Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Spider-Man

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An anthology of Spider-Man stories, taken from many periods in his career. One of the cool things about it is that there is an illustration to go with each story at the start, from Ditko and Romita right on through. There is also an introduction by Stan Lee, the editor.

The stories are generally of pretty good quality.

Ultimate Spider-Man : 01 Spider-Man - Stan Lee and Peter David
Ultimate Spider-Man : 02 Suits - Tom De Haven and Dean Wesley Smith
Ultimate Spider-Man : 03 Cool - Lawrence Watt-Evans
Ultimate Spider-Man : 04 Blindspot - Ann Nocenti
Ultimate Spider-Man : 05 Kraven the Hunter Is Dead Alas - Craig Shaw Gardner
Ultimate Spider-Man : 06 Radically Both - Christopher Golden
Ultimate Spider-Man : 07 Scoop! - David Michelinie
Ultimate Spider-Man : 08 Tinker Tailor Soldier Courier - Robert L. Washington, III
Ultimate Spider-Man : 09 Thunder on the Mountain - Richard Lee Byers
Ultimate Spider-Man : 10 Cold Blood - Greg Cox
Ultimate Spider-Man : 11 An Evening in the Bronx with Venom - John Gregory Betancourt and Keith R. A. DeCandido
Ultimate Spider-Man : 12 Five Minutes - Peter David


A novella telling the origin of Spider-Man, with James rants and Doc Ock included.

3 out of 5


After getting beaten up by the Vulture, a young Spidey is thinking fo giving it away until a trip to Atlantic City with his aunt leads him to meet the Black Bee, a much older ex-hero with a similar story.

3.5 out of 5


A kid takes his hero worship of Spider-Man into gun wielding vigilante territory.

3.5 out of 5


Spidey finds an organlegger who apart from those crimes is making something nasty.

2.5 out of 5


Spidey would rather fight supervillains than have to go shopping with his wife and aunt, so he does. Luckily for him a cancer ridden Vulture and Mysterio, who has a magical mistake problem, are definitely available.

3.5 out of 5


Curt Connors latest transformation allows his consciousness to watch helplessly as the Lizard goes on rampage, threatening his own family.

3.5 out of 5


A small town reporter comes to the Bugle, and wants to work with Peter Parker. Why? To find out who Spidey is, of course. When they undercover your good old New York variety gangs of hoods with powered armour complications ensue.

3.5 out of 5


Spider-Man gets asked to transport a donor liver for a dying young girl, after its couriers get stuck in traffic. Unfortunately a super powered mercenary has been hired to retrieve it.

3 out of 5



Spidey has tracked a group of mercenaries, including the Rhino to a buried energy weapon. Unfortunately this is where a guy and his son have decided to do the mountain man thing.

4 out of 5


On a freezing night of too many snowstorms Spidey wonders why he is out, given there is no-one to help. Except one old man. Morbius the Living Vampire has the same problem. No bad guys outside, no-one to eat. Just one old man.

3.5 out of 5


A terrified man is running from Brock, and Spider-Man lends a hand. All is not as it seems, however.

3.5 out of 5


Decisions on when to go and when to stay cause arguments in the Parker household.

4 out of 5

This is a decent read for Spider-Man fans. All the stories are varied and use a good variety of villians. None of them are anything to write home about, but are good filler on a boring day. At least the book is enjoyable.

This book has been sitting away for about three years and upon the release of the movie, I decided to revisit my meager collection of Spidey novels. Some of the stories in this collection are quite good while others are placed in for filler.
The story Spider-Man itself provides a new take on the origins of the web-slinger. How ironic is it that the same man who penned the novelization for the movie could put an entirely different spin on the spider bite while at the same time introduce one of our hero's most celebrated adversaries.
"Suits" was also an insightful look into the workings of another superhero from the past who decided to hang up his tights and attempt to live a normal life.
"An Evening in the Bronx with Venom" provided more details about Spidey's most mysterious villain. I did not realize that Venom had vowed to protect the innocent and only preyed on the criminal.
I think my favorite story was "Five Minutes." The reader gets an inside glimpse at the married life of Peter and Mary Jane. We see what effects peter's double life has on his relationship with his wife. Although she knew going into the marriage that her husband would ot be a normal nine-to-fiver, MJ is a normal woman with feelings and it was nice to see how her mind works. What wife of a superhero would not long to have a normal life? Firefighter and police officers can't be everywhere at once so why must Spider-Man be expected to?
All-in-all the stories in this anthology were quite enjoyable. Some of them were just too short to be memorable. But most were quite exceptinal.

