Ultimate Spider-Man Epic Collection: Learning Curve

by Brian Michael Bendis

Collects Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) #1-13.

High school, puberty, first dances - there are many pitfalls to being young. Compound these with intense personal tragedy and superhuman powers, and you can start to visualize the world of Peter Parker, A.K.A. Spider-Man! Following the murder of his uncle and the Green Goblin's assault on his high school, Peter finds himself on the brink of getting a job at the Daily Bugle to help support his widowed aunt and taking on extracurricular activities - such as bringing down the Kingpin, the head of organized crime in New York City! Even with the help of Mary Jane Watson, his best friend and confidante, it's a heavy load to bear for any teenager - but Peter Parker is far from any teenager!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Spider Man, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

352 pages, Paperback

Published March 18, 2025

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Nicholas Dehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a freakin banger man holy moly! So happy to own this! Bendis’ take is essentially the definitive version of Spiderman in my eyes. First of all the moody, so-2000’s, instantly recognizable art style that Bagley draws for Ultimate Spiderman is just so awesome. It’s like the epitome of 2000’s comic-book style. This modernization of the Spiderman origin story is loaded with personality and is such a blast to read. In this first collection we get to see the origin story, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Kingpin, Electro, and even a brief Shocker cameo lol. Spider-Man’s rogues gallery is so good that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I have never seen a Green Goblin design like this outside of Ultimate Spiderman and I think it is so sick. The quips are strong, Peter Parker is a nerd but not a pushover, and I appreciate that the love-life troubles are seemingly minimized here compared to other iterations. The cast of classmates help bring the story to life and remind you that Peter is just a high school kid, keeping his hero-exploits grounded at a street level. I love Spiderman runs that capitalize on the classic “high schooler who’s secretly a super hero” trope rather- they have a different charm than stories where Peter is aged up. Some of the jokes got me pretty good and nearly the whole last issue had me laughing. I love this book!

[Marcin Wichowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kreska - super
Historia - wprowadzenie i geneza
Epickie plansze - 🧐
Tempo - jest dobrze

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 2 out of 5]

bu seriyi ilk çıktığı dönemde de bir türlü sevememiştim. ikinci bir şans vereyim dedim, gene olmadı.

[Will Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

[Ryan Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Ultimate (😉) story about a young peter parker getting his powers and realizing the world is bigger and more powerful than he could ever imagine. The start of his spiderman journey was done beautifully in this book, learning about great power and great responsibility, it makes peter realize that if he can make a difference, he will do it, regardless of the consequences.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun and refreshing take that really captures the heart and soul of our fledgling hero as he takes his first steps and swings into a world that's much bigger than he imagined. No complaints here - This is great comic book storytelling and addictively readable.

[Mariano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Llega raspando al 4, capaz es más un 3.5, pero es divertido y propone algunas cosas interesantes. Creo que le agarran más la mano en la segunda mitad y te deja con ganas de seguir leyendo. Es un delirio que Marvel saque uno por año de estos, van a terminar en 2032, así que no recomiendo para nada la edición Epic, porque encima se lee rapidísimo.

[drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been dying to read the original Ultimate Spider-Man for years and I’m so happy I finally got to it. I adore the modern retelling of this amazing story, but I also can’t believe the next epic collection doesn’t come out until MARCH? A whole year after this one? CRAZY

[Justin Biondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m gonna leave my review for each volume separate from this review but this Epic Collection was fantastic. I’m excited to get the next one in March, reads super well and was hard to put down. My thoughts on Vol. 1 are in the Vol. 1 trade and same with my thoughts on 2

[Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite possibly the worst first issue of a series I’ve ever read but it picks up after that. Great pacing and the overall story is breezy and fun. However, A lot of the content is aged and it’s distracting seeing spiderman call people womanly and fat as insults.

[Enya Snijders · Rating 5 out of 5]

iconic

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great origin to the spectacular superhero and the artwork is amazing. Can't wait to continue reading more about Spider-Man

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great reimagining of the Spider-Man mythos and I love the early 2000’s setting.

[Doug Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

a spiderman book with a happy ending!?
I came in with high expectations and they were still exceeded. I really liked everything about this book and the series is off to a very strong start.

[aj]

good story, the art is kinda hit or miss, those 3d modeled backgrounds for the covers are so 2000s. nothing too mind-blowing just solid spider-man stuff