Said Bendis:

[W]hen the Ultimatum wave hits, that wave is hitting Spider-Man's world and Spider-Man's cast and Spider-Man's house. We worked very closely on following Ultimatum's lead, and then finding other cool stuff to do in Ultimate Spider-Man. When Ultimate Spider-Man 129 hits, you'll see the wave hit, and how it affects all the characters... Almost everyone's role will change dramatically. There's gonna be a new supporting cast, there may even be a new Spider-Man.

Hype or the sign of a whole new Clone Saga? We'll see when Ultimate Spider-Man #129 hits stories next month. [MySpace]

The Ultimate line was created in the year 2000 as an attempt by Marvel to make their core characters more friendly to a mainstream audience who didn't feel like wading through 40 years of continuity in order to enjoy a Spider-Man comic (The alternative, making Spider-Man comics that didn't rely on 40 years of continuity in order to be enjoyable, didn't seem to occur to them for some reason). After the successful launch of first series Ultimate Spider-Man, the line has kept itself small, concentrating mostly on characters who happened to have movies coming out - titles in the line have included Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra and Ultimate Sucky Ghost Rider Oh God Why Did They Go With Nic Cage. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Sadly, as Marvel's main line started getting more big name creators, attention from fans and - most importantly - sales, the Ultimate line has fallen into disrepair; something that Ultimate Origins aims to rectify. And with reasons like this, who can fail to be excited?

Wow? How can anyone not want to see "the first appearance of the Ultimate ?"? Not to mention "The End of Wouldn't You Like To Know"? It's like they knew they had to try and get people's attentions, but forgot to do anything about it before slapping this together in their lunch break on deadline day. Here's hoping that the already-announced sequel Ultimatum, written by Heroes exec producer Jeph Loeb, will get more people excited.

Marvel Lists Top Ten Reasons To Read Ultimate Origins #1 [Newsarama]

Famous names: Bendis and Bagley weren't the only people behind this project - Then-president of Marvel Bill Jemas was so involved that he plotted out the first seven issues of the serialized comic and acted as an additional editor on the series until he left the company.

Crunchy goodness: 5

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: In addition to the entire Marvel "Ultimate" line of books (The Ultimates, Ultimate Iron Man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, et al), this particular series also was the starting point for the short-lived MTV animated version of the character, with Bendis as an executive producer and spawned its own video game.

Memorable product tie-in: Around the time of the first Tobey Maguire movie, all the merchandising for the character used Bagley's version of the wall-crawler, meaning that he probably got 10c for that pair of panties that your loved one got for you that you never wear.

Most painfully dated moment: Dig the Limp Bizkit-inspired designs for Peter Parker's "contemporary" schoolmates, yo.

Ultimate Spider-Man at Sequential Art