I should start off by saying that I'm not a Spider-Man collector. It's not that I don't enjoy the series (because I do), but I just don't buy it as regularly as I do the X-books. I do know the backstory extensively, though, having purchased anthologies of the early Amazing Spider-Man issues. But with everything else, I'm essentially a blank slate where this character is concerned, and I'm open to just about all possibilities.

So, without a lot of backhistory in my mind, I found this novel quite enjoyable. These stories work because they were written to BE stories. All too often, comic book novel adaptations are usually comic books without the art, and they fail for it. But the various writers here keep their medium in mind, and work with it.

The novel starts off with the necessary retelling of Spider-Man's origin. I quite disliked this, to be honest. It smacked of "Hey, here's some stuff we forgot to tell you the first time!" The revelation that Dok Ock was performing the radiation experiment that charged the spider that gave Peter Parker his powers was not in the original version of the story, so I'm guessing this came from the Untold Tales of Spider-Man series (and I still don't like it).

There are actually a few more stories in that vein (basically, they "fill in gaps" where there were no such gaps in the original comic books). One story has Peter Parker questioning his desire to be Spider-Man after a vicious encounter with the Vulture. He takes a vacation to Atlantic City, and there, a retired superhero by the name of the Black Bee convinces him not to give up. It was inspiring and very human, but I couldn't break away from the fact that it didn't appear in the original books.

Toward the end of the novel, though, there was more room for making new stories up - especially when they're not of major superhero import, but rather of human interest. For example, the last story, "Five Minutes," involves no major villains. It only involves Spider-Man anguishing over being five minutes too late to save a suicidal man, and David powerfully conveys Peter's inner torment.

On the other hand, there's one story that I just can't get into. It's a story by Ann Nocenti; she tells about Spider-Man's investigation into an organ-smuggling ring. It's a story that needs much more development than she has room for. It seems much more like a prologue for a full novel than a self-contained story. But it's the only weak part of the novel.

In essence, the Ultimate Spider-Man is as appropriate a title as you can give to this novel. It retells his origin, explains his emotional conflicts and inner motivations, and even includes some classic battles with the Vulture and Venom for people who want solid action. It's definitely perfect for people new to Spider-Man, and long-time fans should get something out of it, too.

Not quite as good as _Untold Tales of Spider-Man_, but this is still a fine collection of Spidey stories. Stan Lee & Peter David's origin retelling is pretty dumb, but David makes up for it with the brilliant closer "Five Minutes." There are also some excellent stories by Lawrence Watt-Evans, David Michelinie, Tom De Haven & Dean Wesley Smith, and especially John Gregory Betancourt & Keith R. A. DeCandido, whose "An Evening in the Bronx with Venom" is a sort-of prequel to DeCandido & Jose R. Nieto's great Spidey novel _Venom's Wrath_. Also fun are the tales by Greg Cox and Ann Nocenti. Surprisingly weak are Craig Shaw Gardner and Christopher Golden's stories - they've both done better. Still, the David and Betancourt/DeCandido stories are worth it all by themselves.

With John Byrne retelling Spider-Man's origin in the comics currently and not doing a very good job of it, the retold origin story in this book by Stan Lee and Peter David is much more interesting. Just about all the short stories written in this book are fun to read but my favorite is "Five Minutes", written by Peter David which shows us the human side to Peter and Mary Jane's life as a married couple. I would like to see Peter David write a full length Spider-Man novel one day.

Would you like to know what the Spider Man movie should be like? Read the first story. Peter David and Stan Lee have teamed up to recreate the origin of the wall-crawler in such a way that you can hear the theatrical score playing behind it! That just starts the ball rolling for some incredibly revealing stories about the emotions, not just the actions, of the hero

One of the best things about the Spider-Man character that he succeeds in different media. Prose writing and novelization is just one of those. Comics, video games and an upcoming movie coming out the summer of 2002, make Spidey, the character of the most accessible of all the different comic characters.

What this book holds is a number of well written, different style, short stories that put the spotlight on Spidey and his numerous foes. Some stories, don't even have well established foes, but still hold the magic of Spidey, and at times even better without them. The different writers showcased in this anthology do best to grasp the essence of the character. The alternating Peter Parker and Spider-Man form produces a very well conceieved idea tht has forever appealed to millions of readers and fans all over the world.

