooses to be a hero. But there's the bad stuff too, like what you pointed out.

>Tangentially, why is everyone in this universe a huge asshole?
I honestly don't know. I tried to read Ultimates but dropped it like a rock when Captain America pretended to be all buddy buddy with a recently de-Hulked Bruce only to sucker-punch him. I think by planting his boot in Bruce's face. There were other things that rubbed me the wrong way too, like Hank spraying a shrunken Janet with pesticide during one of their fights. I won't say that stuff was a flaw with the book, but I didn't like it.

Thanks for the suggestions!

This.

Ironically, Ultimate Stark is the exception. He's the one instance where the ultimate version is a better person than the 616 version.

So was Pyro.
Well, until Loeb retconned him into being a creepy cowardly rapist for no reason at least.

>for no reason
The reason was probably that he was a better person.

I like that suit

Ultimate Stark is MCU Stark minus the jerk and the hedonism dialed up to 11.

Suprisingly he and Ultimate Cap got along really well, better than their MCU and 616 counterparts at least.

Were Cap and Iron Man ever really friends in 616?

Was just about to post about Kingpin and Doc Ock. They have way more personality than Ultimate Goblin. Every story of Ultimate Goblin boils down to:

>I created you!
>You are mine!
>We are genetic perfection!
>I hate Nick Fury!

Every story with Osborn. That's all there is to him. At least Otto actually develops over time.

Does Spider-Man really have no good stories?

Spider-Man would have been better if they decided to merge Peter with the symbiote.

He has a severe lack of them.

For what i have seen By ultimato spiderman comics cap and iron man are treated more like nick furry lil bitches

They even made Ultimate Kingpin somehow even more edgy
>Orders an entire high school of kids killed

Batfags pls go

These posts sound suspiciously fake.

He only went there after Vanessa was being threatened. You know how Mister FIsk can be when you threaten his dearest Vanessa.

>Villains: I think Ultimate Gobby is a huge downgrade, his design sucks and his motives are just to kill, and I find that really boring. Every time it's "He breaks out of prison, kills some guys, Peter fights him, goes back to prison". It was so annoying every time he pooped up. Other villains felt meh, no stand outs and not much to look forward too
Except there's an entire issue with just Dock Ock raving? And Electro's original Ultimate design is the best design he's ever gotten?
>Not a fan of the new characters, every supporting character feels like an angsty version of the originals,and the Gwen/MJ personality swap felt strange to me
That's not even a legitimate criticism.
>Why are there so many other heroes in this book? Feels like every other issue has some Avenger or something teaming up or talking shit about Spider-Man. Tangentially, why is everyone in this universe a huge asshole?
Because that's more realistic? When there is a shit ton of super powered people in one city, chances are, they are gonna meet each other sooner or later? And chances are, super powers wouldn't make them instantly nice?
>Art: I really don't like the art in this. Pic related looks good but the rest of it looks really uninspired and bland to me, it's really easy to tell it's some early 2000s stuff
It's better than most current Marvel artists tho.

I think Ultimate Spider-Man is highly overrated, but Ultimates fucking sucks. It's literally "What if the Avengers were a bunch of edgelords?"

agreed completely. the only people who praise USM are people who let their rage at OMD blind them, and people too lazy to get into pre-civil war 1 comics

as someone who adores USM there's a certain point where Ultimate Osborn coming back to life got really old. His arc should have closed when he killed Harry.

Strongest arcs were probably
>Venom
>Anything with the Kingpin

>Except there's an entire issue with just Dock Ock raving? And Electro's original Ultimate design is the best design he's ever gotten?
Doc Ock raving doesn't necessarily make for a good character. I didn't say all their designs suck as well, only Goblins (although I also don't like Mysterio), so why are you bringing up Electro?
>That's not even a legitimate criticism.
Notice how the post isn't "Ultimate Spider-Man is bad", it is "I do not like it"
>Because that's more realistic? When there is a shit ton of super powered people in one city, chances are, they are gonna meet each other sooner or later? And chances are, super powers wouldn't make them instantly nice?
Who cares what is realistic? You're reading a fucking comic book, only thing that matters is quality of story. I don't what to read about assholes because it's "realistic"
>It's better than most current Marvel artists tho.
You're comparing some of the worst art they've produced to this.Of course it will be better.

Seriously, was this post bait?

>Who cares what is realistic? You're reading a fucking comic book, only thing that matters is quality of story. I don't what to read about assholes because it's "realistic"
Not everybody reads comic books for pure 100% escapism, user.

These are all fair criticisms. But with in the context of or comparison to the rest of the universe It was a pretty upbeat book. Also the entire purpose or reason for the Ultimate universe was to have the same characters in a modern environment with somewhat more "realistic" consequences to being a super hero. And I don't know if you have time over the summer or if you have already but look at it in comparison to X-Men or Ultimates, It's the one book that really did try to keep the spirit of the characters involved in tact instead of just making everyone the most selfish, petty, shortsighted, cunt version of themselves as they could possibly be. I believe it was liked so much because in comparison to main universe stories and Ultimate stories it was the best mixture of both. Something really different, but not needlessly gritty or edgy.

Something I also don't like about it is I think it was the door to not really having secret identities anymore.

Well, Taste is subjective. If everyone says that something is good, that doesn't mean that you're going to like it too.
Personally, I like Ultimate Spider-man, it was one of my first comics, and I still re-read every now and then, but I have to admit that it's not for everyone. The teenage drama may turn some people off, or maybe it's the villains designs or the many team ups or even the art (which I love desu) .
Anyways, If everyone likes it that doesn't mean that you also have to, maybe you went there with some big expectations thinking that it's going to be a masterpiece and you were let down.

Not him, but that's a false equivalency. Not adhering to realism doesn't automatically make something escapist, and people who don't care that much for realism aren't automatically in it for escapism.

I would also say that everybody being an antagonistic asshole is unrealistic as well, so there's that.

you have taste
it's baby's first Spider-Man story

If you don't read cape comics for escapism then you are doing it wrong

What are you talking about? I listed ten.

>Spider-Man has no good stories
>guy just listed ten good stories

What did he mean by this?

>moderate, reasonable opinion

Fuck off

Otto's raving did provide insight into his character and how he views Peter. Doc Ock was probably the best villain of the series since he actually developed as a character over time.

Bendis is a terrible writer and that doesn't change on stuff he's "good" at. Especially now, being aware of all of his little quirks, it's easy to go back and see how they're all there right down to plot points that go nowhere (Demogoblin MJ or Gwen being the Carnage symbiote).

The only time Mark Millar was a good writer was when Morrison wrote Red Son's ending for him.

Red Son is shit though.

Because Ultimate Spider-Man is shit and has the worst version of every character, especially Peter.
Bendis has never been good.

>the other

Bendis ruined every good villain. Kingpin never came off as smart or charismatic. Just a psychopath who got the copyright and then just got called fat. He made Jean DeWolf a crooked cop to kill of for shock. Aunt May was just sassy old woman was shit after the grieving shit.

I honestly have never liked anything Bendis has written

He made Shocker pretty sympathetic.

It's actually a trend of the 2000's. People associated assholes with coolness. It wasn't just comics. Bender, Family Guy, and a lot of the media of the 2000's treated assholes as the hot new trend because "Hey, those faggots had what's coming to them. Pussies."

>m-muh design
Yeah, who cares it's a one-dimensional character that makes 616 Electro look complex. The costume is cool, right. :^)