So, for the second time in two years Marvel puts out another 'modern spin' on Spider-Man's origin, updating and bringing it into the nineties...again. We are once again introduced to the bespectacled Peter Parker, high school science nerd and topic of ridicule of his peers including Flash Thompson. All of that changes when Peter is bitten by a radioactive Spider and the rest is history...again. The big difference this time around, as opposed to the so-called "Chapter One", is that this "Ultimate" Spider-Man is actually pretty good.

Under the careful pen of young Brian Michael Bendis, and pencil of former Spider-Man and Thunderbolts artist Mark Bagley, Ultimate Spider-Man tells a story that actually draws you in with interesting and likeable characters, an area where Chapter One's writer/artist John Byrne ran into difficulty and out-right failure. Rather than simply retelling exact stories that where done rather well the first time by Spidey's creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko as was in Byrne's case, Bendis and Bagley tell a new story with the same cogs in place, but in different positions.

The plot basically follows Lee's original, but rather than a radioactive spider having bitten Peter, it is a spider being tested upon with Norman Osborn's wonder drug, 'OZ'. When Peter and his science class (including Harry Osborn and Mary Jane) go on a tour Peter is bitten by the spider and you know the rest. The point is, Bendis (and co-plotter and Marvel president Bill Jemas) tells a story that didn't change things just because he wanted to, but rather for the sake of a better story.

An example of changing things for the sake of a better story would be having Peter actually having friends in high school, something writer Kurt Busiek dealt with in his Amazing Fantasy mini-series a few years back, only to be negated by the maniacal Mr. Byrne. In this retelling Peter is not only friends with fellow science student Mary Jane Watson, but also has a rather peculiar friendship with Harry Osborn (which long-time readers will know was the case in the original comics).

But character changes aside, the most different change for the sake of the story would be the actual telling of the story itself. Rather than be told in one story, Spider-Man's origin has been spread over several issues, allowing us, the reader, time to have these characters grow on us as they grow. (It is this way of retelling Spider-Man's origin that will probably once and for all have Uncle Ben's death leave an impact on the readers as he is not expected to die until the fourth of fifth issue in fact.)

Changes aside, Ultimate tells a story that pulled this reader in and managed to hold on to him for the duration. Rarely have I ever wished to have the next issue of a series with me, but with Ultimate Spider-Man I have.

It is with a smile that I give Ultimate Spider-Man #1 ****1/2 out of *****