Brian Michael Bendis has quite a history with Marvel, but 2000 and 2005 were particularly big years for him at the House of Ideas. Why, you ask? Well, in 2000, he started his run on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN with Mark Bagley. Not only does he still write the series, but it's won over countless fans and has taken several refreshing and even shocking turns throughout the years. In 2005, Bendis kicked-off NEW AVENGERS with David Finch. This gave the writer the opportunity to group together a variety of characters after the events of AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED and Bendis most certainty had a whole lot of fun with the roster. The dynamic between characters was especially amusing and the book was full of laughs. We're big fans of both opening storylines, but which one does the community like more? They had the whole week to vote and in the end, a solid majority sided with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN.
The new version of Spider-Man's origin in an alternate universe earned 63% of the votes. The NEW AVENGERS story arc, Breakout, received 29%. Meanwhile, 7% of Viners shamefully admitted they haven't read either story... at least not yet.
So, why are so many readers madly in love with Spider-Man's debut in the Ultimate universe? Long story short: it's a character-driven, relatable and downright entertaining modern take on the iconic hero's start. From Peter discovering his abilities and using them in school to a grand slugfest with the new Green Goblin (who's sporting a rather intimidating new design), ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN's opening arc is an engaging reimagining of a story many of us already know and love. It had the potential to come off as a blatant rehash, but instead it started a brand new and most definitely very creative mythos. Go ahead and take a moment to give Bendis a round of applause for accomplishing that. It's the least we can do, right?
Viner Post of the Week for UlLTIMATE SPIDER-MAN's Power and Responsibility is by Ninjablade09
"I have to go with Ultimate Spider-Man. It brought Peter back to his roots, a high schooler with issues. The first storyline was able to capture the same essence that Amazing Fantasy had, the thrill. It may have taken 5 issues for him to finally get the role, but in those five issues you had great character development, that really showed the relationship between Peter, Ben and May, and Peter and MJ. It was interesting to see Peter take advantage of his powers to play basketball, adds more to the relatability. These reasons alone are why Ultimate Spider-Man gets my vote."
A NEW TEASER APPEARS! We've included a small sample of the image for next week's match-up. Be the first person to guess it correctly and we'll give you a mention in Monday's article. Please only post your guess after you think you can identify both of the covers. We'll be nice a give you a little hint, too. One is from Marvel and one is from DC. Good luck, Viners!
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