Ultimate Spider-Man is really fun and delightful. I just finished reading Volume 1. You should check it out!

…

Let us now consider, for just a moment, a list of Ultimate Spider-Man collections that, with two exceptions (marked with an asterisk), are, as far as I can tell, currently in print:

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – Volume 1
Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1
Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1
Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1*
Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection – Volume 1
Ultimate Spider-Man Collection*
Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1
Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1

Oh dear.

AN EXPLANATION

Let me see if I can explain this list.

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1: This softcover collects the beginning of Brian Michael Bendis’ prodigious run on the book, collecting Vol. 1, Issues #1-7. All of the collections listed below are also written by Bendis (with one exception, which will be noted).

This softcover series continues with numbered volumes to Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 22: Ultimatum (which, in some editions, is unnumbered). To continue the story you will then need to pop over to Ultimatum: Requiem.

Utimate Comics Spider-Man – Volume 1: This is the 23^rd volume. It collects the first issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 2, which was relaunched with a new #1 (but would later revert to the original numbering).

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1: This is the 28^th volume. It collects Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 (which relaunched with a new #1 starring Miles Morales).

Yes, the collection called Ultimate Comics Spider-Man collects Ultimate Spider-Man, while the collection called Ultimate Spider-Man collects Ultimate Comics Spider-Man.

No, I’m not making this up.

If you follow this set of collections to its end, however, you’ll have a complete set of Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man comics.

However, this list does not include…

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1: A hardcover edition of the original run, but it collects #1-13 instead of #1-7.

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1*: A hardcover edition of the original run, but it collects #1-7.

Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection – Volume 1: A softcover edition of the original run, collecting #1-13.

Ultimate Spider-Man Collection*: An exclusive hardcover sold by Barnes & Noble, collecting #1-39.

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1: An omnibus edition collecting #1-39.

Ultimate Spider-Man – Volume 1: This collects Vol. 3 #1-6, a new series by Jonathan Hickman with a completely different version of the character. (This is the one I was recommending above, although Bendis’ series is also excellent and well worth reading if you haven’t.)

A REFLECTION

Every so often, while digging through yet another Marvel/DC reading list to unravel the arcane lore of which book I need to read next and frantically cross-referencing ISBN numbers in a futile effort to make sure I’m not getting the wrong Wonder Woman (Volume 3), I imagine what it would be like if other series did this.

C.S. Lewis, writing the sixth Narnia book circa 1955 and thinking to himself, “This book also involves a lion, a witch, and the origin of the wardrobe. So let’s just call it The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe again!”

And, of course, who can forget J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary The Hobbit, which is the sequel to The Hobbit and also Volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings? (I don’t even know why you’re complaining about this! A real fan would obviously recognize that it’s about a completely different hobbit!)

Andy Weir is pleased to announce The Martian, the new book in the award-winning trilogy which began with The Martian and will conclude with The Martian.

Of course, I say this, but it’s not just Marvel and DC, right? They’re just the most cancerous examples. We’ve begun seeing this creep into other media, too: Tomb Raider. God of War. Halloween. Scream. Weezer albums titled Weezer.

It seems to be creeping into everything, doesn’t it? And is it a coincidence that so much of this is corporate-owned IP? Is it meant to baffle and confuse us? To reduce creation to consumption? To anonymize creators into a mass of undifferentiated product?

Of course, it feels like reboots, remakes, and re-adaptations aren’t the same thing, but it’s also true that when I say The Maltese Falcon, the film you’re thinking of almost certainly isn’t the original film adaptation.

And then there’s Shakespeare’s King Lear, the multiple editions of which I won’t be able to explain without multiple flowcharts and a 90-minute presentation.

But, honestly, I just want to read The Ultimate Spider-Man. (No, not that one. The other one.) And it just feels like it shouldn’t be this hard.

The core of it is that he’s a geeky teenage Everyman that the core reading audience of comics can either identify with, dream about being in 5 years, or can reflect upon with fond nostalgia.

But that’s not enough.

Steve Ditko gifted him with one of the Top 3 rogue’s galleries in the biz. (Batman and Flash are the only ones to give him competition.)

Stan Lee gave him the wisecracking wit that makes him beloved.

Still not enough.

The core philosophical principle of, “With great power comes great responsibility.” carries a lot of weight here. Very few heroes come packaged with a core thematic element which can be used in so many deep and meaningful ways. (Superman used to have this with “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”, but those values don’t lend themselves easily to resonant storytelling and they’ve mostly been turned into a joke over the past couple or three decades.)

The importance of the tragic element can’t be understated. It provides a persistent emotional weight that counterbalances the wisecracking. (It’s not coincidental that the three most popular superheroes — Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman — all have dead parental figures.) The death of Gwen Stacy was a major thing, too. It was a unique angle on the superhero tragedy that nobody else would get until, arguably, Batman lost a Robin.

The fantastic supporting cast from Ditko, Lee, and Romita in the ’60s also can’t be undervalued. Simply richer and larger than any other superhero at the time (and most since). And, as with Gwen Stacy, they’re essential for emphasizing both the central theme and the tragic losses.

But what really pushes him over the top?

It’s the webslinging. It’s so goddamn cool. But, more importantly, it’s so utterly unique: There’s a bajillion Batman-esque and Superman-esque characters. There’s exactly one superhero who can do the webslinging thing.

It’s your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.