The major setback in this anthology is that Spidey is a very visual character, and the fans have gotten used to seeing him swing and jump and fight his way. The emaphsis is on the word "see". Some fans would not accept the charcater in such a setting andthus forth might consider the book not their cup of tea. Another aspect of things to be seen, is that readers of prose, not comics will think that a Spidey book is childish and not what it's supposed to be. Those people deal more with charcaterization and delving of the characters' emotions and so forth. This dos not imply that the book lacks that, Spidey has always been about character and how real and of this world he really is. An excellent example of such an achievement is the excellent final story of the collection "Five Minutes" by Peter David. That story captures the magic of the Peter Parker, the man behind the mask. Anyone who has a loved one waiting for them and yearning to be with them at all times, will relate to that story.

Though I have told people that I was reading this book when I was, but I cold not actually hold it with me and walk around the university campus with it. I guess no matter how OK you might be reading a book on Spidey, people would still think that you're a kid or a geek to actually do such a thing. Should you care?? I think not. On the contrary, up till now thisis the best anthology book that have read this year, but I can't go more to say that it's the best.

Spider-Man is a winner and he always gets on top. No matter.

"The Ultimate Spider-Man" Book Review If you are looking for a book filled with thrills, cliffhangers, action, and adventure, then "The Ultimate Spider-Man" by Stan Lee is the right book for you. Now, I know that you could be reading this and think: "Spider-Man? no way!", but it's not just an old comic book for kids. In this 336-page book, you will find 12 short episodes written in a humorous, adult-like way, so it's good for people of many ages. The book starts out with a young boy named Peter Parker who is somewhat of a dork, and he gets beaten up by bullies. Well, the story goes on and Peter hears all about Spider-man on the radio and that leads into the separate episodes of Spider-man's or Spidey (as he is called by Mr. Lee) adventures and encounters with villains such as the Vulture, Stuart (who is just more of a small problem), and Morbius.

Now, as for rating the book, I am going to have to say I give it a 4.5 out of 5. It's not a perfect book, but for me, it was really good and a lot better than I had anticipated. I have three good reasons why I give it this rating. The first is because of the description. If the book was rated merely on description, it would have a 6 out of 5 easily. Every page was filled with descriptive and interesting words and phrases. It's hard not to understand the book because the words and language lay it out for you so well. Even the introduction had me wanting to read more into the book.

The next element that I based my rating on was my how the book kept me wanting to read more. Some points in the book made me want to keep reading and I had a lot of trouble prying the book out of my hands for a minute. Then, there were other parts that seemed too boring and I didn't want to continue. The entire book is filled with dry humor and laugh to the point of crying humor. It's very mixed, and for some people that might be good, but that's not my personal favorite.

Unfortunately, there is a downfall to my rating. Even though I ended up enjoying the book, it wouldn't be my first choice. Everyone has a type of book they like to read and this wouldn't be mine. So my third reason for my rating, is my choice of reading book, or the genre of the book. The book did keep me interested, but I doubt that I would read it again, mostly because I am more into horror and mystery books and this had neither.

All in all, this was a pretty good book, and if you like adventure a monsters and fighting, then it's definitely the book for you.

This book is not that bad, nor is it an extremely good one either, in comic speak it's a, "Good Read." In everyone else's language, "This book is horrible, and stereotyped.... With one exception."

That exception is the reason I've liked spider-man since I was five, the real reason anybody admittedly gets only single issues, we like fight scenes. And this book has one of the best, not even in the Massive-War-Against-All Dragonlance books will you find an impressive battle between two people, than in the story where Spider-Man battles the only enemy that can outfight him, outmaneuver him, and outthink him, Eddie Brock, Venom. His origin took five years, his hatred will last a lifetime, but there's still that single sense of sanity left in him, which is snapped when he sees Peter Parker, Spider-Man.

Then All Hell breaks loose.

This story truly tells how their battle would go in the real world, and man is it sweet. there are conflicts everywhere in this story, it's short, and could have been a full-fledged novel, but for what it has, you can tell there is a sense of total completion about it, an entire man's self-worth put to the test. And one man's battle with himself. A Great Story, but the other one's leave the book alone. Good thing the one story makes the others look like sunday morning comics.